Every state has its folklore, tall tales and legends… but sometimes there is a darker story- a tale not so much told, as whispered.
From Yoko Okumura and Sam Raimi (the mind that brought you Evil Dead) comes 50 States of Fright, a new anthology series exclusively on streaming service Quibi. The show features scary stories from every state in the United States. It originally launched on April 13th with a little tale from Michigan about respecting the dead, keeping a promise and good, old fashioned greed, entitled The Golden Arm.
In The Golden Arm we meet high school sweethearts Heather (Rachel Brosnahan) and David (Travis Fimmel) and their friend (who also acts as narrator) Andy (John Marshall Jones). Life for Heather and David appear perfect. They live on decent few acres of land not too far from a quaint town. David works as a craftsman while Heather keeps house. If there were any complaints, it would probably be regarding Heather’s shopping habits. As Andy tells it, “She was an expensive wife, though. She was always asking Dave for stuff he couldn’t really afford and he would get it for her…no matter how much it set him back.”
We see an example of this on a warm afternoon when Heather is bringing David drinks while he’s in his workshop. As she examines herself in a nearby mirror, David notices a new piece of jewelry. Heather is quick to act apologetic, explaining that it was simply too beautiful to resist, she even offers to take it back. But David insists that won’t be necessary, “We’ll find a way to pay for it.” You get the feeling this line conversation has happened more than once or twice. He could always use the BetWinner website to win the money.
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Everything really did seem perfect. Until it wasn’t. The night of a big charity event, Andy calls in to work sick and David really needs some extra lumber for a project he’s working on. To avoid being late David has the excellent to bring Heather along to help him. She’s reluctant but decides to go anyway. Things appear to be going fine, that is until a lone branch gets caught on the rope that’s meant to redirect the tree when it falls. This causes the maple tree to fall right onto Heather. Specifically her right arm.
Heather is losing a lot of blood at an alarming rate. This is when David has another brilliant idea. With the same ax he used to cut down the tree, David chops off his wife’s arm. There was simply no saving it. And it seemed like a worthy sacrifice if meant saving Heather. We quickly find out Heather didn’t feel the same way. “After she lost that arm, she was like a different person.” Andy recalls.
Now upset, disfigured and obsessed with her beauty, Heather spends most of her time at home reminiscing on the person she used to be. Meanwhile David spends his time trying to make it up to his wife. He even goes so far as to build Heather a prosthetic. But she finds the contraption hideous. So he tries again. This time the prototype meets Heather’s expectations. The catch? Heather has just one request: she wants it made entirely out of gold.
David appears almost horrified however it doesn’t take too much convincing until he eventually agrees. It only took a second mortgage on the house and selling the tools of his trade before he was able to afford it. And once it was complete? Heather couldn’t be happier. Things looked like life for David and Heather was returning to something almost normal.
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That is of course until winter which is when Heather got terribly sick. According to the doctor it’s a condition called pulmonary gold disease. “As long as you body keeps absorbing the gold through your skin, there’s very little I can do.” The solution seems simple, right? Heather just needs to take off the arm. Only problem? Heather refuses to take off the arm. Helpless yet eager to make is wife happy, David is unable to do anything except sit by his wife’s side as she slowly dies.
It is here Heather makes one last request. “When I die, bury me with my golden arm. Promise?” And of course David promises. It’s not long after that Heather dies in the hospital. Ever the caring husband, David fulfills his promise of burying his wife with her precious golden arm.
Things only got worse for poor old David after Heather’s funeral. The way Andy tells it, “After Heather passed, there wasn’t much work around here, so Dave had to lay me off. And when the recession hit, nobody would by handcrafted furniture.” Now alone, broke, desperate and a little drunk David comes up with another one of his brilliant ideas: to sell Heather’s golden arm.
David makes a mad dash for the cemetery. Here he digs up Heather’s coffin, breaks it open then comes face to face with her rotting corpse. And the golden arm, of course. He gets spooked a few times by Heather’s eyes opening suddenly, but that’s just normal dead body stuff, right? Either way, Dave makes it home with the arm in one piece. Weird happy ending, yeah? Yeah…nope.
As soon as David steps foot inside his home, he begins hearing some strange noises. Investigating the matter doesn’t appear to help somehow. Plagued by guilt and some freaky hallucinations, David grabs the arm and rushes towards his bedroom. The only thing that stops him is the sound of the front door being opened. And the intruder’s shadow inches into the house. A shadow with only one arm. It’s Heather. Duh.
The story wraps up with Heather’s spirit confronting David. He’s apologetic and insists she take her arm back. Even that isn’t good enough for Heather. David broke his promise, after all, so he need to be punished. An ax to the neck looks like some pretty good penance. Andy recalls the aftermath of Dave’s death.
“Police never could figure out what happened. But the goof folks here reburied Heather’s body with that golden arm just the way she wanted it. And we put David’s body in there next to her…We simple folk around here. Most folk didn’t even get out of high school. And everyone of us knows exactly where that certain gold arm is buried…but ain’t nobody fool enough to dig it up.”
Check out 50 States of Fright exclusively on Quibi. A new episode drops every weekday!
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