Monthly Archives: May 2018

Dave the Ghost

Nationality: American
Age: 26
Occupation: Project Manager
Residence: Redwood City, CA
Performance Date: 4.9.18
Primary Language: English

The informant told me of a ghost story that happened where he was living. Prior to it happening, three years before, the informant’s cousin was living in the same guest house (in Calfiornia) the informant was living in. The guest house was conjoined with a shed that had a lot of spooky things in it. The cousin was telling the informant of a time when he woke up in the middle of the night because he heard loud breathing around three in the morning. Upon hearing this, the informant’s cousin ran outside in a panic. The cousin had informed the informant and his family the morning after it had happened. “Fast forward a few years later,” the informant said, “I randomly think of how my cousin told me this story and how eerie it is that I live in the same room as he did now.” As the informant is thinking this, out of nowhere, a pipe burst and water starts spewing all over the place. The informant said he felt totally surprised and scared, yet finally believed at that moment that his cousin had experienced the supernatural. The informant later went on to learn that someone did die on his property. After that, the informant moved out of the guest house a few weeks later and spoke about how the grounds he lived on were definitely haunted by a ghost he thought to be named Dave. The informant went on to say that supernatural events like this seem to only happen to the men in his family, each male family member having some sort of weird event happening to them. I found this piece to be exhilarating to hear spoken. I could really hear the emotion and feeling from the informant upon his descriptions. I got an overwhelming sense of spookiness just by listening, with myself even getting goosebumps.

Smart Pills

Nationality: Russian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 3/27/18
Primary Language: Russian
Language: English

The informant began this story with, “So I used to hear this story a lot when I was around six or seven years old from my dad.” The informant’s dad heard this story from his grandfather. When informant’s dad was younger, he would always try to pull pranks on his friends, as his friends would do the same to him. One day, he went up to his grandfather and asked if he had any ideas for the next prank he was going to pull. The informant then said that he great grandfather told her dad, “Robbie, have you ever heard of smart pills?” to which the informant’s dad replied no. The great grandfather went on to explain that “my dad should pick up some rabbit pellets (rabbit poop) and put them in a pill bottle.”  After that, the grandfather suggested to his grandson that he go up to his friends and say, “Hey! Want a smart pill? It’ll make you super smart.” And then hand the friends the pill bottle. The informant told me that she never actually thought her dad gave anyone the rabbit poop but the meaning still stands that people can be gullible despite how apparent rabbit poop is. The informant expressed the humor in telling this story because of the comedy shared between her and her father knowing that her great grandpa suggested this humorous prank. I find this specific piece of folklore funny that an authority figure like a grandpa would suggest partaking in such a gross prank. I wonder if anyone would have fallen for that and wish I could place myself back in time to see. I also wonder if the informant’s father would suggest the same prank to her.

Far Behind, I’m First

Informant first heard this proverb from his business partner back in the nineties. Since then, he has passed along this saying to his own children. It is important to him because it’s something he tries to live by and it brings back good memories of this period in his life. The proverb goes like this: “I’m so far behind I think I’m first.” It means that the subject matter is behind and he is being lapped, so there’s pressure to keep up and to get metaphorically faster. This parallels anything in our lives we feel we are not well suited towards, things we wish we could improve on. He uses this proverb with his children to make them feel more compelled to try harder in life and to work diligently to avoid feeling like they’re in last place.

Coyote Proverb

Nationality: Israeli
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Agoura, CA
Performance Date: 4/23/18
Primary Language: English
Language: hebrew

The informant told me of a proverb she learned from her father who was born and raised in Israel. The proverb is central and common to Israeli culture and is as follows: “It’s better to be the head of the coyotes than to be the tail of the lions.” The informant explained that in the Israeli culture, everyone wants to be a leader and that Israeli people typically want to be super independent. Her father tells her this proverb in times where she feels lost and when she is not motivated to keep going forward. She explained that she feels a sense of pride whenever her dad tells her this proverb, or whenever she thinks about it. I think this is a proverb that we should all follow, it says a lot with minimal language and is telling of true character.

Whiffle Ball

Nationality: American
Age: 57
Occupation: Real Estate Agent
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/18
Primary Language: English

We used an over the line game principle; on the tennis court; we played when we were young, dad and I vs. brothers, to make it fair since I was the youngest. The premise is like baseball with the same rules. If the ball was hit over the fence on the left or right side, it’s an automatic three outs. It used to be that you could peg the runners with the whiffle ball after they left the base and they would get out, but since I would always get hurt by how hard my brothers threw the ball, we changed that rule. We would play this game from when we were children up until our teens, we would always play it during summer holiday events and usually every night in the summer. It was unique because it was our own rules. My dad enjoyed playing it because he loved being with his kids and it was a part of us growing up. It was a nice way to bring us all together and made us feel more familial.