Imagine you’re a teenager sitting around a campfire, it is a dark and stormy night. Your teenage counselor begins a story that makes the hair on your arms stand up and sends shivers down your spine. They hold a flashlight under their face, casting eerie shadows as they reach the scariest part- and then suddenly, you hear something rustling in the trees. Everyone lets out a collective scream! That is precisely the feeling we want to embody in our campfire tale today! 

Of course, fairytales and folklore may be the origins of a lot of spine-tingling tales, but nowadays we rely more on urban legends and paranormal tales to feature in our ghost stories. This liminal space between horror and lore is one that animated shows like Gravity Falls, Martin Mystery, Scooby-Doo, Dead End: Paranormal Park explore. There are also shows like Apple TV’s new The Sisters Grim and Hilda that lean more into the lore and less into the horror, but still manage to give us that breathless feeling of modern monsters coming to life. 

Despite all that, there’s still nothing quite like a classic campfire horror story told under the stars. Stories told around the fire are part of nearly every culture across the globe.

Anthropologist Polly W. Wiessner explored this in her fascinating article, “Embers of Society: Firelight talk among the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen’ which examines how fire influenced the evolution of storytelling and culture through what she calls “night talk.” During the day, people focused on practical matters, but at night, conversation shifted to imagination through singing, storytelling, and dancing.

In North America, the tradition of campfire storytelling likely came from a blend of influences. Indigenous peoples passed down oral tales and legends, many of which included cryptids and spirits- some we’ve discussed in previous podcast episodes. Later, settlers and immigrants in the 1800’s brought their own storytelling traditions. This period also overlapped with the rise of Victorian horror writing, which began around 1837 and shaped much of Western horror culture. We covered Charles Dickens’ “A Ghost Story of Christmas” for a Christmas Ghosts episode that you can check out here.

Ghost stories themselves have a long history, especially when it comes to angry spirits. One of the earliest recorded ghost tales comes from Pliney the Younger who recounts a story about Greek philosopher Athenodorus’s stay in a haunted house where he encountered a ghost. 

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The Minnesota Maggot of Death

This story is our retelling of the Minnesota Maggot of Death by Doc Forgey which can be found in his book: Classic campfire stories : forty spooky tales as illustrated by Paul G. Hoffman. 

Every small town has a ghost story or an apparition. There are the ghouls of Georgetown, the bog monsters of Florida, and of course, Hastings, Minnesota is no different with its murder maggot. Our story begins with my old friend who had taken me to his hometown and was showing me around. It was a quaint town with all the usual trappings, except for an overgrown church cemetery. Compared to the glossy high street, this place was downright wild. Brambles and bushes had overtaken the tombstones that looked so old, they would probably turn to dust if you breathed on them. 

This was a mighty odd thing. Even if all the inhabitants of the graves had long been forgotten, surely someone would have thought to tidy up the cemetery now and then. 

“Weren’t the townsfolk worried about angry, untended ghosts and ghouls,” I asked my friend.

In response, he pointed out a particularly mangled-looking grave and lowered his voice. That was when he told me about the maggoty creature said to haunt this graveyard.

It was a dark and stormy night…

As the story goes, the first person to see the maggot was the baker, Mr. Thomas. He had been working late one night, preparing the breads and buns for the next day, and was hurrying home around midnight. As he passed the cemetery, a soft slithering sound caught his attention. Horrified and transfixed, Thomas watched as a large, oozing blob writhed and wriggled its way out of the freshly dug grave of Mr. Jenkins. It grew larger and larger until it thrashed free from the ground.

When it finally emerged, the giant maggot turned toward Mr. Thomas with a grotesquely human expression, almost one of recognition. Then, as if dismissing him as uninteresting, the creature began to slither away, its slimy body glowing faintly in the moonlight.

It wriggled down the street, leaving a trail of glistening slime behind. Thomas followed at a distance, his heartbeat pounding in his ears as he trailed the ghastly thing. The trail ended at the postmaster’s door, and Thomas decided to leave it be until morning.

The Maggot’s First Victims

The next day, Thomas recounted the events to his wife and best friend. His wife told him the postmaster’s entire family had strangely fallen ill. The three of them decided to keep watch that night, determined to see the creature again.

Once more, in the pale glow of the moonlight, the horrible maggot slithered out of Mr. Jenkins’s grave. It turned its groove-etched head toward them and seemed to stare directly into their hiding place. The Thomases and their friend held their breath, not daring to move. Yet again, the creature ignored them and began its slow crawl into town. They followed the trail, and once more, it ended at the postmaster’s house.

They decided to warn the family in the morning, afraid the creature might lash out if it was caught that night. 

However, they were too late. The next morning, when Thomas stopped by the postmaster’s house, he was greeted by four shrouds and the town doctor. All four family members had died during the night. Since there were no visible injuries, the doctor declared the mysterious deaths to be caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

The Maggot Strikes Again

However, once again, they were too late. That morning, the principal was found dead. The doctor declared it was also from a supposed carbon monoxide poisoning Distraught and feeling guilty, the Thomases continued their nightly watch, determined to stop the next death as soon as they could figure out where the creature was headed.

But nothing happened that night. Or the next. They kept returning for the next two weeks, hoping the thing had finally disappeared.

It Came from the Grave

They didn’t have to wait long. On the tenth night, the soft sound of dirt shifting broke the silence. The wriggling, slimy Maggot emerged once more from the grave. It ignored the Thomases and began its slow, sickening crawl straight into town. To their horror, it was slithering toward their home. Mr. Thomas recognized its destination instantly. He and his wife ran as fast as they could, snatched up their five-year-old son, and took refuge at their friend’s house. No one slept a wink.

The next morning, they returned home to find their pet dog dead. The doctor, once again, declared the cause to be carbon monoxide poisoning.

Filled with fear and fury, the Thomases and their friend decided to end the nightmare once and for all. They would dig up Mr. Jenkins’s grave and burn whatever lay inside.

At sunset, armed with kerosene and shovels, they began to dig. Tiny maggots writhed in the dirt, scattering as they were exposed. The deeper they dug, the fatter and more grotesque the maggots became. Finally, their shovels struck the coffin. Mr. Thomas pried it open.

Corpses and Maggots

Inside, Mr. Jenkins’s rotting corpse lurched forward as if to sit up, and all three screamed in horror. But it wasn’t the corpse moving- it was the writhing mass of glowing maggots inside his decaying flesh. The creatures pushed against his skin and clothes, forcing the body to twitch in grotesque imitation of life.

Mrs. Thomas slammed the lid shut and their friend poured kerosene over the coffin. They set it ablaze, watching the fire consume everything until nothing was left but ash and cinders. Then they filled the grave and left the cemetery in silence.

Later, Mr. Thomas found out that Mr. Jenkins had problems with the Postmaster and School Principal before he died. But then why did the maggot attack his house? 

He couldn’t recall ever having even spoken more than a few words to Mr. Jenkins in his entire life, but then slowly, he remembered that first night at the graveyard when the creature had looked at him. In the moonlight, its horrible face looked right at him. As if it recognized him. 

And that is why no one dares disturb the graveyard, my friend told me. For fear of waking the Minnesota Maggot. 

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Looking for more tales of monsters and mystery? Well we have you covered with our collection of ghosts tales. For our full episode list, click here.

• Beware of Auntie Tiger: Taiwanese Tale
• Christmas Ghosts: Charles Dickens
• Death’s Messengers: A Grimm Tale
• Mythical Monster Mash
• Running Deer and the Wampus Mask
• The Cobbler’s Son and the Serpent: Uzbekistan
• The Curse of the Corn: A Scottish Tale
• The Pirate Ghost of Gombi Island
• The Poor Prince: An Afghan Tale