The Scarecrow Corpse

A coroners intern is called to a body found on the Washington Metro Red Line, and it is not quite a body.

The paramedics wont touch it. The police cant find a mark on it. The man just sat down on the train like everyone else and stopped breathing, six to eight hours ago by the docs count. Then the intern kneels in the aisle with a pin flashlight to get a look at the face, and the dead man blinks.

Back at the medical examiners office the eyes keep watching. The doc waves a finger and they follow it. Tape them shut and the whole face fights to get free. The doc says theres a scientific reason for everything, and that its their job to find it.

First posted to Reddits r/nosleep in 2012 and since read aloud by more than a dozen narrators, including Chilling Tales for Dark Nights recording with Markiplier, The Scarecrow Corpse is Kristopher Mallorys most-heard story. This edition adds a note from the author on where it came from and where it went.

A horror short by Kristopher Mallory, first published on Reddit in 2012.