The Perfect Christmas Tree Has a Curse Attached

When Mrs. Hostutler finally found the perfect Christmas tree, she never stopped to wonder why it was growing out of a grave.

Episode 9 of 12 in the #12NightmaresOfXmas series!
In this episode: “The Perfect Christmas Tree”, “A Rose For Her Hair”, “Eternal Love”, “Guides In The Snow”

SOURCES AND ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS…
All stories in this episode are from the book, “The Spirits of Christmas: The Dark Side of the Holidays” by Sylvia Shults: https://amzn.to/3uT2vMA
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Mister and Missus Hostutler had been out all that winter's day.
They'd been on the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree.
Mister Hostutler Dennis, well, if it were up to him,
he'd have gotten one picked out in an hour, maybe less.
A tree was a tree long as it looked, okay.
But the missus she was mighty picky about some things,

(00:25):
and today she was being almighty picky about her tree.
This one was too tall, that one too short. This
one here was already dropping needles, for heaven's sake. That one, oh,
that one just wasn't full enough. None of the trees
would do at all. Dennis was getting hungry, which was

(00:46):
making him cranky. Truth be told, it was his wife
particularness making him cranky. But he loved his wife and
wanted to see her happy, so he put up with it.
He did manage to convince her that they should give
up their for the perfect Christmas tree just for that afternoon.
They could go out later even the next day. But

(01:07):
miracle of miracles, as they drove home, the wife spotted it. There.
It was the perfect Christmas tree. There was only one
teeny tiny problem with it. It was smack in the
middle of a cemetery, growing right out of a grave.
But it was the perfect tree, the wife insisted. Dennis

(01:32):
couldn't believe she was asking, truly, honestly, telling him to
cut a tree down in a cemetery, but the wife
just had to have it, after all, it was the
perfect Christmas tree. So, grumbling the whole way, Dennis trumped
into the cemetery hack swish, hacked the tree down, dragged

(01:56):
it out at the cemetery and pushed pulled it on
top for the car, and tied it down there. He
got in the car and started it, already thinking of
a hot bowl of soup at home. The road home
was a winding country road. Coming around an a specially
tricky curve, the couple saw something strange. There was a

(02:20):
man standing beside an old fashioned horse and buggy sort
of halfway in the road. Dennis hit the brakes and
they made their way round the fellow blocking the road.
Just as they got past him, though man, horse and
buggy all vanished. Well, of course, that was very strange,

(02:42):
but they didn't stop to investigate. But just before they
reached home, they saw the horse and buggy again, with
the man glaring at them. This time, they saw it
on a ridge, silhouetted against the afternoon sky. They blinked,
and it was gone. When they got home, the husband

(03:03):
untied the tree, brought it in, set it up in
the stand, and gave it a good, healthy drink of
water for its drunk. Then he trudged off to the
kitchen to find something to eat. The wife was over
the moon with her perfect Christmas tree. She dragged out
all the boxes and decorations and set about trimming the tree.

(03:24):
She put on strings of lights and garland and took
out all her favorite ornaments, reliving fond memories of Christmas's
past as she went. It didn't take her a terribly
long time to decorate the tree, and soon she stepped
back to admire her work. That's when she saw it
an ornament she certainly had not put there, something near

(03:48):
the top of her perfect Christmas tree, a small ornament
in the shape of a man and a horse and buggy.
The woman shrieked with horror for her husband to come
to look. They both peered at the ornament and realized
both together that the man looked an awful lot like
the fellow they'd seen twice on their way home, they

(04:12):
got the funny feeling looking at the tiny man that
he wanted to talk. His wife, her voice quivering, asked
him what he wanted, and the little man told them.
In life he'd been a selfish, horrible man. About the
only thing he'd ever done right in his life was
to cut down pine trees and give them away to

(04:34):
folks for Christmas. But that hadn't been enough to see
him from the thought of hell, fire and damnation for
the other bad parts of his life. Many years before,
he'd been killed in a buggy crash. He'd lived just
long enough to breathe his last instructions to his family,
they must plant a pine tree on his grave. The

(04:57):
tree would symbolize his generous acts, and so he'd eventually
work his way into heaven. The day he was buried,
his family honored his last wish and planted a seedling
pine on his grave. Over the years, it had grown
tall and strong. It had grown into the perfect Christmas tree.

(05:19):
And then, after all this time, all those years of
the tree growing, all those years of the man hoping
to get into heaven at last, after all that, this selfish, ignorant,
uncarrying woman had come along and stolen his tree, a
tree that's in life he would willingly have cut down

(05:43):
and given to her. She had cut down his special tree,
there would be no forgiveness for such a crime. Strangely enough,
the man didn't blame the husband, who had actually been
the one to cut down the tree. He knew it
was the wife's doing. The little man's voice grew fainter

(06:04):
as he spoke, as if he were on the verge
of leaving. He blamed her one last time for destroying
his hope of getting into heaven. The last thing the
little man told her was that the wife would suffer
for the rest of her life for her thoughtlessness and disrespect.
But he added a grim note in his voice, she

(06:27):
wouldn't have to suffer for long. When the pine tree
was dead, she too would die. The little Man's prophecy
came true. Despite their best efforts to keep the tree alive,
it died, and a month to the day after the
tree was cut, so did the wife. Welcome Weirdos. I'm

(07:04):
Darren Marler, and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find
stories of the paranormal, supernatural, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained.
If you are new here. Be sure to subscribe to
the podcast on Apple or Android so you don't miss
future episodes. This is a special twelve Nightmares of Christmas episode.

(07:27):
Each day from December thirteenth through December twenty fourth, I'm
posting a new episode of Weird Darkness featuring material from
the new book The Spirits of Christmas The Dark Side
of the Holidays by Sylvia Schultz. Be sure to come
back every day through December twenty fourth for more holiday horrors.
Now bult your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights,

(07:53):
put another log onto the fire, and come with me
into the Weird Darkness. In September nineteen oh eight, the

(08:32):
Harrold family moved into a big, three story mansion in Norfolk, Virginia.
Son Eddie and only child, was given the bedroom on
the third floor at the front of the house, but
as he was away at a private school, he didn't
use the room right away. Another third floor room, the
one down the hallway from Eddie's, was assigned to the

(08:54):
family's two servants to share, but very soon after they'd
moved in, both came to missus Harrel and asked to
be moved to a different room. Something felt wrong in
that room, they said, strange noises on intelligible conversations just
below a whisper furniture moved by itself. Missus Harold's told

(09:17):
the servants they were just being foolish, But being a
kind and considerate employer, she soon relented and let them
move out of the haunted room. They had no problems
in their new quarters. Eddie Harold came home for his
holiday break a week before Christmas. He settled into his
room and slept there peacefully until New Year's Eve. That night,

(09:42):
Eddie was woken during the night by the overhead light
turning on by itself. Groggily, he opened his eyes and
saw a young woman standing next to the window. She
was beautiful, dressed in white, with a brilliant red rose
tucked into her black hair. One hand was at her
temple as if to shield her eyes from the light.

(10:05):
Still half asleep, Eddie mumbled to the girl and asked
what she wanted. At the sound of his voice, the
girl vanished and the lights went out. At breakfast. The
next morning, Eddie told his parents what had happened. Mister
and Missus Harold passed the experience off as a dream,
but too nonchalantly asked Eddie not to mention the dream

(10:30):
to the servants. At Easter, the Harolds had an out
of town guest visiting. While sitting at breakfast, the friend
happened to glance out into the hallway and saw a
young lady in white pass by the open hall door
and go up the stairs. The friend was able to
describe the lady quite clearly. She was wearing a dress

(10:51):
of white lace with caplet sleeves and a train, and
she wore a single red rose in her shining black hair.
Later that night, Eddie saw the ghost for a second time.
This time he managed to ask the young lady who
she was and what she wanted. The spirit again vanished,

(11:11):
but at the same instant he heard a woman's voice
urge wait. After that, the apparition was only seen at
the Christmas holidays. The last time anyone saw the pretty
ghost was during Eddie's senior year. Family was visiting for
the holidays and Eddie's cousin was supposed to sleep in

(11:32):
the servant's old room, but during the holiday party, the
men of the family had used it as their smoking room.
Saw Missus Harold decided to put the cousin in Eddie's
bedroom instead. Eddie agreed to sleep in the room the
servants so feared, the Harolds decided not to tell the
cousin about the ghost in Eddie's room, whooping she would

(11:54):
sleep soundly, Eddie, as agreed, went to sleep in the
servant's old room down the hall. He fell asleep without incident,
but once again he was woken up in the middle
of the night by the overhead lights coming on, and
once again he saw the young woman in white standing
by the window. This time her hands were over her face.

(12:19):
Eddie quietly got out of bed, but as soon as
his feet hit the floor, the spirit was gone. After
yet another visits from the beautiful young ghost, Eddie couldn't sleep.
He sat up in a chair and read for a while.
He nodded off over the book and slept through the
rest of the night in the chair. At breakfast, the

(12:40):
cousin told the heralds about the strange vision she'd had
the night before. She woke up to find her overhead
light on. She could see through the walls that separated
her room from the wan Eddie was using. You were
in your night shirt and you were sitting in a
chair with a book in your hands. There was a
woman in white standing behind, as if she was reading

(13:01):
over your shoulder. The cousin described the woman exactly the
way the easter guest had done years before. The rose
fell out of her hair. The cousin added he was
lying on the floor by the chair, and then the
whole scene vanished. After breakfast, Eddie and his father snuck
upstairs to the room where Eddie had spent the night.

(13:25):
On the floor next to the chair was a fresh
cut red rose. Shortly after this, mister Harold passed away unexpectedly,
and the family moved out of the house. Eddie never
found out who the young lady was or why she
had appeared to him, but he kept the rose in

(13:45):
a bell jar. He wrote that half a century later,
the stem and leaves had withered, but the blossom looked
as fresh as if it had been cut that day
instead of being dropped by a ghost fifty years before.
He never removed the glass cover or even thought of
touching the roses satin knee petals, for fear it would

(14:08):
crumble into dust. Jubil Reeves was a mountain man, and
he had a mountain sized heart too. He was the friendliest,
kindest man of anyone in those hills and hollers. Jubel

(14:30):
was always ready to lend his neighbors a helping hand.
But he saved his truest devotion for his family, his
beautiful wife, Rebecca, and their four children. The little ones
ranged from ten years old down to the three year
old baby. There were two girls, Hannah and Sarah, and
two boys, Laban and David. Jubel doated on his children

(14:52):
and their mother. He was constantly doing little things to
show his affection for them. He dug flower beds for
Rebecca around their cabin and filled them with the colors
of nature, and picked bouquets for her every time a
new blossom open. He carved little toys for the children
from chunks of wood, smoothing the splinters and rough edges

(15:12):
carefully mindful of tender little hands. He hung swings in
the trees so the children would have a lovely place
to play. Whenever he made the trek down to the
General's store for supplies, he made sure to pick something
up for his family. Penny candy for the children and
a bolt of cloth for Rebecca. She was an excellent

(15:33):
seamstress and took pride in keeping her growing family well clothed.
When they attended Sunday services in their small mountain church,
Jewbel would sit eyes closed, a smile on his face
as he listened to Rebecca lift her voice in worshipful song,
as if he were hearing angels sing. Jeubil and Rebecca

(15:56):
had been married for about twelve years when tragedy came
to them. During an exceptionally cold winter, influenza struck the
mountain community. Jubel and Rebecca nursed other families until the evening.
They came home and found their own children sick. Little David,
the baby of the family, died before morning. The next day,

(16:19):
Rebecca fell ill at about the time they lost David.
Ten year old Hannah passed next. Rebecca lived long enough
to know that Hannah had died before she herself passed away.
Left without his partner and soulmate, Jubil tried to keep
his six year old Sarah an eight year old Laban alive,

(16:40):
but the strain of grief and loss was too much
for him, and he took sick as well. By the
time the doctor came, Sarah and Laban were gone, and
Jubel was delirious. With fever. Jubil lay in a coma
for a week before his fever broke. During that time,
his neighbors did what folks back then did for each other.

(17:02):
They took care of the laying out and the burying
of Jubal's loved ones, but Jubel was far too sick
to say his final goodbyes. It was another few days
before Jeubel was well enough to open his eyes and
ask about Rebecca and the children as gently as they could.
The neighbors broke the shattering news. Rebecca, Hannah, Laban, Sarah,

(17:27):
and David were all dead, buried in the yard near
one of the flower beds Jubel had put in for
his wife's enjoyment. Jubel didn't believe them. He refused to
believe them. The doctor pronounced Jubel out of danger. The
neighbors went home, their sad duty done. If Jubel lived

(17:49):
alone in the cabin for a while, they figured he
would in time come to accept his loss. But it
was not so easy as that. That spring, Jubil Reeves
came down from his cabin to the general store. He
was still very weak and deathly pale, but he was
determined to make the trip to the store. His reason

(18:12):
for it became clear when he asked the storekeeper for
five yards of gingum cloth. Rebecca wants to make new
spring dresses for the girls, Jubell told the astonished storekeeper.
They're just growing like weeds, and best throw in some
stick candy for little ones too. The storekeeper, startled, asked

(18:33):
Jewbal if he really wanted all that after what had happened.
Jubal gave the man a puzzled look in return, as
if he honestly had no idea what the man was
talking about. The storekeeper didn't have the heart to try
to explain. In the end, he just sold Jubal the
cloth and the candy, along with his other supplies. As

(18:56):
time went on, Jubell became even more fixed in his delusion. Occasionally,
some neighbor would try to convince him that Rebecca and
the children were waiting for him in heaven, but Jebel
would never listen to such talk. He lived as if
Rebecca and their children were right there with him, and

(19:16):
they were living their lives all together as a family.
He'd wash clothes and hang them to dry. He cooked
for a family of six. He'd set the table for
the meal, then wash all the dishes afterwards. And once
a year he'd ask a neighbor woman to sew new
dresses for Rebecca, Sarah, and Hannah, but always in the

(19:38):
sizes they had been when they died. The neighbor woman
was kind and patient, and she faithfully made the dresses
as Jubel asked. Many years later, when Jubel was old
and feeble, a stranger happened to pass by the cabin.
It was Christmas time and the stranger was on his

(19:59):
way to a near by home and needed directions. He
knocked on the door and Jubell let him in. The
cabin was brightly lit and freshly cleaned for the holidays.
The stranger could see that Jebel was in the middle
of setting the table for six. The cabin was festively decorated,
and the good smells of cooking filled the air. Jubel

(20:20):
was dressed in clean clothes, ready for a holiday celebration.
He gave the stranger the directions he needed, and the
man went on his way. The stranger passed by Jubal's
cabin again on his way down the mountain. A couple
of hours later, he was about to knock on the
door again. He thought he might wish the old man
a merry Christmas and maybe warm himself at Jubel's fire

(20:44):
for a bit, But something stopped him from raising his
knuckles to the door. He could hear voices in the cabin,
the giggles of young children, Jeubell's happy voice as he
played with them. Then a woman's voice, the most beautiful
he ever heard, came to his ears. She was singing
an old mountain carol, and it sounded like angels singing.

(21:09):
The stranger decided not to interrupt such a cozy family gathering,
so he let his hand fall and turned away. He
rode back down the mountain. It was some time later
that he heard the story of Jubal's losses and of
his insistence that his family still lived. That was Jeubal's

(21:30):
last Christmas with his family. He died at the end
of summer the next year, when the leaves began to turn.
His neighbors found him sitting in a chair near Rebecca's
flower beds. They buried him with his family right there
in the yard. Mountain Legends say that maybe Jubal's devotion

(21:51):
to his family was so strong that it brought them
back from beyond the veil to spend that one last
Christmas with him. And when Mountain want to pay someone
the very highest compliment, they say they have a love
like the love of Jewbilereaves. It was just a couple

(22:31):
days before Christmas eighteen sixty. Doctor John O'Brien, a country
doctor practicing in rural Missouri, had just sat down to
supper with his wife, Elizabeth. The meal Elizabeth had made
was perfect fair for a cold, blustery winter's night, hot
fried chicken, buttery mashed potatoes, and bread fresh out of

(22:52):
the oven. But doctor O'Brien could only pick at his food.
The young doctor was famous in the area for his tuition,
the sense that went far beyond duty to his patients,
and that intuition was niggling at him now, telling him
to visit one of his patients, Missus Kilpatrick, had heart

(23:13):
trouble and if she was in distress, care couldn't wait
until morning. O'Brien set his fork down and explained to
Elizabeth that he had to go to see his patient.
Elizabeth nodded her understanding, but cast a worried glance at
the snow spitting against the window. O'Brien dressed warmly for

(23:33):
the ride, but even so, the blizzard's winds swirled fiercely
around him, Cold fingers seeking away into his heavy overcoat
and under his thick woolen scarf. He made his way
to the stable and hitched his sturdy horse to the buggy.
The howling winds and driving snow hit him full force.

(23:53):
When he turned out of his lane and onto the road.
O'Brien gripped the reins with his fur lined gloves and
urged the horse forward, praying that the beast could keep
his footing on the slippery road. The familiar landmarks were
buried under drifts of snow. O'Brien peered through these swirling flakes,
trying to see the turn he had to take to

(24:15):
get to the zigzag path to the Kilpatrick's house. His
sense of duty to his patient throbbed, but the storm
raged fiercely around him. If he took the wrong road,
he'd be wandering the countryside for hours in the cold
and dark. Should he just give up and head for home?

(24:36):
Just then he heard a noise under the howl of
the wind. It sounded like the barking of a dog,
A big dog. No, not just one, there were two
of them. Then, in the shallow pool of yellow light
cast by his buggy lantern, O'Brian saw them. They were
two big black dogs, God only knew what breed on

(24:59):
each side of his horse. The horse snorted and stamped,
but didn't bolt from the huge beasts. The dogs barked
again and bounded off through the snow, their shaggy black
bodies easy to see as they moved through the white drifts.
They must belong to some family around here, O'Brien thought,
as he touched the horse into a fast walk. He

(25:22):
didn't remember the Kilpatricks having big dogs like these, but
maybe they were working animals not allowed indoors. The dogs
kept up their barking, looking back over their shoulders, almost
as if they were making sure O'Brien was following them.
The doctor decided to trust his intuition once again, and
he followed the big black dogs. The dogs waited patiently

(25:46):
for the buggy to catch up, leading the horse down
the winding road to the Kilpatrick's home. O'Brien doubted he
would have found the turn off without the dog's help. Finally,
a light glimmered in the distance and the doctor allowed
himself a sigh of relief. Moments later he recognized the
Kilpatrick's house. He pulled up, parked his buggy in the

(26:09):
shed with a pat for his faithful horse, and went
up and knocked on the door. Mister Kilpatrick opened the door,
Doctor O'Brien, What on earth? The doctor shrugged out if
his snow crusted overcoat. I had a feeling, that's all.
How is missus Kilpatrick not well? I'm afraid that intuition
of yours it's sure a blessing. Where are you? Thanks

(26:31):
for coming out on such a vicious night. The doctor
warmed his hands briefly at the fire, then went in
to see his patient. As her husband had said, Missus
Kilpatrick was doing poorly. Her breathing was labored and her
color wasn't good. O'Brien reached for her wrists and felt
for her pulse. Thank god you're here, doctor, The woman mumbled,

(26:55):
I had the strangest dream about you. Dreamed you were
driving in a storm with two great black beasts at
your side. Her voice trailed off. As O'Brien stared at
her numbly, he noted her low, thready pulse. He turned
to his bag and rummaged through it looking for the
packet of heart medicine. He mixed it with water and

(27:17):
eased his patient up to drink it. Soon, her breathing eased,
her pulse grew steady, and she drifted into sleep. It
was then that O'Brien realized that he hadn't heard the
dog's bark in some time. As he gratefully accepted a
late meal from mister Kilpatrick, O'Brien asked him about his dogs.

(27:37):
The man shrugged, he didn't own dogs like that, nor
did anyone in the area. The doctor spent the night
watching over his patient. The next morning, Christmas Eve, she
was well out of danger. As O'Brien drove home, he
kept a sharp watch for the big black dogs. He

(27:57):
even whistled and shouted for them a few times, but
they had vanished with the blizzard's winds. You never saw
the dogs again. If you enjoyed this episode, consider sharing

(28:19):
it with others and help build the Weird Darkness community
by converting your friends and family into weirdos as well.
This special episode is part of my twelve Nightmares of
Christmas series. The collaboration with paranormal blogger and author Sylvia Schultz.
The stories I used in this episode are from her
book The Spirits of Christmas, The Dark Side of the Holidays,

(28:42):
and you can find a link to that book in
the show notes. Do you have a dark tale to tell?
Share your story at Weird Darkness dot com and I
might use it in a future episode. Music in this
episode is provided by Midnight Syndicate. Find a link to
purchase and download this dark, creepy Christmas music in the

(29:02):
show notes. I'm your creator and host, Darren Marler. Merry
Christmas and thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness