Category Archives: general

Haunted House

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Full-Time University Student (Graduating)
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

I interviewed JJ on her haunted house in Mexico.

J’s Grandma has a house in Mexico. In their family, they say the upstairs bedroom is haunted, and nobody stays in it. One summer her cousin went to stay at their Grandma’s house for the summer. She was forced to share the room with her two brothers, and was sleeping next to Emilio. She was on her phone at night while they lay in bed to sleep, and she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She initially ignored the tapping, believing it was her brother, Emilio. Subsequently after, she decides to see what it was and she sees that it’s a hand, and that her brother is sleeping. She feels the hand grab her and pin her down. Ever since then she has refused to sleep in that room again.

This is a taboo space that seemed to have a physical manifestation of a ghost with the hand-grabbing. The origin of where it came from is unknown to her, meaning that it has been passed on through oral tradition. Even her parents have known of the room as being haunted, and she believes they link it to the revolution in Mexico. She couldn’t provide further context, but my guess is that the room possibly holds unresolved trauma. Perhaps stemming from the revolution and one of their family members was the subject of an early demise in that room.

Burning House

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Full-Time College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

I met with PM to discuss his ghost story.

Everyone thought my house that I lived in from ages 7-13 was haunted. Everyone in my family had their own encounter with the ghost. You know when it feels like someone is watching you? We all got that feeling something when no one was around, especially at night. My mom has a story where she was sleeping and woke up unexpected and felt like a presence standing over her. Super creepy stuff. I had my own encounters where I felt a presence watching or hovering over me when I was sleeping. My sister had it the worst though. From what I remember the ghost encounters were worse on the third floor where her room was. Things would break unexpectedly, she felt like someone was watching her a lot of the time, windows would open on their own, and the floorboards would creak up there when no one was there. Fast forward to my house burning down out of nowhere. Coincidentally, the fire started on the third floor and no one really knows how. They thought it could have been an electrically fire but who’s to say the ghost wasn’t involved. Later on, when we were looking at the pictures of our destroyed house my grandma actually thought she saw it or something eerie in one of the photos.

This is a first-person account of P’s house burning down. It’s almost as if the farther you went into the house, the more haunted it became. This is definitely a ghost story or legend, where shared experiences and personal encounters are physical manifestations of the ghost. Not only that, but the fact that the fire originated in the most “active” area of the house—and that, in a photo of the remains, Pearson’s grandma claimed to see something eerie—aligns closely with common folklore motifs. These elements are frequently seen in other ghost stories and legends.

The ants and the grasshopper

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Full-Time College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

I was able to meet with the informant in order to discuss a story she was told in Elementary School around 1st grade by her teacher.

It’s the summer, all the ants are working together to store food for the winter. A lone grasshopper doesn’t care and plays in the grass. He’s cold and hungry in the winter, he then goes and asks ants for food. They say he was lazy and didn’t work hard. The grasshopper died of starvation.

T was told this story around 1st grade by one of her teachers. She explains how she was taught that the story centered around emphasizing hard work, planning for the future and the consequences of procrastinating. This reminds me of a fable that I also learned about around the same time.

The Origin of Ganesh

Nationality: American
Age: 32
Occupation: Unemployed
Residence: San Francisco, CA
Language: English

Text:

“As a child, my mother taught me that Ganesh has the head of an elephant because of a story involving his parents, Shiva and Parvathi. One day, when Ganesh was guarding the bath area to protect his mother, Parvathi, he saw Lord Shiva approaching and tried to stop him. Not recognizing Ganesh, Shiva became angry and chopped off his head. When Parvathi saw what had happened, she begged Shiva to save their son. To bring Ganesh back to life, Shiva said the only way was to replace his head with that of the first living creature he came across, which in this case was an elephant. And that is why Ganesh has the head of an elephant.”

Context:

This myth was shared by the informant, P, during a conversation about Hindu stories she heard during childhood. P first heard this myth from her mother, who used it to explain the origin of Ganesh and his unique image. To P, this myth is more than just a story; it is an explanation of Ganesh’s divine role as a protector.

Analysis:

This is a myth because it explains the origins of a sacred figure, Ganesh, using symbolic storytelling to express deep religious beliefs. The story involves gods, supernatural events, and moral values like sacrifice and protection. The elephant head serves both a literal and symbolic purpose, representing wisdom and strength. This myth helps explain not only Ganesh’s physical form but also his cultural role as the remover of obstacles and protector of beginnings.

The 5th Floor McDonalds

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Morris Plains, NJ, USA
Language: English

It was a piece of school lore that was told to them by the upperclassman and that he later passed on to the younger classmen. They use it as an initiation process for high school. You are a real member of the high school if you know this joke.  

“My brother went to high school at [M], and always told us there were plenty of pranks people would play on my sisters and I. When I got there I was told there was a secret McDonalds on the 5th floor. It was funny because it was really hard to find the 4th floor so the idea that there might be a secret 5th floor felt pretty realistic. I remember a senior walking into gym class with McDonalds and telling the freshman he didn’t even leave the building. A lot of kids were really excited. I eventually told it to the freshman at the club fair.”

While it’s not uncommon for seniors to play pranks on freshmen, I think this particular prank developed because of the school structure. Upon asking more questions I found that the over 10 stairwells in the building all lead to different levels and sometimes skipped floors. This made it difficult for students to find the right floor when they first came to the school. Therefore the idea that a secret staircase to the 5th floor was pretty believable. It was a fun initiation for the freshman and a good way to explore the school.