Festive and Wyndemere: A contradiction in terms.

Attending a party at Wyndemere means you take your life in your hands.

Let's take a couple of parties at Wyndemere as examples.

Stefan Cassadine and Katherine Bell: Over the Parapet

In 1997, a year after taking over Wyndemere and Spoon Island from Faison, Stefan Cassadine proposed to Katherine Bell, and she accepted. Stefan threw a huge ball at the manse.

That night, Katherine overheard a conversation between Laura Spencer and Stefan. She realized that her fiance was still in love with Laura, and that he was not Nikolas' father. Katherine wandered out onto the parapet of the house.

She did not know that the railing had been loosened by Alexis and Luke, who wanted to kill Helena. Instead, Katherine fell, supposedly to her death.

Stefan was put on trial for Katherine's murder, but Helena had given her experimental drugs to save her for her own purposes and revealed that she was alive.

Katherine now owed Helena her life. The matriarch used her to put a wedge between Stefan and Nikolas. Katherine and Nikolas began having an affair, since Helena told her it would be a great way to get revenge on Stefan for loving Laura and not her.

After Nikolas realized that Katherine manipulated a situation so that Elizabeth would see them being intimate, he angrily broke up with Katherine. In order to get him back, Katherine announced that she was pregnant. She then learned that the experimental drugs she was given destroyed her ability to have children.

Katherine devised a scheme for the day of her wedding to Nikolas. She would fight with Laura at the reception and cause a miscarriage. Katherine, however, told the wrong person – Helena. Helena did not want her grandson deceived (by Katherine anyway).

At the engagement masquerade ball at Wyndemere, Helena disguised herself in the same costume and mask as Laura and lured Katherine onto the parapet. Then she pushed Katherine off the same parapet where she fell originally – only this time, she wouldn't be returning to life. No one ever found out who killed Katherine.

Emily Quartermaine Keeps Dodging Death

In 2003, Helena Cassadine was determined to ruin Emily and Nikolas' relationship by any means necessary. She meant it. She had Nikolas institutionalized and drugged up to his eyeballs. Fortunately, Emily was able to rescue him.

With Tracy's help, Helena attempted to have Emily put in prison for the murder of Mary Bishop. Lucky found out, and at Emily and Nikolas' engagement party, he revealed Helena's plan. Helena, true to form, cursed the couple.

Emily grew ill and stayed that way until the curse was removed. This entailed going to Greece to a special garden and kissing on a moonless night.

Helena next tried to stab Emily on the Wyndemere cliffs. Nikolas jumped in and fought with Helena to wrestle the knife from her. Finally, Helena dropped the knife. Nikolas pushed her over the cliff, killing Helena until she came back to life later.

Nikolas and Emily - Again!

In 2007, Nikolas was not well, experiencing mood swings and violent outbursts. He was scheduled for tests. Nevertheless, he and Emily had overcome the odds and found their way back to one another.

He wanted to give her a special night so, not having learned his lesson, he threw her a Black and White ball. The intention was to give a large donation to General Hospital in honor of her late father, Alan Quartermaine.

The date he chose was Halloween Night, October 31. Talk about tempting fate. Right before the guests arrived, Nikolas proposed to Emily. She was thrilled.

The night of the gala, Anthony Zacchara came to the island searching for Lulu Spencer so he could kill her. A storm thrust the island into a blackout.

Guests began to be murdered, so people ran to find hiding places. Nikolas went into one of his rages; Jason tied him to a chair and took his sister to a safe place.

Emily did not want to be separated from Nikolas, so she ran back to the ballroom. Nikolas was untied and trying to find her. They reunited, but the master of Wyndemere was in a bad state and fainted. 

When he regained consciousness, Emily was dead, a rope around her neck.  She was a victim of the Text Message Killer.

A Common Place to Die

It's not just the parties. Death has pervaded Spoon Island for many years. In 2003, Stefan Cassadine hired a hitman to kill Emily because the family needed money, and Nikolas refused to go through an arranged marriage.

The hitman killed Luke's girlfriend Summer instead. Later that same year, 2003, Luke stabbed and killed Stefan.

In 2005, Wyndemere was the scene of Lucky and Elizabeth's wedding. Soon after, the members of the wedding party were victims of a train crash. Okay, was that Wyndemere's fault? Hard to say.

In 2012, Helena's daughter Irina Cassandra (the Lady in White) was shot and killed inside Wyndemere.

There is bound to be some unpleasantness at the next Wyndemere gathering. The ghosts of the dead lurk throughout Spoon Island and Wyndemere.