Category Archives: general

The UCLA Fountain Legend

Students at UCLA have a tradition where they touch their hands into the inverted fountain on campus, which is twelve feet wide and five feet deep, during their freshman orientation. The informant told me about this tradition over a phone call, and it said that if you touch your hand into it again before you graduate, you will be cursed to spend another quarter at UCLA and graduate late. This story has been passed down from the older generations of grades to the current generation. The informant is a student at UCLA in his junior year, and he is apart of a fraternity. He heard this legend from an older student at his fraternity.

AGE: 21

DATE: February 18th

Language: English

Nationality: White

Occupation: Student

Residence: UCLA

ANALYSIS: I believe that this story was made to both bond students together during orientation to participate in a tradition that is specific to the campus and UCLA, and to also act as a superstition that can scare the freshman into not touching the fountain. It is apart of the culture at UCLA, and the story is also a way for the students to make a memory during orientation when it is their turn to touch the fountain, as well as when they graduate and get to partake in the tradition again before they leave.

The Tiger Tale

The informant’s family has a story that was passed down from his grandfather in Bangladesh, who was attacked by a tiger while being driven in a carriage. The carriage had knocked over as the tiger pounced, and the driver ran away. His grandfather and father then had to walk ten miles in the dark of the night, while being stalked by the tiger that tipped over the carriage. This story has been passed down among the family.

Analysis: This story is family lore and a legend, and the informant expressed that this story has been shared many times among the family, and is believed to be true.

Date: February 20th, 2025

Age: 21

Language: English

Nationality: Bangladeshi

Occupation: Student

Residence: Los Angeles

The Red String

Age: 21

Date: 03/272025

Language: English

Nationality: Ecuadorian

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: Spanish

Residence: United States

1. Text:

“When my mom thought I had nightmares because of ‘evil eyes,’ she tied a red string around my wrist. It had to stay on until it fell off on its own. I wore it for weeks. She also put salt in the corners of the room. And I stopped having bad dreams.”

2. Context:

Told by Adriana, whose mother is originally from Ecuador. She remembers this happening when she was six or seven years old. She wasn’t sure what she believed at the time, but looking back, she says the ritual gave her a sense of comfort and protection , even if it was symbolic.

3. My Interpretation:

This is a clear example of a memorate tied to cultural ritual. Protective objects like red strings are common in many cultures and often used for children. Even when the supernatural belief fades, the memory of care and intention remains. It’s a powerful mix of personal experience and communal folklore, blending magic and motherhood.

The Mothman

Age: 57

Date of Performance: 04/03/25

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Overseer of Data Centers

Primary Language: English

Residence: Tokyo, Japan

Well, growing up in the woods [West Virginia], we always had fun stories to tell. When I was a kid, we always spooked each other with legends and monsters and the like. The big one we always heard about was the Mothman. It had like this stranglehold over us kids, man. Like you just couldn’t escape it. And someone was always claiming to have seen it, too. I even had some friends whose parents set curfews because of the Mothman. What’s interesting about it is that I grew up 20 minutes north of Point Pleasant, which is where the first sightings were. He was huge during the 70s.

He was big and tall. He had these beaming red eyes. That’s his defining feature. His eyes. You can look up photos of him and it’s the first thing you’ll notice about him. I know I’m using these ‘he’s and ‘him’s in reference to him, but I can’t help myself, haha.

Cultural significance? Umm, well, there’s something almost nostalgic and personally meaningful when I talk about these kinds of legends. It’s attached to the place I grew up in, you know? I know it’s probably not real, but that doesn’t really matter to me, at least.

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Analysis:

I’ve heard of the Mothman before, a harbinger of doom and future disaster. He is like a regional spirit, a symbol of Appalachian weirdness, the gaping unknown that swallows the forest. It’s funny hearing that the informant has a personal attachment to the creature while all known canon and descriptions of the Mothman offer a more unsettling picture. Maybe to the informant, it’s a symbol of his childhood, when the world seemed much bigger, more fantastic, more exciting, than the monotony and reality of adulthood. When growing up with cryptids, they take on a more personal attachment and stick with the listener throughout their life.

The Backrooms

Age: 19

Date of Performance: 04/04/25

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: Irvine, California

How about the Backrooms? Yeah, everyone knows that. The Backrooms is this dimension you can ‘no-clip’ into at any point, And the room is yellow and goes off into infinity. The lore and canon of the Backrooms seems to keep building on itself since 2020. Some Backrooms have monsters, and there are apparently multiple levels of Backrooms. I can’t really describe the exact look of the Backrooms, but all of them have a mid-2000s feel to them. Things from our childhood, or spaces that remind of us of our childhood.

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Analysis:

The Backrooms are an example of a recent phenomenon and fascination of what are called ‘liminal spaces,’ spaces that have 2000s aesthetics and atmosphere. They are supposed to be unsettling, but nostalgic as well, many of which have their own associated stories, lore, monsters, etc. The conception and rise of the backrooms may be a reflection of a current desire to go back when the world was simpler, though filled with greater unknowns.