Author Archives: bpolan

The Hotel Del Coronado (Legend)

My informant is Natalie. Natalie is a 19-year-old female student at USC. She is half-Mexican, half-white, speaks fluent Spanish and English and grew up in San Diego.

 

Natalie: “So in San Diego there’s this really famous hotel called the hotel Del Coronado and it’s really pretty and stuff. I guess there was a murder in one of the rooms awhile ago and supposedly it’s haunted.”

The whole hotel?

Natalie: “Not the whole hotel just that room but I’ve never been to the room or stayed there because I’m from San Diego but I’ve been there and some of the hotel like the lobby feels really old so you get the vibe but then there are newer parts where it’s normal”

Do you think the murdered peoples ghost is there?

Natalie: “I think it’s a woman, and um…I don’t know if it’s the spirit or ghost but I would definitely be afraid to go in that room even though I don’t know which one it is. I have it in my head”

Do you know when you first heard the story?

Natalie: “No I was very little”

Is it a well known legend in San Diego?

Natalie: “Yeah most everyone I know knows about the hotel and being haunted but I don’t know who believes it”

Is this significant to you?

Natalie: “Well it’s pretty cool how my city has a ghost story and yeah I’m a little afraid of it but I won’t ever go in that room so it doesn’t bother me”

 

This is a legend in San Diego but it lacks a lot of detail. All Natalie really knows is that someone died in the hotel room and now it’s haunted. I think the lack of detail like how they were killed or stories about the haunted room or other information to help paint a full picture takes away from the legend as a whole. To Natalie it is significant and even scares her but that’s because she heard this story at a young age and applies to a familiar place unlike those not from San Diego.

 

See different version here:

“Ghostly Goings-On at the Hotel Del Coronado – Hotel Del Coronado.” Hotel Del Coronado. Hotel Del Coronado, 2016. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

A Perfect Game (Superstition)

Age: 22
Performance Date: 4/15/16
Primary Language: English

 

My informant is Lewis or “Luke” . Luke is 22 and was born and raised in Darien, Connecticut but now attends Chapman University in Orange, California. He is of Irish and Russian descent.

 

Luke: “So the superstition is, in baseball when someone is pitching a perfect game, anyone on the team of the person that’s pitching the perfect game cannot mention it or bring it up at all or it will be ruined. They just have to act like nothing’s happening. My sophomore year we were playing Taft and Jerry Silvey was 5 innings deep into a no-hitter and I turned to my friend not realizing and asked “Is Jerry throwing a no-hitter?” and my friend looked at me like are you kidding me and I kid you not he struck out the net batter then got a homerun hit off him immediately after.”

When was the first time you heard this superstition?

Luke: “I probably first heard it like third or fourth grade when I got into baseball”

And you believe in it?

Luke: “Oh I definitely believe in it”

 

This superstition, like many others, revolves around sports. In sports, when playing or watching, it is common to have some ritual whether it be small like wearing the same shoes or abiding to certain superstitious laws of the game. In this case it is the ladder and this superstition is widespread in American baseball. It is common knowledge to those who have played of the existence and partaking of this general rule. Luke even went against the superstition and mentioned the perfect game and he blames the eventual failure of the perfect game on his actions.

 

 

 

Althea Manor (Legend)

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Primary Language: English

My informant is Lewis or “Luke”. Luke is 22 and was born and raised in Darien, Connecticut but now attends Chapman University in Orange, California. He is of Irish and Russian descent.

 

Luke: “This is the legend of Althea Manor which was my old house in Connecticut. My old house was built in 1895, it was a farmhouse for half of Darien. And the rumor is that the farmer killed himself in the house in the 1920’s. So every night at 2:33 in the morning, it would sound like this one-legged ghost was walking down are hallway. This isn’t coming from just me either but my parents believe it to. One time my Uncle Bobby who came in late from the bars at around 2:30 said he heard the sounds out in the hallway and swears he saw a one-legged ghost. That’s why I never go out in the hallway”

Why 2:33? Is that when he died?

Luke: “Oh I don’t know, that’s just when he comes out”

When did you first hear this story?

Luke: “I first heard the story like when we moved in and then experienced it first-hand”

Did your whole family believe in this?

Luke: “My dad may be hard to convince but definitely me, my mom, and my brother. I was excited to leave for boarding school because of that”

Is there any meaning from this to you?

Luke: “I mean no he never did anything but I will always believe that and know I lived in a haunted house”

 

This legend is interesting because it is directly from a first hand witness of the legend. Luke lived in the house he believed to be haunted by a one-legged man. He even added to the folklore by telling me of the time2:33 because he observed this and recounted it to me in his performance. Not only Luke believed this but other members of his family do too and his uncle even claimed to witness the ghost. I feel like Luke must have been pretty scared to hae lived in a house he felt to be haunted and was excited to leave.

Juegos de Manos son de villanos (Proverb)

Nationality: Salvadorian
Age: 50
Performance Date: 4/8/16
Primary Language: Spanish

My informant is Alice. Alice is 50 years old and was born and raised in San Salvador, El Salvador. She lived there until she was 18 then moved to the United States and proceeded to live in Mexico for a short time before returning to the states.

 

Alice: “Ok so the proverb is “Juegos de manos son de villanos” and I heard that from my mother, I heard that from my grandmother, and basically anyone that was older then me. I even said it to my children when they were younger.

What is the direct translation?

Alice: “If you play with your hands you are a villain”

What does that mean?

Alice: “Basically what that means is when you start doing stuff to other people with your hands you’re gonna get into trouble, there’s gonna be a fight. So as siblings or kids when you’re pushing each other or playing rough games, you know, they escalate and they get rougher and that’s when my grandmother or mother would say to us when she would see it escalating, you know when I was playing with my cousins or siblings they’d say “Juegos de manos son de villanos!”

Is there a specific time you first remember hearing this?

Alice: “No I just heard it a ton, especially with my sister. As far back as I remember I couldn’t tell you when the first time was. I’ve always had it in my life”

Does this have meaning to you?

Alice: “Well I think it’s true! Something starts out as a game, even with teasing, this is more physical but it starts as a game and it escalates and leads to someone getting hurt. There’s a lot of truth to it”

 

This proverb is one that Alice had heard extremely often as a child. It seems that it was very popular and especially with her sister she would hear this warning. I think a lot of proverbs are about advice and how they are phrased make them more memorable to children and in turn are practiced more. Alice remembers a number of people telling her this one and even passed it on to her children. It is harder though to make a proverb stick in Spanish in the United States because people won’t understand it which is a barrier.

Birthday Rings (Magic/Superstition)

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Performance Date: 4/20/16
Primary Language: English

My informant is Natalie. Natalie is a 21-year-old female who attends Chapman University. Natalie grew up in Sacramento but her mother was born in El Salvador; because of this she speaks fluent Spanish and has a Hispanic influence in her life.

 

Natalie: “Ok so on someone’s birthday, my mom passed down to me that you’re supposed to take the ring you’re wearing and place it over the candle and everyone present is supposed to do it and you want as many rings around the candle as possible and I guess it’s supposed to be good luck and the person making the wish it will more likely come true with more good luck”

When did you start doing this?

Natalie: “My mom probably taught me when I was like…6 or 7”

Where did she learn that?

Natalie: “She learned it from her mom”

Where are they from?

Natalie: “My mom and her mom are from El Salvador so I guess it comes from there”

Is there any meaning to you with this?

Natalie: “It is important to me I do it every birthday and always try and get as many rings as possible, cuz if I don’t do it…I don’t want bad luck”

 

Natalie learned this tradition of placing rings over her birthday candles as good luck. I feel like there could be more to that story and a reason for a ring but if there was it got lost over time. This tradition has been passed down mother to daughter to granddaughter and they all practice it in belief it brings them good luck. Birthdays carry a lot of folklore and making a wish while blowing out your candle is common but the addition of the rings adds an interesting factor and maybe additional luck.