Halloween is upon us, and during this ghoulish season what could be better than some scary, spooky, or ghostly stories? There’s only one thing we can think of: ghost stories about gardening! Believe it or not, there’s a sub-genre of ghost story that feature gardening and landscaping. Some real classics of the genre fall into this category, so if you’re looking for reading material to get you in a Halloween mood, we’d like to offer the following suggestions. Let’s dig in and explore the world of spooky stories about gardening!
“The Lawnmower Man” by Stephen King (1975): Not to be confused with the movie of similar title—the two have nothing to do with each other plot-wise—King’s 1975 short story is a true horror gem with a shocking reveal. Hiring someone to mow your lawn may seem like the most mundane thing in the world, but King taps into visceral horror and ancient evil to create something special.
“The Man Who the Trees Loved” by Algernon Blackwood (1912): Blackwood’s story delves into a kind of psychological horror that will speak to those of us who love plants: a man develops a special connection with trees and starts to see them as conscious, sentient beings. This creates tension with is wife and community as things get steadily more supernatural and sanity comes into question. This one’s difficult to find in print but since it’s public domain you can read it for free at Project Gutenberg.
“Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844): Many of us in the US had to read The Scarlet Letter in high school, but Hawthorne’s body of work is much more diverse. “Rappaccini’s Daughter” is a classic gothic tale: a medical researcher in Italy has a garden of poisonous plants, which his daughter tends as she grows up. When she falls in love, however, the true effects of her father’s work are revealed with devastating consequences. Less supernatural and more plant-focused, this might just scratch the spooky-season itch for many garden lovers.
“The Flowering of the Strange Orchid” by H.G. Wells (1894): If Stephen King could find horror in mowing the lawn, Wells does him one better by making an orchid terrifying. When a reclusive orchid collector brings home a new flower, his housekeeper immediately finds the thing repugnant and suspicious. She’s more right than she knows, as this new species of orchid has a horrifying secret that brings both danger and some much-needed excitement into their household.
“The Seed from the Sepulcher” by Clark Ashton Smith (1933): Much like the titular sepulcher, this story is a forgotten treasure that contains a deeply personal kind of horror. Two botanists on an expedition in the rain forests of Venezuela search for rare flowers but find something much more horrific and invasive in a hidden ruin deep in the jungle. The slow-burn realization of what’s happening only adds to the creepy tension and the horror of the reveal, so we recommend this one to readers who appreciate that kind of story.
This is a special time of the year, when we can bring a touch of the macabre and creepy to everything we do and celebrate how much fun an innocent scare can be. We hope the stories we’ve recommended here touch on your love of both spooky tales and gardening. If you have any scary stories about gardening or plants that you’d like to recommend, please get in touch! Gardzen is all about community and we love to hear from you! Until then—Happy Halloween!
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