FanStory.com - The Well in the Woodsby Gypsy Blue Rose
Entry for the Little Shop of Horrors Club
The Well in the Woods by Gypsy Blue Rose
presentation and story by Gypsy Blue Rose (c) copyright 1/28/25

 
 
 
Every night, Mary’s grandson, James, begged her to tell him a scary story. He loved horror movies and stories.  That particular night, she had a terrifying one.  If James’s mom found out, they would both be in trouble. 
 
 
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Lily moved to her late grandfather’s cabin in the North Maine Woods. It was a thinly populated region. There were no towns or paved roads.  Her late grandfather’s land had passed from generation to generation for decades.  Lily inherited the cabin and every summer she and her son spent their vacations there.

Her son, Adam, loved exploring the woods.  There were all kinds of caves, rivers, and foothills.  He was not supposed to go far but he did.

During one of his adventures, he found an old well. The first thing that came to his mind was how deep the well was. The second was whether something was living inside the hole. 

Adam thought about the best way to find out the well's depth. He guessed he could drop a rock and listen to how long it took to reach the bottom. 
 
 
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Thanks to YouTube, he learned how to use the rock method. 
 
First, use a stopwatch app, then hit “start” at the same moment he releases the rock over the well shaft.
 
Second, keep the timer on until you hear the splash of the rock in the water or the ground. 

Third, stop the timer straight away to check the seconds.
 
Fourth, multiply this number by 24, which gives you a rough estimate of your well depth in feet.

Going by the rock method, the well is roughly around 25 feet deep.
 
 
 
***************
 
 
 
At this point, James stares at his grandmother looking pretty scared. She asks if he wants her to go on and he says yes.
 
 
 
***************
 
 
 
Adam looked inside the well. It was very dark. He could see some vines and dirt around the walls.

Suddenly, something pushed Adam over the edge.  He held on to the vines as he fell. It seemed like he would never touch the ground but he did. 

First, he heard the snap! crack! of his right shinbone.  Then he felt a sharp pain and everything went black. He passed out. 

The bottom had a couple of feet of water, the muddy dirt probably helped to lessen the fall.  It could have been worse.

When he woke up, he heard an animal growling, although it wasn’t quite an animal sound, it was partly human.

The last thing he saw was a pair of yellow eyes and his headless body dropped on the ground.
 
 
 
 
***************
 

James looked terrified.  He asked his grandma, how long can you survive decapitation?

Mary said,  "25 to 30 seconds".

Adam never asked for a scary story again.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Author Notes
Characters:

Mary is telling the story to her grandson, Jason.

Lily is the mom in the story and Adam is her son.


I welcome constructive criticism.

This week's Little Shop of Horror Club's writing prompt is a story with a minimum of 250 words or a poem in any format with a minimum of 100 words. Please use this photo for your image and don't change it. The title of this piece is, "The Well in the Woods". Thanks to Marilyn Hamilton for managing the club event.

Maine came to mind because it's Stephen King's hometown. Most of his stories take place in Maine. Stephen King is an American author. Widely known for his horror novels, and he has been crowned the "King of Horror".

Severed heads could retain consciousness for 25 to 30 seconds. In 1905, a French physician sought to find out. He attended an execution and stood close to the guillotine. He approached as soon as the severed head tumbled into the basket below and called out the man's name.

He claimed the eyelids lifted and the man looked briefly at him before lowering his gaze. The physician called his name again and received a similar response. The man did not respond to a third prompt. The physician concluded based on his observations that a severed head could retain consciousness for 25 to 30 seconds.

The physician might have been correct. Contemporary studies involving animals have recorded brain activity following the sudden severing of the head.

Gypsy
Pictures from my Pinterest account. Poems and presentations by Gypsy Blue Rose (c) copyright 1/28/25


     

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