Halloween Countdown 2009: Monster #13

Man eating plants have been a part of Brazilian folklore for centuries. Luckily these plants, as plants tend to be, were always generally passive. Peacefully awaiting their unlucky prey, they stood rooted in the ground until some aimless passer-by stumbled into their gaping petals and stuck, unable to pry themselves loose until the acids and poisonous perfumes did their duty.

In recent years the sightings have taken a frightening turn. Possibly due to decades of toxic factory runoff, or maybe it's simple evolution and survival of the fittest. Whatever the cause, some carnivorous plants now seem to be capable of uprooting themselves and moving about, even running and overtaking men and beasts.

The largest of all has been designated Botanicus Merderus and has been reported to grow over ten feet high and can run faster than a man at full speed. Filling it's largest jaw-pod with a full grown human in one swoop, it then seals it's mouth with a gluelike secretion and the victim soon suffocates. That's when the digestive secretions begin their job. Soon the pod breaks off and dries up, revealing a full, perfectly bleached skeleton, while a new pod grows to dominance.


[Illustration of Botanicus Merderus based on eyewitness accounts.]