Just a Game of Bride-and-Seek

A bride and groom were very young and had large and lavish wedding in the backyard of their now mansion. Many people came and not a single one thought that this was wrong. To the couple the wedding had gone perfectly.

With lots of celebrating and dancing after the reception like most events people started to leave. When about 20 people were left the young bride had gotten an idea. A game of hide and seek would be a perfect way to end the night. The groom was picked a the seeker and the bride quickly hid.

The groom started to become aggravated as he had found everyone else but not her. He was thinking she'd played a prank on her. People searched and searched for her with no avail. No one could find her, it was as if she had vanished. People had eventually went home giving up and the groom reported his bride missing.

The groom spent years being heart broken and living alone in the big mansion. wondering through the halls he wondered why his bride left him and he wondered what it would be like if she'd had stayed.

One day he had decided to go and clean the attic. While up there he notices an oak chest. He decides to open it. It had taken a bit of struggle, but he'd gotten it open.  He found something he never thought he would find. Inside the chest was the corpse of his bride.

On that day she had snuck inside to hide knowing that her groom would be searching for her outside. When she had gotten to the attic she found the oak chest and the lid hit her head and closed. The old rusted joints and lock had prevented her from opening it back up. The large house prevented people from hearing her screams. She'd died from suffocation soon after.

ABOUT THE URBAN LEGEND:

Even though the story is told like it had happened in modern times the urban legend has been around since the early 1800's. It's said that it had first been mentioned in a German news paper in 1809. Later in 1823 Samuel Roberts wrote Ginevra which retold the tale. Then it was written into a Ballad called Mistletoe Bride Ballad. It isn't known if the tale was ever true, but it is one that's lasted for a long time.

SOURCES:
https://www.thoughtco.com/bride-and-seek-the-missing-bride-3299076
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-mistletoe-bough-3299077
http://www.pitlanemagazine.com/cultures/bride-and-seek.html
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bride-and-go-seek/