My informant is from Missouri, and he tells me that everyone in his town knows about the “Albino Farm” in Springlawn. There are all sorts of stories about the old abandoned farm. The one my informant heard the most was that there was once a family of angry albinos who had been shut off from the community because they were different. They had set traps and if anyone was ever found on their property, they were never heard from again. Another rumor is that it was an underground hospital where experiments were conducted on albinos, and is haunted by albino ghosts. Although my informant never tried to sneak in, many of his friends growing up did–or at least, they claimed too. No one ever brought back any proof.
Author Archives: Haley Winters
A Cow in Old Main
My informant is a student at Macalester College, and on campus, there is a story that everyone knows. Around 1900, the president of Macalester had a son who attended the school. His son didn’t like to go to class, but instead liked to play pranks on everyone: his classmates, his professors, and especially his father, driving him crazy. There used to be a conference room on the fourth floor of the building known as Old Main, where the president would hold his important meetings.One day he was in a meeting when a cow wandered into the boardroom. The President immediately knew it was his son’s doing. So when his son’s GPA fell below a 2.8, his father kicked him out of Macalester, as a way of getting revenge. That rule (you’ll be expelled if your GPA falls below a 2.8) has been in place at Macalester ever since.
My informant is a tour guide at Macalester, and always tells this story to prospective freshman. “I first heard it during orientation right before freshman year,” he tells me. “It’s a funny story and I think it gives people on my tours a break from all the info for something cheesy. I think it’s pretty obvious that it’s just a device I’m using to poke fun at the school, but I also think it helps people realize that not all admissions offices see themselves as the gatekeepers in every single sense. I think it’s good to recognize we don’t take ourselves that seriously, and it helps build a relationship with prospective students.”
Poison (Folk Song)
Charlie was a fiddle player, the best there was around
He and his fiancee were at the picnic ground
Charlie and his band would play the dance that summer night
But deep inside his heart he felt that something wasn’t right
His sister said, “You better keep an eye upon your girl
Rumor has it she’s been giving someone else a whirl.”
So Charlie had decided to spy on his bride-to-be
But never was he prepared to see what he would see
CHORUS:
Her love was poison
Her love was poison
She ran around with other boys and
Her love was poison
He spotted her behind the bar in another’s hands
The man he saw was Earl who played guitar in Charlie’s band
Blood red sunset fell upon the couple’s dark embrace
And cast a long and desperate shadow over Charlie’s face
When that night he took the stage
Sadness mixed with jealous rage
Charlie gazed upon the crowd
Raised his voice, clear and loud
What I fear has come to pass
In his hand a poison glass
He swallowed it underneath the moon
And said, “I’m playing my farewell tune.”
CHORUS
As the last note died away, the fiddler did the same
They put him in an old pine box
With nails they sealed his fame
The summer sun in poison soon made his body swell
The casket nearly burst apart
And put forth quite a smell
A green fly swarmed around and followed Charlie all the way
To the little meadow where forever he would lay
And dream of fiddles, fiancees, and that fateful night
When Charlie played his farewell tune
Beneath the pale moonlight
My informant is from the Republic, Missouri, where he comes from an enormous family of “Ozark Hillbillies” (as they refer to themselves) for generations. His entire extended family lives in the area, and together make up three separate family folk bands (and one huge family folk band, when they get together.) The family’s musical inclinations have gone back for generations. The bands are currently made up of my informant and his cousins, all generally between 20 and 50, and each of their parents had been in the bands before that. As they have children, they join the bands too (My informant has a six-year-old daughter who performs with the family from time to time.)
This song is from my informant’s family, and it has been passed down for at least three generations. It is supposedly based on a true story of a family member from years past. In the YouTube clip included, it is being played by my informant’s cousin’s band, but everyone in the entire extended family knows it, and they sing it whenever they’re together in any group.
Hell’s Gate and the Seven Arches, Indiana
This is an rumor that has circulated around my informant’s county of rural Indiana, for a long time. Everyone in his high school always knew it, and my informant isn’t certain how far back it goes. There’s rumored to be a tunnel somewhere in the southern part of the Diamond, Indiana called The Seven Arches. My informant and his friends used to go out on the weekends looking for it. They never found it, but someone always knew at least one person that had been there (allegedly).
According to legend, there was a train derailment in the tunnel, and now it’s haunted with spirits. The story was that if you go there at midnight (sometimes it had to be Friday the 13th, as well depending on who told the story) and heard a train coming, that the gates of hell would be open for a short period of time. If you stop your car at night, you will hear laughing, screaming, and then the crash of the train, as if it is derailing over and over again. The graffiti will glow and the walls will drip blood, and if you see your name on the walls of the Arches, you’re certain to die.