Author Archives: Mackenzie Werthman

The Red Balloon Ghost Story

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

My informant told me a story about her deceased Nana sending her red balloons for her birthday. Her Nana, whom she was very close to, passed away ten days after her 12th birthday. The next year, when her 13th birthday was approaching, she, my informant, felt a lot of grief, because the approach of her birthday meant that the anniversary of her Nana’s death was approaching as well. She prayed to God and her Nana to feel some comfort from her grief. The next day, when she came home from school, there were a bunch of red balloons in the tree in front of her house. My informant told me, “Red was my favorite color, and they were birthday balloons; one or two said “Happy Birthday.” She only took one of the plain red balloons: “because I did not want to be greedy.” That night, she prayed that the balloon would float for seven or ten days (she could not remember the exact amount of time) and the balloon stayed afloat for the amount of time she had prayed for.

Context:

My informant shared with me that she grew up with strong Christian roots. She was Catholic and attended the Catholic Church for several years when she was young before her family switched to a Protestant Church. She told me that she had developed the habit of praying to God to give her a sign as proof of His existence or to help her make big decisions when she was going through rough times. The balloons appeared when she prayed to her deceased grandmother My informant has shared this story with her mother and her mother shared other memorates with her about supernatural events regarding her Nana.

Analysis:

My informant presented this story to me as a ghost story, however, I would argue that there are sign superstition elements to it: praying to her grandmother and then finding the red balloons in front of her house. There is a supernatural element to her story, though, too: the balloons being her favorite color and the one balloon lasting the length of time she wanted it too. One can argue that the spirit of her Nana brought her these balloons for her birthday, therefore making it somewhat of a ghost story. In class, we talked about ghosts/spirits are mostly vengeful and to haunt the living, but I wonder if it is a possibility that there are some spirits that present themselves, specifically to their loved ones, to bring support and to show the living that they are not alone (in a positive way).

Ijapa the Tortoise Legend/Tale

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 21
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Legend:

“Ijapa is a tortoise in the village and every year, the birds have a festival in the sky to celebrate some type of feast. And this festival is super coveted, like there’s lots of food and everything, and [it’s] in the trees and high up. Ijapa, who’s a tortoise, obviously can’t get to the trees, so he starts picking feathers from every bird and makes a set of wings for himself, and he flies up to this festival disguised as a bird with all these feathers that he’s gathered and goes to this banquet. At the banquet, he’s eating all their food, and somehow, someone discovers he’s not a bird and so they go around telling everyone he’s not a bird and he’s infiltrated the banquet. As each of them leave, they take one feather [from Ijapa’s set of wings] and fly away. So, because Ijapa is so big-backed [informant’s words], hungry, and greedy, he’s staying late and doesn’t realize [the birds] are taking his feathers. By the time the last guest has gone, he realizes that he no longer has his set of wings. So, he shouts down from the tree to [get] someone to tell his wife, who, I can’t remember what creature it is, but it’s another animal, that hears him shouting from the tree. He [Ijapa] tells the animal to tell his wife to come and arrange, like a bed of soft things, so that when he jumps from the tree height, he lands on the soft things. But this animal, who also does not like Ijapa because Ijapa is greedy, arranges stones instead, and mimics the voice of his [Ijapa’s] wife, saying, “Jump down! I’ve arranged the bed of soft things” and Ijapa jumps down and cracks his shell.

That’s why tortoises’ shells are cracked.”

Context:

My informant told me that Ijapa (“tortoise” in Yoruba) is a character that shows up in a lot of Yoruba stories/tales that parents share with their children. Many of the Ijapa stories are didactic and usually have some sort of moral lesson: why you shouldn’t lie, why you shouldn’t be arrogant, etc. He compared this story to the tale of the Tortoise and the Hare, explaining that there are different variations of these stories in different regions. This is the version he remembers hearing from his parents.

Analysis:

This story is very interesting because not only is it a legend about why tortoises’ shells are cracked, but it is also a tale that has a moral lesson for children. Is it likely that a tortoise was able to gather loose feathers to create wings and fly up into the trees? I think that it is highly unlikely; but the fact that the phrase “That’s why tortoises’ shells are cracked” is included after the story transforms this tale into a seemingly legendary story. This story could be true, because tortoises’ shells can be cracked. Had it been described as a story of why someone should never lie or be greedy, then this would not be considered a legend. In my opinion, this story does not necessarily clearly fit in to one category of a legend or a tale. There is the part about why the tortoises’ shell is cracked, which shifts the story into the legend category, but then there is the moral lesson of why someone should not lie or be greedy, as well as the tortoise flying into the tree, which is more commonly found in tales.

El Callejón in Guanajuato, Mexico – The Kissing Alley Legend

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 24
Occupation: College student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Legend:

“It [the tale] follows the tragedy of Carmen and Luis. They were two lovers who lived a street apart; their balconies faced each other. Carmen’s dad found out about their constant sightings that eventually turned into a relationship and in a moment of rage, he killed Carmen. After, Luis said goodbye to Carmen and then he killed himself. The legend says that if a couple kisses on the third step of the narrowest area of the alley, they will have 15 years of prosperity and love.”

Context

My informant told me that this legend is centered around a popular tourist destination in Guanajuato, Mexico. The tourist destination is an alley with stairs underneath where the two balconies face each other. Many couples walk the steps and take pictures kissing on the third step of the stairs in the alley. Couples stand specifically on the third step because, there, they are directly under the two balconies that face each other.

Analysis

When my informant told me this legend, I immediately thought of Shakespeare’s play Romeo & Juliet and the forbidden romance between the two main characters. I find it interesting that the idea of forbidden love is so appealing to a lot of people, specifically when the couple ends up ending their lives to be with each other (something the play and this legend have in common). There is something to be said about audiences enjoying a tragic love story. The idea of this legend being the thing that attracts tourists to this location reminds me of the idea of the “Legend Quest” we talked about in class. A “Legend Quest” is when people hear a legend and go on a “quest” to find out if it is true. In this case, tourists find out that if they go to the third step and kiss underneath the balcony, essentially recreating the romance between Carmen and Luis, if they will be guaranteed 15 years of love. So, they go, hoping that the legend is true.

The Legend of Hooper’s Hollow

Nationality: American
Age: 57
Occupation: Dance Studio Owner
Residence: Downers Grove, IL
Language: English

Legend:

“There’s a beautiful park in between where my neighborhood was and the school that I went to, so, a lot of kids would like to cut through the park. Well, in 1979, there was a boy coming home from hanging out with friends one night, and he was a nice kid, 15 years old, a happy kid, and nobody to this day knows what happened, but he was murdered by being hung from that bridge over the creek [in the park]. So, he wasn’t found for almost a day, and when he was found, he had a huge, angry look on his face, but obviously, he was dead. So, the legend goes that this boy was so happy [in general] and so upset about being murdered that his spirit stayed in the area and haunted any kids that tried to play in that creek or go over that bridge. So, once in awhile we would go there at night to see if we could feel his spirit or see his ghost; we never did, but we wouldn’t actually go over the bridge because we were too frightened.

Just adding on, I did have friends that used to claim that they would hear his voice or see, like, a hologram of him from time to time, especially at night. But, I’m sure they were making it up. ‘Cause anytime we went–which I only went a couple times [because] I was too scared–I never saw any kind of ghost, or spirit, or hologram of his presence. But people used to claim that they would see him or hear his voice yelling or crying from the bridge.”

Context:

My informant told me that the boy was murdered when she was around 12 years old and it had been an anomaly in her town; children being murdered was not common. She told me that that’s the reason why this legend is so popular; the parents only talked about the boy’s murder, but the children talked about his spirit haunting the creek. Many of the children believed it and steered clear of the bridge. When asked if any adults knew about the legend, my informant said that the only reason her mother found out about the legend was through her and her younger brother.

Analysis:

What I find so interesting about ghost stories/legends is what the circumstances are that causes the ghost/spirit to haunt the specific location it is haunting. In the article we read in class about Estonian legends of ghosts, it was believed that ghosts/spirits haunted ancestral homes as a way of keeping the property in the family while the Soviet Union was trying to force Communism onto Estonians. In this legend, it is believed the boy’s spirit/ghost haunts the bridge and the creek where he was murdered as a way to keep children away from the area. It seems that his ghost is keeping the children of the town away from the creek and bridge as a way of preventing another child from meeting his same fate of being murdered. There is also the element that only children/younger people know and share this legend and not the adults. This acts as a way of frightening other children.

Uun yi agbalagba ri n’oiho joko, omoiton le ri un n’oiho uduo – Proverb

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: Yoruba

Text:

Uun yi agbalagba ri n’oiho joko, omoiton le ri un n’oiho uduo

Translation:

“What an elder can see when sitting down, a child cannot see when standing up”

Context:

My informant told me that this proverb is “usually invoked when a child is trying to get smart with an adult or an older person” (his words). He said this proverb can also be used as a warning even when there is no act of disobedience. He told me that there are different versions of this proverb, one ending with “a child cannot see when climbing the tallest tree,” but the one above, in Yoruba, was the version he was told growing up.

Analysis:

When my informant shared this proverb with me, I realized that the idea of “respect your elders” is a somewhat universal idea. I interpreted that the elder seeing more while sitting down is because they have literally seen/experienced more in their life than the child. The child, while standing, cannot see/experience everything the elder sees due to their lack of life experience. Growing up, and even still to this day, I received a similar sentiment from the older people around me. It is interesting how Western cultures, similarly to African cultures, deem elders as “wiser” than children because they have lived longer, and therefore, there is an expectation placed that children need to respect and listen to their elders.