Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

“If you sprinkle salt on a birds tail it won’t be able to fly”

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: Teacher
Residence: Lakeville, CT
Performance Date: March 2013
Primary Language: English

“If you sprinkle salt on a birds tail it won’t be able to fly”

Informant Analysis: “My friends and I heard this from someone at school or something like that, and we kept trying to prove it wrong,as if, as if that was even possible. We would spend hours when we were really little waiting for a bird, salt in our hands, waiting for a bird to be still long enough to try to test out our theory. We wanted to be able to do it and then kind of, I guess, corral the bird into a cage so we could keep it as a pet, because it couldn’t get away.”

Analysis: It’s interesting how the informant took this folk belief and proceeded to investigate it with his friends. Most of the other beliefs I collected are prohibitive, and with this one it was something that had to be proved, at least it seemed that way to the informant at the time. In that way this belief became active, something that the informant could participate in, even if he was never successful. I think as kids, they wanted to be able to control something, and by enacting this belief successfully they could somehow gain some authority over something less powerful than them.

The Ghost of Alta Dena

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pasadena
Performance Date: April 10 2013
Primary Language: English

There is a specific street in Alta Dena that is completely flat and rarely driven on. The street is out of the way from almost any house, so people infrequently drive along it. In the past, a terrible accident occurred in the middle of the road, and a man was killed. Since it took so long for the ambulance to get to the man and because the body was so mangled, the ghost of the man is known to haunt the street. It is said that if you drive to the middle of the street and put your car into park, then switch it to neutral, your car will begin to slowly move forward. The car starts to drive itself because the ghost of the man who was killed pushes the car. It only works if you are facing the street to the north because that is the direction the man was travelling at the time of the accident. It is said that he is still trying to get to his destination that is why he pushes the car.
In reality, the street is most likely not perfectly flat. Probably, the street has a slight decline to it that makes the car roll forward. However, the street does appear flat, and people continue to spread the story of the ghost who pushes the car forward.

Night Marchers

Nationality: Hawaiian, American
Age: 25
Occupation: Volleyball
Residence: Oahu
Performance Date: April 21 2013
Primary Language: English

Night Marchers are ancient Hawaiian warrior ghosts. They generally march around sunset or just before sunrise, but can march any time day or night. They were associated with the sound of drumming and the carrying of torches. They are known to walk the mountains and the beaches on all the islands of Hawaii. On each island, there are certain trails that the Night Marchers are most likely to be seen on. If you ever see them, you are supposed to lie down and don’t look at them. The reason you don’t want the Night Marchers to see you is because they will kill you if they do. Lying down is supposed to make you harder to see, and not looking at them is supposed to make them likely to look over at you. Night Marchers, however, would not harm you if one of the Night Marchers is a relative of yours.
Riley’s father and grandpa would tell him and his siblings and cousins about the Night Marchers whenever they went camping. Riley says that he has never seen any or hear any night marchers, but his grandpa swears that he has both heard the drums of the night watchers and saw their torches.
Whether or not the Night Marchers exist, they seem to represent to me the Hawaiian respect for the indigenous islanders. The Hawaiian warriors who died on the islands were fighting to protect their land from foreigners. The legend says that Night Marchers would not harm someone who saw them if one of their relatives was in the Night Marcher ranks. This seems to me to show that the people indigenous to Hawaii were respected, and everyone else who had come to the islands and were foreigners were still not welcome because the Night Marchers would still want vengeance on them.

Yellow Light Touch the Roof

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Newport Beach
Performance Date: April 15 2013
Primary Language: English

Whenever Andy used to drive in the car with his sister, his sister used to kiss her hand and touch the roof of her car when she went through a yellow light. By touching the roof of her car, it would guarantee safety as she went through the intersection. Andy and his family always touch the roof of their car when they go through yellow lights. However, one time specifically, Andy’s sister went through an intersection at a yellow light and did not touch the roof of her car. That specific time she did not touch the roof of her car, she got into a car accident. Since that day, Andy’s sister and her whole family always kiss their hand and touch the roof of their car when they drive through a yellow light at an intersection. They now consider it very bad luck to not kiss your hand and touch the roof of your car when going through a yellow light.

Snowboarding Superstitions

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Santa Barbara
Performance Date: March 21 2013
Primary Language: English

A couple times a year, Bryson travels to Sun Valley with family and friends to go skiing and snowboarding. Bryson and his friends perform a handshake when they go up chairlift 13. This handshake consists of shaking both the left and the right hands individually with their gloves on, then touching both of their boots, followed by shaking both hands individually again with their gloves off, and finally re-shaking just their right hand with their gloves back on. They perform the handshake three times on their way up the chairlift. Successfully completing the handshake three times guarantees that they will hot have a bad fall on their way down the mountain.
In addition, Bryson and his family never say the phrase “This is our last run.” They are superstitious that it is bad luck to say that phrase because someone could get injured. Specifically, one time Bryson’s dad said, “this is our last run” at the end of the day, and he tore his ACL. Because of the bad luck associated with saying “this is our last run,” Bryson and his family and friends never say it. Instead, they will say, “Let’s go check the bottom of the mountain out.”