After my uncle’s funeral in 1990, family and friends gathered at our “homeplace” for the last time. It was a bitter-sweet afternoon, and we often found ourselves laughing and crying at the same time as we shared memories and funny stories about my uncle.
We also talked about our love for the house and the land, and while the decision hadn’t officially been made at that point, we all pretty well knew that the old ways were coming to an end, and that our homeplace would be sold. It had been in the family for over 100 years, and the uncle who had just died had been born in the house, and had lived there all of his life.
As I sat talking with one of my cousins, the conversation turned to all of the unique things in the house, including the large, dark piece of furniture in one of the bedrooms. It was a dresser, of sorts, with a tall, central mirror and a truly unusual–and odd–design. The top of the dresser had reminded someone–maybe my mom–of a monkey, so I always knew it as the “monkey dresser.”
I’d never liked this piece of furniture. It was just too tall (about 7 feet) and too strange-looking. The “monkey face” gave me the creeps, and I wondered where on earth it had come from, who had designed and made it–and why?! There were so many beautiful antiques in the home, but this dresser was just plain ugly!
My cousin said that she’d never liked it, either–but for reasons that went beyond its mere appearance:
One night as she was sleeping in that bedroom, she woke up with the feeling that she was being watched. When she cautiously opened her eyes, the dresser appeared to be right in front of her face–looming over her! As she startled more fully awake, the dresser, was of course, where it was supposed to be, all the way across the large bedroom on the opposite wall.
She went back to sleep, but awoke later with the same sensation of being watched. As she told me about this, she held her hand out–just about six inches from her face–to show how close the dresser seemed to be. Her rational mind wouldn’t allow her to be too scared–after all, furniture just doesn’t move around like this (does it?!)–but she was still really uncomfortable whenever she slept in that particular bedroom.
She told one of her sisters about this experience and was surprised to hear that the same thing happened to her each time she slept in the room with the monkey dresser! Her sister said that it had also snapped one of its drawers at her one time (a small compartment that had a hinged lid) when her back was turned!
I listened to these stories with a mixture of skepticism and amusement, and when we rejoined the rest of the family, we caught up with my mom.
“Hey,” I said. “Have you ever heard about what the monkey dresser does?”
Without missing a beat, my mom shocked us by saying, “Well, all I know is that when I’ve slept in that room, it’s been right here–right in my face–when I wake up!”
When the inevitable came, and the house was sold, and all of the furniture was either acquired by family members or sold at an auction, no one chose to get the monkey dresser. Instead, it was bought by an antique dealer, and we later heard that it had been purchased by a couple from South Carolina.
I hope it’s behaving itself in its new home!
© SKB 2000, 2023