Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

The Archer Haunted Bathroom

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Brentwood, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/15
Primary Language: English

Informant: The informant in question was a sophomore screenwriting major at USC. White, female, and a Los Angeles native. She attended the Archer School, an upper-class girl’s private school in Brentwood.

Transcription: Oh! Oh my god okay. In my high school we had library sleepovers, and um, it was like where nerds went to party and it was like once a semester and we would all sleep over in the library as it sounds but like we would play Bloody Mary in the bathroom because we had a haunted bathroom. Oh god, we had a haunted bathroom which was like folklore of my high school because nobody wrote it down. Like it wasn’t written down like it was haunted but everyone knew it was haunted but they renovated it after I left. This dingy old bathroom and there was like no reason that it was haunted other than that the school used to be a retirement home and they said it was where they kept the dead bodies was like in our bathroom and supposedly if you said “Bloody Mary” there during the library sleepovers you would see Bloody Mary in the bathroom window – mirrors and in 7th grade somebody saw her but it wasn’t me. Somebody saw.

Why was that memory significant?

Cause it was so scary.

Where did you learn that?

High school, middle school. This girl in my grade who also lied a lot

What does it mean to you?

It was fun, like it was something that we all had in common like we all knew that the bathroom was haunted and that Bloody Mary lived there. But then they got rid of the haunted bathroom because they hate us.

Did you pass that story onto anyone else?

Yeah. You had to like tell everyone that the bathroom was haunted. It was the scariest place on campus.

What was it like? Was it different than any other bathrooms?

Yeah it was the only thing that hadn’t been renovated so it was also a storage unit and it was just like really rickety.

Analysis: This story serves as an indicator of the existence of fear as a form of bond-former in human social practices, particularly the fear of the unknown. As the bathroom in question was the only one not to be in the same modernized style as the rest of the Archer School, it immediately possessed an unsettling aura that the sleek, modernized classrooms and hallways did not. The mythos surrounding the school building’s former purpose served to increase the “spooky” nature of the location.

However, while this fear may have been disconcerting to an individual student of Archer, when it was confronted in a large group setting, it served to draw them all closer together. The bathroom served as a perfect location for the traditional sleepover game Bloody Mary, a familiar story to almost any reader. However, by having a particular location in which to play it, the game felt even more unique to their experience.

The Menehune

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/2015
Primary Language: English

Although he has spent the majority of his life living on the continental United States, my informant considers himself to be Hawaiian culturally and still holds on to the Hawaiian speech and traditions that he learned as a child. When asked about any tales or legends he may have heard about when growing up, the first thing he mentioned was the legend of the Menehune. According to my informant, the Menehune are “Hawaiian Leprechauns.” While the Menehune likely do not come from the Irish tales of Leprechauns, they are similar in that they are “little people who are hard to find.” The Menehune, while small and human-like are often treated as a different species entirely. According to the legend, the Menehune are a group of “dwarves who live in the forest away from people.” When asked about how he knew about them, my informant revealed that his parents told him about the Menehune when he found a small dam in a river as a child. According to him, the Menehune are often held accountable for the creation of small dams placed in rivers and creeks that the Hawaiian natives could explain otherwise. This is because they are thought to be “really good craftsmen.” As such, the Menehune were the explanation for any man-made looking constructions found in the deep forests of Hawaii far away from any tribal civilization. As far as temperament goes, my informant told me that the Menehune “aren’t nice and if you see one you are supposed to leave them alone” and that “they are a sign of bad luck.” Other than that, as far as my informant is aware, “there isn’t really that much to them. They kind of just build things and live in the forest.”

This tale is interesting as it seems to tread the line between a unique Hawaiian belief and a very Hawaiian version of the Irish Leprechaun. However, regardless of its origin and its relation to the Irish tales, it is interesting nonetheless to compare these two faeries. The Menehune for example, is considered a sign of bad luck which is the opposite of the Leprechaun. Also, unlike the Leprechaun, the Menehune isn’t considered to be very magical. Rather, they are more similar to small people. However, both the Menehune and the Leprechaun are expert craftsmen and are known to be very good at building whatever it is they build (buildings for the Menehune and shoes for the Leprechaun). All of this leads me to believe that while the Menehune and the Leprechaun are similar faeries, they should not be thought of as different versions of each other. This is not because of what they do, but rather because of how they are viewed by their respective cultures. Because the Hawaiians view and treat the Menehune in such an opposite was as the Irish treat the Leprechauns, I believe that despite my informant’s suggestion that “the Menehune are basically Hawaiian Leprechauns” they are a unique faerie to their culture.

I Hate White Rabbits

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Peachtree City, GA
Performance Date: 4/26/2015
Primary Language: English

My informant was a Boy Scout as child. Throughout his childhood he was dedicated to the scouts and ultimately earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Because of this he has spent a lot of time in the Boy Scouts’ community and knows of the customs attributed to the branch of this community located in Georgia.

Transcript:

Me: So you mentioned you were a boy scout.

Him: Yeah I was.

Me: Are there any rituals or traditions that you would do in the boy scouts that you wouldn’t do elsewhere?

Him: Oh? Yeah I now a good one like that. So when I used to be a Boy Scout we would often go camping as a troop. At night the whole troop would often gather around a campfire. We would usually sit in a circle around the fire and because it was usually windy the fire would always be blowing in some direction. Smoke would be blowing in someone’s face. We had this superstition that if you said “I hate white rabbits” when the smoke was blowing in your face it would magically change direction. It obviously didn’t work much, but it was still a superstition that we bought into.

Me: And where did you learn this?

Him: I learned it from an older scout when I was a Tenderfoot and then when I was a leader within the troop I would tell this to the new scouts.

Me: One more thing. Why white rabbits?

Him: Honestly I couldn’t tell you.

 

Analysis:

There are two things from this that are particularly interesting. The first thing is that the informant acknowledged that his folk ritual was a superstition and didn’t work. This implies that despite the apparent meaning, they do not say “I hate white rabbits” in order to actually get the smoke away. Instead, I believe that they do this ritual as a subtle sense of community. That is to say that even if you do not believe that saying “I hate white rabbits” will work, you would do it anyways because thats what members of the community do. Knowing this makes you an official member. The second thing of note is the line “I hate white rabbits.” It seemingly makes no sense, as white rabbits have nothing to do with smoke. Furthermore my informant revealed that while he partook in the ritual, he did not know why they used the specific phrase “I hate white rabbits.” I believe that this reveals that the tradition is at least a few generations old, meaning that the original creators have long been forgotten by the Boy Scout troop. As such, it is plausible that the phrase was initially meant to be used as a joke, but ended up persisting and becoming a tradition.

Purple Fuzzy Bear

Nationality: African American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: March 25, 2015
Primary Language: English

Informant H is 19 years old and was born in Inglewood CA. She moved to a place near Valencia just outside of LA soon after she was born. After 5 years, her little sister was born, then her little brother, and then her youngest sister. The family then moved to Bakersfield. H homeschooled for many years and then transitioned into a public high school.

 

H: So the very first people who started Xpressions started this um I guess its like a pre-show ritual where they have this little purple fuzzy stuffed animal and he’s about, I don’t know, he’s very small like this size, like a small ball. And we stand in a circle um backstage before its time for our show and the director holds the little fuzzy bear and he goes around and he puts it in front of everyone and everyone has to kiss the fuzzy bear for good luck.

Me: That’s really cute. Do you think people believe this will actually give them good luck and if they don’t do it like maybe they wont have a good performance that night?

H: Not necessarily. I think we know that the amount of effort and time we put into it is what’s gonna make it a good show but I think its just something that everyone has done every semester. So just knowing that from the very first group of people who did it now were doing it its cool that connection to the people who started it.

Me: So it’s about the history and the tradition more?

H: Right.

Me: Do you think the bear itself has any significance? Other than it was picked sort of randomly, do you know why it’s purple…?

H: I don’t know why its purple, I think its just a personal article, I don’t know any other significance to the bear.

Me: Do you believe personally that if you had done this or if you don’t, do you think something is going to happen?

H: Nope! I just think it’s a cute tradition.

Me: Do you think that’s why people do it? They just do this because it’s a nice bonding exercise?

H: Yes, I think it’s very much like a bonding exercise.

Me: Do you think it serves any other function besides a bonding thing between you guys?

H: I feel like bonding is mainly…and just that you know that that’s something you have in common with the Xpressions people because I know its changed over the years. So that’s something you have in common with someone who is an alumni of Xpressions, like oh you remember when you kissed the fuzzy bear?

Me: Is this like a secret thing? Do you guys talk about it very much?

H: Um no its just something we do like right before the show just like oh remember guys kiss the bear.

Me: And all the new members everyone together…?

H: Yeah everyone.

 

Analysis:

This dance group uses this fun tradition and ritual to bring all its members together and prepare them to work together as a unit for the show. Like other rituals, it ties them to the past and the origins of the group while keeping them in the present as they are about to perform. Also like other rituals, this takes place on a liminal moment in time, right before the dancers perform and is used to bring the dancers good luck.  This ritual also includes a kind of folk item, the fuzzy bear.

Tarot Card Superstitions

Nationality: Columbian, American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 10, 2015
Primary Language: English

Informant S is 21 years old from Boise Idaho. He is a Philosophy major who also plans on attending Medical School. He is half Columbian and half American. His grandmother is an older Colombian woman lives in Bogotá. She has a strong religious background as a Jehovah Witness.

 

S: My mom had certain superstitions like if you clear your mind the Devil will get into your head and um when I was really young my mom wouldn’t let me collect anything “demonic” or um anything with horns like Pokémon cards, Digimon. Anything that indicated a tie to Satan. Her mother, or you know my grandma, was a hard-core Jehovah Witness so she sorta reinforced that in my mom. I found it incredibly annoying but it sorta scared me when I was a kid too.

Me: Do you have an example of something you tried to collect but your mom said no?

S: No but my sister did. My sister got this dollar store um crystal ball and it came with a set of really shitty cheap um foreign made tarot cards, yeah they’re like these um cards tied to paganism, they represent like if I remember correctly sort of essentialistic aspects of human culture, no its not Paganism its Hermeticism. Honestly I’m not 100% sure. But they’re the pack of cards you see in like movies where a fortuneteller flips them around and they say things like death, Prince, God, and the fortuneteller ties them together and tells you your fortune. Jehovah Witnesses are hard-core into researching Christianity’s origins and when the Roman Empire split there was supposed to be a fusion between a lot of Christian and Pagan themes in the eastern Roman Empire. So they tried to avoid those sorts of things in their religious practice, the Pagan ones. So when my grandmother saw that she bought that set she freaked out and gave my sister like a 30-minute tongue lashing about how she brought the Devil into our home. It was kind of terrifying to see how livid it made her.

 

Analysis: Here S talks about how his religious grandmother has superstitions especially about the Devil and how that came into conflict with something his younger sister had bought. For his grandmother these beliefs are very important, but they are less important for S and his sister. For him, the most terrifying was his grandmothers reaction to the cards rather than the superstitions themselves, mostly because S is not religious with a strong belief in the Devil, but it shows how important it is to keep the Devil and anything associated with him out of the home for his grandmother.  He says although he finds this grandmothers religion annoying, it also made an impression on him and scared him too.