Fantasy fiction & folklore!
Get access to this story, and many more, by signing up for my list below! I’ll even send you a free copy of my short story collection, Harbingers, to say thank you.
Would you like more folklore and weird tales? Add your email to get them once a month, and receive this free copy of my short story collection too!
Icons by Icon8.
Get your fabulous folklore fix on your favourite podcast app! Find it here or subscribe on these platforms (or your app of choice)!
Icy is a folklore blogger and host of the Fabulous Folklore podcast. She is based in the north east of England, where she was born and raised amid the folk tales and legends of Tyneside and Northumberland. Icy is fascinated by history, cinema, art, and the occult, and griffins will always be her favourite mythical beast. She also writes dark fantasy novellas, Gothic short stories and the occasional weird Western, and she holds a PhD in Film Studies!
Great description here. I wonder what will happen if they go to O’Nally’s, get new gear, and come back and dig some more?
Great characters, too. Nicely done.
Great marketing campaign. Get people to break their picks and shovels, then tell them where to get new ones. The beginning was really funny – implacable human nature.
This was quite amusing!
Loved the line where he said his shovel was not looking “too healthy”. 🙂
That was a bizarre sign, but happy that it made a great prompt for you!
*laughs!* I didn’t see it coming. And I’ll never see those road signs the same way again.
That sign REALLY appeals to my curious side. What IS under there?!
That is clever!!!!!! Good one, you got me. 😀
That is a fabulous sign. No, I can’t blame you for prose-dreaming about violating the law. That it all might be an advertising ploy is hilarious.
Nice twist at the end. I didn’t expect that.
This made me laugh.
I’ve always thought that if you wore a bright orange safety vest, put out some witches hats and a tape cordon, you could dig anywhere you wanted and no one would question you.
Adam
haha, very funny twist! Your preamble made me laugh too, I want to dig up a public highway now 🙂
You’ve got me going now, I fear a trip to London avec shovel may be in my future. 😉 Really enjoyed this, I particularly like the dialogue between the characters. I wonder if O’Nally’s card is all there is, or might there be something else waiting to be discovered deeper in that hole?
I think a teeny bit of me might have been influenced by Ghostbusters 2!! But whenever I see people digging in the street, I ALWAYS wonder how official they are. The street outside my office gets dug up about every five weeks or so. Why?!
Ha Ha! Great way to drum up business. We all want to do what we’re told not to… What a strange place to put that sign.
Brilliant marketing! Good story. And you’re right. What is it about human nature that makes us only want to do certain things after we’re told not to?
The sad thing is, you know they’ll buy a couple more shovels and keep digging!
Oh I *love* it! You really had me going there – and I rarely read a story that makes me laugh out loud. Thank you!
Great job, Icy. Thought they’d find a scary old tomb with something undead. The ending left me laughing so hard I think my spleen burst. Great play on human nature. We always want what we can’t have. Loved it.
@Emma – Glad I made you chuckle!
@Maria – Yeah, normally I’d go for something creepy or horror-related but I’m in a good mood at the moment so I thought I’d have a go at humour!