"The Masque of the Red Death" is a story by Edgar Allan Poe. A terrible disease called the Red Death has struck the country. It's incredibly fatal, horribly gruesome, and it's already killed off half the kingdom. But the ruler of these parts, Prince Prospero, doesn't seem to care about his poor, dying subjects. Instead, he decides to let the kingdom take care of itself while he and a thousand of his favorite knights and ladies shut themselves up in a fabulous castle to have one never-ending party. Wine, women, music, dancing, fools Prospero's castle has it all. After the last guest enters, no one else can get in the Prince has welded the doors shut. That means no one can get out, either.