Skip to main content

short stories - Old story about mysterious creatures at the bottom of a well that have a taste for "live turkey" (i.e. human flesh)?


Plot Summary/Details



The basic premise of this one (as best that I can remember it) is that a farmer, who has recently dug a new well, has discovered some sort of strange beings living underground near his well. I don't remember the details of how, but they communicate through notes lowered/raised in the well's bucket. At one point, the farmer and his wife send down a roast turkey dinner, which the beings below enjoy.


For reasons I cannot remember, the farmer either becomes angry with, or exceptionally curious about, the beings below. He descends the well one evening, possibly armed with a shotgun, possibly not.


The chilling twist to the story comes the next day went the wife retrieves the bucket from the well. The beings write that they really enjoyed the live turkey she sent them, and would like more. The live turkey, of course, was the farmer, who was eaten by the creatures below.


Other Details


I remember not only reading this one as a kid, but also seeing a tv show adaptation of it. I thought it was the old Rod Serling show Night Gallery, but I have not been able to find that particular story yet. I also seem to remember hearing the story told at summer camp a few times, which makes me wonder if the story has its roots in some old story/legend.


Timeframe of Publication


I'd guess no later than the 1970s, probably a lot earlier.



Answer



A little bit of research suggests this story is, or is an adaption of, "Hey You, Down There" by Harold Rolseth. According to IMDB, it was written for a black and white short, under the name "Ceux d'en bas", in 1983.


A written short also appears in the book "What's So Funny?", also credited to Harold Rolseth.




Here are some points that share similarity with your question:



  • A farmer digs a new well and discovers some sort of civilization of 'monsters'.

  • The farmer and his wife/daughter feed the 'monsters' by lowering down a turkey in a bucket.

  • The 'monsters' communicate back with the farmer using notes.

  • The farmer descends into the well, curious about the 'monsters'.

  • The 'monsters' send a note back up the well, thanking the wife for the delicious meal.

  • The short was adapted for TV (although the credited TV show is not Night Gallery, but Amazing Stories).




This story has been asked about a couple of times, here on Sci Fi. In one question, the answer points to an episode from a mid-80s TV series called "Amazing Stories", entitled "Thanksgiving".





It appears that this story was not originally a legend, but it has been retold in several variations. In one variation, the farmers simply feed the monsters out of good will, for example. In another, the monsters put gold and jewels in the bucket, in exchange for the food.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...
Post a Comment
Read more

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more