Author Archives: Austen Le

San Felipe Road- A Cursed Street

Nationality: Vietnamese American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Jose, California
Performance Date: April 14, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Vietnamese

Informant is a student from San Jose, California.

“So there is an urban legend about a road that cuts through San Jose called San Felipe road. It’s a street that goes on for miles across the city, so there are some areas that are very densely populated. However, if you keep on driving down the road, you will eventually reach areas that have very little people very few lights. According to stories that I’ve heard, if you keep on driving down San Felipe very late at night, there are some very creepy things that will happen.”

Tell me about what happens.

“So, if you drive down really late at night and keep on going down, eventually, you’ll reach a stretch with no streetlamps, so that only your headlights will illuminate the road. Once you reach this part, uhh, I’ve heard that a bunch of things can happen. Sometimes, if you look in your rear view mirror, you’ll see a shadowy figure, but if you turn around there won’t be anybody. Also, you might see a white van that will appear and disappear. People have reported some really strange happenings around there. I’ve heard that when you drive back to a lit area and look at your car, you’ll see hand prints on your windows and doors. It’s some really creepy shit, and I don’t think I’ll ever try it, but my friends have told me about it.”

 

Collector’s Comments:

I feel that stories about haunted or cursed locations are very popular, because many people pass through them and can report different occurrences. This is an example of belief being increased by context, as a person who was driving down the road and experiencing it for themselves would most likely be more afraid than someone just hearing about the story. Still, I am very interested as to why these legends are believed to occur, and if there is some back story behind the area that led to the legends.

The Bus Joke

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 59
Occupation: Engineer
Residence: San Jose, California
Performance Date: December 15th, 2010
Primary Language: English
Language: Vietnamese

This is a fake story/joke that my dad likes to tell people, which he will pretend is a ghost story. My dad works for the US Department of Defense as an engineer, and he has been stationed at aerospace companies across California. When he was younger and he and my mom were still dating, he worked in Southern California, while my mom worked in the Bay Area. Because of this, every other weekend, he would take a bus back and forth between the two areas so he could see her. This story is based on one of his times on the bus, and is brought up any time that people are talking about scary stories or ghosts.

The tone of the storytelling is as if this is a real occurrence, and while he told the story, his face was very serious, as if it were a real ghost story. The original story was told in Vietnamese, but this is a translation:

 

“Did I ever tell you about the time that I saw a real ghost? When I was younger, I was working down near LA, but your mom was up in San Jose, so I would go and visit her every few weekends. I always took the bus out of Orange County, and one day, I had to catch the late-night bus on Friday because I was held back during work. So I sat down on the bus, and there were only a few other people because it was so late. Not long after it left, I became very drowsy and fell asleep.

When I woke up a few hours later, I realized that the bus was completely dark, and everyone else was gone. The driver was nowhere to be found, but when I looked outside of the window, I saw that the bus was still moving forward, very slowly. I was so scared, so I called out,

‘Hey! Is anybody there?”

And suddenly, I heard a voice!

‘Hey! Idiot! Come help us push the bus!’ ”

 

Collector’s comments:

This is one of the many jokes that my dad likes to tell. The effectiveness of the joke is very dependent on how serious the teller seems, and how believable he or she can make it. It takes advantage of the tension built up by the fear of the audience based on the belief that they are about to hear an actual ghost story, and then makes a silly, but welcome release that leaves the audience either laughing or groaning. The ghost portion is not completely made up however, as I have heard other stories about people making the trip between Northern California to Southern California late at night and seeing paranormal activity, such as the figure of a woman on the side of the road, or finding hand prints on their rear windows. These occurrences usually happen at 3 AM, or the ghosting hour, and I have heard multiple versions from different relatives. Over all, this story doubles as both a ghost legend and a joke, making it a combination of folklore.

The Pilgrim Treehouse

Nationality: Indian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Franklin, Massachusetts
Performance Date: April 16th, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

Informant is from Franklin, a small town 45 minutes away from Boston. Her neighborhood was very close knit, and people would stay in contact and interact with each other, including the children. This is a story about one of her childhood experiences.

“So, when I was in elementary school, like around six years old, a bunch of kids in my neighborhood all around the same age would play with each other. We would go to this one kid’s house, because he had a really big treehouse, which no one else in the neighborhood had. So, when we started going to the treehouse, we asked where it had come from.”

Did you ask his parents?

“No, we just asked him. And he didn’t know, so he went and asked his older brother, who didn’t play with us because he was too old. So, his older brother came and told us the story of how the treehouse came to be. He said that it had already been at the house before they moved in, and was there even before any of the houses were built. He claimed that first pilgrims who came to America had built it and lived in it. Since Massachusetts has, like, the oldest history in the US, we really believed him, even though our neighborhood was built on a quarry. We were six, and stupid. He then said that the pilgrims had left the treehouse once they learned that they could leave the treehouse when they learned that they could be friends with the Native Americans. He kept on telling us that this treehouse was really big historic landmark, and if anybody were to destroy it, they would be ruining a part of American history.”

At the time, how did you react to the story?

“We all believed it. We even went back up and tried to look for pilgrim artifacts and signs that they had left behind. There were even some scratch marks on the tree, which we thought was some ancient language or something. It turns out that they were just natural scratch marks though.”

How long did you believe the story for?

“Well we believed it for about half a year, and we tried to keep it a secret because we didn’t want anyone else to come by and ruin it. Eventually, my older brother dropped the news that the story wasn’t true and that the family had built the treehouse when they had moved in. I was pretty sad when I found that out. But now it’s a really funny story to tell everyone.”

 

Collector’s conclusions:

This is a legend that would be confined to a very small area, such as the neighborhood where the informant is from. It takes advantage of Massachusetts historic past as one of the first places in America to be settled, and as a result the story is not completely unbelievable, especially to young children. This is an example of belief that grows with context, as the children believed the story more and more as they were in the treehouse, and began drawing conclusions and making observations that supported the legend. While it eventually turned out to be untrue, this is a typical story of an older sibling playing a trick on younger children that goes farther than originally intended.

The Mummers Parade- A Philadelphia New Year’s Tradition

Nationality: Irish American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Westchester, Pennsylvania
Performance Date: April 23, 2017
Primary Language: English

The informant resides in Westchester, a suburb about 30 minutes outside of central Philadelphia.

What exactly is the Mummer’s Parade?

“It’s a Philly tradition that has gone on for a really long, started way before I was born. It occurs every New Year’s Day, on January 1st of each year. It’s a parade that goes through Broad Street in Philly, which is like the main street that goes through the city. A bunch of different clubs throughout the city sponsor people to march through the parade, all wearing crazy costumes and holding signs, while there is music and dancing going on the whole time. I think there are probably 50 different groups that participate, and it has become pretty much a competition/fashion show to see which of the clubs has the most creative or beautiful or cool presentation. A bunch of people, including my friends and I come to watch every year, and all of the spectators stand on the side and cheer on the parade.”

When did you start going to this thing?

“I started going with my dad and grandfather when I was in elementary school, so it’s an mostly geared towards families. I haven’t gone lately, but I have some great memories of seeing the different organizations in the city people represented. Some of the costumes are wild and really colorful and creative, so it brings me a lot of great memories from back in my childhood. I’ve never participated in it, but it has become one of the most unique parts of my Philadelphia identity.”

Anything else that is special about it?

“One thing that I noticed is that the participants are mostly from the South Philly area, which has a lot of Italian people. Makes me wonder if this is originally an Italian tradition. Either way, it’s just a really fun, cool part of Philly tradition that I am happy to take a part in each year.”

 

Collector’s Comments:

This is a tradition that I’ve never heard of before, which means that it is most likely very unique to the city of Philadelphia and the people who live there. I find it interesting how the parade is not focused on a single culture or ethnicity, but is instead celebrated by different organizations from across the city, making it an original Philadelphia tradition. However, the fact that many Italian people celebrate it makes me wonder if this tradition has roots in some other European celebration, and further research reveals that it was a combination of Irish, Swedish, and even African heritage, making it a real melting pot of cultures. It is interesting to see how the city has taken all of these different cultures and combined them to make something that is unique to itself.

Bandi Chhor Divas- A Sikh Holiday

Nationality: Indian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Performance Date: April 24, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant is a USC student from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her family practices Sikhism, one of the major religions of India that is practiced primarily in the Punjab region in the Northwestern part of the continent. This holiday is one of the main reasons that the Sikhs celebrate the larger Indian celebration of Diwali.

What’s the story behind the holiday?

“This is the reason why Sikhs celebrate Diwali. So basically, a long time ago, the Muslims put 52 Hindu princes, into a prison because they would not convert to Islam. So, Guru Har Gobind, 6th of the 10 major Sikh gurus, went to the Muslim emperor and asked him to release the princes from captivity. The emperor agreed on the condition that only those who could hold onto the guru’s clothing as he walked out would be set free. The guru, being very wise, attached 52 threads to his clothing so that each of the princes could hold on and be set free. The holiday was established as part of the Diwali tradition to celebrate the freeing of the princes.”

How is this holiday celebrated?

“It’s a festival of lights just like Diwali. The temples are all lit up and people leave candles all over their houses, as a way to direct the princes back home. People at home will pray and set up shimmering lights, and it’s an important time for prayer and being with family. At larger festivals, people will shoot fireworks and hang lights everywhere.”

 

Collector’s Comments:

I had known before that Diwali was a very large holiday in India, but I did not realize that the different religious groups had different reasons for celebrating the same holiday. This story is interesting because it involves multiple religions of the Indian continent, showing that these religions are aware of the other belief systems around them, and that the associations are political as well as spiritual.