Author Archives: Lily Mathison

AP Chemistry Initiation – Arlington, Virginia

“This is like a piece of I guess tradition from my high school and I’m from Arlington, Virginia but I don’t really know if that has to do with it necessarily but just in my high school uh, so uh you know you have your regular classes and I took chemistry in tenth grade, I think – yeah – and in eleventh grade I decided to take AP Chemistry and of course AP classes are always, AP sciences are always hard for high schoolers so I took it and uh, before, like in ah spring before the end of my sophomore year, so when I was gonna go into my junior year and starting it we had like this initiation ceremony. So like it was really funny like I didn’t know what was going on there was just like this list that the teacher sent out to all of us that were going to be in the class the next year and there were like all these random things like three tins of cat food and a bikini and like a, like fishhooks and like, uh, it was really random and uh, people like knew not to bring that stuff ‘cause it was so ridiculous but one guy actually did bring all that stuff. It was really funny. So uh we all got together at the school and like I had no idea what it was. Like uh, my friend before had done it but he wouldn’t tell me what it was because it was like this secret. So we all got in the uh, the, like the students who had already taken AP Chem, we all got into their cars and then we drove and we drove and we drove and we drove and we drove in like half an hour into D.C. – ‘cause Arlington’s really close to D.C. and it’s kinda northern D.C. area and it was actually a, ah, swing dance thing. Like I guess they have these every once and a while in D.C. like they just really like swing dancing so we did that for like four hours at night. And like everybody was having a good time and it was really hot because it was like 95 degrees. And the guy with the – the poor guy with the ti-cat food. No it was really fun. So yeah, that was our initiation.”

The informant is a 20-year-old Neuroscience student at the University of Southern California. Her mother is Slovenian and her father is Mexican. She is from Arlington, Virginia.

When asked about what she thought of this initiation she thought the random random, crazy fun quality of it was typical of her school, which was basically run by 30- and 40-something-year-old hippies. The atmosphere of the school was fun while still being academically rigorous. As mentioned in her description of the initiation itself is that an initiation for AP Chemistry was reasonably appropriate because she and her other rising-AP Chemistry peers were entering a time of grueling academics that represented a new intensity of schooling.

I surmise that this initiation is as much an expression of school identity as much as it was a rite of passage. Not only were these rising juniors about to enter the grueling world of Advanced Placement classes but also entering these classes at this particular school with a unique balance of idiosyncratic fun and academics.

Ghost Memorate & Legends – Carson, CA

Incident 1:

Informant:“So me and H., a guy I work with, um, alright my work – we were unloading vinyl flooring which is these big 6 foot – and some of them are 8 foot rolls, they’re like really heavy. They’re shipped from Japan to here – ‘cause that’s where our company is, in Japan. So they’re in this huge cargo trailer and um, so they get shipped here, they drop them off at the trailer and we have to, obviously, open them up and unload the rolls onto a forklift and the forklift to takes it to where it needs to go. Um, so me and this guy H. were inside the trailer…”

Collector: “Okay so in which warehouse?”

Informant: “It’s the first warehouse that we’re in.”

Collector: “Okay. Number one.”

Informant: “Number one.”

Collector: “Okay, is there a second one?”

Informant: “Yeah, a second one across the street.”

Collector: “Okay, so tell me about the difference between warehouses?”

Informant: “Uh, it’s – they’re across the street. It’s two separate buildings.”

Collector: “Okay, and you’re normally in the second one?”

Informant: “No, we’re normally in the first one.”

Collector: “Alright, so this all happens where you’re normally at. Ok, cool.”

Informant: “And okay, so it’s a big cargo trailer, which if you’ve ever seen it just heavy, tough trailer. It’s not wood it’s metal. So um, heavy – heavy doors, like the kinda doors where you have to lift up on both levers pull them towards each other and pull them open. Um, crap. But, so we’re in there and we’re unloading the rolls and it’s a beautiful day out, clear and there’s no wind. There’s nothing. Just a beautiful clear, blue sky, crisp day. And um H., he’s just – I don’t know – pissed off at the company or something, just talkin’ like a lot of negative stuff about the company – which, I think that’s what triggered it, because out of no where, ‘cause the cargo doors are all the way open, so like it’s a 90 degree angle on both sides, the cargo doors to the trailer. Just completely open and out of nowhere the cargo door in a very controlled manner, a very controlled fashion just closed, slowly too, just closed all the way till it completely shut. Then it opened at the same controlled pace all the way open the exact spot it was in. And the thing is it didn’t squeak, it made no sound at all. It was just a very controlled, like same speed the whole way. It didn’t go fast or slow down, you know, or like slow down and speed up. It very controlled, same speed, closed all the way then it reopened. That’s the thing- how does it re-open? You could argue that if there was wind, which there wasn’t even wind, but if there was – okay the wind could close it but it couldn’t. It would have to be like hurricane winds. Like this is heavy duty stuff. But say someone’s skeptical, they made that argument – how does it re-open? ‘Cause it’s closed and then it reopened at that same controlled pace right after it closed. All the way to, back to where it was.”

Collector: “Were you inside the trailer at the time?”

Informant: “Yeah. It was weird. Both of us just, after that, just looked at each other – didn’t even say a word – and just like, just like whoa. Like wow. So.”

Collector: “What did you do after that?”

Informant: “We both just like, whoa. Then the forklift came around and we were like, ‘Dude, something just happened.’ And then we start talking about it.”

Incident 2:

Informant: “Okay so, [the linoleum company] has been around for over 30 years. And I mean it started in Japan, moved here. But it’s been here for over 30 years and worked the ground up to where it is now. But for the past, uh I don’t know how long but forever, for the past uh, over 10 years there’s been rumors of a ghost being in the second warehouse. Um, and a guy that’s worked there for like 10 years said a little while ago, um – how do I describe this. Okay the second warehouse has a place where trailers can back in so it has a little overhang. And he [a fellow warehouse worker] used to park there for the shade – ‘cause it gets hot. So he was parking there to get out of the sun. And so the day’s over of work he goes in his car to go home and his car, he starts hearing almost footsteps like almost jumping on the top of his car. Then he, he thought it was some guy he worked with like almost playing jokes with him. He looked up – there was no one there. And then he just left, I don’t know. Creeped out, just left.”

Incident 3:

Informant: “A guy just recently, couple of months ago was in the second warehouse trying to like – I don’t know what he does, but looking at the rolls, I think taking down the measurements or something. Then, uh, he said, and I swear ‘cause the lights we have there, um like when you ha, how do I, what’s the word? They’re like sensitized or whatever. You walk and they turn on. If you’re not there for like a minute they turn off. And they automatically turn on and off with where you are.”

Collector: “Motion detector?”

Informant: “Yeah, like motion detected. And uh, he was doing whatever measurements or something with the rolls and he felt like, he he swears that he felt like this electric shock like in his heart – like this weird electric shock like went through his body. And he looked over and he saw a figure like 25 feet down the aisle like just walk across real quick. And the thing is the lights didn’t turn on. And he went over he was just freaked out and uh, yeah he told us the next morning and he like tries not to go into that warehouse. Like it’s crazy.”

The informant is a 24-year-old warehouse worker and Equiptment Operator in the Navy Reserves. He was born and raised in the outskirts of Boston and moved to Los Angeles about a year and a half ago. He attends an Evangelical Christian church and is painter. He completed high school and is figuring out a college program to attend.

This series of narratives clearly demonstrate a belief within this linoleum company that the warehouses are haunted. The informant said that he has heard yet more examples of strange happenings attributed to a “ghost” but couldn’t remember them at the time of the interview. When asked why the informant attributed these strange experiences to ghost activity he said, quite simply, because other people at his work called it a ghost. At other times when he’s told various ghost stories from work he has said that he wasn’t sure if someone had died in there or what – revealing some level of belief in the notion that there was indeed a ghost. At the time of the interview, however, he was not so sure. He said he honestly didn’t know what it was; all he knew was that something was going on that could only be explained in supernatural terms. When we got in a conversation about what ghosts were, he said he thought they were some sort of demon or angel, and most likely a demon.

His assessment that ghosts are, in fact, demons more closely matches his self-assessment of other unexplainable experiences as encounters with demons. One example of a personal unexplained encounter was when he felt something weird in his bed, heard it call his name, and saw the strange creature he described it as a demon and commanded it away in the name of Jesus as Christians are instructed to do in both the Bible and in church. In the presence of co-workers, he didn’t act in a similar way but rather behaved more along the lines that one would a ghost – he got freaked out and talked to someone about this weird thing that happened. No prayers here. In each example he seems to be behaving as is expected in the context. At work he’s another worker talking rumors about ghosts. In his home life talking to Christians he details an encounter with a demon. These disparate reactions are to phenomena that the informant at different times would admit is strikingly similar.

Also, in terms of the language that the informant employs, he clearly believes that something strange is happening but is attempting to recount those experiences to a skeptic. The detail in his first person narrative about the controlled swing and addressing a skeptic’s rebuttals before they are even voiced. This could say that either the informant has encountered so much backlash to his stories that he has refined them in a way to preempt the backlash or he is, in fact still having an internal debate at some level about the validity of his experience. In either case, the realm of the legend is aptly employed – as the issue of belief is far from resolved.

Rafting Legend – Shanandoa Mountains, Virginia

On a rafting trip her friend’s “mother was saying, ‘Oh, you know you guys should be careful you could drown and I was like, ‘Oh, no. I’m a good swimmer.’ And she was like, ‘No! I know this story about this old woman who was rafting on the river out here and uh, she was a really good swimmer like you Andrea, you know she was a really good swimmer. But she fell out of the raft in the high rapids and she got stuck under one of the rocks cause you know like under it cause the current was so fast going over it that she got stuck and then she drowned and she couldn’t get out.’ And this was used to scare me and my friend. And it definitely worked!”

The informant, originally from Arlington, Virginia, learned this legend was she was in 3rd grade on a rafting trip with her friend’s family. They had gone over some terrifying rapids on a multiple day rafting trip and her friend’s Mom had had them get really low into the boat so they no one would fall out. The informant clearly understands this as a legend told to scare children into behaving well while rafting.

This mother may have exaggerated the dangers of rafting – the logistics of getting caught under a rock are not beyond imagining but out of the real of normal experience. Mentioning this legend served its purpose not so much in being a realistic representation but in controlling child behavior enough to relieve a frightened mother’s anxiety. Especially a mother that was given the task of ensuring the safety of not only her own child but also another’s child who she didn’t as trusting a relationship with.

Shadow Creature Prank – American

“So, my brothers and I when we were young probably early, I guess eleven or twelveish – that area, um, it was raining outside, we all shared a room you know and bunk beds. And we were looking out the window, just watching the rain and stuff. And I gotta an idea to like scare my brothers, because they were young and gullible, to tell them that I saw a shadow creature sneaking around the rain in in th in the back in the yard and everything. Um, and my middle brother swears he saw it. They got freaked out and scared and it was a good laugh. About a month ago – which is like 10 years later – my brother brought it up, he brought it up to me and he’s like, ‘Remember a long time ago we saw that shadow creature?’ And to this day he still remembers that shadow creature and believes that it was there. And I, I totally made it up.”

The informant is a 26-year-old cinematographer who grew up as a military brat moving every couple of years, before coming to Los Angeles, California for college and to work in the motion picture industry. He is the oldest of three boys and was recently married.

The informant when asked about this prank said that he thought “it was a good prank at the time” and a funny ghost story. He said it was especially funny that his younger brother still believes he saw the creature after being told repeatedly that the informant made the whole thing up. He said he added that he “was always teasing them.”

The informant is has the personality of a prankster and loves to throw people for a loop in order to get a laugh, so I definitely agree with the informant’s analysis in that regard. That the type of day was a slow, rainy sort makes sense as well, as the informant was clearly looking for something to do that day and why not go to his favorite pastime of teasing his brothers. I would mention that the context that his brother, who lives in Northern California and doesn’t get to see the informant very often, was most likely in the hours before the informant’s wedding when the sky was drizzling off and on. This original context definitely lends itself to nostalgia – as a major life change was about to take place.

Family Story – Traveling

Informant: “They went on a motorcycle trip. Um, should I give names?”

Collector: “Yeah, sure.”

Informant: “Uh, Dan and David. Daniel and David. Um, and they were on a motorcycle that they got from a friend of theirs. He was a um, like an engineer. And it was a rare motocycle. It was a Zündapp made in Germany. It looked like a BMW. Um, but any rate, they planned and went on a trip. Actually they didn’t take the trip with a lot of money or a lot of forethought. Um, I’m not sure I had their parent’s permission – or I’m sure they did, but I’m not sure that my parents knew what they were getting themselves into by letting them go. But a’any rate they left Los Angeles and they drove up the coast to Washington and then onto Canada. And um, they were going to go to Alaska but I don’t think they made it. But on the way they had a lot of interesting experiences which included sleeping in um beside the road, sleeping in old farm houses. Ah, one story that I remember was that they were sleeping in a farm house and even then my brother, he was a gun collector. So he had a small caliber gun in his uh, uh his boot.”

Collector: “David did?”

Informant: “Uh, yeah, David did. And and so at any rate, uh, they were told be somebody who works at this ranch that they could actually stay in the farmhand house. So they did. But the owner come uh, comes in with a shotgun and um, and scares um. And my brother ah, um need to put his boot on but can’t because there’s a gun in his boot [laughing]. And so eh, uh s-s-someway he distracts him and pulls the gun out and puts it in his belt. I mean remember he’s got a shotgun in his uh, uh face you know. And so they gather their stuff and then they run out and jump on their motorcycle and jump off.”

Collector: “So how old were they?”

Informant: “Uh, they were 13- and 15-years-old. [Laughing.] That’s, yes. Uh, they had um a flat tire. Um, a blown tire – which meant that they needed to replace the tire. So they found, uh a tire shop that had some used tires and they went through the tire and they actually found a used tire that the guy gave them. Finally the – my brother was able to take the old tire off, put the new tire on and so they, so they did that. And uh, like I said they did it with very little money – it was quite an adventure and a lot of it – they met a lot of people and uh, I think that the uh, th-th-th-the thing, the thing about the trip was that they were really quite young to do it. They have actually a photograph of um, standing near the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. I believe it was coming back on that motorcycle. So at any rate they had, uh ah a lot of nerve to do a, uh, trip like that and they did it. And they are uh, they’re alive today to tell the story.”

Collector: “Grandpa hitchhiked to Chicago when he was like…”

Informant: “Yes, he did, uh huh.”

Collector: “How old was he when he did that?”

Informant: “He was he was probably 15 or 16. So it was ah, they did it in a, in a, with a, with a good family history. I mean it was in the 50’s that they made that trip. And um, of course Grandpa did it when he was, in the 30’s. He went to the Chicago fair, the World Fair. And then the New York World Fair another year. Not the next year but – ah, he and a friend of his. And they, uh, they did it by hitchhiking cars but mainly they did it by hoping trains. Often times they would be in the tender which would be where the coal was so they would be ru-really dirty. And um, uh, uh there was a-a-a train detective – they called him a, a ‘dick’ –  but it uh, [Informant laughs] that meant detective that would look for people who would hop the train. But a’any rate they went all the way to New York and all the way back. So my brother, my two brothers, they were in good company. They did what their grandfather did uh, thirty years prior to that, or a 25 years prior to that.”

Collector: “Uh, their – what their Dad did?”

Informant: “Oh, uh,ouh, yeah, what their yeah that’s right what their Dad did. What your Grandfather did.”

The informant is a 67-year-old who works as a Substance Abuse Counselor and as caregiver to his aging parents. He has lived mainly in Iowa, Colorado, and California over his lifetime.

The informant seemed to want to frame the story as what his rebellious siblings did when they were teenagers and only made the connection between his father’s travels and brothers’ when I mentioned that there might be one. This tells me that he may have seen his brothers’ trip to Canada as teenagers doing crazy things rather than teenagers doing what their father had done a few decades before. The informant also seems to have seen this as a story that illustrated the difference between the 50’s and today – teenagers used to be able to travel on a motorcycle and sleep on the side of the road when they traveled. Even though the informant mentions that they were young, he doesn’t mention that them staying in barns or the like was unusual – while this today is something that would be considered very unsafe or simply not done.

I remember hearing this story, in a much shorter form, from my uncle David as well. In fact, I would probably consider it a fairly well known family story. When my uncle told me about the trip it was in an “I can’t believe I did that” vein similar to this rendition of my father. The craziness of it almost reaches to legendary heights in the retelling.

When considering these trips in conjunction with other stories of travel, a pattern begins to emerge: a tradition of males traveling as a way to go from this amorphous adolescent/emerging adulthood stage to actual adulthood. The two types of trips mentioned in the narrative are seen in various films that have come out recently. Train hopping is seen in both Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, based on the life of Bob Dylan and in Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. Into the Wild is an interesting example because the main character, Chris Candless, appears to be trying to return to simpler times and takes up train hopping as a means of getting around. He ends up getting caught by a guard who threatens his life if he ever gets caught again. A fear of train detectives is expressed in the story about the informant’s father train hopping. The two are also in a similar time in their lives, though the informant’s father was maybe 8 years younger than Chris Candless in the film. And yet they are both young men at the age where they either would be entering society as contributing adults or would be soon. In fact, this is the case for the train-hopping in Into the Wild and at the start of I’m Not There as well as in a film about traveling by motorcycle in Walter Salles’ Motorcycle Diaries. In all three of these films (all of which were based on true stories) in the trips each of these young men take the young men grow up in a sense – whether they connect with others that are important for their lives or they go out in search for something that they couldn’t find back home or they just want to see the world. In a society where traditional rites of passage are growing fewer and father between, this may be a sort of exploratory rite of passage for young men into adulthood.

Haynes, Todd, Dir. I’m Not There. Weinstein Company: 2007, DVD.

Penn, Sean, Dir. Into the Wild. Paramont: 2007, Film.

Salles, Walter, Dir. Motorcycle Diaries. Focus Features: 2004, DVD.