Author Archives: Erin Hodgkins

The Ghost of Frankie Silver

Nationality: American
Age: 24
Occupation: Computer Services Assistant
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 2, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: German

“The town that I am from in North Carolina, it’s called Morganton and it’s in Burke County, and one of the famous citizens of Burke County is named Frankie Silver and she was the first woman to be hanged… I thought it was in North Carolina, but it might just be in Burke County… I am not entirely sure, but she was accused of murdering her husband and chopping him up with an ax and then burning him in a stove, like the stove in their house…
And so she was found guilty and hanged. I think she wasn’t hanged in Morganton. I think she was hanged at the state courthouse, but I think the trial was in Morganton in the old county courthouse, which is still standing. They don’t use it as a courthouse anymore, but it has like a museum inside of it. It’s pretty cool. But supposedly, her ghost, you know, still kinda haunts where her house was. I think it’s not quite in Morganton. It was more out in the woods kind of up the mountain, but my mom told me that supposedly where she was buried, which I guess has since kinda been lost… no one really knows where it is anymore… is kinda out towards my childhood home. There was a road off of the main road that was kind of…I think it was just a gravel road called Buckhorn Tavern or something real rustic like that… and that supposedly is where her grave is according to my mom.”

The informant grew up in North Carolina and lived there his entire life there until moving to Los Angeles around three years ago, where he currently resides.
In regards to Frankie Silver, there is speculation to if she was innocent or not, or even if it was just self-defense. This happened at the turn of the century though, so a lot of the speculation comes from women not having as many rights as they do now, meaning that even if it was self-defense, she could have been “doomed at the onset once she was accused” (according to the informant).
While the informant claims to not believe it now, he admits that he probably did as a child, being that he was into ghost stories then. However, he also admits that he didn’t really understand who she was until he was much older. He learned who Frankie Silver was as the children in Morganton/Burke County are required to read a book called “The Ballad of Frankie Silver” by Sharyn McCrumb in middle school.
The informant also cannot distinctly remember what would happen to you if you saw the ghost, but he figures it has something to do with her being unjustly hung.

The informant relayed this to me while in the passenger seat of his girlfriend’s car as she drove us all back up to Los Angeles. I have known the informant since he moved to Los Angeles.

I find it interesting that the informant knew about legend of Frankie Silver, but did not fully understand it until reading a book based off of it. In this case, the legend was enhanced/more distributed because of the authored literature based upon it. While the informant was able to distinguish what he knew as the legend and what he knew as the book, I am sure that the two often get confused or even fall under the same heading of “By Sharyn McCrumb.”
That being said, there is no way of telling how much of the book influenced the informant’s version of the legend or how much it has changed since the book was published.

“A Stitch in Time Saves Nine”

Nationality: English and German
Age: 87
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Seal Beach, California
Performance Date: April 16, 2017
Primary Language: English

“A stitch in time saves nine.”

The informant was born in Atchinson, Kansas, but moved to California when she was seven, where she has lived ever since.

While the informant cannot remember a specific instance where she heard this saying, she explained that this was something that people would say over and over again. Essentially, part of her vocabulary growing up. She considers her generation to have been homebodies and that their sayings simply reflected the way people were living. To her, these sayings came from people who were doing more manual work, like farming and housekeeping, rather than office work. She herself never had a job, but fulfilled her goal of becoming a mother and homemaker.

In one sense, the saying is specifically talking about sewing. It means that if you have a tear in your stockings, for example, and you stitch it right away, it will not grow larger and require more than one (potentially nine) stitch(es).

However, the idea from the saying can be applied to other things. For example, if you take care of something when either first assigned or simply in the beginning, you save yourself work by doing it before it grows potentially more difficult, more stressful, etc.

The informant relayed her folklore to me at my dining room table. I have known her my entire life as she is a close relative. I had already asked her about her folklore weeks before, but upon meeting on this day, she brought a list that she had written of all she could think of so that she would not forget when she told me. While she read the specific folklore off the sheet, the other details I got from her were not pre-determined.

While using language related to sewing, I find that this really does apply to a lot of other areas, as the example shown above. I also think that the phrase itself is easy to understand, whether or not you have ever sewn in your life. Ultimately, it is a phrase with which to combat the desire to procrastinate that may not be effective, but might work once or twice for certain people.

“Don’t put the cart before the horse”

Nationality: English and German
Age: 87
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Seal Beach, California
Performance Date: April 16, 2017
Primary Language: English

“Don’t put the cart before the horse.”

The informant was born in Atchinson, Kansas, but moved to California when she was seven, where she has lived ever since.

While the informant cannot remember a specific instance where she heard this saying, she explained that this was something that people would say over and over again. Essentially, part of her vocabulary growing up. She considers her generation to have been homebodies and that their sayings simply reflected the way people were living. To her, these sayings came from people who were doing more manual work, like farming and housekeeping, rather than office work. She herself never had a job, but fulfilled her goal of becoming a mother and homemaker.

In regards to this particular saying, it means to her that everything has to be in its proper sequence because you can’t go if the cart is in front of the horse. She has found this to be true throughout her entire life and that things do always need to be orderly to work properly. Basically, that everything does have a proper place to start with.

The informant relayed her folklore to me at my dining room table. I have known her my entire life as she is a close relative. I had already asked her about her folklore weeks before, but upon meeting on this day, she brought a list that she had written of all she could think of so that she would not forget when she told me. While she read the specific folklore off the sheet, the other details I got from her were not pre-determined.

In regards to her take on the meaning of the saying, she has lived her life very much so in line with it. While I do think that there is a time and place to be orderly, I do think that everything does not necessarily have a proper place at all times. An example of this would be art pieces, where they take something used for a specific task or purpose and show it in a new light. In some cases, this becomes a new proper place, but it still started out as being in the “wrong spot.”

East Germans and Bananas

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Case Clerk
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 2, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: German, Spanish

“One of the things that everybody talks about… and right after the wall fell… everybody said that the East Germans were just so happy to finally be able to eat a banana and that was something that a lot of those older people there reiterated to us was that the one thing they really love about Germany no longer being under the East German socialist regime, is that now they have access to fresh bananas.”

The informant studied abroad in Germany around three years ago. For one of her German language classes that she took while in an area that was part of the former East Germany, the class went to an apartment complex where a lot of old people lived (not like nursing homes in America) for tea and coffee and to simply sit and talk with them. Most of the residents did not speak English because of it not being a priority over the German and the Russian they learned in light of the communist ties to the countries, so the informant spoke to the residents completely in German.

With the wall only falling in late 1989, most of these residents lived in East Germany during the socialist regime and were there when the wall finally came down. The informant was able to get a first hand telling of their experiences, their likes and dislikes about the wall, what had changed versus what was the same and more. For the informant, she saw this as a wonderful chance to get the firsthand account because most of that generation will be gone in fifty years, meaning that the stories about East Germany will not be able to be relayed in the same way.

The folklore comes from the idea that East Germans did not have access to a lot of fresh fruits because they only imported goods from communist countries or used what they were able to produce at home. However, Germany does not have the sort of climate that is amenable to a lot of basic fruits, like oranges and bananas, so having them became a rarity due to the lack of imports and their inability to produce them themselves. It also was relayed to the informant in response to the question “is there something that you miss or is there something that you wish was like it used to be?”

The informant relayed this story to me while driving us back to Los Angeles. This informant is a relative.

I think that the informant being able to get a firsthand account from many people who lived under the socialist regime was a great way of getting their folklore, even if it was not intentional. Being that many did not speak English also means that those who are able to glean the folklore from them is limited to those who speak the languages they understand. Her being able to speak German allowed someone who doesn’t speak it at all, like me, to learn some of their folklore and a little about what life was like under the socialist regime in Germany.

USC’s Tree from Hitler

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Case Clerk
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 2, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: German, Spanish

“There was a tree on or nearby campus that had been donated by Hitler”

The informant was a history major at USC. The topic of the tree being donated by Hitler was brought up after someone had done an end-of-term paper on memorials in Germany around the World War II period for their German history class. Their professor at the time explained that it was true and continued to explain the history of it to the class.

Von KleinSmid, who was president of USC around the 30’s and the 40’s, was believed to be either a Nazi himself or someone who at least had highly fascist sympathies. With Los Angeles hosting the 1932 Olympics and then Hitler’s Germany hosting the one in 1936, Hitler supposedly donated the tree in honor of the friendship between the two in light of the Olympics. It is believed to be the tree directly outside of Morton Fig on campus.

The informant admits that she cannot confirm it to be true or not, but she has heard this legend from multiple people in both class and just around USC.

The informant relayed this story to me while driving us back to Los Angeles. This informant is a relative.

While I have heard this legend to be true from multiple people, I have also heard that the legend can’t be true. Those that deny it say that the tree was not in the campus plans until the 60’s, but I cannot say if it is true or not.