Transcript – informant speaking
“There’s a myth that my old dorm building was an insane asylum. Also there’s a building on campus that was supposedly funded by the Shah of Iran.”

Background
This ones short, and almost like a two-in-one. It was given to me by a person who attends college in Washington D.C.. They likely heard both of these rumors from their classmates or dorm-mates. He likely would have heard them both separately. But what’s interesting is how he pairs them both together here, giving them about the same weight.

Context
This information was given out during a zoom conversation on college legends. It was given during the tail end of a conversation, almost off-handedly. He didn’t seem to take too much stock in either of them. He was just laying them out as he heard them. It should be noted that the informant is a very rationally minded person, one who would often look down on things such as ghost stories and rumors.

Thoughts
The fact that a rumor about an asylum is being put in the same vein as the notion of an Iranian funding a college campus building is interesting. Its almost as if the fear of a foreign power having a monetary stake in the U.S. is being given the same weight as the fear of the insane Might speak to some of the isolationist and nationalistic sentiments that have been spreading across the U.S.. I would like to note though that I don’t think giving these two legends the same weight was the informants doing. He was likely just telling both back as he heard them.