Flora
"I'm your problem now." Did I arrive on your doorstep? It's time to play.
Discovery Notes
1912, Pennsylvania State Sanitarium (children’s ward, condemned wing)
Warning Issued
If you choose to keep Flora, do not place her in a child’s room or near fresh flowers. Every full moon, place a small bouquet of wildflowers or weeds before her and allow them to wither naturally — she will draw the sickness from them instead of you. Never touch her face with bare hands; she has been known to “remember” warmth. Should you hear shallow breathing in your home or wake to the sound of petals falling to the floor, do not panic. Open every window and whisper softly: “Flora, the fever has passed.” Then wait until the air grows still again.
Last Known Account
Flora belonged to a little girl quarantined during the great measles outbreak of 1912 — one of the earliest patients treated with the new experimental serum that would one day lead to vaccination. The doctors didn’t yet understand how to stop the fever from spreading, or the strange rashes that twisted beneath the skin. When the girl died, her doll was found clutched to her chest, streaked with red blotches that no one could wash away.
Nurses swore the doll “breathed” for days afterward — shallow, rasping gasps that fogged her glass eyes. Flowers left in the room for the child’s funeral browned overnight, their petals falling like tiny, sickly scabs.
The sanitarium closed within the year. When it was reopened decades later as a historical site, Flora was discovered sealed inside a rusted medical cabinet, surrounded by a pile of shriveled carnations. Her dress had yellowed, and her porcelain cheeks were freckled with faint, rust-colored spots — too round, too perfect, to be dust.
Visitors say Flora carries the chill of fever. If you bring her near a child’s toy, it sometimes begins to cough.