On body horror and growing up strange | Wellcome Collection

As a child, Briar Ripley Page was terrified by a story about a woman who kept a lifelong secret: that her head was held on only by a green ribbon. But strangely, their older self came to find very detailed, subversive tales of ‘body horror’ a source of support, strength and comfort. Words by Briar Ripley Pageartwork by Sonia Leongaverage reading time 9 minutes 12 February 2020 W hen I was in second grade, around Halloween, my teacher gathered the class into a semicircle on the rug at the front of the room and read aloud to us from an illustrated book of scary stories. The first story was about Jenny, who always wore a green ribbon tied around her neck. She refused to tell anyone why she wore the ribbon. She also refused to take it off, despite her husband’s many attempts to convince her to do so. At the end of the story, Jenny took ill and died. Her husband finally untied the ribbon around her neck, only to recoil as her head fell off. I was so upset by the story that I wouldn’t even l

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