Patti loved everything about Halloween. Her favorite thing was the pumpkin patch she grew with her dad. Every year since she was a little girl, her dad would till the patch with a hoe, and she would sow the seeds. They watered it and weeded it until the pumpkins grew big enough to carve. Patti would always leave the biggest one in the garden. She would sneak out Halloween night and sit on the pumpkin when she stared at the moon. When Patti was fourteen, she snuck out to the pumpkin patch and never returned.
Her dad searched the countryside for his beloved daughter. It wasn’t until the next spring when the father had lost all hope of finding his daughter. In his despair, he tilled twice as much ground and planted the pumpkin seeds. He tended to the pumpkin patch all summer. He spent every free minute he could spare in the pumpkin patch. The crop of pumpkins was the best he had ever raised.
The father invited his entire family to a Halloween vigil to celebrate and remember Patti. His family and friends arrived and stood in the pumpkin patch with the father.
“When I lost my wife, I swore I would let nothing bad happen to Patti. It was a promise I could not keep. I realize how silly that was. The world is a strange dark place.”
The pumpkin vines moved around the guests. A few panicked and ran out of the patch. Some just watched as they slithered around the ground.
The dad looked down at his feet. “Bob, you were my brother.” The vines wrapped around Bob’s ankles and slithered up his legs. Bob looked at his brother as he peed himself. “Bob, you couldn’t help yourself. You took my Patti from me.” The vines wrapped around Bob’s chest and squeezed him. He gasped for air and tried to scream. “I almost killed you, but Patti convinced me this was better.” The pumpkin vines wrapped around Bob’s arms and neck. The vine across Bob’s mouth muffled his quick breaths. “Her spirit lives here now. She is still with me. She will always be with me.” The vines pulled Bob’s feet into the ground. The vines wrapped around the rest of Bob’s body as they continued to pull him into the dirt.
The father walked over to Bob. His head was the only thing left above the ground. “Burn in Hell brother.”
The rest of the family watched in horror as Bob’s body disappeared into the soil. The bright moon lit the area as they sat and cried for their sweet Patti.
The father passed away a few years later. The pumpkin patch continued to spread and grow the best pumpkins in the county. Some say on a quiet night you can hear Patti and her dad working on the pumpkin patch. No one has ever dared pick a pumpkin for themselves, and no one enters the patch on Halloween.