Author Archives: Bailey Abedon

The Menehune Men – Hawaiian Folklore

Main Piece:

Subject: In Oahu there’s the Pali Road- or the Pali lookout- and I don’t know the specifics. But when King Kamehameha was unifying all the islands of Hawaii, one of the battles took place on this Pali lookout. So it’s known for this gruesome rich history. Along that road- I’m not sure what the relation is- but there’s folklore of “menehune” which are little tiki men. It’s been popularized and like… put everywhere… so they’re kind of ridiculous when you see photos of them. But… it’s like the lore of little menehune. If you’re driving to Pali lookout and you’re taking the drive on Pali Road… If you have red meat in the car, you have to throw it out of the car as an offering to the menehune or else your car is going to break down. And there was never any follow up to what the menehune would do to you but it was terrifying as a kid if we had red meat.

Interviewer: Who told you that?

Subject: My dad. So the menehune men, you always have to look out for on Pali Road or they’d stop your car.

Context: The subject is a Sophomore at studying Law, History, and Culture at USC. She is of Japanese and Ashkenazi descent, and a third generation resident of Hawaii.  She is a very close friend of mine, and is currently quarantined at her home in Irvine due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The following conversation happened over a facetime call when I asked her to tell me some traditional folklore connected to her heritage. 

Interpretation: I have seen how commercialized and popularized the tiki man has become, so it was interesting to hear the culture significance of the symbol. Upon more research, I found that Menehune men reside in the depths of the forest in Hawaii. They are said to be excellent builders, and Hawaiian myth suggests that they were responsible for building the Alekeko Fishpond in one night more than a thousand years ago. This legend was also interesting to me because it had the modern element of the car breaking down in. It makes sense this particular legend was so scary to the subject, because there is something specifically terrifying about beings hidden in a forests, lurking and waiting.

Throwing A Pinch Of Salt Over The Shoulder – Buddhist Tradition

Main Piece: 

Subject: Um… I really don’t know the origins of this one… but… I believe it’s Buddhist or like… Asian. If we’re coming back from a funeral, a graveyard, or anything related to dead people, we don’t enter the house before throwing a pinch of salt over both of our shoulders. And it’s supposed to make sure that dead spirits don’t follow you into the house and haunt you. And I still abide by that.

Interviewer: When did you start doing that?

Subject: Ever since I was a kid, it was almost as customary as wearing like… black to a funeral. When you came back, sure enough, you threw salt over your shoulders.

Interviewer: Oh. Cool. Where did you first learn this?

Subject: Um… I probably got it from my dad. It was one of those things growing up… it falls more in line with Hawaiian superstition and East-Asian superstition than it does with like… Jew… Stuff. *laughter*

Context: The subject is a Sophomore studying Law, History, and Culture at USC. She is of Japanese and Ashkenazi descent, and a third generation resident of Hawaii.  She is a very close friend of mine, and is currently quarantined at her home in Irvine, California due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The following conversation happened over a facetime call when I asked her to tell me some traditional folklore connected to her heritage.

Interpretation: I had heard of throwing salt over your shoulder for good luck, but not in the context of after a funeral. I found that is a very common Buddhist folk tradition for scaring off spirits, as my subject mentioned. I thought it interesting that she learned the tradition in Hawaii, and it has Buddhist roots. I think that shows how culturally diverse Hawaii is. In addition to that, it is also a Christian tradition to throw salt over the left shoulder, because many Christians believe the devil lingers on the left shoulder and it can “blind” him. The Christian folk belief is likely how it was popularized in America. It was interesting how my subject described the tradition as being as customary as wearing black to a funeral. I think that traditions and rituals can become so normal that we take them for granted and subsequently forget the reasoning behind them.

For more on the topic, see:

Pettit, Carl. “Why Do We Throw Salt Over Our Shoulders for Good Luck?” TSM Interactive. Jan. 4, 2012. (Dec. 10, 2014) http://tsminteractive.com/salt-shoulders-good-luck/

Sue, Granny. “Pass the Salt Please: Salt Folklore and Superstitions.” Pass the Salt Please: Salt Folklore and Superstitions, 5 June 2017, grannysu.blogspot.com/2017/06/pass-salt-please-salt-folklore-and.html.

A Bird In The Hand Is Better Than Two In The Bush

Main Piece:

Interviewer: So what proverb did you want to share with me today?

Subject: A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.

Interviewer: What does that mean?

Subject: It means… what you have and what you can see and what you can hold is better than what you might be able to get somewhere else… that’s uncertain.

Interviewer: Huh!

Subject: In other words, go with certainty.

Interviewer: Who told you that one? Do you remember who told you it?

Subject: Old people told me it. Believe it or not even older than me.

Interviewer: Wow. That’s pretty old.

Context: The subject is a middle-aged white man, born and raised in Tiverton, Rhode Island, and currently residing in Charleston, South Carolina. His parents are Ashkenazi Jews and his ancestors come from Russia. He is my father, and we are currently quarantined together in Charleston due to the Coronavirus pandemic. One evening after dinner, I asked him to share any folklore he heard of when he was younger.

Interpretation: I had never heard this proverb before. I did more research on it and found that the subject’s account of the proverb differed slightly from the more popular version I found upon which goes, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” The proverb is a well-known English proverb, and was likely adapted from other languages. Specifically, warnings against risk-taking are apparently very common for English Proverbs. The proverb was likely brought to America by English migrants between the 17th and 18th century. Based on what I personally know about the subject and his older family, this proverb is very applicable to them. They definitely value certainty and safety, and are not the risk-taking types. The subject has certainly tried to instill those values onto myself.

For more on this English Proverb, go to:

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-bird-in-the-hand.html

The Bermuda Triangle

Main Piece:

Subject: So as kids we were obsessed with the Bermuda Triangle. It was an area out in the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Miami, and the East Coast where ships and planes would mysteriously go missing. And there was a lot of different television shows and quasi-science that talked about how there were sort of potential alien forces or weird scientific phenomena that would just make ships disappear in the Bermuda Triangle. It was also called the “Devil’s Triangle” too, which made it even kind of scarier. When we were kids there was a Twilight Zone where there was a guy that would morph into the different people that he took at the Bermuda Triangle. So there would be a character that went missing in the Bermuda Triangle, and this guy would kind of take that person and then morph into that person and show up back on land as that person and then go after the next person. So when we would go down to Florida… when we would fly down from home… we would always be afraid that we were going to fly over the Bermuda Triangle… the Devil’s Triangle… and that we would then just disappear. So it was never any real substantiation for what happened there. It was never really ultimately any science. I can remember even that we were taught that one of the theories that went around was that there were strange electromagnetic forces in the Bermuda Triangle that made compasses go crazy so they couldn’t navigate. I can remember my brother telling me that he heard there was like a whirlpool that ships would get stuck in at the Bermuda Triangle. So… it was a huge obsession as a kid… what was going on in The Devil’s Triangle and why.

Interviewer: That’s funny because the Bermuda Triangle was also an obsession for us as kids. So it seems to have carried on through the generations.

Subject: Yeah! It’s a strange one. And it’s never been substantiated in any way. You know interestingly it’s one of the busiest shipping areas in the world. So there’s constantly ships and planes going through that area. So it could just be the sheer volume of traffic that maybe increases the amount of things that go wrong there. But it’s an incredibly busy shipping and travelling lane in the world.

Context: The subject is a white middle-aged male of Ashkenazi and Eastern-European descent. He was born and raised in Tiverton, Rhode Island with his parents and two siblings. He also happens to be my father, and we are currently quarantined together at our home in Charleston, South Carolina. After dinner one night, I was sitting with him in my dimly lit living room, and I asked if he would share with me any folk beliefs he had heard passed through the family.

Interpretation: I am all too familiar with the intrigue of the Bermuda Triangle. It was interesting to hear that this folklore has transcended generations. My first introduction to the Bermuda Triangle was in a “Scooby Doo” episode. I remember thinking about the Bermuda Triangle very often as a child. My obsession with it was uncanny to the subject’s. I was constantly wondering when I would have to encounter the Bermuda Triangle. I engaged with the idea that it was a portal to another land of some kind, and it took the shape of a whirlpool. I had never heard of the subject’s recollection of the folklore as a god-like character who took on the persona of the different people it absorbed. That is super fascinating to me. I have seen the Bermuda Triangle featured in so much pop culture and media that it seems really timeless.

Lavinia Fisher- Southern Legend

Main Piece:

Subject: There was a traveller coming into downtown Charleston everyday to do business during the year… I’m gonna say 1850. He was coming from the North, from around Georgetown, and back in the olden’ days unless you wanted to add like, a couple days to your trip to go up the Cooper River and find a crossing, you’d have to stop… in somewhere that is now Mt. Pleasant and spend the night to cash a boat to get to Downtown Charleston the next day. So sure enough this is what he had to do. He stopped in an inn run by husband and wife John and Lavinia Fisher. And there were always rumors that circled around this couple, but it was mostly just gossip, not much of any real substance. They had a really crazy reputation… The wife- Lavinia- was supposedly one of the most beautiful women anyone had ever seen. Whereas John was this big, quiet, intimidating, imposing presence. No one paid him any attention when Lavinia was at his side. So… this traveller stops in this inn, hitches his horse, comes inside, and is greeted by Lavinia. She takes his coat, John takes his stuff up to his room…um… and the traveller is intrigued at first. He’s like “I’ve heard so many things about this couple, I’m just gonna observe and play along and see if I can tell any gossip to people I’m doing business with tomorrow in Charleston.”

Everything goes smoothly until they sit down for dinner with a few other boarders. And the traveller realizes John and Lavinia are angling their questions mostly at him. Um… and the questions are never innocent questions. They were like… “Do you have a family?” “What is your business in Charleston?” Things like “Is anyone expecting you home and how much money are you carrying?” He started to get weirded out. The boarders all go to bed, John and Lavinia stay up with the traveller. Lavinia then offers him a cup of tea! Not wanting to be rude, he accepts it. And the traveller, so as not to raise any suspicion, pretends to drink it. At this point, he’s unsettled but he also already paid for his room. And he’s thinking, “I could just be freaking myself out because yeah I’ve heard things about these people… about their guests going missing. But like… no one does that! They’re just being nice and I’m being paranoid.” But he goes to bed that night and finds that he cannot sleep. Then he hears footsteps like, outside his room, and he recognizes them as John’s. So he hops out of bed and hides behind the chair in his room. The footsteps go away and he stands up. Then he looks out the window to make sure his horse is still hitched. Then he hears this like, giant clatter, and the whole room shakes. When he looks back to his bed, there’s just an empty void in the floor. So he’s like, “I’m out.” So he hops out his window, jumps on his horse, and just books it to the dock, where he is the first person on the boat a couple hours later.

When he gets to Charleston, he tells the authorities there’s some shady stuff going down in the room. So they authorities go to the Inn, and they find… that all of the beds… are equipped with this mechanism that like… drops their guests into this murder dungeon! And they find like twelve bodies! Like this is real. John was executed, Lavinia had to watch. John’s neck didn’t break immediately, and he struggled for like… minutes. And Lavinia watched. And when it was her turn- by the way as the first woman executed in America- she looked to the crowd of curious onlookers and said… this is crazy… So Lavinia looks to the crowd of curious, morbid onlookers and she says, “If any of you have a message for the devil, tell it to me now, for I will be seeing him soon.” And then that bitch was hanged. And… she apparently still haunts the jail. 

Interviewer: Holy shit.

Subject: I know I know! I loved this legend as a little girl. I think my grandma first told it to me. My grandma is like super southern. And like yeah… Lavinia is terrifying but that last line always hit so hard. I think that’s why I remember it so well.

Context: The subject is a 23-year-old white woman born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. She is of French Huguenot descent and her ancestors settled in Charleston, South Carolina and New Orleans, Louisiana. She is currently quarantining at her home in Charleston with her family. She is a close family friend, and knowing she and the rest of her family have deep ties with Southern history and folklore, I called her up over FaceTime and asked if she would mind sharing any legends she knew.

Interpretation: I too was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, and am all too familiar with the legend of Lavinia Fisher. This particular legend seems to be heavily commercialized in the Charleston tourism industry. I first heard it when I went on a walking ghost tour with three other tourists. Though much of this legend seems to have a factual historical basis, I know that certain elements are dramatized. Lavinia and John actually ran an inn, actually murdered people, and were actually executed. But I have heard differing iterations of the legend from the subject’s version. For example, rather than the subject’s account of Lavinia’s final words, I have heard the version, “I you have a message you want to send to Hell- give it to me. I’ll carry it.” Additionally, the concept of the beds opening up to a deadly dungeon is not necessarily based in fact, and was likely added into the legend through the years for dramatic effect. While the subject mentions only twelve bodies, other accounts mention hundreds. There is also the well known claim that Lavinia wore her wedding dress to her execution. And so on and so forth, the variations go.

Regardless, the most fascinating aspect of the legend is how much of it is based on fact, which is quite a lot of it.

For more on Lavinia, see:

Weiser, Kathy. “Lavinia Fisher.” Legends of America, 19 Dec. 2019, www.legendsofamerica.com/sc-laviniafisher/.