Greg and Wirt are forced by the weather to take refuge in a dark, seemingly-abandoned house. It turns out to be inhabited by a girl named Lorna, who Wirt quickly establishes a connection with, but she warns them of her Auntie Whispers and how guests at their home are in danger of being devoured.
Tropes:
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Played with. Lorna is a sickly, but pretty young woman, in the service of an imposing old crone, Auntie Whispers. Turns out Auntie Whispers has been looking after Lorna with Tough Love, to keep the evil human-eating spirit inside Lorna in check.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Auntie Whispers claims to use Mind Control on Lorna so that she won't "fall into wickedness." The real reason is exactly that.
- Cutting the Knot: Auntie Whispers had been using the magic bell to keep Lorna under control, so she wouldn't do bad things. When Wirt gets a hold of the bell, he simply orders the spirit to leave and never come back. It's unclear if Auntie Whispers never did this for fear that Lorna would leave if she no longer needed the witch to keep her curse in check, or if she simply didn't think of it.
- Demonic Possession: Why Auntie Whispers controls Lorna with the bell, since Lorna is possessed by a demon.
- Foreshadowing: Wirt offhandedly mentions that he is in high school, a modern-day concept. It may seem like an anachronism at first but it has a logical sense shown 3 episodes later.
- Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: Though they never actually meet onscreen, Adelaide and Auntie Whispers. Adelaide is the bad witch.
- I Choose to Stay: Lorna decides to stay with Auntie Whispers after realizing how lonely the old witch would be without her.
- Inherently Funny Word: "We're here to burgle your turts!"
- I Warned You: Auntie Whispers says this as the demon reveals its true form to Wirt and Greg.
- Love at First Sight: Subverted. Wirt seems happy with the idea that Lorna wants to run away with him and Greg, but Lorna's more interested in the idea of freedom itself, and freedom from her demon. This hits Wirt hard, especially after Beatrice seemed to betray him in the previous episode.
- Now You Tell Me: At the end, Auntie Whispers tells Wirt that he should avoid her sister, Adelaide... which makes him roll his eyes, as it would have been really useful information prior to the previous episode.
- Poor Communication Kills: Auntie Whispers keeps telling people that visitors "are devoured" instead of specifying that Lorna is the one who devours them.
- Running Gag: Greg commands the spirit to transform into a magical tiger (which is ignored because it's impossible), recalling his conversation with Beatrice after rescuing her from the bush in the second chapter.
- Ship Tease: Wirt offers to help Lorna with her chores so that she can run away with him and Greg. He also gets depressed after she chooses to stay with Auntie Whispers.
- Standard Skinny Teenager Grab Area: The Woodsman on encountering the boys grabs Wirt in this way. Justified as in Wirt is tiny and the Woodsman has experience carrying the lantern.
- Subverted Trope: Like many episode of Over the Garden Wall, the plot is a subversion of a standard story trope—in this case, Cinderella Plot.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: When you see an ill girl being forced to work, fairy tale logic suggests that you help her with the chores and escape with her. As it turns out, helping her escape released the demon that eats people. Greg even lampshades this.
- You Are in Command Now: Wirt, depressed after Lorna stays with Auntie Whispers, puts Greg in charge of finding home. Greg happily takes to the task.
