Author Archives: chchambe

Kitchen Ghost

Nationality: American

Age: 59

Primary Language: English

Residence: San Antonio, Texas

Text

“Here’s my ghost story. It’s really nothing earth shattering and it’s quite short. But a few years ago when Mom was away and all three of you were with her… I can’t remember where y’all were, but you were out of town and I was home by myself for about three days. Maybe you guys were at the cabin, and I think I had to come back for some work stuff. Anyway, I was living life as normal and one night when I was sitting in the big leather chair by the windows in our living room with the TV on, just vegging and looking at my phone – I think I was looking at Facebook posts – I was deep in thought reading posts and looking at my phone and someone walked out of our master bedroom. It was a woman. She said ‘hey’ as she walked to the kitchen. I replied ‘hey’ and kept looking at my phone. I think subconsciously I was just in the mode of being at home when everyone is at home, and I think subconsciously I just assumed it was your mom. Anyway, I just kept looking at my phone for a couple minutes and then the same person walked back into the master bedroom and said ‘hey’… I replied ‘hey’. That’s when I broke out of my Facebook trance and thought to myself, Uhhh, wait… what?! I realized there was nobody home, yet I just replied to someone twice. So I got up and very cautiously went into the bedroom and then into the master bathroom, and there was no one there. Very freaky. I’ve often wondered if I just imagined the entire thing, but it seemed so real. Real enough that I vocally did say the word ‘hey’ twice. That’s it! That’s the whole story.”

Context

This informant is my father, and his ghost story takes place in my childhood home.

Analysis

In class (and readings), we’ve discussed ghosts as representations of family and ownership, and I believe this is one of those instances. My family and I are all very close, and we’ve lived in my childhood home for 15 years now. My father is so used to seeing me, my mom, my brother, and my sister around the house, he didn’t think twice when he heard someone say “hey”, even when none of us were in the house with him. Regardless of whether or not the ghost actually existed, I believe my father’s perception of this “kitchen ghost” was an outward expression of his comfortability with the establishment of our house and household. In the absence of me and the rest of my family, his perception of the ghost “filled in the gaps”.

Crooked Man

Nationality: American

Age: 53

Primary Language: English

Residence: San Antonio, Texas

Text

“So for some info about the nursery rhymes… Basically, my parents would read ‘Mother Goose’ rhymes to me or sing nursery songs to me at bedtime. Or they would read Aesop’s fables, which often had a moral or parable or lesson tied to them. Once I started learning how to read, they would have me read them (kind of like what I did with you all with Harry Potter). And they both loved to sing, so there was lots of singing nursery songs. One of my favorites was:

‘There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,

He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;

He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,

And they all lived together in a crooked house.’

I guess the most memorable thing with my parents was their love of reading and promoting that with us at an early age, and their love of music and singing. My dad would even sing some of these to us while playing the guitar.”

Context

This informant is my mother. Her parents were scholars/teachers and musicians, so she grew up reading stories and creating music. She taught music for 20+ years at both secondary and collegiate levels, and she’s now a full-time composer for marching bands and symphony orchestras.

Analysis

Based on her recounting of the most memorable nursery rhyme from her childhood, I believe these ballads are how my mother learned to read, create music, and connect with her parents. Ballads bridge music and storytelling – they are songs with a story. My mom’s introduction to nursery rhymes – which rhyme, tell a simple story, and have a simple tune easy enough for children to pick up (such as Crooked Man) – developed by mom’s reading skills and ear for music at an early age, as well as her love for music. As an adult, she used her skills to pursue music as a career. Additionally, these ballads served as a way for my mom to connect with her parents. Given that her parents were also musicians, music was a language they deeply understood and preferred to communicate with.

Escaping Tartarus

Nationality: American

Age: 19

Primary Language: English

Residence: Lubbock, Texas

Text

“One of my favorite video games of all time is Hades, a roguelike based on the myth of Zagreus, son of Hades and Persephone. When Zagreus was born, he wasn’t ‘alive’. Persephone left the Underworld after his birth (due to grief and other emotions), and Hades valued her choice and allowed her to leave. Zagreus was then ‘reborn’ through the help of Nyx, but since the family story was all too complicated to resolve, Hades told Zagreus that he was a son of Nyx, and purposely hid evidence relating to Persephone. Zagreus ultimately finds out his story of birth and the existence of Persephone, and starts his struggle to escape the Underworld. The Olympians, oblivious of the truth, thought Zagreus was escaping to reach Olympus and lent their help to Zagreus – which is how the game begins. Whenever Zagreus dies in his attempt to escape the Underworld, he is reborn and tries again, fighting the undead ‘til the bitter end. I find his story very inspiring.”

Context

This informant is my brother. We grew up playing video games together.

Analysis

I believe my brother uses mythology as a motivator and as inspiration. As discussed in class, myths are often used to describe the natural world, and although my brother doesn’t believe in mythology in any religious or scientific sense, he is drawn to and resonates with mythological stories. For him, myths serve as parallels for his everyday life… And in the case of the Greek Zagreus myth, Zagreus’ determination to see the outside world inspires my brother to keep “keep fighting”. Zagreus’ character offers something to aspire towards.

Visitor, 4:30am

Nationality: American

Age: 19

Primary Language: English

Residence: Lubbock, Texas

Text

“I have a ghost story so vivid I remember all the details to this day. It was my first year of college, and I was living in a tiny dormitory room. I shared the room with my roommate, but he was visiting family that weekend, so I was alone. At 4:30am, I woke up to knocking at the door. I wasn’t sure if I’d heard correctly, so I waited a minute, then heard knocking again. Checking the time, I thought it was weird that someone would be knocking on my door in the middle of the night… or so early in the morning. They knocked again, so I went over to the peephole – there was a little peephole in the middle of the door – and looked through… And no one was there. Trust me, you can see EVERYTHING through this peephole… And yet, there was no one on the other side. I moved away from the door, and the knocking continued. I wondered if some college student was playing a prank on me, so I checked again, and while I was looking through the peephole (which was still empty), the knocking continued. At this point my heart was pounding out of my chest, and I slinked into the corner of my room. The knocking became louder and more aggressive… It almost seemed like whoever was at the door was trying to break it down. Eventually, the knocking stopped and the invisible person went away. I wasn’t able to sleep for the rest of the night.”

Context

This informant is my brother. He attends a university in Lubbock, Texas. Around the time of this experience, we lost a family member.

Analysis

In class (and readings), we’ve discussed ghosts as representations of familial ancestors. Similarly to my father’s ghost story, I believe this is one of those instances. Around the time my brother had this experience, we lost a family member. Although the family member had no attachment to or ownership of my brother’s college dorm room, the dorm was still associated with my brother, and the timing matched up almost perfectly with the family member’s death. Regardless of whether or not the ghost actually existed, I believe my brother’s perception of this desperate ghost was an outward expression of his coping with the family member’s passing.

Changing Teeth

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 23

Nationality: Chinese

Primary Language(s): Mandarin/Cantonese

Text

“So mine is when changing teeth as a child in Chinese families. This happened sometime around when I was in lower school (grade 1-3??). So basically when one of the upper teeth fell down, my family buried it underground for me to grow properly downward; vice versa, when one of the lower teeth fell down, my family threw it over the top of a building or ceiling for it to grow properly upward. It’s kind of a ritual of wishing a child to change teeth successfully and wishing nice-looking teeth after changing.”

Context

This informant is a classmate. She is from China but has been studying in the United States since High School.

Analysis

This ritual is practiced in the presence of change with the purpose of eliciting a positive outcome for the child’s future. It is a ‘coming of age’ ritual and a ‘transition rite’ (as defined by Arnold van Gennep) because it ritually marks the transition from childhood to adulthood (or rather, childhood to older childhood). This ritual also follows James George Frazer’s homeopathic Principle of Sympathetic Magic – the informant’s family buries teeth underground to promote downward growth and throws the teeth overtop structures to promote upward growth.