Author Archives: Kelsey Kelliher

Séances

My informant, LK, has attended several séances. He used to attend them with his Mexican American grandmother.  My informant explained that going to séances, reading Tarot cards, and seeing mediums was not atypical in his family.  I took interest in the séances LK attended.  He told me about one in particular.

LK attended a séance at a woman’s home.  All the attendees were required to bring a bottle of rum and a cigar.  The woman that hosted was an older Puerto Rican or Mexican woman.  At the séance, the woman would call upon a spirit and the spirit would then enter her.  “He was a little black guy and he liked to smoke the cigar and drink the rum.  She would go into a trance and it’d be like you were talking to him.  So you’d be asking him questions and he would know the answers because he is of the other world.”  I asked how the man would know the answers.  “You would just believe them if you believed in the spiritual world.”  And would they always be right? “No, they would sometimes be wrong.”  Are there bad spirits? “Yes.  You have to be careful because you don’t want to ever get a bad spirit.  You have to do it with someone who knows how to do it.  Because they have their spirits that they constantly use.  It’s not like playing the Ouija board.  They have spirits they are in contact with.”

I asked LK how he got into this.  He told me that it was a part of his mother, grandmother, and great grandmother’s culture.   His great grandmother would teach him things.  She knew how to work certain spells and certain magic.  At least that is what he grandmother told him about his great grandmother…

LK would attend séances and the like because of curiosity.  He wanted to talk to people that had died and see what the future holds.

For another rendition of a séance you can refer to Woody Allen’s movie Magic in the Moonlight.

Superstition of Putting Purse on Floor

LK believes that women should not put their purse on the floor because that means money will leave you.

This belief reveals that Americans, or perhaps more specifically Mexican Americans like LK, believe that money can easily leave you.  This superstition also reveals that people believe money is not something that should easily leave you. Save up!

Bill Edwards at Davidson College

JS told my friends, including his son, and I this story about his time at Davidson College after discussing USC’s traditions.

He explained that at Davidson College in the 1970’s, his class secretary fabricated a student.  Bill Edwards was his name.  JS’s classmates and classes in the years to follow would open up the yearbook every year to look for a photo of Bill Edwards.  Though no such photo exists, every class graduating after JS’s class wavers between believing and not believing in the existence of Bill Edwards.  JS explained, “the whole college rallied around this.”

Every couple months a new detail was added to Bill Edwards’ story.  After graduating he supposedly worked for the United States’ State Department.  Then he worked his way up to the CIA.  Later students learned that he had married a Vietnamese bride from his time undercover.  Years later they learned that he had seven kids.  Everyone was glued to it.

Eventually, Davidson College made a new library.  Alumni of JS’s year decided to donate around $20,000 to have a book return desk named after Bill Edwards, thus perpetuating the legend of Bill Edwards.

Perhaps students at Davidson are so ready to believe in this Bill Edwards character because he seemed to live a cool life.  He started working at the State Department but worked his way up to be a secret agent for the CIA–a move that demonstrates his work ethic and dedication to the United States.  At the CIA he worked undercover, which demonstrates that he is intelligent, physically fit, cunning, and ready to risk his life for his country.  His marriage to a Vietnamese woman demonstrates his worldliness and paints a James Bond-esque image.  Perhaps his seven children further reveal his sexual appetite while also demonstrating his conformity to the idea of finding a nice woman, settling down, and having lots of babies.  Perhaps students at Davidson are proud of Bill Edwards and his successes; therefore, why not believe it?

 

You can read more about Bill Edwards via the Davidson College Archives.  You can also see his tombstone in at Davidson College as well as his book drop at the E.H. Little Library on Davidson’s campus.

http://sites.davidson.edu/archives/encyclopedia/legend-of-bill-edwards

If you don’t drink, you’re a spy

A couple of my roommates have gone to my informant AF’s house for dinner.  Each time my friends have come home at least tipsy, maybe even drunk.  It is atypical for my friends to come home tipsy or drunk from dinner with a friend’s parents.  Yet, when they go to AF’s house, it always seems to happen.  I wondered why.

Both of AF’s parents were born in Russia.  As a result, AF grew up in a Russian American home.  Besides the fact that vodka is a Russian drink, I’ve wondered why Russians seem to be so good at drinking. My friend AF explained that it is custom for men to drink anything and everything in Russia.  Why?  AF explained, “If you don’t drink in the pace with other people, you are a spy in Russia.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man refuse a drink. Or at least it is very rare.”

This mentality is definitely present within the Russian American community.  In fact, this mentality perseveres outside the community.  My friends expressed that they felt uncomfortable or rude turning down a drink in AF’s home. The paranoia that AF’s parents experienced in Russia has had residual effects.  It is custom for Russian Americans to prove that they are not spies by drinking heavily and possibly impairing their judgement, simply because they can.

 

 

Voodles

My informant, JP, is creating voodoo dolls for children.  Literally sewing dolls.  She calls them Voodles, a combination of voodoo and dolls.  When she told me she was making voodoo dolls for children I was surprised.  I explained that I thought voodoo dolls were scary–a part of what my dad calls dark magic.  But my informant explained that voodoo is totally misconstructed by modern day society.  She understands them to be these protective spirits with positive attributes, not negative ones.

She plans to create a number of Voodles.  For example, there will be a doctor Voodle for a sick child.  “Another Voodle has a pocket and if you put a penny in its pocket and make a wish, the Voodle is supposed to help it come true. And each Voodle will come with a legend or story.”

JP’s desire to make a Voodles for children suggests she has a strong belief in voodoo dolls.  It also reveals that she believes so many people believe in voodoo that there is a commercial market for voodoo dolls geared toward children.