SAN ANTONIO – Anyone in San Antonio knows that carving pumpkins comes with risk here. They don’t last long in the heat and humidity.
Case in point — that gross picture at the top of this article. (That’s my pumpkin just a week after we carved it.)
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But one San Antonio mother has a warning about uncarved pumpkins that will make your skin crawl.
Regina Hurst posted her story in a local mom’s group on Facebook as a word of caution.
The Hurst family visited a local pumpkin patch last weekend, where her 8-year-old daughter Hazel picked out the perfect pumpkin.
“It was actually one of the best ones there,” Hurst said.
Hazel loved it so much she carried it around and even slept next to it at night.
And here’s where the story gets creepy.
“As my daughter was fast asleep, I snuck in the room to grab the pumpkin and put it on the dresser next to her,” Hurst said.
But as she did so, the stem broke off.
“I looked down and there were maggots crawling out of the pumpkin,” Hurst said. “I screamed my head off and turned on the overhead light and screamed some more, yelling for my husband.”
Hurst said she snatched her daughter up from her slumber while her husband discarded the pumpkin and tore off the sheets.
“I threw them in the washing machine with hot water and bleach!” Hurst said. And then she checked the mattress “a dozen times” for maggots.
After the ordeal, her daughter easily went back to sleep and her husband laughed about the situation, but Hurst said she couldn’t shake the image of those creepy crawlers.
“I went in there like five more times using a flashlight checking the bed and her pillow,” she said.
In the morning, Hazel was a little sad to hear about the fate of her precious pumpkin but was consoled with a drawing that her mom offered as a substitute. And she’s excited for Halloween! She’s dressing as Cher Horowitz from the movie “Clueless.”
So, will the Hurst family be visiting any pumpkin patches in the future?
“As if!” (As Cher would say)
Hurst said the experience made her want to vomit and she’s vowed to never buy real pumpkins again.
“Just plastic pumpkins for now on,” Hurst said.