Storybrooke Wishing Well

The Storybrooke Wishing Well is a Storybrooke location featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the thirteenth episode of the first season.

History
Storybrooke visitor August previously promised to take Emma out for a drink as part of an earlier deal. They hitch a ride on his motorcycle to a wishing well, which surprises Emma as she thought he meant to take her out for wine or whiskey. As August takes out two drinking cups, he tells her the local legend of the water's powers in returning something that was once lost. She is befuddled over his knowledge of Storybrooke despite being new in town, to which he points to the placard on the well that recites the same tale. From the well, August pours some of the water into their cups and they drink.
 * -|During the Curse=

Moments after the Dark Curse is broken, Mr. Gold leads Belle to the wishing well. He explains the legend of the well's water, which has the ability to bring back something once was lost, and demonstrates by pouring the true love potion down into it. When the water and contents of the potion mix, it creates a purplish smoke that engulfs town and brings magic to Storybrooke.
 * -|After Broken Curse=

Later, Belle tells him how she spent the years under the curse locked up in the psychiatric ward by Regina. This enrages Mr. Gold, but she makes him promise not to harm Regina in vengeance.

In a race against time, Emma and Mary Margaret fight against Cora and Hook to return to Storybrooke from the Enchanted Forest. However, Mr. Gold and Regina share combined fears over the possibility Cora will be the one to cross into town instead. Using a wand, they take all the diamonds in the mines and convert them into fairy dust to create a trap over the wishing well to kill anyone who attempts to enter Storybrooke. Once Henry is notified by Leroy and the dwarves of the missing diamonds, he rushes over to the well with Ruby to stop them. While Ruby is knocked out by Mr. Gold's magic, Henry pleads with Regina to convince her Cora won't be the one to cross over. Trusting in his belief, Regina lifts the deadly enchantment by absorbing the magic used to create the trap. Immediately afterwards, Mary Margaret and Emma emerge from the well. Henry is ecstatic Regina believed in him enough to remove the barrier.

Cora proves to be dangerous to the point Mary Margaret tricks Regina into killing her own mother. For this, Regina wants to get payback by enacting a curse, which requires the heart of the person she hates most, namely Mary Margaret. Regina hopes to gain Henry's affection by performing the spell to force him to love her. David and Emma feel they may need to resort to killing Regina in order for her to stop harming other people, but Henry is against them using bloodshed to settle things. Upset over magic ruining the lives of the people he loves, Henry gets dynamite from the mines and is prepared to destroy the well with it to eliminate magic for good. While making his way there, Henry bumps into Greg, who is out hiking. Greg notifies Regina of Henry's whereabouts. As Henry is getting ready to light the dynamite, Regina approaches to deter him from doing so or he might get hurt. Henry believes she just wants magic to cast the curse to make him love her, and tries to fuse the explosives, but Regina magically waves away the dynamite away. Henry doesn't want her to kill Mary Margaret and use the curse, but Regina insists she must pay for Cora's death. Suddenly, David, Emma and Neal show up to stop her. Regina displays the curse's spell, and assures Emma she will not be seeing Henry again after it is cast. The trio refuse to budge out of Regina's way, and assert she will have to go through them in order to reach Mary Margaret. In response, Regina conjures a fireball, and in turn, David points his gun at her. Henry forces them to stop; saying magic needs to be destroyed. Emma states magic is not the problem; Regina is. He believes magic makes good people like Mary Margaret and Regina do terrible things, which causes David to lower his gun. Henry begs Regina to help him get rid of magic. She declines, but destroys the spell for the curse with a fireball. Henry thanks her, but ultimately leaves with Emma.

Peter Pan infiltrates Storybrooke by previously switching bodies with Henry and tricking Regina into taking him to her vault where he steals the Dark Curse scroll. With his underling, Felix, they head to the wishing well as Pan begins tossing in all the ingredients for the curse. As the last necessity, Pan needs the heart of the thing he loves most. Felix assumes Pan requires the heart of his son, Mr. Gold. Instead, Pan admits Felix's heart will be fitting as a sacrifice since he has always been so loyal to him. Pan pulls out the heart as Felix uselessly tries to resist, and then crushes the heart to dust into the well. With the requirements fulfilled, the curse begins to come to life from within the well as a green smoke.

Trivia

 * August's reference to magical water that can return something once lost refers back to the magical waters of the Enchanted Forest's Lake Nostos.
 * The first wishing well seen in the series, seen in "What Happened to Frederick," appeared in a different location than the wishing well seen in the rest of the series so far.

Appearances
Wunschbrunnen