The Story:
The summer of 1960 in Austin brought many changes, some good...some
not good at all. It was during that summer that an intelligent
and mysterious young man by the name of Dr. Thomas Killingsly
moved to town and built a small garden shop on South Congress
Avenue. Nobody knew where Killingsly was from, or really anything
about him except that he was almost never seen during the
day and he didn't have any friends in town. His nursery was
run by an odd group of very primitive looking people who,
although not the sort you'd invite to a dinner party, seemed
to know just about everything about growing beautiful flowers
and tasty vegetables. In fact, it didn't take long before
everyone in town was talking about the stunning plants and
gardens growing at the little nursery with the strange name:
Grew Some Gardens. Soon everyone from the mayor to the governor
was visiting the store to buy garden plants and a bag or two
of Killingsly's famous compost. The compost, it was rumored,
was so good it was almost magical. There was hardly a yard
in the whole town that didn't have at least a few bags of
the stuff scattered about, and judging by the gigantic flowers,
fruits, and vegetables found in every neighborhood, those
rumors of magic were starting to sound true. Thanks to the
Dr.'s mysterious compost, by the following summer Austin looked
like one big garden. That's when things started to change...for
the worse.
By the fall of 1961 the Austin-American Statesman had run
a handful of back page stories about large holes being discovered
in area cemeteries. "It's like somebody got caught right
in the middle of robbing a grave" said Police Chief Darren
Gilbert. "The strange thing is, there are so many holes,
sometimes half a dozen in one cemetery...and there ain't no
dirt piles. I mean, where'd the dirt go?" Police investigations
into these graveyard events only hit dead end after dead end.
With no clues, no suspects, and no motives, the authorities
were beginning to grow frustrated as more and more cemeteries
were being excavated almost nightly. Nearly two years passed
with no breaks in the case, and then something happened. On
the night of June 13th, 1962, Austin Police Dispatch received
a call from Officer Christopher "Crawfish" Chirafis,
who was on stakeout at Shady Acres Cemetery east of Austin
on FM 973. The following is a transcript from that night's
radio transmission between Officer Chirafis and the dispatcher,
Amber Tronco:
Dispatch: "Officer Chirafis,
this is dispatch, go ahead."
Chirafis: "Report of possible
illegal activity at Shady Acres Cemetery, request for backup."
Dispatch: "Crawfish, what's
going on out there?"
Chirafis: "Uh, not too sure
Amber. Two suspects, possibly white males, carrying shovels.
They spotted me, I gave chase, lost 'em in the woods. They're
headed toward
the Sherman farm, looks like---wait a sec-what the hell
is that..."
Dispatch: "Crawfish, come in. Lost you there. Come
in Crawfish."
Chirafis: (Static) ....VINES!! (static)
...THE CAR!! (static, several seconds) ...BACKUP NOW!!!
OH GOD, JESUS HELP MEEEEE (scream, followed by wet crunching).
By the time backup arrived, the scene
was as shocking as it was puzzling. Officer Chirafis' car
had been completely engulfed in what was later identified
as Alabama Supplejack, a Texas native vine known for its
rapid growth and high tensile strength. Harvard forensic
botanist Jill Lavigne later described the unusual plant
behavior as being unlike anything she had ever seen or studied
in her entire career: "It was as if the vine produced
eight to ten years of growth in less than a half an hour.
That's just---well, it's just unheard of."
And then there was the body.
After several hours of sawing, chopping,
and prying the vine loose from the driver's side of the
car, police were able to remove the door and take a look
inside. Strangely, no officer present that night ever returned
to duty. In fact only one, Deputy Matt Welch, ever spoke
another word. To this day, Officer Welch resides at Happy
Endings convalescent home, sits in the same chair every
day, looking out the same window, eyes wide, rocking back
and forth, nervously repeating the words "Ate him...ate
him, cleaned the bones...ate him."
After that, life in Austin slowly began
to return to normal, mostly because the graveyard digging
had come to a complete stop. It was as if whoever or whatever
had been doing it knew there was too much attention to continue,
at least for the time being. By the following spring the
horrible events that took place at Shady Acres Cemetery
had all but slipped into the realm of fairy tales and legends,
at least in the hopeful minds of Austinites.
But like all things, hope dies.
April, 1963 Yard of the Month winner Milton
Allen had hope written all over his face the day he decided
to buy ten bags of Dr. Killingsly's "Dirt to Die For"
to put out in his flower beds. You see, winning Yard of
the Month was no
Gruesome Gardens: Only Fear Grows Here!
In 1982 "Grew Some" Gardens opened for business
as Austin's newest home of exotic plants and garden accessories.
"Our plants are not your typical garden variety but they
have character!" stated owner Tom "Green Thumbs"
Killingsly. A few months after opening, local residents began
complaining of foul odors emitting from the garden center
as well as torturous shrieks that could be heard throughout
the early morning hours. The exotic plants inside the garden
center had lost their beautiful flowers and were spraying
horrid blasts of a putrid oily substance. The now thick tangled
weave of vines had grown at an uncontrollable rate and started
growing beyond the garden center property.
During this time many of the garden center
staff became deathly ill and suffered mysterious medical
symptoms including strange rashes, chronic bleeding and
skin pigment turning green. Owner Tom "Green Thumbs"
Killingsly seemed unconcerned of what was happening in the
garden center and continued to work tirelessly in his green
house creating a new "breed" of plants.
Just six short months after opening, the
city of Austin forced Grew Some Gardens to close and owner
Tom "Green Thumbs" Killingsly mysteriously disappeared.
The city destroyed all the plants in the garden center however,
weeks later the plants started growing back and the smells
and shrieks were worse that ever. Many local residents abandoned
their homes and after several unsuccessful attempts to eradicate
the plants, the city simply decided to ignore the now abandoned
neighborhood.
Many rumors continue to circulate as to
what has now become know as "Gruesome Gardens".
Some say the exotic plants were from a small remote island
in the south pacific that was used to test chemical weapons.
Others think "Green Thumbs" Killingsly was injecting
human DNA into the plants.
It's been close to 25 years since anyone
has dared journey through "Gruesome Gardens".
Are the horrid smells still there? Are the plants really
"alive" and "screaming"? Is "Green
Thumbs" still at work in the green house?
You may want to reconsider stopping
to smell the roses during this walk in the park...
Go
to Wicked Sensations
|
