Secrets of Cartoons [Transferred from Facebook]

Tom and Jerry VHS

· · Tom and Jerry VHS

I would like to say that as a kid, enjoyed watching Tom and Jerry; however, the channel it was available on only showed it during the daytime, when I was in school. I kept asking my mother for DVDs of the show, but she refused my request given the violent nature of the show.

Over time, my house has gotten pretty messy. We had too many items of clothing and boxes of stuff that we mostly didn't need. My mom finally decided to clean out the house, having me help her. We got through a majority of the rooms and had garbage bags full of stuff to donate. We had one room left; the media room. While she cleaned off a desk, I attempted to clear out a closet. Removing most of the clothing revealed a stack of wooden boxes in the back of the closet.

Curious, I opened the box, revealing a collection of VHS tapes. A lot of great movies were in the collection, from classic Disney movies to the Godfather trilogy to Gone With the Wind. I kept searching through the collection until I came across something I would have never expected: a copy of Tom and Jerry's 50th Birthday Classics on VHS! Surprisingly, the copy was unopened, still in its original case and plastic wrap.

I asked my mom, "Hey, where did this come from? I don't remember you buying this." My mom then got a shocked expression on her face and hung her head. She proceeded to explain that it was a gift from my aunt that was supposed to be given to me on my 7th birthday. I asked why I didn't ever receive this gift.

My mom then explained that shortly before my birthday, my aunt was involved in a robbery. She elaborated that two crackheads entered her home and started taking some of her belongings. My aunt woke up and noticed two men wearing sheets over their heads.

The men ran to her and beat her senseless. Her face was bloody and bruised and she had a really hideous black eye.

There was even a claim that a lock of her hair was ripped out. The men then forced her to lay down on her stomach and proceeded to behead her with a tactical axe. My aunt was discovered by my mother the next day, and she called the police. While she waited, she looked around the house for clues. On the kitchen table was a wrapped present. The tag indicated that the present was for me. Sure enough, the present was the Tom and Jerry VHS. My mom kept it hidden from me until I found it for myself.

I was horrified by the story, but I was just happy that I was able to watch a cartoon I've been interested in for so long! We continued cleaning and finally finished. Around 5:30 or so, my mother left to go on a date with the man who is my current stepdad.

I knew she was staying overnight and being an only child, I had some time to myself. I played my Xbox for a while, but I was quickly becoming bored. Then I remembered my brand new VHS of Tom and Jerry. I opened the packaging and took the tape out of the case. The tape was in mint condition with the original label and rewound to the beginning.

I popped the tape in and the FBI warning came up as normal. I watched the first episode on the tape, and the nostalgia rush was intense. I haven't watched this show very much as a kid and the network quit showing it a while ago.

The video was rolling very smoothly and then in the middle of the second episode, the screen went black. A new title card then appeared. It had a gray background with a shadow of a guillotine and in red writing "Death of the French." I found this hilarious given my family's French descent, so I kept watching. It was a normal episode where Tom, Jerry, and Nibbles were musketeers.

In the episode, the King has tasked Tom with keeping the noise down so the King can sleep; the King said if Tom woke him up, he would have Tom sentenced to death. Tom gave a saluting gesture and the King went to sleep. The episode continued as usual, but something didn't seem right. I rewound the tape and looked closer. What I found was very disturbing.