“Ok so I’m from a suburban town in Northern California named Pleasanton, because it is quite pleasant. The other Bay Area people call it ‘p’ town. I don’t know it’s just the nickname. So um contrary to the name, we have some ghost stories. And so there are tunnels below our downtown area on the main street. And these were from a long time ago. I don’t really know whey they are there. Um and so the story really come out during Halloween time. Um and so during Halloween in October, you can get a hour and an half tour of the haunted sights of the downtown. And you get, like they try to freak you out, you get paranormal activity. They take you in some of the tunnels but you can’t obviously walk all of the way through.”

“Main Street used to be home to brothels, gambling, and bandits in the 1800s. The tunnels were constructed to move goods from store to store. There is one of our restaurants, called Blue Agave, and like one of the myths, if you have a margarita there, then a ghost will ease drop on your conversation. There is also like, the famous oldest hotel in the town the, Rose Hotel, um and that is supposed to be a good place to find the ghosts. That so there is a pizza place called Gay 90s and that is also supposed to be haunted. There is a window in the upstairs that you are apparently supposed to see a woman in it. They call her the Lady in Blue. Some believed that she used to be a prostitute when it used to be a brothel. If you look in the mirror in the bathroom, you can sometimes see a ghost. The pizza place used to be a brothel but now it’s a pizza place.”

Who tells this story?

“Um I mean most of the locals hear it, they’re family friends, older kids will try to freak out the younger kids. The scheduled tours go through every October that are through the museum. You volunteer to give the tours and learn all of the stories. I think I heard it from a family friend who did one of the tours.”

What does this story mean to you?

“I think they just kind of they represent our history, like it’s the people that used to live there that are still in the downtown. Now it’s just a fun way to get the town together on these ghost tours.”

Analysis:

I think this ghost story is one of the ways in which the people of Pleasanton remember their history and the roots of their town. As the informant mentioned, it is an interesting way to bring the town together during Halloween, increase tourism, and keep the spirit of the area alive. I think it is interesting how different generations in the town view this story in different ways. The children use the story to scare one another for fun. The adults believe this story just represents their past and they view it more as a silly historical thing.

“My uncle Carlos (he was one of the oldest) so usually given the job to watch over my aunts and mother. He was watching over my mother one night. But she was one of the youngest. So one night he was watching over my mother and my Aunt Nordi and she is the next youngest after my mother, my grandmother was out with my grand father. And it is always around the witching hour around 12 o’clock, this is why you shouldn’t be out late at night alone. He is watching over them and at one point in the night, my mother gets up but he thinks she is sleep-walking. She moves over to my aunt and they [are] both children at this time. He thinks she is sleep-walking, everyone thinks its funny.

“So she walks over to my aunt’s crib and she picks up my aunt and stands there for like 10 to 15 minutes. I don’t know much about sleep-walking that seems weird. And then she puts her down and stands on top of her own bed. And stands there for another 30 minutes. And my uncle just thinks this is totally weird. She is sleep-walking and he can’t wait to tell my mom this and tell her when she wakes up. And she starts to sing. And he can’t really make out what she is singing. And then she looks at him and she lifts up her finger and sings to him. And I don’t know why, but this is Uncle Carlos and my mother, why does it involve him. So she is pointing and singing at him. So he decides he needs to wake her up. He starts to wake her. She starts to sing louder and he can’t wake her up. He yells at her and she doesn’t wake up.

“So he doesn’t know what to do. He runs out of the house to find the mother and father next door. And my grandmother is nervous was to what is going on. “Gloria is acting crazy!” They go back to the house and they are sound asleep but my mother is not sleeping in her bed. She is sleeping with her head out of the bed and her toes pointing to her pillow. Grandma thinks she was just sleepwalking. Puts her back in a normal position. The next morning my uncle asked my mom what happened and my mother responds: “I remember dancing with a lady. And singing with a lady.” And if you remember back to the other story hat was that woman doing with she was singing before Uncle Carlos first saw her. I feel like this woman was around more often than not. Like I’ve only been to Guatemala once and was too young to understand this stuff.

Who was this woman?

“Someone who has existed before my birth. I am just happy that there is never any connection to me. My mother has told me that when she was pregnant with me that a woman came up to her and told her that her first-born son would die before he would become a man.”

What do you see as the significance of this story to you?

“Maybe there is something attached to my family. My mom thinks it’s a curse. Sometimes yah.”

When was the first time you heard this story?
“This story comes up after the first story. My mom loves horror films, she exaggerates some stuff so I’m not sure if its truth. Maybe to make us be careful or with what we do because bad things do happened. So these stories are from my family not just one person is responsible. There are a whole lot more.”

Analysis:

Once again this story represents the witching hour, which is commonly told to children as the dangerous time at night when children should not go out. Witches are said to be practicing magic at this time of night. However, this story demonstrates that the witch lady from the informant’s other ghost story had the ability to influence the informant’s mother’s actions. I think this story demonstrates the fear that children felt at night. Potentially, this woman also represents someone from the informant’s family history.