Author Archives: Scott Hills

Kissing Bench

Age: 17

Date of Performance: 4/01/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a high school student. She referenced a myth at her local university regarding the “Kissing Bench.” It’s said to give couples good luck if they embrace while sitting on the bench in the center of the university campus.

2. Context

“I heard this one from a friend when we were walking around the campus, actually not too long ago, probably a few months ago. They basically just said that both of their parents went here and they told them about this tradition on this bench but apparently, it can also be applied to friendships and if you hug on it you’re supposed to have good luck in your friendship too. I don’t know, it’s kind of wholesome, I like it.”

3. Analysis

This is a myth, in that, it is not subject to literal truth, but rather rooted in a playful, social commentary. It is a fun, light-hearted tradition to engage informants with the university campus and create tradition in the environment. We talked in lecture about the role of folklore in formulating tradition and how it shares culture through storytelling across generations. The Kissing Bench feels like a myth that transcends generations in that it can be applied to various points of time, and it involves a long-standing object, making it more applicable to multiple people.

Scary Aerie

Age: 17

Date of Performance: 4/01/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a high school student. She referenced a legend from her summer camp as a kid, known as “Scary Aerie.” It was the name of an outdoor ropes course at the camp, with a legend about a girl who fell from the course into the lake below it. Her name was said to be Aerie, and legend has it– she haunted the course so that campers would hear her screams when they zip-lined over the lake.

2. Context

“Yeah Scary Aerie always freaked me out a bit because I was already afraid of the heights on the rope course and the tale they used to tell us honestly made it ten times worse.”

“I got told it my first year as a camper so I was probably seven years old or so. I don’t know, sometimes I felt like I could actually hear her screams but I might’ve just been in my head about it. Some of my friends said they would hear it and some said they didn’t so, yeah, I don’t know.”

3. Analysis

Scary Aerie is a legend, with questionable truth value located in the real world of the summer camp where it originated. It’s again, a social tool and example of folklore that bonds a community. They all share the knowledge of the legend and are impacted by it differently.

It seems a bit of a tactic to incite fear into the new members of the camp, a strategy for younger campers to have to learn their place in the community. It’s a common practice by many organizations– to inflict some hardship on new members before they can feel fully established in their new area. This seems to be the function of Scary Aerie.

13 Curves

Age: 50

Date of Performance: 3/31/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Financial Advisor

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a financial advisor and father. He referenced a myth called “13 Curves.” The informant told a story of a road just north of his hometown where a tragic car accident occurred over 60 years ago. The road is claimed to be haunted by the souls of those who died in the accident, with the informant saying he was warned of paranormal noises on the road as a kid.

2. Context

“I heard about this when I was a little kid. This terrified me. Sometimes I traveled on that road with my family to go see family friends of ours. I liked riding in the car through the curves during the day but at night I was terrified.”

“Always looking for ghosts in the forest on either side of the road. There was also a story that on Halloween these ghosts would travel over to my neighborhood which was scary to me.”

3. Analysis

“13 Curves” sounds like a myth dealing with natural phenomena, as most myths do. It seems like a coping strategy for a tragic event– a story the town has adopted to better understand a sad, horrific car accident that occurred in their area. Perhaps, there are noises or shadows on that road, and a logical explanation for the community to better understand the dark, eerie ambience of the area.

Given that myths are made to create meaning, and the informant was informed of this myth at a young age, perhaps also, the myth could be aimed to teach the informant a lesson. It could be intended to raise awareness for cautious driving, to learn from the accident. We learned in culture about how “our myths naturalize our culture and impact how we think.” in this scenario, the “13 Curves” myth impacts how the community approaches the road and helps them better understand a sad accident and environment of the road.

Cardiff Giant

Age: 50

Date of Performance: 3/31/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Financial Advisor

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a financial advisor and father. He referenced a legend about the “Cardiff Giant” near where he grew up. He told a story about how the remains of a 10-foot-tall man were seemingly discovered by two men digging on a farm. It turns out the remains were a hoax by a scam artist, who was inspired by the idea of giants in the bible. He constructed a stone man and buried it in an area of much religious fervor. When the giant was uncovered, it became a legend about stone people that had used to live in the area, inspired by a local native tribes’ understanding of humans.

2. Context

“This one didn’t scare me but I was always interested in it. Each fall, my family would go apple picking in that area and I was always asking my dad about the giant. I found it interesting that someone would go through that length to create a hoax once I found out the giant wasn’t real.”

3. Analysis

This legend is a testament to the power of ‘belief’ in human nature, a concept we talked about in class. Legends go in hand often with what people believe– this legend represents a creator of the legend taking advantage of the human obsession with spectacle, and the desire to be engaged with anything out of the ordinary or seemingly obsurd.

This legend could be classified as a historical legend, a story about the history of a giant and its attachment to native tribes that has not been accepted as true, but is set in the real world. Through the practice of ostension, in this case, the two men digging up the giant, the legend became “true” in a way, and real to the community it involved.

For the informant, it was simply a playful legend, a chance to poke fun at the environment he was in and engage further with his community. This is representative of how legends are very social, and often a part of peer groups. It allowed the informant to socialize with his family and have a deeper understanding of his community.

Angel Numbers & 11:11

Age: 18

Date of Performance: 2/13/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a freshman student at USC. She referenced a proverb in number form that she says, which is “11:11,” pronounced “eleven, eleven.” It is meant to symbolize good luck, and she mentioned how she makes a wish every time she sees it.

2. Context

“Every time I see 11:11, I say ‘eleven eleven’ and make a wish. I love angel numbers and 11:11 specifically. Also, 444 is my angel number, I’m locked to it. With 11:11, it’s just that I always see it, all the time, I’m just on my phone and I always see it.”

“A family friend died at 11:11 so that is also like a connection to it. With 444, I kept seeing it when I was doing college tours. Someone was wearing a 444 necklace on one tour, I went to my next tour and someone was wearing the same necklace, and I think it helped me with my college collections.”

“Last year on 11:11 I would always wish to get into USC and it worked!”

3. Analysis

“Eleven, eleven” is a brief proverbial saying which is widespread across many communities and cultures. Angel numbers, as they are known, have become reflections of good luck and good tidings throughout history. Repeated numbers in a row have different meanings for luck in different categories of life, and it is tradition to repeat the saying “eleven, eleven,” and then make a wish. It can be seen as an arbitrary thing in nature, given that it is numbers in a row; however, the coincidence of numbers being in order is seen by some as having a tie to cosmology and therefore, a connection to luck.