What’s In Your Closet?

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What if…

While on a long hike at your crazy Uncle Harry’s property in the steep hills and deep valleys of Appalachia, you discover a tiny shanty hidden in a brush pile at the back of the property. After moving enough brush to enter the little shack, you find a skeleton shackled to the wall, still holding a moonshine bottle with a note inside.

Would you?

  1. Report your finding to the county sheriff
  2. Leave as quickly as possible, replace the brush, and say nothing to anybody
  3. Use the information for the plot of your next book
  4. Something else

Justify your decision based on the note, and tell us what the note said.

Add any additional details you wish.

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About Steve Hooley

Steve Hooley is the author of seven short stories published in four anthologies, a Vella serial fiction, and is currently working on the Mad River Magic series – a fantasy adventure series for advanced middle-grade to adults. More details available at: https://stevehooleywriter.com/mad-river-magic/

41 thoughts on “What’s In Your Closet?”

  1. LOL I’m sure the commenters here will come up with some great stuff. Something like that is always fodder for a story.

    As for me, the first thing I thought when I read your scenario was simply that the note inside says: “Nobody drinks the last of my Barq’s rootbeer. Nobody.” 😎

    Have a great Friday, all.

  2. Examine the skeleton for cause of death. Manner of death screams homicide. Then I’d “work the scene.” ID the vic and investigate who killed him/her. And why. 😉

  3. Good morning, Steve. I love this question. Unfortunately my immediate reaction was that, since that brush pile and cabin were undoubtedly full of spiders, I would not touch either.

    I accordingly added the element of sub-zero weather, which would kill off most of those demon-spawned critters.

    #4 is my choice. The note says, “Look behind you.” I would turn with my khukuri unsheathed and at the ready.

    Thanks, Steve. Have a great weekend!

    • Good one, Joe. I hadn’t thought about other “critters.” Maybe I should have scattered some snake skeletons about the floor.

      I had to look up khukuri. That weapon should take on about any spider that you would run into.

      Have a spider-free weekend, and don’t get trapped in any vortex webs that might pull you in.

    • Similar to Joe, when I first saw the image, I was assessing all that brush for the likelihood of snakes. EEK!

    • You’re a good citizen, Terry. I probably should have asked what a character in one of your books would do. I would probably do the same thing. I guess my mind has shifted into “fiction mode.”

      Thanks for an appropriate answer.

  5. What an intriguing scenario, Steve.

    I’d probably call the sheriff but hang around snooping and watching their investigation. I’d make friends with the detective to follow up on developments.

    And I would definitely use it as future story fodder.

    What does the note say? “Watch out for that guy with the khukuri!”

    • Good one, Debbie. You made me laugh even louder than when I read BK’s answer. Watch out for the guy with the knife.

      I wish I was as people-oriented as you. Yes, serve them cookies. Make friends with the detective’s assistant, and pick the khukuri out of his pocket. When you meet him in a showdown on the suspension bridge with bungee gear for both of you, you cut his rope (with the khukuri) as you both are falling from the bridge.

      And as he falls, you would wish him a good day.

      Have a good one!

  6. When I was a kid, some of my siblings and friends and I went on an adventure, hiking along the New River in Virginia. We came upon a shack, overgrown with vines, the roof sagging. Of course we went up to the door under the falling-down porch. There was a note on it, held by a rusty nail. “Gone to the river for a bath. Back soon.” We translated that as, “I’m dead so come on in.”

    Raccoons had been there before us, and the inside was a shambles. Newspaper covered the walls, and the stench of animal droppings, mold, and decay meant we didn’t stay inside long. We made up stories about who lived there and what had happened to him. A mile or so later, we saw some people across the river. They started shouting and ran down to climb into a boat. We could see they had shotguns, and they were coming for us. We ran, knowing without knowing that they were bootleggers.

    We didn’t tell our parents until we were grown and living in another state. We were certain they’d killed the guy from the shack, and would be coming for us. Fun time.

    So, I would probably call the authorities in your scenario, but not before I explored a bit. After all, it was a skeleton, right?

  7. Great question to get a head start on the weekend, Steve!

    I would:

    1) Take pictures from several angles of the poor schmuck, (Uncle Harry?) the inside of the structure, and the outside.
    2) Get the gloves out of my Jeep and make a thorough search, without disturbing anything, to look for anything else interesting.
    3) Then I would notify authorities. And wait for them to arrive.
    4) After they’re finished with me, I’d head home and print the pictures. And spend the next several days plotting my next novel.

  8. I didn’t see this Reader Friday question coming, not by a long shot, Steve 🙂

    I would contact the authorities and try not to disturb anything. However, the note was easy to read: “Take that, Creative Resistance,” it read. That would be when I would notice the now-rusty typewriter on a rickety card table in a shadowy corner, a stack of blank paper weighted down with a rock on the table beside it, and an overturned camp stool beside it.

    • Great scenario, Dale. Talk about a fight to the death. How about the note in faded red, and a quill pen filled with clotted blood?

      Thanks for your story. Have a creative weekend.

  9. Great story, Becky. That one is a nail-biter and a page-turner. Have you used any of that information in a book? It would be a great chase scene.

    Thanks for telling us your story.

    • I did use it in a story once, the whole thing, not just this bit. It was an epic adventure that lasted from early morning until long after dark, with my dad scanning a searchlight across the river from the upper porch of the Roundhouse where we lived, while another father drove several miles to cross the river on a bridge, then drove his truck slowly along the bank on our side. We had been lost, stumbling in the dark through brambles, terrified we’d fall into the river. I remember crying when we saw the light. I was eight, the youngest of the group.

  10. Great exercise, Steve!

    The note was a rejection letter from a major publishing house. First, I would outline a story where an author’s wife got so tired of hearing him complain about how nobody appreciated his superior talent (even though he never took a course, never read books on the craft of writing, and never even perused the comments on TKZ) that she finally murdered him in his alcoholic stupor and hung him in the shack.

    Then I’d call the police.

    • Interesting scenario, Kay. Your telling of the events kind of blurs the separation between reality and fiction, especially when the “story” is “outlined” before the police are called. I hope that skeleton is not a relative. Just sayin’.

      Good story, Kay. Great reminder to all of us, “Don’t whine to your spouse.”

  11. I’m going to blow the fun a bit with some reality.

    If I came across this skeleton, I would just stand and stare for a while. Then, I would try to figure out whether calling the authorities would land me in jail as a terrorist. Ten years ago, that answer would be a resounding “yes!” In which case I would leave and hope to God someone else would take care of it.

    • Good answer, Azali. I think all of us would think first, “Do I want to get involved. Will I be a suspect. If this land belongs to my uncle, will an investigation pull other relatives into the hot light.” So, your response is a good action – reaction sequence.

      Thanks for injecting some reality.

  12. Good scenario. When I was a kid, my grandmother and I used to tramp the nearby Missouri woods after Sunday dinner. We found a small stone house hidden in the brush by a creek. The inside was covered with green mold. My grandmother explained that it was a “springhouse” — a form of refrigeration used by the local settlers.
    As for your set up — I’d read the note — it said, “He deserved killing.”
    Then I’d call the police.

    • Ah, Elaine, I thought you would do some investigating of the skeleton, at least somewhere in the sequence of events. Just kidding. In reality. I bet most of us would get out and call the police/sheriff immediately. Then you could call Angela, to make sure the investigation was carried out properly and didn’t incriminate you.

      Thanks for participating in the craziness this morning.

  13. The Appalachian Mountains are an old stomping ground. First, I wouldn’t have entered the cabin because it’s full of copperheads, maybe some rattlers depending on the location, so I’d not have seen anything. But if I were in a particularly stupid mood or it was dead winter, I’d have backed out of the cabin without touching anything.

    My first thoughts would be about Uncle Harry. Who is he, what kind of life he’s had, his moral stature. So, does he have anything to do with the body? The more likely he has something to do with it, the less likely I’d call the local police. I’d go for the state police, instead. The good ol’ Goober network is strong here.

    The moonshine “bottle” would be a Mason jar so he may be clutching Aunt Bee’s recipe for pickles. Moonshine hasn’t been a profitable illegal cash crop in almost 50 years so, either the skeleton is really old or it is Aunt Bee’s pickle recipe.

    The chains are a misdirect. He died of arsenic poisoning from Aunt Bee’s pickles. She was notorious for having a heavy hand with arsenic in her pickles. You risked your life when you ate them.

    • Good one, JG. Had to look up Montresor, but this is a nice twist on the events. If the bottle still had a faint odor of sherry, it must have been corked or capped.

      Thanks for participating.

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