Author Archives: Matthew Arbanas

Ghost Story – Southern California

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Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2009
Primary Language: English

“So the story behind pipes is as follows. It is located now where Cal State Channel Islands is. Where that is right now there used to be a mental asylum. And uh in the 80s when it was a really famous mental institution and it is rumored that the song hotel California was written after it. It was really well known for its doctors but had a ton of crazy people. There was this one section of the hospital that they put all the really crazy people that going to die because they were so crazy. A lot of people killed themselves in the wing of this hospital. In the 80s, Regan stopped the funding for the mental patients, and all the mental people go to the streets. In the early 90s, they built Cal State Channel Islands and they tore down the hospital except for the wing where people killed themselves out of respect and there is a lot of rumors or it being haunted. While it was being built, construction workers would hear strange noises and have strange things happen to them. So um, now that the school is there, you can drive through the campus and drive to the spot where the mental institution was. They still have everything there. If you go at night, and get close to the windows, as you walk up you can hear the faint sound of the metal clanking together and it starts off really slow and really soft, very faint. But you can defiantly hear it once you start walking toward the building. The closer you get to the building the louder the sound become and the faster it goes. The rumor is that clanking is the warning from the Ghosts of the people that killed themselves, their chains clanking against pipes that they were handcuffed against. The Rumor is that if you go close enough to the windows, you yell, “Knock once if you want me to stay and knock twice if you want me to leave!”

The first time that he went was on Halloween with a group of friends. Just as before when he approached he heard the clanking of metal and picked up in tempo and loudness as they approached. Once all out front the main breeze way, on of them yelled, “Knock once if you want us to stay and knocked twice if you want me to leave!” Immediately after, they heard two knocks on what appeared to come from an adjacent window followed by a cease in the clanking. After they sprinted off back to their cars and left. Another time he went with his friend Jeremy that is fearless wanted to go closer, and the knocking was getting louder. It was a lot darker in the courtyard once they got in front of the entryway. They started to be able to see their breath, which is usually an indication that ghosts are around. One of the kids he was with wanted to go into the wing. He walked up to the window and knocked kind of hard three times jokingly not expecting a response. Immediately afterwards, three knocks came from the other side stronger and angrier than before and they sprinted out of there.

After hearing his account, I think that I have become a believer. I look forward to the opportunity to go there and experience this for myself. His story seems very believable and the tone that he told it in had me on edge. I have also heard others at this school talk about the similar experiences that they have had when going to pipes. I know need to go see it for myself so I can confirm if these stories are true or not.

Urban Legend – Midwest

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Nationality: Italian
Age: 24
Occupation: Student
Residence: Encinitas, San Diego
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

“It was a wet, windy and cold night in a small rural town in the Midwestern United States. A young boy had just picked his girlfriend up for their prom formal but they were stuck on the side of the road because his old pickup had once again broken down. While the boyfriend was looking under the hood of the car trying to solve the problem, the girl remained in the car. The boyfriend instructed his girlfriend to turn the car on one more time. The car actually started this time and both of them were relieved. The car began playing the usual Garth Brooks music on the local country radio station, but was soon interrupted by an emergency warning. The warning said that the state’s most infamous criminal had escaped from prison and was known to be in their immediate area. Hearing this, the girl called the boyfriend back to the car for him to listen to the warning, but it had already ended. The girl remembered the name and asked if the boyfriend knew the name. The boyfriend responded that he did that the criminal wasn’t really a criminal, more of a deranged psychopath, but laughed that it was probably a hoax as the night April 1st. The girlfriend wasn’t so sure, but before she could argue, the car once again died. The boyfriend became very frustrated and decided that he would walk the mile into town and ask for help. The girlfriend, worried that the warning was very real, told her boyfriend there was no way he was walking by himself into town. Being a teenage boy, the boyfriend would not concede that there was any possibility he could be putting himself in danger and scoffed at his girlfriend’s concerns. They argued for a while and he remained steadfast in his decision to walk into town so they could finally make the Senior prom as it would be their last high school dance together before getting married in the fall. The boy placated his girlfriend by promising to be safe and that she would hide under the blankets in the back seat. He would return and slowly tap three times so that she would know it was him. She finally agreed and hid herself in the back seat while he walked up the road.

The young girl waited for about an hour and finally started getting concerned for her boyfriend’s safety. She realized it would take about this long for anyone to come, but wasn’t so sure. They had left for Prom very early that night, but she didn’t care about making the prom at this point.  After about an hour and a half the girl’s anxiety began to grow—her boyfriend should be back by now. The girl tried to calm herself and not think about the worst-case scenario. That scenario, in her mind, would be that crazy, deranged murderer gruesomely killing her boyfriend—Jesse—and soon-to-be husband. After about two hours, the girl became a nervous wreck wondering what could be keeping her precious Jesse.

Finally after two and a half hours, the girl thought she would go insane from waiting. Just when she was ready to break down into hysterics, she thought she heard movement outside and became very still to listen. Then, all of the sudden she heard it—the first “TICK”—making her heart come up into her throat. She tried to calm her breathing and heard the second “TICK” on the window. Her heart began racing faster, relieved that her boyfriend was back. Finally, she heard it, the third and final “TICK.” The girl almost started crying from relief and took a second to thank the Lord for protecting Jesse. After her quick prayer, the girl was happy to throw off the itchy and uncomfortably stifling blankets. Before she did, however, she heard another “TICK” on the window. The sound took her breath away. Why would Jesse tap the window four times?? He was the one that told her it would only be three. It had to be a mistake. Before she could finish this thought, she heard a fifth “TICK.”

Wildly distressed, the girl remained hidden under the blankets. She had no idea what to do. She kept waiting and periodically she would hear another “TICK” on the window. The girl began to weep silently into the blankets. She waited for yet another hour with the periodic taps on the window having no idea what to do.

Finally, she heard a different tapping on the window, a more aggressive and loud rap. It frightened the young girl and through the blankets she could see rays of light shining, meaning someone was looking in with a flashlight. Suddenly she heard a voice telling her everything would be alright and that the police were here. She peeked out of a side of the blanket and could see flashing police lights and a group of officers outside the pickup truck. The girl was a little confused at why an entire squad would come with Jesse to help her out of the car, but she didn’t care because it finally meant she was done waiting and worrying in the backset of a truck. She finally opened the door and promptly questioned the police officer where Jesse was. The officer told her to come with him and walk to the police car and he would tell her everything there. The officer immediately covered the girl in a blanket because it was cold outside and began ushering her towards the police car.

However, a strange compulsion overcame the young girl. For some inexplicable reason, she had a sudden urge to turn around and look back at the truck she had just spent hours in hiding. Ignoring the officer’s insistent movements towards the police car the girl broke away from his grasp and spun around. The sight she saw took her breath away.

Above the truck hung her boyfriend Jesse’s dead body. His lifeless eyes gazed out over the dusty road as he hung from ten feet of rope tied to the tall oak above the car and the road. His dead body—the one she had hugged, kissed and loved for four years—swayed gently in the cold spring night and his feet rhythmically tapping the pickup truck window slowly going “TICK”… “TICK” … “TICK” ….

Anthony heard this story in high school down in San Diego from one of his friends back home who claimed that he had a friend who moved to the mid west and who new the guy and girl who this happened to. He does not necessarily believe the urban legend, but could see how there could be some truth in the story. He told me that he could not remember the exact names of the couple or the town where they grew up. In fact for the most part he said that this story probably very loosely follows the one that he was told by his friend.

After hearing Anthony’s take on the urban legend, I knew that I had hear a similar version from one of my friends before. The only variation was that instead of his feet rubbing up against the windshield, it was his blood dripping on the windshield. It seems that the story has adapted depending on the part of the country that the person telling it is from. It is also important to note that the story came from a friend of a friend. Knowing all of this, it takes away the legitimacy of the urban legend being true in my eyes, but still makes for an entertaining story.

Joke – Idaho

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Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Portland, OR
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English

“A man walks into a bar and goes and sits down at the bar. The bartender comes over and asks the man if he would like something to drink. The man says, “Give a beer. I have had one hell of a week. I got fired from my job, kicked out of my apartment, and to top it all off my girlfriend broke up with me. I wish that I could just get away from it all.” The bartender hands him his drink and says, “Well I have this magic cliff out back, and if you run and jump of it and say what you want to be you will turn into it.” The man thought to himself as he finished his drink, thinking that it was kind of weird. But he went outback and sure enough there was a cliff. So the man ran and jumped and screamed, “eagle,” and sure enough the man turned into and eagle and flew off into the sunset. A couple days later, a woman walks into the bar and sits down at the bar. The bartender comes over and asks if she would like something to drink. The woman says, “Give me a shot of your strongest tequila and keep them coming. I have had a terrible past couple days. I found out that my husband of 10 years had been cheating on me the entire time that we were married and when we got divorced I lost everything. I have no place to go.” The bartender hands her the drink and says, “Well I have this magic cliff out back, and if you run and jump of it and say what you want to be you will turn into it.” The woman thought that this sounded extremely strange but decided that she did not have anything to lose. She went outback and sure enough there was a cliff. So the woman ran and jumped and screamed, Dove,” and sure enough she turned into and dove and flew off into the sunset. A couple days later, a man walks into the bar and sits down. The bartender comes over and asks the man if he would like something to drink. The man says, “Give a shot of your best whiskey. I have just had the worst week of my life. My girlfriend left me, the company I work for went bankrupt and now I can’t afford the mortgage on the house that I just bought. I wish that I could just get away from it all.” The bartender hands him his drink and says, “Well I have this magic cliff out back, and if you run and jump of it and say what you want to be you will turn into it.” The man thought to himself as he finished his drink, thinking that it was kind of weird. But he went outback and sure enough there was a cliff. So he started running and running and just as he was about to jump he tripped on a rock and shouted “ Oh shit!”

For most of my childhood, I spent my winters in Sun Valley, Idaho, where I learned how to ski. The first time that I heard this joke I was skiing with an instructor and now close family friend, Brian, and we were stuck on the chairlift at point with a very large drop underneath us. I had to have been about 13 years old at the time, and I believe that he could tell that I was uncomfortable with our situation. So to pass the time and to take my mind of the possible 30 foot fall onto an icy sheet, he told me this joke. By the time that he had finished, I was laughing and the chair lift was once again ascending the mountain.

In trying to recall the exact details of the story, I found myself unable to. There are many variations to the joke. When telling it, I had to recreate the drink orders from the customers, their problems, and what they turned into upon jumping off the cliff. The joke has a lot of room for variation with the only thing really staying constant being the punch line. The reason that this joke stuck out to me was because it was unlike any “A guy walks into a bar” joke that I had ever heard. Every time that I tell it to someone it brings me right back to where I was when I first heard it.

Ghost Story – Northern California

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Nationality: German, American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Lafayette, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

“A couple years back, there was a Janitor who also acted as the camp’s grounds keeper, who worked at the camp. He kind of worked behind the scenes and no one really talked to him. His name was Earl Henry. He mostly kept to himself. He was not very old, most likely in his mid – 50s and to the staffs knowledge he did not have any family, or at least that he talked about. One day while Earl was working in the forest chopping wood, he accidentally cut off his right hand and in all his pain and agony he did not see where it fell in the bush. He immediately raced back to the camp to seek help from the medical staff. When he went back to look for his hand, he could not find it anywhere; just the dried pools of blood from earlier. With the loss of his hand, Earl was unable to perform his duty as the grounds keep and so the camp director was forced to let him go. Earl lived on the campgrounds and had spent the last 20 years working there. He had no family to speak of and no place to go. As hard as he tried to fight the camp directors decision, in the end he was forced to leave. A couple days later, the camp director went missing mysteriously. And as the weeks progressed strange things around the camp started happening that the staff could not explain. Another week passed and two more counselors went missing. The only clue to there disappearance was a trail of blood and what looked like a bloody right hand print leading back to the big tunnel that goes underneath the highway to the coast. Many people came to believe that the thing killing the counselors and causing all the problems around the camp was Earl’s right hand that was never found and that it lived somewhere in the tunnel going underneath the highway. So don’t go over to the tunnel by yourself because Earl’s hand may get you.”

Kyle told me that when he was in fourth grade, his parents sent him to the a summer camp called the “Lair of the Golden Bear.” He said that he had to have been about 10 years old. The fist night that he was there, they had a campfire for all the campers and told them this story about Earl’s severed hand. In looking back, Kyle believes that they told the little kids the story to keep them from going to the tunnel and the coast by themselves and also to keep them from going to the highway. He does not necessarily believe that the story is true now that he is older, however he told me that, “It scared the shit out of him” when he was only in the fourth grade and heard this story.

Again, I find it interesting that the ghost story has been adapted to serve a functional purpose such as scaring the kids away from going toward the tunnel under the highway. Kyle openly admits that the version he told me is not quite the same from the one he heard at camp and he did his best to embellish some of the details to try and make it scarier. Over all, I feel like this technique of using a tale or ghost story to convey a lesson to someone is very effective. Especially in Kyle’s situation, instead of trying to tell the kids what not to do and having the kids go on and break that rule, they conveyed the message in a medium that they new would be extremely effective in getting their desired message across.

Myth – Greek

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Nationality: Greek
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: April 29, 2009
Primary Language: English

“After Prometheus’ theft of the secret of fire, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create the woman Pandora as part of the punishment for mankind. Pandora was given many seductive gifts from the other Gods. In fear of any additional confrontations, Prometheus warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept any gifts from Zeus, but Epimetheus did not listen, and married Pandora. Pandora had been given a box and was instructed by Zeus to keep it closed, but because she had also been given the gift of curiosity she could not resist and ultimately opened it. When she opened it, all of the evils of mankind escaped from the box, although Pandora was quick enough to close it again and keep one value inside, Hope.”

Robbie recalled this myth as one of the more popular myths in Greek culture.  The myth of Pandora’s Box says that Pandora was created as the first woman ever as a punishment for the Gods allowing humans to play with fire.  In this myth, Pandora came with a box that supposedly carried all the evils of the world inside of it.  This myth is very ancient and has been told in Greek culture for thousands of years.  Robbie said that as a child growing up, he was always told the stories of the Greek Gods and their various adventures. Robbie explained to me that in the Greek culture, the stories of the Greek Gods are the stories of creation and how the world came to be. The Greek God stories are very unique from the stories and religions of other cultures.

Stories like Pandora’s Box are extremely interesting because they are the creation stories for the Greeks as to how the world came to be what it is today. Different cultures have different myths that explain these events. These myths were once extremely vital to the Greek belief system as many people believed them and structured there lives around them. It is interesting to note that these stories were then replaced by the Christian faiths creation stories of God creating Adam and Eve.