Red Curtains

The Red Curtains is a spooky story for children about a poor family who buy new curtains. It is based on an urban legend from Russia.

In a small village in Russia, there lived a family of three. There was a father, a mother and a young daughter. The family were very poor and couldn’t afford a nice place to live. They all lived and slept in the same small room.

One day, the parents managed to save some money and decided to buy new curtains to brighten up the room. The mother sent her daughter to the store and told her to buy the cheapest curtains she could find.

When the girl got to the store, she saw that they had all types of beautiful curtains. However, all of them were too expensive.
The saleswoman told her that she had a special offer. Two sets of cheap curtains for the price of one. Red curtains and blue curtains.

The young girl paid for the curtains and, as she was leaving, the saleswoman warned her that the red curtains should only be hung during the day and the blue curtains should only be hung at night.

By the time the girl reached home, she had become confused and gave her mother the wrong instructions. During the day, the mother hung up the blue curtains and, when night fell, she hung up the red curtains.

It was after midnight and the family were all lying in bed, fast asleep. Suddenly, a deep voice came from the red curtains.

“Father, Father, wake up!” said the voice.

The father woke up.

“Father, father, get out of bed!”

The father got out of bed.

“Father, father, get dressed!”

The father got dressed.

“Father, father, come over to the window!”

The father went over to the window.

“Father, father, stand on the chair!”

The father stood up on the chair and the red curtains strangled him.

“Mother, Mother, wake up!” said the curtains.

The mother woke up.

“Mother, Mother, get out of bed!”

The mother got out of bed.

“Mother, Mother, get dressed!”

The mother got dressed.

“Mother, Mother, come over to the window!”

The mother went over to the window.

“Mother, Mother, stand on the chair!”

The mother stood up on the chair and the red curtains strangled her.

“Little Girl, Little Girl, wake up!” said the curtains.

The little girl was always slow to do anything, so when she heard the voice, she just turned over in bed and fell asleep again.

“Little Girl, Little Girl, get out of bed!”

The little girl woke up and rubbed her eyes.

“Little Girl, Little Girl, get dressed!”

The little girl rolled out of bed and stood up.

“Little Girl, Little Girl, come over to the window!”

The little girl struggled to put her clothes on.

“Little Girl, Little Girl, stand on the chair!”

The little girl slowly walked over to the window. The red curtains reached out and strangled themselves. The girl was shocked and grabbed the phone to call the police. She told them she was all alone in the apartment and her parents had disappeared.

When the police arrived, they pulled off the curtains and discovered a large hole in the wall. Cautiously peering inside, they saw three buckets. The first was full of human blood, the second was piled high with human skin and in the third there was a pile of bones.

On the floor beside the buckets, lay the dead body of an old woman. She had choked herself to death.