Author Archives: Belal Wang

Taiwan Ghost Experience

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Austin, TX
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Spanish

My friend, R, had gone to Taiwan on a program to teach underprivileged children English in the past, and this is his account of the ghost in his school:

B: Didn’t you have like a ghost story about Taiwan?

R: Let me think, shit, do you remember what it was about? I remember having one too and I remember….

B: I think it was like a classroom with a chair or something?

R: O shit! OK.

B: Hahaha, oh that girl that killed herself right?

R: Yea, on the third floor, and those kids who were badasses for kids. Like, no one would go near the school at night and one night, we snuck in and it was all dark and stuff and we were crawling up the stairs. Shit was scary, and then like, there was a scream from upstairs and we freaking ran so fast. It was ridiculous, I mean, but at the time, like, ok. So we didn’t know about the girl dying, like the kids just told us to stay away. And we snuck in and heard the noise and ran. But then the next day, we asked the village people and they were all like, “Ohhhhhh, did you go to the third floor? Some girl just recently died there. We’ve already sent for the priests to go and collect her spirit” Or something, and we were all like holy shit, cause we didn’t know about the dead girl beforehand.

R tells the story from a firsthand perspective, not to scare people, but rather to share his experience. Through this experience, his ghost story fulfills many societal functions, especially for a band of Americans teaching together in a foreign country, with only strangers around. For R, the adventure into the unknown with only his American peers could be defined as a socializing experience. Together, they sought to learn about their environment, and by sharing this common experience, and subsequently learning the history that could possibly explain the experience, formed relationships and grew closer together. Another function is to form a closer connection to the environment and their culture. When he learns of the dead girl, and the villagers’ customs, he becomes more aware of their culture, more integrated in their society. By partaking in this ghost culture and being a part of it, R is able to understand the Taiwanese a bit more, perhaps helping with his job of teaching, especially if he is trying to teach so called “badasses for kids.”

Another aspect to examine is that the existence of this ghost seems eerily possible given the conditions. R and friends go out at nighttime to a de facto restricted area, perfect conditions for ghostly phenomena. A girl had recently died there, presumably the source of the scream they heard. On top of that they are all in an unfamiliar place, where ghosts stories could serve to teach about culture and reflect social norms. Certainly, Taiwanese culture tends to believe in spirits, exhibited by the villagers’ responses. In fact, through their rituals, such as “collecting” the spirit, in their culture it appears obvious to the Taiwanese that a ghost is the reason for the scream.

The spirit itself is also an interesting feature of the story, which can highlight the organic nature of folklore and cultural differences. I had been told this story before, so when I asked R to retell it to me, I asked for the story of the girl that killed herself. Yet when he retells it, there is no mention of suicide or foul play, or any of the other factors that in American culture tend to produce ghosts. After thinking about the story for a while, I had changed it into an oicotype, to fit in with the American point of view. However, over time this is the impression I got about the story, because if there were no unfinished business, why would a ghost be necessary to the story? This impression would differ from a Taiwanese point of view, where their views on spirits and superstition would require different reasons behind the girls ghost.

Thus, R’s ghost highlights many features of ghost stories. First, it serves functions of social integration and building group relationships. Second, the story and sharing this story with others allowed R to learn others’ viewpoints and cultures by listening to their interpretations. Finally, the spirit highlights differences between cultures in their approaches to ghosts, and shows how a story can become an oicotype as it crosses regional bounds.

 

Sidewalk Grates and Vents

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 25
Occupation: Political Sciences
Residence: Buffalo, NY
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

I ask my sister what the deal with telling me about sidewalk grates was.

“Oh yea, all sidewalk grates and vents at the supermarket and all that stuff have witches in them, everyone knows that. No but really, you have to avoid those because if you step on them someones going to grab you and kidnap you and cook you in a stew. I don’t know, I probably just said that to scare you. I am your older sister after all; wouldn’t want you to get too comfortable.”

My sister is older than me by four years, and it seems she created this folklore herself, fakelore, in order to establish her superiority over me. She manufactured this story as a way of scaring me and proving to herself that she had power over me. In fact, this is a function of folklore seen in many cases, such as American tales of American superiority, be it Davy Crockett over Mexicans or folklore of Pilgrim and Indian battles.

It is also interesting that she chose grates and vents as the location of the witches. Grates and vents are liminal spaces, filled with the unknown, and that makes them perfect for being the residence of scary creatures that would prey on the fears of children.

White Lighters

Nationality: Korean Chinese American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Korean, Spanish

“Ewwwww, is that a white lighter? I can’t use that. Don’t you know? White lighters are bad luck. I’ve been caught smoking (marijuana) twice, and both times I was using a white lighter. I’m not trying to get busted again man! I mean if that’s your only one then I guess….”

 

The white lighter is a bad luck symbol among smokers. The informant says he was caught partaking in illegal activities and this has only happened when he was using a white lighter, and thus it must be bad luck. Many cigarette smokers have caught on, even though smoking cigarettes is not illegal and there are no negative consequences, and they too believe in the bad luck associated with white lighters. However, the illegal activity is likely what created the folklore, and the similarities probably spread it to other activities using lighters. Because the consequences of getting caught are harsh, superstitions arise to make people over cautious and less likely to be caught.

Jersey Serial Killer (Annotation: When a Stranger Calls)

Nationality: El Salvadorian American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Ok, so in the nice part of New Jersey, a couple decided to hire a nanny to take care of the kid for the night. Julie, who had never babysat before, happened to be the girl they called. She was a little nervous cause it was her first time, but thought a 5 year old wouldn’t be to hard to take care of, so she decided to take the opportunity to make some extra money. So she got to the house at 8 o clock and the parents greeted her at the door, welcomed her inside told her where everything was. She got everything down, the couple took off, and the night went well. She and the kid hung out and watched TV, had a great time. The kid was getting sleepy so she got ready to put him to bed. Right when she was about to go upstairs, the phone rang. She answered and she says, “Hello?” but there was no one on the other line. It was just… quiet. So she hung up and said, “ok probably a wrong number.” She gets ready to put the kid to bed again but right when she’s about to go upstairs the phone rings again. This time, she hears a faint breathing, like a wheezing sound. She didn’t know what it was. She asks, “Who is this? Who is this? Hello, hello?” No answer, so she hung up. She gets ready to go back to the kid but then the phone rings a third time. She answers the phone and once again hears the breathing. She says, “I don’t know who this is, but I’m calling the police right away” – the voice answers back and says, “You shouldn’t do that.” And she hung up, and she freaked out. She calls the police and says, “Someone’s been calling me and I don’t know where from. They’re calling the house and threatening me and I don’t know what to do,” so they say “we’ll tap the lines and see what happens.” So she says ok. The phone rings a 4th time and she answers and says, ”Who is this?” but all she hears is wheezing and she hangs up immediately. The police call back and ask, ”So did anyone call yet?” and she say, “YES someone just called didn’t you get it?” But they say that no one called; there is no trace of anything, no phone call coming into the house. But then the phone line cuts out, and there’s a knock at the door. She immediately begins over exaggerating. She tells the kid, “quick you need to get to your room and close your door,” so the kid runs upstairs. She goes to the window and looks outside and she doesn’t see anything except a fog, and she doesn’t understand who knocked at the door. She steps back away from the window but then trips and falls. The boy upstairs hears a scream but is afraid to see what happened. After a few minutes though, he decides to investigate and slowly creeps downstairs. But then he sees the girl, dead on the ground, probably choked, with the windows and door open, with fog creeping into the house.”

The informant had been told this story as a child growing up in Connecticut. His father would tell him and his siblings the story around Halloween in order to scare them and get them in the mood of the season. It is interesting to note that the beginning of the story seems almost identical to the plot of the movie, “When a Stranger Calls,” and when the informant retells it, it seems that much of it is being reconstructed around certain key points, such as the babysitter, the mysterious calls, and the police. However, details seem to be improvised to fit the setting, for example the wheezing breathing and the particulars about the boy and girl (He changes from kid to boy multiple times, and states Julie’s name only once at the very beginning), showing that the story could have roots in the movie, with details and minor implications changed throughout time. Many pauses are made throughout the story, either for emphasis or to make up new details, and an emphasis is made on the narrative characterizations of different characters, ex: the babysitter’s anxiety at the mysterious calls.

However, beyond being just a scary story for parents to tell children, this collection fits many of the themes and motifs of ghost stories. Mysterious phone calls, fog, heavy breathing, and nighttime are all characteristic of ghost stories, even while a ghost is never actually mentioned. Not only that, but it can be argued that this story utilizes ghosts warn its readers. Lessons about leaving your children at home with inexperienced babysitters, or even educating children on the dangers of opening doors for strangers, especially around the Halloween time.

Being told from a third person perspective, the informant had a degree of freedom in retelling the story. As this story is told seemingly with the intention to frighten, it is not so much a matter of whether or it is true, but rather the interpretation of the motifs and being able to see other purposes besides scaring its audience.

Balete Drive

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

“Another one, theres a street called Balete Dr that’s supposedly haunted. Lots of weird things like these monsters called kapre, like they hang out under the trees. They have human body but like a goat or horse body, and they’re always smoking a cigarette. And its called Balete Dr because of the trees, Balete trees look really scary and stuff. People always report seeing like weird things. You can take a shortcut through there but no one wants to go through that street. The phillipines are like 90% catholic so they believe all that stuff. Like if you don’t get baptized you’ll see all this stuff.”

Another article of folklore from the Philippines, Balete Drive deals with the imagery associated with the street. Balete trees are said to be the homes of the Kapre in Filipino folklore, and there was a huge one in the middle of Balete Dr in the past. Tied into the predominant Catholic religion of the region, some interesting combinations between folklore and religion occur. The informant makes the connection that people will experience more supernatural things if they are not baptized, even though Catholicism does not endorse Kapre or Balete trees and the like. Thus, we see the roots of fears explained by the people in terms of things they understand (consequences of not being baptized), and also create stories to justify these fears.