Monthly Archives: May 2025

The Kappa Legend

Age: 21

Text: The Kappa: a Japanese legend

Context: “I’m not Japanese, but many of my classmates in my elementary school were from Japan and China, so I heard a lot about the Kappa creature. In eighth grade, my school did a trip to Japan, and all my friends who lived there warned me of Kappas. Any time we walked by a river, my classmates would tell me that there was a Kappa in there, waiting to drown us. I remember some of the rivers even had signs that would show children getting attacked by Kappas. I never saw a Kappa, but they described them as scaly, green reptiles that were almost like a cross between turtles, humans, and dragons. My friends always told me that if we encountered one, it would attack me, and not them, because they know how to treat a Kappa as a Japanese, but because I was not Japanese, it would come for me first.”

Analysis: The story of the Kappa is an example of a legend rooted in Japanese culture. Although the interviewee is not Japanese, he still participates in folklore. This shows how folklore can be inclusive, as he is able to learn about and understand this legend. However, it also shows how folklore is exclusive, as even though he can learn the folklore, he is never truly part of it. His classmates told him that the Kappa would attack him only, because he did not know how to properly respect it, as he is not Japanese. This relates to ethnonationalism, and how folklore can be tied to ethnonational identity. This also shows the difference between emic vs etic perspectives. His classmates represent an emic perspective, as the Kappa is part of their internal worldview. For the interviewee, though, it is an external observation. He becomes a partial participant in the folklore through performance.

This story also shows how folklore becomes institutionalized in everyday life. The fact that it is common for there to be signs warning people of Kappas in the water, shows that the creatures are not just legendary, but also pedagogical. The creature acts as a warning to prevent children from going in the water, making the legend a cautionary tale. Although the creature itself will not drown you, a young child swimming in the water when they are unable to, can cause drowning, and the Kappa is a way to prevent this.

Lastly, this also shows how folklore can be a part of memory and rites of passage. This school trip is defined and remembered by the Kappa, which shows how folklore can create cultural learning. Even though he never had a personal encounter with a Kappa, the creature became part of how he understood not only Japan, but also his status as an outsider within Japanese culture. The personal connection into lived experiences gives the legend power.

Legend of Chupacabra

Age: 20

Text: The Legend of Chupacabra

Context: “My parents told my sister and I about many different Spanish creatures and figures, one of them being the chupacabra. The chupacabra is a vampire-like animal that sucks on the blood of other animals. I grew up on a farm, so we had pigs and cows that we took care of. My sister and I grew up with the fear of the chupacabra attacking our animals, so we had to be extra cautious at the farm. My parents made us have a bucket of water beside the animals, because allegedly, chupacabras are scared of water, and pouring water on them would “drown” them. One time, one of our cows got mange, and my sister and I were so worried that a chupacabra attacked him. It took us a while to get over our fear because we genuinely believed that they were coming to suck the blood of our animals. We realized later on that our parents told us this story for two reasons. The first is, even though I’m Mexican, I did not grow up speaking Spanish well, and my parents were worried I would not have a strong connection to my ethnicity. They told my sister and I this story as a way to understand our culture more. The second was more for teaching purposes, as they wanted us to learn how to take care of our animals properly and be extra cautious in order to prevent them from getting diseases.”

Analysis: This story about the chupacabra is a classic legend. The chupacabra is a folkloric, legendary figure based on Spanish culture. This creature exists in the real world, but the truth value behind it is unknown.

The actions described in the story is an example of ostension, as the belief has led to real actions. The interviewee placed water buckets next to the animals because they believed it would protect them in case they had to come in contact with a chupacabra. Even though this protection mechanism has no scientific evidence or reasoning, it gives the family a sense of control. When one of the cows got mange, the chupacabra was blamed, which shows how folklore can become a cultural model that explains misfortune and negative consequences. Folklore can work as a way to try to explain the unexplainable. Although the legend may not seem believable, the belief is contextual. Since the interviewee grew up on a farm where hsi animals encountered unknown illnesses and death, the legend was a way to explain this. 

The story is also an example of polygenesis, as there are similar stories of blood-drinking animals in many different cultures. For example, the most notable one I could think of is vampires in European culture. It is also often compared to Sasquatches, which are another common predatory figure. These creatures are a reflection of shared fears among different cultures. For example, the sickness and death of animals and humans due to environmental experiences. Without scientific knowledge of why this happened, people turn to folklore to explain it. Many cultures experienced this fear, which is why they came up with legendary creatures, and as a result, the creation of allomotifs. These narrative figures fulfill the same role within their cultures, but are slightly different based on the region.

As the interviewee mentioned, the story also reflects the role of folklore in intergenerational education. By telling their children stories about chupacabras, the interviewee’s parents are not only passing down a story, but also teaching them how to care for their animals. The legend is able to shape the behavior, as a memorable narrative can be more effective than instruction.

Kaguya – Legend

Nationality: Korean
Age: 20
Occupation: Film & TV Production Major Student at the University of Southern California
Residence: Orion Housing at the University of Southern California
Language: English

Text:

The popular tale of The Bamboo Cutter features an old man who finds a bamboo stalk with a girl inside the stalk. The girl grows to become one of the most beautiful people in the entire empire, catching even the attention of the emperor. To win her over, she makes her suitors do insane tasks. She eventually reveals that she is extraordinarily beautiful because she is from the moon. After falling in love with the emperor, she realizes she must go back to the moon, and offers the emperor immortality so that he may not forget her. However, the idea of being tortured by an eternity where he lives forever knowing he can never be his lover is too much for the emperor to handle and he burns the immortality token she grants him.
Context:

The performer witnessed this lore in Japanese culture originally before looking into its origins within Korean folktales as many “Kaguya” characters in Japanese media are beautiful women who seem out of the male lead’s league. One of the mediums he watched with involved this type of trope was the movie Princess Kaguya. He felt that while the Kaguya trope has many supernatural elements, the idea of being “banished” somewhere such as the moon, the feeling related to the universal duty one sometimes feels toward their “point of origin” (family).

Analysis:

A common theme within East Asian cultures is the idea of family and societal duty. The moon is representative of “home” or family in which Kaguya must return to and sacrifice her hopes of love for in order to serve a power larger to herself.
Additionally, Korean Buddhist ideas of balance, harmony, and impermanence are represented through this tale as at first, Kaguya resists her role of being a “submissive” beautiful object in society. However she can only resist for so long before nature runs its course and that beauty is taken away and sent back to the moon. While bittersweet, this story serves as a tale to remind Koreans to keep their realities in check. Sometimes it’s okay to dream big and long for more, but at the end of the day, family and loyalty to your origin should be at the forefront of one’s values.

Hitler Tree – Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Geological Spaces Major Student at the University of Southern California
Residence: Gateway Apartments at the University of Southern California
Language: English

Text:

There is a tree on the USC campus known as the “Hitler Tree” notorious as being the tree that was gifted by Hitler after the Olympics.

Context:

The performer is a Geological Spaces major at the University of Southern California who was required to take an archictecture tour of the University of Southern California for his class. Along this class, he walked by the courtyard near the bookstore. The tour guide/professor stood in front of one of the great trees and said that the gift was a present from Germany (specifically under Hitler’s Regime) because Hitler was so impressed by one of the USA Olympic Champions (who was from USC), that he gifted the school a tree. The tree is no longer called the Hitler Tree for politically correct reasons, but is still in the yard to this day, and an integral part of USC lore because he feels as though one is not a true USC student until they know the lore.

Analysis:

USC is a very proud school with a tight-knit gated campus, 30k+ students valiantly wearing gold and crimson, and low acceptance rate. People take pride in knowing hidden gems along the USC campus because it proves how legit of a student one is.

There’s a lot of speculation behind whether or not the Hitler Tree is real and/or still exists. While some people claim it is that very tree in the yard, others claim it died years ago, but honestly it doesn’t matter whether the tree is still alive or not because it is the notoriety of the story being related to the infamous Hitler and the badge of honor of whether or not someone knows this story exists that is the true testiment to how “hardcore” of a USC student you are. Similar to how German folklore unified people politically and gave rise to modern-day Germany, USC stories (even the taboo “Hitler Tree”) are proof that USC students belong to their tight-knit folk group.

Balete Drive – Ghost Story

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 51
Occupation: Software Engineer Directing Manager
Residence: Naperville, Illinois
Language: English

Text:

“Me and a couple of my friends were driving along from a late night gig and we’ve had a great fill of drinks but not that intoxicated (as far as I remember). There aren’t a lot of vehicles at this time, especially on local roads, but still decided to take a shortcut just for kicks.

The road was plain and looks maintained enough since it’s a less busier street than most, maybe due to its reputation of having paranormal activities.

Balete Drive has several stories about ghost sightings and ‘white ladies’ haunting passersby, and a big abandoned haunted mansion right in the middle of the stretch. Most of them likely fabricated of course – to keep the mystique going. We’re not full-fledged studs I as I recall but we thought it’ll be fun to test it out while we’re in this state and certainly less inhibited.

Just before we reached the big house, one of my friends unceremoniously said he needed to pee…

We stopped right in front of the worn out hedges bordering the house front yard. It was a bit dilapidated and dark. But he had to pee. And he did. We all did.

As we drove past the house after relieving ourselves, we noticed two headlights following us seemingly out of nowhere. We casually stayed at a constant speed, but the vehicle kept inching closer. We gathered some speed, turned the corner and lost the trailer. We looked at each other and grinned- that was much ado about nothing. We hit another long stretch of road and to our surprise, we ended right back in front of the big house at Balete drive. The headlights turned up again and right back on our tail. This felt weird. We tried to step on a bit and turned the other corner, lost the stalker and relaxed a little.

Things just got weirder – we were right back at the house (what the…) and the lights were back. We were starting to panic, our collective senses restarted, and we were yelling at each other- harassing the driver and redirecting him in all directions. We cant seem to get off this road and always take us back to the same house. What are we to do? Have we been cursed? Are the stories real? The vehicle following us isn’t letting up either. Now they’re honking, the passengers now animated in the other car, signaling for us to stop. What is happening? There’s no way we’re stopping here, not now. Fear has definitely crept in and we’re way past panic. This has gone on at least 5 times now. We sped through the same street and the same house- the facade looking more menacing and creepy each time we see it, slowly dealing us a mortifying feeling of defeat.

With one more rush of adrenaline, we held one last bit of composure and drove straight ahead until we hit a dark narrowing alleyway that seems to swallow us every meter we travel. We finally saw a different exit, merged onto the main road and drove farther from the damned place. The morning sun has started to peep. We can feel a collective sigh of relief until we realized the other vehicle had been on our heels throughout. This startled us and panic reignited inside the car. We discussed our options incoherently but concluded we couldn’t be any worse since we got out of that insanity loop. So we stopped at the next gas station. And the other car followed suit.

Fear has turned to relief, then discomfort and now annoyance. We’re back in the real world now and this unwarranted stalking has got to stop. We decided to confront them. There are 3 of us, all back to our consciousness – to the point where we question if what we witnessed even actually happened. We chalked up the courage to unstrap, picked up some “weapons” and stepped out of the car. We approached the other car as the driver stepped out to greet us. His face is lined up with a mix of dread, exhaustion, and… gratitude? I saw the lady on the passenger side looking like she’s been screaming her eyes out and now just sits in shock staring nowhere. My buddies now also joined me in the huddle as the other guy quivered to say something…

“We’ve been driving around that block for we don’t know how many hours… my girlfriend had just about lost it – I can still hear her trembling voice almost surrendering to the inevitable… until we saw you drive by and stopped at the house. We were reluctant to follow you thinking you may be part of this, but then when you drove past again, we thought you might also be in the same predicament as us. (Again? We saw you trail us as soon as we left the house… what are you talking about?). We tried to let you know that we are also lost and would like to join you… but each time we gained we had to hang back…” – then the guy started to sob. “We had to each time the lady in white following you would turn her head around to look at us… she had a knife or dagger in her hand and seem intent to get to you. We mustered up enough courage to just step on it as soon as you did and followed you all the way through here… and we can’t thank you enough.” And he broke down to his knees in front of us.

My friends and I looked at each other in weary unison – “what lady?” We turned around to find our car… the dagger still lodged at the back of it.”

Context:

The performer was born and raised in the Philippines, and often told stories with his High School friends in lui of not having a one or access to the internet in the 80’s. They heard it from an older male classmate who heard it from another classmate and so on and so forth. The performer tweaked the tale to have it sound like a 1st person narration with the intention of scaring his kids with “stories from his youth.”

Analysis:

Balete Drive is a well-known street in Quezon City because it often features the white lady who is the universsal Filipino depiction of the traditional “white ghost.” Balete Drive is a brilliant tale because it connects the many small islands and spread out diverse regions of the Philippines. The Philippines has withstood colonization and are a group of people who vastly range in appearances. From looking Mestiza to Chinita to Morena to having different dialects, ghost stories such as Balete Drive are an iconic ghost symbol that unifies the Philippines.

Additionally, balete trees are often connoted with spirtual energy as being something either feared or respected. The tale of balete drive serves as a sort of memorate for this sacred perception of balete trees as the more stories such as the one the performer said are told, the greater the fear and veneration for the trees grows. The reputation toward balete trees only increases as more and more people tell and believe in these tales.