Down There

Down There is a scary story about a man who is digging a well when he finds something strange going on at the bottom of the hole. This is inspired by an old episode of Amazing Stories called “Thanksgiving” and a classic short story by Howard Rosleth called “Hey You Down There”.

There was a man and a woman who lived on a run-down farm in the middle of nowhere. The husband was a mean and cantankerous old man who took pleasure in making his wife’s life miserable. He seldom spoke to her and when she said anything, he would tell her to shut up.

One day, the man was digging a well on his property and his wife was helping him. All of a sudden, the bottom dropped out of the deep hole. The man was puzzled and wanted to see what had happened, so he told his wife to go back to the house and fetch a flashlight.

When she came running back with it, he switched the flashlight on, tied it to a rope and lowered it down into the hole. It went down and down, but no matter how much rope he let out, it never seemed to reach the bottom.

The man started pulling the rope back up, but it got caught on something. He started pulling on it, but it felt like something was pulling back. Frustrated, the man gave it a big tug and suddenly, the rope was almost yanked out of his hands.

Eventually, he managed to pull the rope up, but when he got to the end of it, the flashlight was gone. Instead, there was a small, white pouch attached to it. With trembling hands, he opened it and to his surprise, a chunk of gold tumbled out along with a handwritten note.

He picked up the note and tried to read it, but it was written in a language he couldn’t decipher, so he tossed it away. He told his wife he was going into town to buy more flashlights and ordered her to keep an eye on the hole while he was away.

As soon as he was gone, she hurried back to the house and rummaged through the cupboards looking for a dictionary. Then, she took a big piece of ham out of the fridge. She also grabbed a pen and paper and wrote a note. When she returned to the hole, she put all these items in a bucket, tied it to a rope and lowered it down.

The woman waited for a while and then she pulled the rope back up. It seemed much heavier and twice she had to stop to take a rest. When she finally hauled the bucket back up, she was shocked to see that it was filled to the brim with sparkling jewels. There was also another note and this time, it was in English.

It read: “Send more food”.

She hurried back to the house and hid the jewels where she was sure her husband wouldn’t find them.

When the man returned, the back of his pick-up truck was filled with flashlights. He put a few of them in the bucket and lowered them down, but when he pulled the rope back up, he was outraged to find that the bucket wasn’t filled with gold or jewels, just a few broken flashlights.

He flew into a violent rage, stomping on the remains of the flashlights and cursing at the top of his lungs. Then, he ran back to the house and fetched his shotgun.

He told his wife he was going to go down into the hole and give them a piece of his mind. She begged him not to go, but he was so furious, he wouldn’t listen. He attached a big oil drum to the winch on the back of his pick-up truck. Then, he climbed into the drum.

He gave his wife orders to lower him down, and after ten minutes, bring him back up again. She threw the switch and the man was lowered down in the oil drum.

The woman stared at her watch as ten whole minutes passed, then she flicked the switch and the winch began to drag the oil drum back to the surface. She peered into the drum, but her husband wasn’t there. Instead, it was filled with gold bars, jewelry and coins. Sitting on top of them was another note.

It read: “Thanks for the meat”.