Author Archives: kohanian@usc.edu

The Unaired Night Stalker

The following informant is a stay at home mom from Upland. Here she is describing a legend about the Night Stalker, a serial killer who terrorized Los Angeles in the 80’s. This is a transcription of our conversation, she is identified as KA and I am identified as K:

KA: So there was this family, older man and lady, and he had got into the house, and they did not put this out in the news, but it was um… he had taken their eyes out and with blood wrote on the walls, that is what he had did

K: Do you know what he wrote?

KA: um… some devil, like the star and like devil symbols, like the zodiac symbols you know, but it was the star one, that’s the devil and that was on the wall

K: And this was never broadcasted?

KA: No they never put it in the newspaper, nothing, they did not tell nobody

K: so how did you hear about it

KA: at the salon, where I worked, people talk all the time, and some lady heard it from other people

K: What year was this?

KA: Probably in the 80s cause that was when he was going around

K: Do you think he actually committed this crime?

KA: oh yeah, he terrorized people, it sounds like something he did

Context: She was telling me this as we were sitting on her couch talking about scary stories my mother told me when I was a kid and she remembered this one that she heard.

Thoughts:

I am not saying whether I think he did or did not commit this particular crime, however I will comment on the supposed writing of the devil zodiac sign. I think that is a particular interesting piece of information, especially because it sounds identical to the Zodiac Killer, which is a completely different case. And maybe the Night Stalker did commit this crime, but it is interesting to see how despite terrorize the community, he persona has become a topic of urban legends.

Bloody Mary

The following informant is an 8th grader. In this account she is explaining what Bloody Mary game is. This is a transcription of our conversation, she is identified as SA and I am identified as K:

SA: So it’s this girl, she was from like a large ship, and she got married there and then something happened to her and she died there… and she haunts the ship… and she can come into your house. So the game goes: If you go into your bathroom and then you close the door, you turn off the lights and you flush the toilet three times and you say Bloody Mary three times and she comes through the mirror and takes you

K: She just takes you, what happens?

SA: Well she takes you so I don’t know.

K: Have you ever played the game?

SA: No, I never tried it, some of my friends did, but when they screamed it freaked me out to much. This was a long time ago thought like 4 years, and I heard the story on YouTube.

K: Can I ask if you believed she would actually come through the mirror and take you.

SA: I think I did when I was younger, but now not so much, but I still don’t want to try it

Context: She told me this while at my house one weekend.

Thoughts:

This was the first time I had heard of a origin story for the Bloody Mary, so I was very interested. Adding the origin story to the scary game made me almost feel bad for the Blood Mary, which felt strange. But what was also interesting is that when I grew up, I heard about this game from my friends who heard it from their friends. But this informant heard about it on YouTube, it’s a different generation with a very different way of exchanging information. She did not need to be in the same place as the person telling her about the game to still experience it.

Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge

The following informant is an 8th grader. In this account she is explaining what the Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge is. This is a transcription of our conversation, she is identified as SA and I am identified as K:

K: So what is the Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge?

SA: its when you get like a shot glass and put it over both of your lips and suck in and then you pull it off and you have huge lips. I tried it and it turned my lips purple tinted

K: Ouch! How did the challenge start?

SA: Kylie Jenner did not start it… but like at the time, everyone was focusing on her and saw how she went from small lips to big lips, but she claimed she never got injections so people wanted her big lips and some person found a way to do that and it eventually found the challenge and put her name on it

K: So who exactly participated in this challenge?

SA: A lot of young girls tried it, especially Kylie Jenner fans. It felt kind of weird but also cool. Oh but also I know some people their like lips burst! Like started bleeding and everything.

K: Wait, if it hurt then why did people participate?

SA: Well because they probably wanted to try it and you can post pictures and videos of you trying it on Instagram

Context: She told me this while at my house one weekend

Thoughts:

Doing something you know might hurt you out of pure curiosity and not wanting to be left out is what I think makes challenges so attractive to people. I mean obviously you can severely damage your lips doing this challenge, but it was still immensely popular.

Medusa

The following informant is an 12 year old. In this account he is explaining who Medusa is and how is father used to tell them stories about her. This is a transcription of our conversation, he is identified as J and I am identified as K:

J: Our dad used to tell us the Medusa story. It’s about a women, like an evil evil women, and she has like… snakes for hair… and if you look in her eyes you turn to stone. And it happened to anyone that looked into her eyes, children, adults, anyone and you would turn to stone

K: That sounds like a scary story, how old were you?

J: He has been telling us this story for about like around 5 years old… and yeah it was more scary and had jump scares! He would tell us in a dark room and out of nowhere he would start tickling us. But it doesn’t scare me now.

K: Do you remember the story he used to tell?

J: Well no, he changes the details every time … but it always was about a women with snakes for hair that would turn you to stone if you looked in her eyes

Context: He and his sister took turns telling me stories

Thoughts:

This reminds me of the Oral Formulic Theory, in that for the story to be effectively scary, the character of Medusa needs to remain the same. By using the mythical being and changing the formulaic (little details) the dad was able to adapt the tale as his son got harder to scare.

For another version of Medusa, here is a clip from Percy Jackson & the Olympians – Medusa’s Garden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPjZKKV37do

Hide and Seek

The following informant is a 12-year-old. In this account he is explaining how to play hide and seek. This is a transcription of our conversation, he is identified as J and I am identified as K:

J: So you need a group of people, at least more than 2. One person is IT and they count to a certain number … and everyone else goes and hides and the person who is it has to find everyone after counting … Usually the younger you are the more you count and the older you are the less you count… oh, we also used to play but we would just count to a random number

K: Who was generally IT?

J: If we were playing video games who ever lost had to be the seeker and we chose the time you count depending on how big the place is… or we also we would play “Nose Goes” and you have to like touch your nose when someone said nose goes and who was last to touch your nose lost or had to be it. Some friends showed me that.

K: Where there ever off limit zones?

J: yeah… you say that are cut off points so you can’t hide past there, like have it to just the house you are at … and no parent’s bedrooms and sometimes the garage.

K: Who wins?

J: Uhh, I guess no one… We just stop when we are bored

K: Is this something you play often?

J: yeah, mostly at sleepovers at night

Context: He and his sister took turns telling me stories

Thoughts:

When he said that they mostly play at night, made me think about how dangerous that can be, especially if you can play outside. But it also makes sense because kids like to push the boundaries and act a little reckless. And playing hide and seek in the dark allows you to do that, but still is considered okay by parents.