Category Archives: general

La Niña

DETAILS:

  • Nationality: American
  • Language: English
  • Age: 55
  • Residence: Berkeley, CA
  • Occupation: High School Teacher
  • Collected on: 11/28/2024

CONTEXT:

Informant is a high school theater teacher, and works in the theater alongside a tech theater teacher. The story takes place during a school day in the fall, when they were the only two people in the theater. 

DIRECT TRANSCRIPTION:

AS: “ I’m not sure exactly what day of the week it was, but it was a weekday, and I was in the theater, and so was our tech theater teacher, and we were doing what we do, which was, he was actually preparing for class, his tech theater class, and I was probably tidying up after one of my classes, and the theater was in, in the, it was sort of in the early fall. And we didn’t have a show, like, in full production at that point, but there was a set being built and, um, his class was gonna come in to do stuff. But the backstage area was pretty open and, you know, there was nothing out of the ordinary going on or nothing unusual. And, and also there was nobody in there. So my class left and I was back in the back of the theater, doing various, just like, odds and ends, like, you know, planning my next class, or like, getting things together. And our tech theater teacher was coming in and out doing stuff in the drama office. So not actually in the theater, but coming back and forth. And the key thing here is that the paint room was closed. And the door was closed and locked. And, so, at some point in the, later in the morning, we discovered water pooling out from the paint room. And we were like, holy crap, what’s going on in there? And so we went into the paint room. We opened the paint room right away, we were like, the floor, the theater floor is flooding. And so we opened the paint room, and the sink was overflowing. Like the water was on and the sink was overflowing. And the water was on and you could actually hear, like you could hear it. It wasn’t like drip, drip, drip. The water was on. And so we also called the maintenance guys and they came and we were trying to figure out like, was the water, like did somehow, did a valve burst? Did the pipe go on? But no. Was the pipe busted? Was the valve busted? So like, the water just suddenly turned on, because of some mechanical failure? And we all looked back, you know, we looked around, and the maintenance guy was like, no, the water just got turned on. And we were like, but nobody’s been in the paint room today. Nobody was in the paint room yesterday. Like, how would this, like, this, we, none, nobody went in, the door was locked, and I was in the theater, like, I would have seen somebody come in, somehow get in the locked door, and then go in and turn on the water, and our head of facilities was like, “mmm, La Niña,” and we were like, what do you mean? He was like, “La Niña,” and we were like, same word, he was like, “she’s here, she’s the ghost of the school, or the ghost of the theater, and the middle school building.” And we’re like, you know her? And he’s like, “oh yeah.” And um, and I said, so you think La Niña turned it on? And he’s like, “I’m sure.” So, we turned the water off. We cleaned up everything. And then I said, “Luis. Tell me more about La Niña.” He said, “oh, we have lots of stories of La Niña. La Niña is, La Niña is here often.” And I said, “she’s a girl?” And he said, “yeah, she’s a girl. She’s a little girl, very mischievous. She likes to play her tricks. She’s a very tricky one.” And I said, so she, She moves things around. She, she, I guess, I guess she turns on the water when nobody’s looking. Um, but he said, “yeah, that’s exactly the kind of thing she does.” And he said many of the maintenance staff have seen her. So that is the story of La Niña.”

INFORMANTS OPINION:

AS: “There’s no question that whatever happened in that paint room was not done by normal human hands. Something uncanny happened. And the thing that convinced me that it was supernatural and that it could have been La Niña was how sure the maintenance people were. They right away, they were the ones who were like “La Niña.” They didn’t really wanna get right into it, like they were a tiny bit embarrassed, but I mean they knew who it was. So that convinced me as much as anything.”

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

Ghosts have long been thought to haunt theaters. There’s a common superstition of keeping a light on in the theater at all times to fend off any ghosts, and because of this many theaters keep on a “ghost light.” In this story, I find it to be especially interesting that the school’s maintenance staff are so aware of La Niña, and have clearly witnessed her presence before. Not only that, but the fact that the paint room was locked and the informant was absolutely sure no one had been there all day supports the maintenance team’s story of La Niña as a ghost who plays mischievous pranks.

Eddie

DETAILS:

  • Nationality: American
  • Language: English
  • Age: 53
  • Residence: Berkeley, CA
  • Occupation: Psychologist
  • Collected on: 11/28/2024

CONTEXT:

Informant was a camp counselor at a sleepaway camp called Camp Tawonga near Yosemite. This happened during their first year as a camp counselor.

DIRECT TRANSCRIPTION:

SS: “ A  little more than three quarters of the way through the summer, and the camp always had a number of people from all over the world, this one guy, Eddie, was the lifeguard, one of the lifeguards. There were many lifeguards, one of them, and he was from the Netherlands. And he just wanted to experience a new place, and he had been picked. It was not an easy fit, but he was very well intentioned and had a huge personality. And the kids really loved him. The staff, it was a little bit of a harder connection, but he was really good. Very well loved by the kids and he did a really good job. Camp Tawonga at the time used to take kids not only on backpacking trips, but also on day trips in Yosemite. So, um, on one of the day trips he went with, I remember the two counselors, and the, so you always had a lifeguard, a wilderness leader, and then the campers and their counselors. And so there was a group of, I think they were probably like 9, 10 year old boys, and there were two counselors, and the, wilderness leader and then Eddie was the lifeguard because they were going on a day hike to specifically a lake that kids for years at Camp Tawonga had gone to to go swimming. It’s a great swimming spot. And that particular day, unfortunately, there was a really, it was just a bad luck situation where there was an avalanche of rocks of small ish to medium sized rocks that happened because a gazelle of some sort, a deer, from what they could tell, happened to cross over at the top of this mountain hillside, where the path was, and it just sent this, you know, sent a series of rocks down, and unfortunately, um, well, fortunately, none of the kids were hurt. They all started to notice it happening, and in order to save some of the little kids. He did this very heroic thing and kind of went over to push the kid out of the, one of the kids out of the way and he got hit in the head and he died instantly. It was horrible. Oh my god. Horrible, horrible, horrible. He was like 19, 20. So the kids all went to bed that night and the counselors and all the staff, and, um, they told the staff here’s what happened and Eddie has died and we have already called his family. And so as you can imagine, it was very upsetting beyond upsetting for everybody. The staff was even tighter after that, as you can imagine. And, um, and at Tawonga, you know, everyone, the staff, gets together in the evenings. And we all were talking, and, um, what was, it was maybe a week or two later, and, what became clear is everyone was talking about Eddie, of course, and we were talking about our feelings about it. And a few of us had an experience where there was this, so, camp is huge, a lot of land, and, um, there was this one section, I actually still remember it, that was this little, there was this little bridge over a creek that went from arts and crafts, I don’t know if you remember all this, arts and crafts to the nature center. And it’s not an area I went very often unless I was taking my bunk to those places or between those places. But I was there for some reason, maybe on my own, like coming to get someone or get something for my bunk. And I was by myself and I remember thinking, something’s weird here. Like it feels different. It feels weird. Like, and I got shivers, and it was, camp was hot, so like, that was notable. I got shivers, and I remember I was like, oh, this is kind of weird, like, and I thought of Eddie. So I just thought of Eddie. Now, you could say, like, everyone was thinking of Eddie, of course, all the time, and everyone was a little bit traumatized and sad. And, what became weirder was that when I went to one of these staff meetings in the dining hall, and we were all talking, several people said, you know, do any of you guys feel like you have felt Eddie’s presence? And so several people said, yeah. And what became really weird, and I still get shivers about it is everyone said the same place. That little bridge over the Creek going between the arts and crafts center and the nature center was where everyone said, that’s where I felt it. And I still get shivers from it.”

INFORMANTS OPINION:

SS: “I mean, I was 19, I do think there is something about like conceptualizing mortality and what happens and all those things, but it was noteworthy and we all kind of took a moment and were like, that’s weird. And as a result, we’re still talking about Eddie decades later. Decades later. As a result, Eddie made himself felt.”

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

Ghost stories are often a way of creating community and are shared between family and friends. In some instances, ghost stories are used as a way to confront grief as a part of a community. In this case, I was struck by how the counselors’ stories of “feeling” Eddie’s presence were perhaps used as a way to connect over grief, and as a way to know that no one is alone in their grief.

Ghost Dog/Apartment Door

Ghost Dog: my dog passed away cause he had cancer so we had to put him down which was really horrible because i had him since i was like seven. what had happened was he we had to put him down and it was the worst fuckin day ever. then i went to rehearsal and did all my regular stuff and then that night, he usually slept on my bed, so i decided to sleep on the couch cause i couldn’t handle sleeping on my bed without him. so i slept in the couch and i got woken up at i think like 3 or 4 in the morning because i heard his collar single behind me and i felt him sniff me. and i turned around and i was gonna pet him, then i remember he was dead and i sat straight up and immediately started crying for my mom, which was funny cause it was only 3/4 years ago. and she was comforting me and my sister heard the ruckus and she came out to the living room and she was like what happened and i was like i heard chaskas collar behind me and i heard him sniff me but he’s dead and she was like you know what i thought i felt something too but i didn’t wanna freak about it, cause she’s more level headed than i am. but around the same time, around 3 or 4, she told me (cause she usually sleeps with her door closed because she knew that he’d be fine sleeping in my room) but in the morning if me and him got up in the morning before she did he’d go say hi to my mom then he’d try to stick his nose under tayas door. he was a boxer so when he’d sniff he’d snort. so every morning he snorted under her door then he’d go about his merry way. she said that at the same time i began to freak out she also heard his color outside of her door then heard him sniff under her door. – Chenoa West

Apartment Door: our new apartment is lowkey haunted. i walked into the balcony one time when i was home for a weekend i went out to smoke a joint and i closed the sliding door behind me and it was unlocked still and while i was sitting there i heard the latch close and i went to go back inside and the door was locked. i had called my little brother and i was like yo can you come unlock the door and he was like yea which one and i was the glass sliding one on the balcony and he was like ugh okay and so he comes to open it and i was like what the hell you closed the door on me and he was like dude no one was upstairs and my brother started messing with the lock and we realized how hard it is to move it. someone deliberately locked me out. 

My Mother

Age: 53

Occupation: Landscaper

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Performance Date: November 28, 2024

Primary Language: Spanish

Language: English

Story

EG: “Have you ever witnessed or been told of an unexplainable occurrence?”

RG: ” Let me think… hmmm. Oh yes, I do remember one. This one is about one of my uncles when he was a little boy, and it all happened back home in Guatemala… uh maybe around 12 years old…He was heading back home one night from working on one of the fields and then he saw his mom on an open field calling his name. But uh… the weird thing was that his mother had already passed away. But with the innocence of a child, he believed that his mother was really calling him, so, uhm, he followed her through this open field in the dark because she kept telling him that there was a cow or something like that. This is what my uncle remembers. When all this is happening, he uh… actually goes missing for about a day. Now… from my parents I was told that when they found my uncle he was by a huge rock, which was basically by, uh… a cliff. His mother said that if he moved, he would have fallen. The devastating thing is that when they found my uncle he was slouched, and he remained that way for the rest of his life. No one knows, including himself, what was done to him to cause him to stay that way. “

Informants Opinion

EG: “Do you think that it was his mother’s spirit calling him that night?”

RG: “Umm, not at all actually because I don’t think his mother would have hurt him or put him in danger in that way. Instead, I believe that it could have been La Llorona because she is known to also lead people to cliffs. It was a bad spirit that night, but luckily my uncle was still alive when they found him. But uhm I still wonder what was done to him that caused him to permanently stay slouched.”

Final Thoughts

I can agree with the informant that the spirit that night was not the boys’ mother and possibly La Llorona. She is commonly known to take children away when they are alone at night, but this time it just seemed like she tried to lead the boy to his death. Also, since it was late at night and dark the possibility of him encountering some kind of ghost was high. After hearing this story, I also wonder what happened to the boy after he lost remembrance during the interaction. This story also can teach people not to let their children out on their own at night, or just in general to avoid being out dark places alone.

The Women on the Road

Age: 54

Nationality: Guatemalan

Occupation: Nanny

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Performance Date: November 28, 2024

Primary Language: Spanish

Language: English

Story

EG: “Has there been a time where you witnessed and unexplainable occruence?”

CDL: ” Hmm. not directly, but my dad has told me a couple stories. Well, here’s one of them… One night my dad and his friend decided to go out and party. Oh, and the pueblo we are from in Guatemala was a lot of open fields… so you can imagine how dark it would look at night. As they were heading there, they uh were driving through a lonely road… and suddenly they both see a woman on the side of the road. Umm they both tell each other: “Should we give her ride?”, and the quickly agreed. So… um they uh stop and ask her if she needs a ride, but she never says a word to them and just gets in the car and sits between the two. When she was in the car with them there was a point where they both got chills but ignored it. When the lady got off the car, she did not say a thing and they just saw here walk into an open field where at some point she uh disappeared. After the this they both started talking about it and my dad told his friend that he saw the women facing him the entire time, and uh my dad’s friend he saw the women facing my dad the entire ride. So… uh… both of them never saw her face.”

Informants Opinion

EG: “Do you think it was a women’s spirit that appeared that night?”

CDL: ” Oh yeah for sure… Uh I do think it was a ghost because they both never saw her face thinking that they both did. Things like this would happen commonly in my hometown because we lived in open fields, so there was always lot so of empty dark areas. I am not sure exactly what the motive of the spirit was, but I am glad she never harmed them.”

Final Thoughts

I can agree with the informant that this was a ghost. Being in lonely dark areas at night opens the opportunity that a ghost may appear. This story seems to be a common one because I have heard of people seeing women with long dark hair in a white dress in the middle of lonely roads, or just women in general asking for a ride. It is possible that this spirit may have died by the roads, and he spirit still isn’t at rest, yet which is why she appeared upon the informant’s father and friend.