Category Archives: general

Warning From a Ghost Father

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Norristown, Pennsylvania
Performance Date: November 29, 2024
Primary Language: English

CONTEXT:

The informant holds this story as a memory from her childhood as she has now begun college. Her father passed away from cancer months after she was born and has been raised by a single mother. She has a close relationship with her mother and often learns about her father and his character. The story is a close connection to her family that her and her mother reminisce on. She is my lifelong best friend, and this story was told to me by her and recorded with the details she provided.

STORY:

“When I was really little my mom had a ghost encounter. I had a nanny for a while who would babysit me and take care of me when my mom was still working at her current job or if she was out late. Well, one night she was out pretty late and came home after I was asleep. She heard a bunch of footsteps or noises coming from upstairs where my bedroom is.”

“…I obviously don’t really remember this because I was still a baby, but my mom remembers it well and told me when I was older. But after hearing the noises, she walked upstairs to go to my room, and she thought she saw my dad, who died a year or so prior, in the area outside of my room upstairs. She said it was like an outline of him whose arm and finger were pointing into my bedroom, almost urging my mom to go in. She was caught off guard and entered my room.”

“…From there, she found a hat on top of the lap in the corner of the room. The light was on and the hat was scorching hot, like it probably would’ve started burning or catching fire within minutes. It most likely would have turned into a fire if she didn’t think she heard someone or something happening upstairs when she came in. The hat situation happened because my nanny made a dumb mistake and put the hat on the lamp while it was on and it got hotter and hotter. My mom fixed the situation at almost the perfect time after seeing the sight of my dad at the entry of my doorway.”

INFORMANT’S TAKEAWAY

“The sighting of my dad has to be connected to the problem with the babysitter. Considering it wasn’t very long since my dad passed away, I think he was definitely giving my mom a warning sign and kind of reconnecting with us in a sense during that moment. My mom hearing the noises right after entering the house also shows how she was meant to go up just in time. It’s genuinely such a crazy story and experience. My dead dad helped stop our house from catching on fire!”

PERSONAL THOUGHTS:

Ghosts tend to connect to superstitions or real-world events in unique ways like this. I think the sighting of the father’s ghost figure really brings together the concept of family and security. The ghost showing up to the mom not long after passing reveals the authenticity of the story, especially considering how he showed up during a time of danger with the burning hat. It also makes sense that he was there for his daughter since he died shortly after her birth. Overall, the mom’s experience underscores how ghosts appear to their families at certain important times.

A Ghost Friend in the New House

Nationality: American
Age: 51
Occupation: Investment Company Employee
Residence: Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
Performance Date: November 28, 2024
Primary Language: English

CONTEXT:

The informant, my aunt, has one daughter and she and my uncle raised her in the same house for years. Their daughter became close with the neighbors and their daughter who was about five years younger than her. The couple next door also had a little boy a few years later. Eventually, the neighbors and their two kids decided to move, and the various ghost encounters occurred at their new house. The parents stayed in touch and told the informant all about the creepy events that were occurring. The informant provided me with the details of the story and I recorded it.

STORY:

“When the two of them moved out with both of the kids, some of the first things we heard from them afterward were about how they think the new house is haunted. Creepy things started to happen in the backyard, and the kids both started mentioning stuff about a woman. After looking into it more, they discovered that a previous owner had committed suicide in the house. The pieces started to make sense and creep them out even more.”

“…There were so many different instances where the mom noticed the ghost or something about it. First, the kids would act strange when they were outside playing in the yard. The two of them would tell her that they were talking to ‘the woman’ and it confused her. She was concerned, but it wasn’t anything conclusive yet. Then, she would notice the swings or other things in the yard moving with nobody there, and their dog would just sit and stare or bark occasionally. She started to conclude that the house must be haunted.”

“After she kept noticing little things, the kids would again tell her that they were talking to ‘the woman.” Their mom remained freaked out about the ghost of the woman who was most likely roaming around outside. I’m not exactly sure what else happened after that, if they ever saw the ghost directly, or if anything else came of it. It must have been a harmless ghost who was finding ways to stay in the house.”

INFORMANT’S OPINION:

“The new house was definitely haunted. The previous owner committed suicide and was most likely haunting the house. Since the kids were still pretty young at the time, it’s also possible that the ghost was making herself known to them and even communicating with them. It was so interesting to hear about from the mom after they moved. She always joked about us coming over and seeing the ghost.”

PERSONAL TAKEAWAY:

This is a very straightforward ghost story that was very interesting to hear about since it was so connected to me personally. It embodies so many traditional motifs of ghosts. The haunted house is a classic and is one of the most common instances of ghost sightings or supernatural experiences. The ghost connecting with the children and alarming the dog is also common and makes the story a lot more eerie. It may just be a case of overthinking or disorientation due to them having just moved, but I think all of this coming together and knowing the previous owner died tragically, there has to be some supernatural elements present. I wonder if anything else happened or if the ghost is still there today!

Unlucky #4

Nationality: American

Chinese folklore considers the number 4 to be unlucky because the pronunciation of “four” in Chinese sounds like the pronunciation of the word “death”.

The informant is an American who previously lived in Shanghai for two years and attended an international school.

G explained that while living in Shanghai she noticed that some buildings didn’t have a fourth floor. After realizing this omission, she began to notice that the number four was avoided culturally if possible. She asked some school friends about it and they explained that in Chinese folklore it’s unlucky to use the number 4 because it sounds like the word death. G found this superstition to be interesting and continued to notice it, but she never believed in it herself.

Beware The Douen

Douen are mythical creatures with backwards feet that live in the forest and are supposedly the lost souls of children. If a Douen learns a child’s name they are able to call out to the child in their parents voices to lure them into the forest. The backwards footprints confuse both the children and anyone looking for the children. The children are never seen again.

The informant told me this story while we were talking about working in the entertainment industry. C told me that he loved the industry because of its diversity and community. I originally asked about the folklore of the industry but once I said the word “folklore” his face lit up and he told me this story. While working on the show “Saint X”, one of the Dominican crew members told him this legend of the Douen. It stuck with C because of the physical description of the creature, with the backwards feet.

The Douen, although not well known in America, is a piece of Caribbean folklore that seemingly resonated with C. The only physical description that my informant gave me was the backwards feet, implying the rest of the creature is fairly humanoid. I believe this resonated with my informant because of the common proverb in American culture “stranger danger”. The danger of the Douen is directed towards children, emphasizing their ability to be easily manipulated or tricked, which echos the same warning as “stranger danger”. The detail of the Douen needing to know the child’s name is interesting because it serves as a warning against sharing personal information with anyone/anything. It also could stem from magical folklore, where using or knowing someones name can be considered powerful.

The Hawaiian Goddess Kapo

Kapo is the goddess of fertility, birth, and sorcery in Hawaiian mythology. She notably has a detachable vagina.

“Kapo is the goddess with a flying pussy. She and her winged vagina are the hero in many Hawaiian myths. The main one is where she sees one of her sister goddess being raped by another god. She throws her pussy at him and it keeps flying; he’s so entranced with it that he leaves the goddess alone to chase the pussy. It keeps flying and crashes into the side of a mountain. There’s an actual crater in Hawaii named after Kapo.”

In a discussion about folklore, the informant C mentioned the goddess Kapo but then he had to leave for another event. I later received this text from him with another message explaining how he has a personal fascination with folklore and wanted to share this story. The mythology of Kapo speaks to the importance of nature in Hawaiian culture, both in the environment and the nature of pregnancy/birth. I found this piece of folklore to be interesting because of its emphasis on feminine experiences and solidarity. Although my informant didn’t include this, the goddess that Kapo saved was Pele the goddess of volcanoes and fires. Pele is a major deity in Hawaiian mythology because she is the one who created the islands of Hawaii. There are countless myths about women being raped, but very few end in the woman being saved and the hero being another woman. It’s a bonus that they’re both strong female archetypes.