Short Horror Stories

The strange plant in the old greenhouse

"Legend has it that this garden is able to bring back the dead."

I look up, what was she just talking about?

Bringing back the dead?

No way that it's possible...

If it was, no one would have to die anymore.

"Ah, I see I've finally gotten your attention." The lady that's our guide during this boring class trip says to me with a smirk on her face.

My class is being shown around in an old castle nearby and we're just at the part where there is an old greenhouse.

"Well, do you want to know?" She asks again.

I just shrug, it's probably bull anyway.

If it were real...

I would have already done and tried it.

"Okay, so the legend is about a man who desperately wanted to save his dying son. The man was the king and his son would have been the heir to the throne, but the illness could take his life at any moment.

No doctor in the land could save the child and the king and his wife were grief stricken.

The boy died not long after, his parents were unable to bear it and kept him sealed within a glass coffin.

Then one day a witch came by the dark castle, she claimed that she could bring the boy back from the dead.

His parents didn't really believe it, but couldn't give up, so they gave her a chance to prove her power.

She gave the couple a seed to plant and the king and queen built this greenhouse for it, they planted it with the help of their best farmers.

They waited and waited.

Until finally a strange plant had grown.

The witch told them to place the glass coffin into the ground and fight the plant.

For the plant's life-force would be transferred to the prince.

And this is where the legend gets a bit more complicated, because there are three stories about what had happened: The first one is that they were able to beat the plant and the prince came back to life again.

The boy became king and reigned over the kingdom for many years, until it was finally really his time to rest.

In the second one, they were able to revive the boy, but there were things wrong with him. He supposedly didn't age anymore and was seen as a monster. A good king he was even less, like in exchange for his kindness life was given by the plant.

Then in the third and final, the king and queen had failed. The plant had taken the queens life and let the prince remain dead. The king was furious about all of it and fed the witch to the plant and it is said that she cursed the greenhouse.

Even though the stories are all different, the ending is always the same:

Every blood red moon the plant is back, waiting hungry for more or to be defeated and have a deceased person brought back to life again."

I look at our guide, that really can't be more than a fairytale, right?

"Hey, isn't there a blood red moon next week? I heard it from a friend." A classmate next to me exclaims.

Our guide ignores her and continues: "If you don't believe it, that's okay. Though there are more stories of bringing someone back to life with this method. There are multiple accounts of seeing a plant moving around here at night."