Monthly Archives: May 2015

Guardian Angel

Nationality: Mexican American
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 30, 2015
Primary Language: English

RB is a USC Student majoring in Business and is a co-worker at the United University Church [UUC].

 

My uncle followed an angel once. When he was four he was being taken care of by my mother who is the oldest of all the siblings. While they were out in the fields she lost him and the started to look for them. She was heartbroken because she thought he was dead but the next day around midday they found him in another pueblo across the mountains. Recently my father asked him if he remembered what he saw. He said that he saw an angel. Other people said that he had seen a guardian angel and that he had followed him to safety.

 

There are many have recounted stories of having seen angels during times of peril. There are several magazines who have articles written by people who have had similar experiences. It is interest the interest that is prevalent in angels particularly in the last several years as seen by the rise of TV shows that include angels. Fr example: Supernatural, Constantine, and most recently The Messengers. Angels are not very prominent in the bible so it is interesting to see that they are popular across generations and cultures.

Footsteps

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 51
Occupation: Line Cook
Residence: Koreatown
Performance Date: April 29, 2015
Primary Language: Spanish

 

SM was born in San Miguel Amatlan a pueblo in Oaxaca, Mexico. He was lived here for half his life time working as a cook at various restaurants throughout L.A. County. The story that he has told me was from personal experience.

 

 

When I worked in Hollywood, i was in the locker rooms with F- changing when we heard the heels of a woman talking on the corridor outside the door. We turned around and there was no one there but we still heard the heels walking past. We got scared and left quickly. when we got down we asked the others who the woman was that came down but they said that they didn’t see anyone. There were a lot of stories told there. That they heard things since there was a cemetery there before they built the restaurant.

 

 

When there are stories told of hauntings it is usually because they were built over cemeteries or sacred grounds. It can be a way to say to others that they should be respectful of these places and not build things over them.

 

La Mujer de Blanco

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 51
Occupation: Line Cook
Residence: Koreatown
Performance Date: April 29, 2015
Primary Language: Spanish

SM was born in San Miguel Amatlan a pueblo in Oaxaca, Mexico. He was lived here for half his life time working as a cook at various restaurants throughout L.A. County. The story that he has told me was from personal experience.

 

 

Transcribed from an Audio recording:

 

Pues hay estaba yo en la esquina de aquí la olympic y la western. Y ahí estábamos tomando y como ya se acabaron las cervezas ya nos despedimos todos. Y en eso vimos que venía la mujer y cruzó paso asi atras del puesto de revista que estaba ahí…y ya se fueron ellos y ya me fui y dice “vete ahi vete a ver” ya me fui atrás de ella. Pero cuando ya vi que cruzó la vi que era una mujer alta así como…creo que más alta que esa A-, así alta la vi yo y un vestido…un vestido todo, todo asi aguado desde aquí todo aguado, no se miraban sus manos, no se le miraba sus manos no mas asi se le miraba como que tenía un vestido largo, asi no se miraban sus pies nada. Ya camino hacia la olympic y ya camine yo tambien asi pero…si iba rápido y ya se cruzó otra vez la calle ahí donde mero tomamos el bus ahí ahorita asi hay se cruzó y hay…y ya ahí así como una distancia asi i le digo “Shh! Shh!” le estaba yo diciendo y este que empezó a caminar más rápido y que cruza la calle. Cuando cruzo la calle que cruzo atrás de ella tambien asi  pero cuando ya se regresó otra vez hacia aquí pero…ya cuando iba yo más rápido empezó a caminar mas rapido tambien y de volado cruzó así la calle, mira rápido luego ya agarro la banqueta otra vez donde esta la banquetita de este lado. aso cuando me crucé llasta se  dio la vuelta, aqui la esquina…pero bien rapido  y cuando me di cuenta como que no iba sus pies, no se miraba que iba caminando si no que nomas iba en el aire asi …y y ya, ya se vino y ya me vine detrás de ella aqui asi se vino y luego se cruzó la calle otra vez, hay donde se pone el camión de verdura, hay se cruzó luego ya bajo y no ves que hay esta una entrada, unas escaleras que sube a ese edificio que esta ahi de La Berta. Pues hay ya llegue y cuando ya se subio ahi en la escaleritas y se fue pa’ riba que me subo rapido, me subí yo en las escaleritas ahí cuando llegue arriba esta llego en la mera esquina del edificio, no ves que hay esta un callejón esta ahi. Llasta llego hay. Y este como hay ya esta oscuro el foco no más a la mitad del edificio alumbra pero todavía se ve un poquito más allá ya vi que luego dio la vuelta, y cuando dio la vuelta ahí es que como que sentí yo algo como que parece que algo me subio de mis pies asi senti mi pelo que se me iso mi pelo asi se me pararon. Entonces que regreso. Cuando ya regrese me baje  que me cruzo esta calle donde esta este árbol y aqui donde estan estas escaleritas que bajan de ese edificio hay me puse a orinar ahí estaba yo orinando cuando vi que ya venía otra vez de regreso ya venía y luego bajo así hacia la calle y cuando me regrese asi luego camino se fue pero cuando ay se fue para la…olympic cuando iba subiendo así en esa subidita la vi que ya iba como en el aire mira asi ya iba ya no iban sus pies en el piso nada no que…ya me para ahí para…como que se volteo a verme a ver si la seguía yo otra vez y entonces me dio miedo ya me entró miedo entonces ya agarre que corro que me voy a las una de la mañana ya agarre y me fui…

 

 

Well, there I was at the corner of over her Olympic and Western. And there we were drinking and since the beers were gone we all said our goodbyes. That’s when we saw the woman coming, she crossed passing behind the newspaper stand that used to be there. And they left and I left but they said, “Go. There. Go look.” I went after her. But when I saw her cross i saw that she was a tall woman like..I think taller than A-. I saw her as tall and the dress…the entire dress was loose, everything from here was loose you couldn’t see her hands. You couldn’t see her hands, it only looked like she has a long dress, you couldn’t see her feet, nothing. She walked towards Olympic and I walked also but…she was going fast and she crossed the street again right where we take the bus now and there she crossed.  There she was at a distance and i said to her, “Shh!Shh!” I was saying to her and she started to go faster and she crossed the street. Really fast and she grabbed the curve again where the curve is on this side. When I crossed and she already turned and when I took notice like her feet were not going, you couldn’t see that she was walking, only that she was only going in the air…and, and she came and I came behind her and here she came and she crossed the street again, there where the vegetable truck parks, there she crossed and you know there is an entrance, some stairs that go up to that building  that is there on La Berta. Well there I was and when she went up the stairs she went up and I went up fast, I went up the stairs and when i got there she was already at the corner of the building, you know there is an alley there. She was already there.And since it is dark there and the light only goes up to the middle of the building but you can still see a little and i saw that she turned the corner and when  she turned the corner there is when I felt something. It felt like something went up from my feet all the way to my hair, that they rose up. Then she came back. when she came back i went down and crossed the street to eh tree and there where there are those stairs that go down the building I started to take a leak and there I was taking a leak when i saw that she was coming and she came down and crossed the street and when she came back, she crossed, and she went towards olympic when she went up I saw that she went like she was in the air, her feet were no longer on the ground, nothing…and then she turned around to look at me to see if I would follow her again. Then I got scared and I felt fear in me then I decided to run and I left around one in the morning and left…

 

 

This is an interesting story seeing as it was told as a personal experience. It has been told to other people who have also recounted similar experiences but since they had been told this story first they were more cautious. It is a cautionary tale to not go out and if people are out at night to be careful.

 

Feathered Serpent

Nationality: Mexican American
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 30, 2015
Primary Language: English

RB is a USC student majoring in Business. He is a co-worker at the United University Church [UUC] at the front desk.

 

 

My grandmother told me that when she was a little girl there was this river or creek that ran near the pueblo where she lived. There was supposed to be a feathered serpent that lived there and that is was due to the snake that the river was there. One day the men of the pueblo went out to kill it and the river dried up. She said that she saw it fly once.

 

 

This story came from Michoacan which is close to the area of El D.F. which may have had some influences from Aztec mythology. Quetzalcoatl was a feathered serpent and one of the main gods in the pantheon. This story may also be a way to explain a natural phenomena by casting blame on something tangible for the river drying up.

 

Lencho

Nationality: Mexican American
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 19, 2015
Primary Language: English

RB is a student at USC majoring in Business. He is a co-worker at the United University Church [UUC] front desk.

 

 

Transcript of Audio Recording:

 

 

on the third floor on the roof there i was climbing the old ladder i guess and…son on the third floor there was like this little attic it’s kind of like a stairwell or um there was it wa weird but kind of creepy but kind of cool but basically this building is like really old supposedly like um like one of the old pastors let a like a an immigrant who wanted to like hide away from the police i think hide up in the attic and that he supposedly died there and now there’s so he haunts the floor or this place thats’ what our director told us

 

did anyone ever see anything?

 

well our director said that um there’s been kind of  … he would stay to work really late here until midnight one two am so that he would sort of see stuff  and that he would feel like a presence like it was that not malicious so he felt calm so he felt that

 

did you ever feel anything?

 

no but B- and other student said they felt a presence.

 

This is an interesting tale and brings in a political context as it questions whether this story is merely a cautionary tale of taking better care of those less fortunate or if it was something against immigrants