Middle Schooler Asked to Clean Out His Locker — and You'll Never Guess What His Mom Found in the Mess (Exclusive)

• Megan Blankenship got an email from her son's school about his locker needing to be cleaned out

• When Carson, 12, brought home the contents of his locker, his mom thought they were all clothes

• After making a hilarious discovery among his things, Megan shared the moment on TikTok and went viral

A school locker clean-out led to a hilarious revelation for one middle school mom.

Megan Blankenship, on TikTok @mamameggzz, didn't think much of it when her son's school emailed her requesting he bring in a trash bag to clean out his locker.

"His locker was so full he could not shut his locker door," she begins to explain in the video.

"I had to show you guys what was in his locker because if I did not film it, I feel like nobody would believe me."

She first pulls out a few coats and hoodies belonging to her 12-year-old, which she tells PEOPLE is what she was expecting to come home.

"It sat in our hallway for a couple of days until I was ready to do a big load of his laundry. I went to pick it up and take upstairs and I realized that there were other things at the bottom of the bag," she shares.

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In the video, Megan next pulls out two TV remotes from the bag.

"He doesn't even have a TV in his room, and we weren't missing any TV remotes," she laughs. "So that one threw me for a loop."

Next, she pulls out a rotten apple, a headset and school supplies before pulling out her "personal favorite."

Megan reveals a framed photo of actor Nicolas Cage as Shrek, which she says Carson and his middle school friends call "Shrekolas Cage."

"I was really shocked. I didn't understand why he would have that in his locker. I had no idea where it came from. So as soon as I like open the bag and saw some of it, I just thought, 'I feel like I need to record this because nobody's going to believe me that he came home with this stuff.' "

Of course, the mom eventually broached the subject with her son, who replied, "I can explain. It's Nicolas Cage as Shrek," she recalls.

When she asked where it came from, she learned that he got it at a white elephant gift exchange at their church. Tradition says the person who gets it has to keep it until the following year, when they regift it to someone else.

"So we have Shrekolas Cage hanging in our living room, and he will stay there until next Christmas when he goes to his new home," Megan says.

While Megan knew her TikTok community, which includes some other middle school moms, would be amused by the find, she was surprised to see the video go viral.

"I felt like moms could totally relate to this because middle schoolers in general are so silly and goofy. Then it got so big I couldn't even use my phone that whole first day after I posted it, because so many comments were coming through. It's crazy," she says.

As for Carson, Megan says her son "loves all the attention."

"He keeps telling me, 'I told you that I'd make you famous one day.' So he loves it and it's been really fun for him," she says. "For me, it's really sweet reading all the other moms and parents' comments about what their kids come home with."

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