Author Archives: Ronni

Scotty Pippia

Age: 20s

Informant: This is the story of Scotty Pippia. Scotty Pippia, I think, was legit a fake boy that my bus driver made up. We had a small bus, and in small buses, you can lift the windows all the way up, and you can like stick your head out. And to stop kids from sticking their heads out, I’m pretty sure my bus driver made up this legend of this boy named Scotty Pippia, who stuck his head out of the window and got it like chopped off, Hereditary style. And it just traumatized the s**t out of me. I was in like first grade and I went my head wasn’t even out the window. Like, I wasn’t even like someone to put my head out the window. My bus driver would just tell the story of Scotty Pippia. Like, really every chance she’d get. Her name was Paula. And Paula.. every conversation would somehow lead to,”Oh, Scotty Pippia died on my bus”. And I never Googled Scotty Pippia out of fear. This might just be a real story of a boy, but, like, would she keep driving buses? I remember as a kid being like, asking Paula questions like, oh, God, what is his family say? And she was like, his family was sad. And I was like, yeah, of course they were sad, Scotty Pippia died. So it’s like, I still, to this day, don’t know if this is- but my whole bus knew the legend of Scotty Pippia. And Scotty Pippia, I feel like we never really interacted with him, but he was a presence on the bus. You know, we sort of imagined where Scotty Pippia would sit, we imagined what classes Scotty Pippia took. So, um yeah, I guess this just. I want to dedicate this to Scottie Pippia’s family.

Collector: How old were you? 

Informant: First grade.. I was in first grade, and I was in the front of the bus. So the way my bus were got, like, I was in the front as you’d go older, you’d go to the back. So all the cool kids are in the back like being loud. And then I was up right next to the bus driver hearing like horrible tales of like little boys being decapitated. So that was, and then I don’t then of course, I told everyone at school and everyone at school knew about Scotty Pippia. But we never knew if he was real. So that’s kind of a ghost story. kind of a ghost story. I never- sure, I felt a chill on the bus every now and then. That could have been Scotty Pippia. That could have been an experience. And I never stuck my head out the window. That’s for sure. So thanks Paula, thank you for that. 

Context:

This legend comes from Middle Island, New York. The legend is that of a boy who at one point in time rode the same school bus as the informant and was decapttated after sticking his head outside of the bus window. The informant states that though he never stuck his head out the window prior to learning the legend of Scotty Pippia he most certainly was deterred after hearing the legend. 

Analysis:

Due to the inability to verify the existence of Scotty Pippia from Middle Island, NY and the fact that no one other than bus driver Paula had ever shared this information with the informant one can assume that the legend was created as a means to keep the children riding the bus from sticking their heads out the window and potentially putting themselves in danger, as well as a way to lessens distractions for Paula while driving the bus.

Pumpkin Head Joke

Age: 20s

(1) text

Informant: A man walks into a bar with a giant pumpkin for a head. The bartender says, “Hey, you’re walking around with a giant pumpkin for a head. How come you have a giant pumpkin for a head? The man with a giant pumpkin head sits down at the bar and he says, “Well, it’s a long story. But I’ll tell it to you. You’re not going to believe this. But the story starts with, I found a genie in a bottle.” Bartender goes, “Then what happened?” He goes, “Well, I found this genie, and he came out of the bottle and he says, ” you freed me from this bottle, and I’m offering you three wishes.” The bartender is amazed. He’s going, “Well, okay, what happened next?” He goes, well, then, for my first wish, I wish for the most money in the world. I wished for like 100,000 billion dollars. Bartender’s like, oh my God, what happened? He’s like, well, I looked at my bank account. You’re not going to believe what was there. It was $100,000 billion dollars. I was the richest man in the world. The bartender was just floored by this. He goes, “For my second wish, I wish for like the most gorgeous woman in the world to be my wife. Not only someone who was attractive, but someone who could challenge me and I could fall in love with and stay in love. The bartender was like, okay, well, then what happened? He goes, well, then you’re not going to believe who showed up.” The most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. And she was smart and talented and funny, and she challenged me, and she proposed to me on the spot, and we’ve been married ever since. Bartender goes, ” oh, my God, this is an amazing story. What happened next? What happened to your for your third wish? And he goes, “Well my third wish is where I really blew it.” Bartender goes, well, what happened?” He goes, “Well, I wished for like a giant pumpkin head.” 

(2) context

The informant explains that growing up in New York, this joke was a common occurrence at family gatherings. The first time he was told it was by an uncle at a family dinner. He later accounts hearing it told by Super Dave Osborn and Norm McDonald.

(3) analysis

The joke follows a traditional structure, starting with “A man walks into a bar…” The joke subverts expectations with the added element of a pumpkin on his head. What makes the joke effective and ultimately gets a laugh from the audience is the long, drawn-out explanation that builds anticipation from the audience as they wait to hear the punch line. They expect something wild to have happened for the man to end up in this position. Instead, they are met with the most obvious answer. The punchline then makes the joke an anti-joke of sorts.

Handmade Envelop Bookmark

Age: 20s

Text:

Context:

Informant-The significance of my envelop bookmark was to encourage me to read since I would decorate them to match the book cover and would leave my personal reviews in them!

Analysis:

The informant spoke to me about the evolution of their bookmarks, how they shared them with friends, and customized them over time. Their process of creating them and showing others how to make them reminded me of origami projects teachers would teach young children, or kids showing each other how to make cootie catchers or paper airplanes in their downtime, during recess, or at camp. Crafts such as these are a way of entertaining oneself with few resources. This craft, in particular, enhanced the activity of reading. These examples of material culture give us insight into what crafts children around the world filled their free time with!

Domestic Detroit Ghost Stories

Age: 20

TEXT:

Informant- “I have seen a ghost before. I remember when I was moving out of my second home that I ever lived in to move into the home that we currently live now. I was, I got into an argument with my sister and I was sleeping by her feet and my feet were by her head and I was looking at the hallway because the door was right in front of where our feet should be, but by my head because I was mad at her. And I was on my phone and I looked up and I remember, it happened for two nights, the first night, it was these two white girls and they were like from the shining and they were like laughing like “hee hee hee” it was almost at like slow-mo and they rushed past me and it was like instant. I screamed and then I turned around and I went to bed. Second night, same thing, I had my head where (my sister’s) feet was. And I was looking up the stairs that’s like right in front of, um, right on the side of the doorframe. And I see this little black boy and I’m thinking it’s my younger cousin, J. And I’m like,” J, like, what are you doing here? Like, how did you get here?” And same thing, he just starts laughing, “ha ha ha ha.” And he skips down the stairs and runs past me. And that was the first and last time I ever seen ghosts. It was the most craziest thing I ever, like, whoa, I never experienced anything like that in my life. Even now, like, it feels surreal because it’s like, did that really happen? But it did.”

CONTEXT:

These ghost stories happened to the informant herself and in her adolescence in her home in Detroit, MI. The informant later shared with me that the previous owner of the house that these occurrences happened in, had gotten very sick and passed away, but had not died at the house, which I feel like is helpful to add to the story.

ANALYSIS:

Because these occurrences only happened once it is hard to say if they are true, but because my informant believe so deeply in the validity, of them, so do I. Ghost tales and legends traditionally are spread throughout time and repetition, but because the informant still lives in the house where these occurrences took place one could say there is still time for repetition.

鬼压床 or gǔi yā chuáng

Age: 24

TEXT:

鬼压床

gǔi yā chuáng

CONTEXT: Informant-“One thing relative to ghost is like in Chinese sleep paralysis is often called “gǔi yā chuáng”, which literally means a ghost pressing on your bed. So scientifically, it means your mind wakes up before your body fully does, so you feel like unable to move. But in folk belief in China, like people describe it as a ghost or spirit sitting on your chest. So this is interesting because it shows how people use like folklore to explain scary bodily, bodily experiences before scientific explanations became common. And I heard it from my family when I was a little. I think if it’s in both ghost stories and folk-like explanations of strange experiences”

ANALYSIS:

The informant explains that gǔi yā chuáng, at least to her, is a cross between folk belief and a ghost story as it, in some ways, has to do with the paranormal. Learning the story from her family, she has grown up with this belief and come to understand it as a dated way of understanding the more scientific world around us at a time that we lacked the means to fully comprehend sleep paralysis.