A Story from a Korean-American Childhood – No Skeletons in the Closet
It was a cold and stormy night….Seriously, it was.
I was home by myself because, of course, my parents were working and my sister was probably helping them (I honestly can’t remember where she was). It happened to be a particularly frigid and rainy October. And I was freezing since we kept the thermostat set so low. (They always kept it low in the winter months and high in the summer months. Gotta save those dollar bills y’know?)
So I went looking for a the electric blanket in the upstairs hall closet. The hall this closet was dimly lit, narrow, and adjacent to the stairwell banister. This closet stored extra blankets, linens, and things of that sort. It was shallow but very wide, almost spanning the length of the hall, with bi-fold doors.
I opened up the bi-fold doors to reveal exactly what I expected – neatly folded linens, a sewing box, and towels. But where was that darn electric blanket? My fingertips were turning blue!
I began to dig deeper into the corners of the closet, beyond where the closet door ended and past the extra blankets thinking surely, the electric blanket would be amongst these.
Pulling back a particularly fluffy blanket, I found…
…a HEAD!
I let out a yelp and jumped back into and almost over the banister!
With my heart beating out of my chest, I reasoned that that couldn’t have been what I thought it was.
Being one to not let things just be, I had to check it out. I yanked that puffy blanket out of the way.
And sure enough, it was a head! Some people have skeletons in the closet, but we have heads.
No Skeletons or Monsters Here
It turned out to be my mom’s old wig (from decades ago) perched on a foam mannequin head.
Even though it turned out to be just a mannequin head and wig, it was still creepy as heck sitting there in a dark corner of a dark closet in a dark hall on a dark and stormy night! Oh and the wig was black so that was dark too! And you know how I mentioned that it was October? Well, guess what happens in October? That’s right, Halloween! So of course I was watching scary movies and shows that week!
I called my mom all enraged that such a thing was in the closet. I acted as if she had put it there as a booby trap. She said that she had been meaning to throw it out years ago and just forgot about it.
Oh, and on top of all that, she told me that she had thrown out the electric blanket because it was a fire hazard! Ugh!!!
Wigs in the closet, not as uncommon as you’d think
Many years later, I was talking with an office mate about discovering my mom’s long forgotten wig. And she said that her mom had a creepy wig in the closet as well. Furthermore, she knew lots of other Asians (she was Chinese-American) whose moms did too.
I’m not saying that it was common for Asian moms to have wigs based on this rather small collection of information. I think it’s just a coincidence that I happen to only know Asians with similar wig experiences. Although I’m surprised that I don’t have any non-Asian friends (of which the majority of my friends are) that have ever come across their moms or grandmothers old wigs. Wigs were all the rage in the 1960’s. Wigs and the hairdryer bonnet were big back then. Both of which have actually made a come back.
I’ve even thought about getting a wig to have instant long hair when my hair is short or a short haired wig when my hair is long. If and when I do, I’ll have to be sure to keep it in a dark corner of a dark closet in a dark hall. And hopefully my kid will find it on a dark and stormy October night! 😉
Have you ever been scared witless by wig in the closet? Share in the comments.
Still looking for some scares? Check out my post on Korean Scary Movies. Feel like watching something a bit less gory? Check out my post on Korean Romantic Ghost Stories.