Author Archives: Naomi Cowan

Once a Girl went to Camp

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Context: In girl scouts, they sing songs around the campfire. Most songs are call and response but the song provided by the informant is sung in unison. She pointed out that “boy scouts might have a similar but opposite version and this was a friendly rivalry between them.”

Girl scout songs are sung throughout all ages, from kindergarten to high school. The girls don’t start camping until daisy and brownie, typically around fourth grade. “As you get older and become a cadet, senior, or ambassador (6th grade plus) you start being the one to lead the younger girls, so your role changes” according to the informant.

Song: 

Once a girl scout went to camp, went to camp

Went to camp without her lamp, without her la-a-amp

When she found a spider in her bed, 

this is what the girl scout said, girl scout said:

“Spider, Spider go away, go away

You are not allowed to stay, allowed to sta-a-ayy”

This is what my le-eader said

“No two bodies in one bed, in one bed”

Once a boy scout went to camp, went to camp

Went to camp without his lamp, without his la-a-amp

Then he found a spider in his bed, 

this is what the boy scout said, boy scout said:

“AHHH”

Analysis: Before boy scouts became the gender-neutral scouts, girl scouts and boy scouts naturally had a gendered rivalry. Especially earlier in the development of children, they naturally segregate themselves by gender; boy and girl scouts institutionalized this segregation, further strengthening the divide. As children begin camping overnight with their group, they’ll sing around a campfire. On the surface, this song just seems to be a silly campfire song to entertain the kids and pass down for generations, keeping the rivalry with the boy scouts alive. 

Although the informant only points this out to be the purpose of the song, it also provides a warning to these new overnight campers. Firstly, ensure you remember your equipment or bad things might happen. Be aware of wildlife, including spiders; this will make the girls more meticulous about checking their bedding for any sort of bug or animal. Interestingly, this song has the leader warning against two bodies in one bed, suggesting that beds should not be shared at all between two people. Then, the song turns onto the boy scouts to make fun of them for being scared of the spider rather than talking to it, suggesting that the girl scouts should remain calm when facing a scary bug or animal they see in the wilderness. Essentially, this song provides a blueprint for appropriate behavior at camp through a silly song for the younger kids to remember by throwing in some rivalry. This then becomes a cycle to be passed down from the older to the younger girls. 

Black Eyed Children

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Boat Mechanic
Residence: Glendale, AZ
Language: English

Story:

“I believe they’re called the black eyed children. Its a set of two or three kids or however many. One of them will walk up to you and they’ll as you for like food or to play with them. If you oblige, they’ll be happy, but the second day another set will show up and be really mean to you, super nasty. If you don’t be nice to them still, they’ll mess with you and be angry and stuff” 

Context: The informant heard this legend from high school friends around the age 15-16. He assumed this was a Native American legend because he heard it from his Native friends while travelling to the reservation in New Mexico.

Analysis: The black eyed children are a common urban legend in America. They signify an innocence that has been twisted for evil intentions. They are often described to be children or teenagers with black eyes and an older sounding voice. For my informant, this legend seems to be a warning against the children. A little different from the most popular legend, this one suggests for the informant to always be nice to the black eyed children. The general fear of the children comes from not knowing their intentions. 

In regards to the origins of this legend, the story of the black eyed children stems from an account of them written by a journalist in 1996. As this post spread, more and more stories popped up, claiming to have encountered the children. Because the informant heard this story from his Native American friends on the way to the reservation in New Mexico, he assumed it to be their local folklore. His friends were likely sharing spooky stories on the drive for entertainment purposes, and this story was big at the time since Creepypasta was still very popular. This story had also been big on Creepypasta since that’s where I heard this legend from myself. Notably, Irish changelings and Native American groups around California’s Lake Tahoe and Nevada’s Pyramid Lake with legends of evil water baby spirits are the most similar examples of traditional folklore to the contemporary legend of the black eyed children. All of these legends stay consistent with taking advantage of people’s desire to care for or help someone smaller or younger than themselves, regardless of their intentions. 

New Mexico Skinwalker

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Boat Mechanic
Residence: Glendale, AZ
Language: English

Story

In New Mexico, the informant visited the reservation with his Native friends. They decided to go out to hike a mountain at 7pm; the informant was with two friends and his friend’s cousin who he never met before. All of a sudden, it became pitch dark, no moon, no stars, no nothing, and the cousin went missing. They called for her for about a half hour. She came stumbling out of the dark with no recollection of anything that happened, so they thought “maybe a skinwalker or something was trying to lure her” according to the informant.

Context: The informant visited a Native American reservation in New Mexico around the ages 15-16 years old.

Analysis: This personal narrative follows a grander cultural phenomenon to explain the unexplainable. The sky went completely dark, which provides a supernatural backdrop to the story. The idea of nothing in the sky, not even stars, must have been terrifying for the group of teenagers. Suddenly, one of the group members goes missing and they frantically call out and search for her, strengthening the fear for the group as anything could have happened to her. When she finally stumbled out to them, she was disoriented with no memory of where she was for the last thirty minutes. Naturally, the group needed a way to explain what had happened that night. Although the informant was unsure of which reservation he had visited, he had likely visited the Navajo Nation or one of the surrounding reservations that are clustered together in New Mexico. Skinwalkers are a well-known legend in these areas, especially with them being a Navajo legend. This would have the quickest and easiest way for the teenagers to explain this experience. Skinwalkers are an evil witch who shapeshifts and lures people, likely to their deaths. Since the cousin had returned disoriented with no memory, she could have been lured and placed under the spell of a skinwalker and somehow escaped back to the group. 

Tombstone Ghost Story

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Waitress
Residence: Glendale, AZ
Language: English

“So me and my friend right. We took this trip to Tombstone and we did one of those ghost tours in I think it was a funeral home I’m pretty sure. It used to be an old funeral home in Tombstone. And she busted out this um what do they call it? A spirit box where they are just really loud. She had me and my friend stand up facing away from the audience, and there were these purple lights on us too, so you could kind of see if there was any shadows or movement or whatever from the ghost. And um apparently like people had told me afterwards that they had seen the ghost moving my hair cuz it was down and really long at the time. Anyways, with the spirit box, it just saying a lot of random stuff and all of a sudden all you could hear was it really clearly say BITCH! And then my friend just falls to the ground and grabs me and everybody fell.”

Context: The informant was about 14/15 and went on a birthday trip with her friend to Tombstone on Labor Day weekend. Tombstone is a well-known western town in Arizona, known for their ghost tours and mock shootouts. The ghost tour was in the basement of one of the stores which had been somewhat preserved from the time it was a funeral home. The host used a spirit box on her laptop, grid lights, and a barrel of offering which she had audience members stand in front of to invite spirits to touch them. The friend who collapsed claimed that she didn’t know what happened, similar to a short blackout, and she avoided any supernatural experiences for a long time afterward. The host ended the ghost tour after this incident.

Analysis: Although this ghost experience was somewhat institutionalized, the suggestibility of the experience and the host lead the informant into having a true ghost experience. Ghost boxes are devices that skip through radio channels, and the ghosts are supposed to highlight words in response to questions people asked. Initially, the experience had been fun for the informant, being told her hair was being moved by the ghost. This validated and strengthened the belief in the phenomenon in the moment. However, the experience took a turn when the ghost insulted them and her friend collapsed, suggesting that the ghost had pulled her down. With the ghost tour occurring in a wild west funeral home with many violent deaths, the host herself acknowledged the danger by concluding the tour after this hostile incident. Ghosts have been suggested to be especially tied to property and being hostile towards unwanted visitors, which could be a factor for the incident. 

Man on the Moon

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Waitress
Residence: Glendale, AZ
Language: English

“when i was younger my dad told me when he was in a really bad place he saw this man in the moon and he basically told my dad to keep going and just a bunch of advice so i’ve always kind of believe in a ‘man on the moon’

he always just looked to the sky and thought that was where we ended up when we passed, i think the man in the moon thing kind of goes with the fact he thought each star had a family of souls and when u passed u’d be with your family in the stars again. he just had really nice outlooks on the afterlife, he grew up Christian but i think he created his own beliefs as we all do in life”

Context: As far as the informant knew, her dad had always seen the man on the moon. He would tell her about the man all throughout her life. She had been extremely close to her dad growing up, and he passed away when she was in 6th grade. 

Analysis: In many places around the world, there has been a myth or legend about the man of the moon. This is often attributed to the face-like patches on the moon called lunar maria. The informant’s dad seemed to have strong beliefs in the cosmos, always turning to the man on the moon during dark times. This belief might have been passed down through his family, stemming from traditional beliefs present prior to Christianity. Solar cosmology was highly prevalent all around the world, and many people still follow these beliefs. The informant keeps this myth alive now in honor of her dad, so she will always be reminded of him by just looking up to the night sky.