Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

The Curse of the Nuno Sa Punso

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 41
Occupation: Denial Analyst
Residence: Sioux Falls, SD
Performance Date: April 23rd, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

Background: My informant was a Filipino immigrant who came to America when she was 12. She was born and raised in Manila before coming to America, her father seeking out new opportunities. She then got married and moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and currently works as a Denial Analyst for the Sanford Health Network, the largest hospital network in the Siouxland area.

Main Piece: There are superstitious tales in the Philippines about beds of mushrooms and the mounds that they can be found on. It is that that creatures live there called the Nuno Sa Punso, a form of Duwende (dwarf). The Nuno Sa Punso live in the mound, and if you come across these beds of mushrooms, you have to say “excuse me” and “no disrespect to you all” (tabi tabi po). More accurately, it means something like “I mean no harm, please step aside, let me pass” although it is a bit hard to translate exactly. You must avoid stepping on it because if you make one angry, it will give you bad luck and spit on you. If you step on it or harm it in any way it will use its spit to grant a curse. If you are cursed you will get an incurable lesion type of condition that can only be healed by the Faith Healers. You may also vomit blood.

The Faith Healers will usually warp the affected area in some form of leaves and oil while saying a prayer that asks for foregiveness from the dwarf you made mad. This is the only way the lesion will go away through time.

According to the informant, this kind of folklore is a major part of Filipino society and often talked about because Filipinios are a very highly superstitious people. It was fairly common for her to hear about stories like this, especially involving spirits.

Performance Context: According to my informant, the story was told (in her belief) to teach children to respect the spirits as well as to get them to come home before 6pm, when it gets dark. This is a story that is told to all children and so it is very widespread. It is known by most Filipinos. The informant said “Each region has a folktale to avoid so you know not to make the spirits angry.”

My Thoughts: I think it is interesting because it shows a certain commonality in storytelling to teach children respect and also to ward them from staying out or straying too far into the unknown through the use of mythical creatures. I think that their “curse” is quite severe, and really would be something that would scare children. I wonder if it is somehow derived from some medical fact or otherwise medical incident long ago that was explained through spirits.

The Amidon Affair of Sioux Falls

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Sioux Falls, SD
Performance Date: April 23rd, 2017
Primary Language: English

Background: My informant was young Caucasian man who was born and raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He currently attends the University of Sioux Falls for Biology and History.

Main Piece: My informant told me about the story behind a historically recognized landmark of Sioux Falls. There is a obelisk that stands just outside of city limits that marks the place where supposedly the origins of the city originate. The story goes that when the first settles came to the area they were not accepted by the local Native Americans. As Judge Amidon and his son were out hunting, the son went one way away from his father. The son was found by the local tribe who killed him. They also hunted down the father and killed him with his own rifle. The local settlers at the time found out when they found their bodies. They buried them under a mound where the obelisk was marked. After this, the local town was evacuated. Soon after, the town was attacked by the same tribe who killed Amidon. They say that everyone would have died on that day if not for them being killed. A few years later, the settles came back and the town of Sioux Falls was formally founded. However, the tricky part is that, the bodies of Amidon and his son were never found again. An archaeologist was hired to examine the mound where they were supposedly buried, but their bones were never found. A couple other locations were also searched, but there was no definite finding for the duo. Thus, the story’s authenticity has been put into question. It is mostly important and memorable for the informant because they think we should see this as a way to see how we should inform our native/white relations today. The history has value to people and he thinks that this can be used to inform rather than showcase tyranny of the past. He has been thinking about writing a histographical paper on this subject for some time.

Performance Context: According to my informant, the informant’s mom was an aficionado of the occult, so she would tell her son (the informant) stories like this. He also knows about it through the historical plaque that is in front of the obelisk. The informant thinks he was taught the story to talk about Sioux/settle relations in the past, specifically to highlight how poor they were.

My Thoughts: I think it is interesting because it shows how we form significance and superstitious regarding our own creation myths for not only the world, but even our towns. The origins of Sioux Falls may go somewhat unrecorded because all we have to go off of is the words of a few would-be settlers at the time. However, the effect is strong enough that whoever is in charge of marking historical landmarks in South Dakota has gone to the trouble to even put up a official plaque that is used on various other landmarks in town. It is even given the name “Amidon Affair” to commemorate the story.

The University of Minnesota Statues

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Sioux Falls, SD
Performance Date: April 24th, 2017
Primary Language: English

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Background: My informant was a young Filipino  girl who was born and raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She currently is a student at the University of Minnesota studying Double B.A. Global Studies and Cultural Studies.

Performance Context: According to the informant, the students talk about it a lot and spread it among the academic populace.

Main Piece: There are several student stories involving the stories of the statues around campus. One for example is that of the Platonic Figure. The students believe that if you walk under the Platonic Figure, you will not graduate in four years. Thus, the circle around the statue serves as a barrier that students walk around for fear of passing under the statue. Another statue that brings the opposite kind of luck is the Goldie Statue. The students say that if you rub the gold teeth and make a wish, it is good luck. A lot of students tend to come to this statue just before finals to give them a bit of extra good luck. Another time that they do this is before football games to “give the Gophers luck”.

To the informant, the stories are told because everyone wants to pass their classes. No matter the logic, everyone wants to cling to this mystic notion and give something as silly as making a wish in order to give them any edge that they can. The informant doesn’t believe in the Goldie myth as much as the Platonic Figure story. According to her, it’s less about believing and more about not taking the risk.

My Thoughts: I think it is interesting because it talks about how we form cultural ties within our own smaller communities, no matter how temporal they are. Even though college is a place of temporary establishment in our overall life cycle, a place for us to at some point leave and form new, different or join other communities, practices and rituals – by simply being a place of congregation it provides us an excuse to form connections with one another. Especially since school is also a place for business and professional connection, as well as social and (potentially) familial connection.

The Manananggal of the Philippines

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 41
Occupation: Denial Analyst
Residence: Sioux Falls, SD
Performance Date: April 23rd, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

Background: My informant was a Filipino immigrant who came to America when she was 12. She was born and raised in Manila before coming to America, her father seeking out new opportunities. She then got married and moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and currently works as a Denial Analyst for the Sanford Health Network, the largest hospital network in the Siouxland area.

Main Piece: The Manananggal is a vampiric creature that leaves half of its body and flies in search of its victims. The only way to kill it is to find the other half of its body, and kill the creature by putting salt inside of it. It is a hideous female that flies around one hunt after another preying on pregnant women. It will land on top of that hunt and use its long tongue that falls down the side. With its tongue it will go through the abdomen and eat the fetus of the growing child by sucking its heart. It hunts from village to village like so until it is killed. This story is told mainly through horror films in the informant’s experience, but it is quite well known because of this.

Performance Context: According to my informant, the story originates from the area of the Philippines known as the Visayas. It is one of the three major groups of islands of the Philippines, being in the center.

My Thoughts: I think it is interesting because this is another example of how horror really shapes the perception of people. This story itself may be older and written into older text, but it gains a lot of effect out of its pop culture nature. This is evidenced even more so by the fact that it is not really a story that originates from the entirety of the country, but from a specific portion. Thus, it gains attention through multimedia that does not know borders, so to speak.

Hitori Kakurenbo (Hide and Seek By Yourself)

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Screenwriter
Residence: Koreatown
Performance Date: April 23rd, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Sign Language

Background: My informant is a young screenwriter born and raised in California. She is a USC graduate in the screenwriting program. Currently she works on contract as a writer for several projects such as comics, television and podcasts.

Main Piece: My informant described a strange sequence of rituals that is played by presumably young people who enact a “Bloody Mary”-style ritual to play hide and seek with a demon. You must complete a series of ritualistic actions in order to play with the demon through the medium of a doll. You must play this game alone, at night, and with all lights and electronics off. First, you take a doll and name it. You fill up the bathtub with water. You say “for the first game, I’m going to be it”, drop it into the water, and then you run away. When you come back, you say “I won” and then you stab the doll three times and leave it in the bathroom.  After that you put the doll down in the bathroom, you hide and you wait. After that the urban legend has a few differences depending on the account. In one, you seek out the doll. Basically, after some time, you get up and you look for the doll. If done correctly, when you seek out the doll it will no longer be in the bathroom. When you find it, you must say “I win” three times in a row.  If you do not do the ritual correctly, supposedly the doll will find you instead and stab you three times, killing you. Another version has you instead of finding the doll, waiting in your hiding spot until sunrise, upon which then you chant “I win” three times in a row. Either way, to end it all, you are recommended to burn the doll. Many people recount that they still feel strange or feel that their home is haunted even after the ritual. There also varying accounts of use of salt in the story. The informant said that she has heard a few different usages, but the one she learned about was when you are hiding, you are supposed to put salt in your mouth. Others talk about putting salt in the tub and such other usages.

My informant thinks that it all is super creepy because they are strange in their own act because “why would someone do something like that”?

Performance Context: According to my informant, she learned the story while translating the manga version of Occultic;Nine, a Japanese manga. During the manga, they make reference to several supernatural events come to life. Wanting to know more and understand the context, she explored the story herself and has been recounting it to her friends since.

My Thoughts: I think it is interesting because it shows a certain commonality in storytelling to teach children respect and also to ward them from staying out or straying too far into the unknown through the use of mythical creatures. I think that their “curse” is quite severe, and really would be something that would scare children. I wonder if it is somehow derived from some medical fact or otherwise medical incident long ago that was explained through spirits.