Author Archives: elimelec@usc.edu

Ben Stout 19: Tooth Fairy

“When I was a little kid I woke up in a daze and I swear to God I saw the tooth fairy. It was a ball of purple light that floated through my window by the dream catcher then turned green and floated away.

Context Ben is an American with roots in the Midwest. He told this story to me in our folklore class. The tooth fairy is an extremely common belief in America, with most children partaking in the belief. She is an entity typically depicted with wings that collects the fallen teeth of children. In their place, she leaves money. Fairies are historically trouble-making creatures, but the tooth fairy is benevolent and loves children. Bens version of the tooth fairy matches some interpretations of fairies that include balls of light.

Analysis: Teeth falling out is a substantial life event, that may be scary for some children to deal with. They are growing up, and their bodies are aging in a way that might seem mystical or magical. The tooth fairy is a good mediator for that life process, and helps make the journey to adolescence a little easier.

Ben Stout 19: Blue Ghosts

“A friend of mine, his grandma could see ghosts, and he too could see ghosts. He said they were blue see through people. Nigel was his name.”

Context: I collected this folklore from Ben in our Folklore class. Ben is an American with roots in the American midWest. Ghosts are a fairly common belief in America, and is one of the most common supernatural sightings in this country. Everyone has their own rendition of what ghosts look like and how they haunt a place. This description is interesting because in Nigel’s account, the ghosts are blue. This is uncommon for a ghost account, as they are normally depicted as gray.

Analysis: Ghosts are partially peoples way of dealing with the concept of death. They validate the idea of an afterlife, which is central to many people’s belief in America. As majority Christian country, the afterlife is an important element for a lot of people. Ghosts are a supernatural belief that do not directly contradict that idea.

Tok Thompson 51: Dynamite Log

“There was a story my dad told to me, they’re probably somewhat true. My hometown was a Russian Native outpost. My dad moved there slightly after WW2 and he talked to a lot of people. Back then, he had a little cabin and everyone had to cut their own wood for fire. One day he noticed that someone was stealing his wood, so he invited the whole town over for a party. This was a small town so nearly everyone showed up. He was trying to figure out how to catch the thief, so he came up with this idea. They had food drink or whatnot. He casually mentioned it that someone is stealing his wood and he said oh don’t worry I took care of it. All the towns people where like what do you mean you took care of it did you find the guy? And he said no no I took care of it. I hollowed out one of the logs and stuffed it with dynamite so pretty soon we’re going to hear an explosion. Then he waited and a few minutes later one of the men said he had to go and he sees him running as fast as he can home. And that’s how he solved that mystery.

Context: I asked folklore professor Tok Thompson if he could share one of his favorite stories with me and this was one of them. He heard it from his father, who lived in an Alaskan village. This takes place slightly after WW2, before the rise of significant technology.

Analysis: This story is extremely funny, which is probably why it is of interest to share with people. It also has an element of justice: good vs. evil where good triumphs.

Tok Thompson 51: The Bear

“There were many encounters that people had with bears back in my hometown. My dad told it to me as if it were true, but it sounds kind of traditional so I have to wonder. So this guy was out somewhere and this bear starts chasing him. To escape, the guy climbed a tree. The bear didn’t want to leave so he was waiting for him under the tree. The bear didn’t want to go away and the guy didnt know what to do. When the bear rushed at him what the guy did was he started peeing right on the bears face, and the bear got so annoyed that he left. So that’s how the guy escaped from that situation. In case you ever need to know how to escape a bear.”

Context: I asked folklore professor Tok Thompson if he could share one of his favorite stories with me and this was one of them. He heard it from his father, who lived in an Alaskan village. This takes place slightly after WW2, before the rise of significant technology.

Analysis: This story is extremely funny, which is probably why it is of interest to share with people. It is a case of a man outsmarting another entity, which seems to be a popular theme people like to share.

Reed Kaplan 19: Spilling Salt

“So the reason why when you spill salt. You have to throw it over your left shoulder is because the right side is the path of god and the left side is the path of the devil and you have to throw salt at the devil to counteract the omen my spilling salt.”

Context: I collected this story from Reed at the University of Southern California. Reed is an American Jew with roots in Louisiana.

Analysis: In Louisiana, occult religious beliefs are common alongside with the Vodun religion. Because of this, Christianity has also been mystified in a lot of random traditions, this being one of them. In Christianity, the left is often associated with the devil as “ it was thought that the Devil baptised his followers with his left-hand and there are many references in superstitions to the “left-hand side” being associated with evil.” That is why there are phrases like: “do the right thing”. This belief may stem from the fact that most of the population is right handed, so there would obviously be a mistrust of left handed individuals.
https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/20464/are-left-handers-servants-of-the-devil?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google_rich_qa&utm_campaign=google_rich_qa