Category Archives: general

Ángel, Ángel!

Nationality: American
Age: 72
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Temecula, CA
Performance Date: October 26, 2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

MAIN DISCRIPTION:

AL: “When I was in Vietnam in 1967..we were out on patrol one day…and uh I was with a ground unit, so we pretty much always walked. Except this one day we got attached to an armor unit, and they rolled around in tanks-and..obviously as much as I hated to walk I asked for uh a hitchhike-One of the tanks, so I jumped on top and-and as we were patrolling they were moving along and uh..somewhere halfway through the patrol I heard somebody call my name…and I mean it was a loud call “Ángel, Ángel!” and uh, typically, in retrospect now that I think back..you know people didn’t call me ‘Ángel’ in Vietnam. You know they-they called me Doc-Doc Lopez, err some-something like that cuz I was a medic. But now that I’m thinking, in this moment somebody is calling me “Ángel, Ángel, Ángel” now I say-w-wait a minute..it doesn’t make sense. So, anyway I jumped off the tank to run back and see who was calling me..I got back to where that voice was coming from and..there was nobody there..So, meantime, the tank is still moving along. So I run back to catch up, so I can..you know, keep goin’ on the ride. But before I could get there the tank hit a mine, and as it hit the mine..it exploded. It-it was carrying around 6 g-guys, 6 soldiers in there. 3 of them were killed, the other 3 were severely wounded. And I think that uh..had I been on that tank obviously..I would’ve been wounded or killed, one of the two so..I…look back at the time and say..who was calling me? Well if we fast forward back, you know, to when I came back from Vietnam..I’m..sitting there talking to my dad one day and he says “you know, one night, your mother woke up from the middle of a dream..and she kept screaming: Ángel, Ángel, Ángel! They just killed Ángel! Ángel has just been killed! Ángel, Ángel, Ángel! And she would just not stop calling your name”..obviously I can not pinpoint the date, or the time when I heard my name being called in Vietnam..to the time when my mother woke up from the dream yelling “Ángel, Ángel, Ángel” but…inside of me I believe that..that might’ve been what it was. That, uh. It was my mother that was calling me, and I was listening to her calling me-and i think that-that’s what saved me that one day”

INFORMANT’S OPINION:

SF: “So do you believe it was a spiritual..uh warning or a ghostly encounter of some sort?”

AL: “I think..it was a spiritual connection. Something s-supernatural. Supernatural connection. Something that through, uh, space and time you know..It-it uh..there was that connection with my mom and I head her calling me. Even though she was waking up from a dream, you know back in the states, I was hearing her voice..In uh, in Vietnam that one day”

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

The idea of a ghost or spirit spans several different realms of concept. Because of this, I believe that what the informant experienced was a ghostly encounter. Even though she is alive, the spirit of his mother called out to him. Ghosts and spirits are often regarded as entities of energy that are not confined by the concepts of space and time, and are able to appear whenever, and however they chose. Due to these reasons alone, it it quite possible that what the informant experienced is far beyond coincidental.

Babaeng Nakaputi (The Lady in White)

Performance Date: October 22, 2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

MAIN DESCRIPTION:

CP: “Oh my god in the Philippines it is CRAZY! These stories, these, um, all of these different things about ghosts..and-and the thing is the ghost stories they, they aren’t like ‘oh my god i was so sacred about it’ its usually ‘oh yeah i saw this person’..and its usually ‘oh it was great to see them’. You know? So um, so my..so my dad when he was in the Philippines he drove uh, he drove one of those Jeepies. So it’s like, like um, one of those taxi’s in the Philippines, right. So you when you’re one of those Jeepie drivers, you start early in the morning, start picking up people and you don’t, you don’t usually finish until late at night. Then you go home at night and usually everybody is already asleep, nobody is out on the streets anymore to pick up or anything. So I guess one night he was on the way home, and you know, there’s always all these stories of, in the Philippines, there’s something called “Babaeng Nakaputi” or The White Lady, Lady in White. That is the most famous ghost in the Philippines. They call her the White Lady because its always, its usually, a female that they find walking…out in the middle of nowhere late at night or something. And she’s all white. White dress, white everything”

SF: “Was she a bride?”

CP: ” Uh..nothing to do with a bride. No-nobody knows her story but everybody sees her. EVERYBODY sees her”

SF: “Is there a specific time of night? Or place that she likes to be?”

CP: “No-Not necessarily, no not necessarily because it could be in different town-it could be-..but it’s usually at night. And it could be, it could be, like early morning, or it could be at dusk, but its usually at night, right. So the thing is, so, so, the things is, everybody has the same story. It’s always this white lady, that’s what they always see, right. So he was um..I guess the story was he was on his way home..after a late night of driving, and he drove by and you know..the streets are empty! And the thing is um..usually she’s seen in the farm areas, in the farm lands. It’s never in the cities, it’s never in the cities where you find her, its always in the farm areas, right. So he was driving down on his way home and all of a sudden he sees a lady, sees someone, you know, thats walking down and..he notices she’s all white! He’s like ‘oh my god..’ and he passes by you know looks at her, and when he looks at his mirror to look back..she was gone. Right, of course she wasn’t there anymore. And the thing is, he-he thinks he recognized her as one of-one of his um, his old old relatives that had passed. And that’s usually the case, usually when you see a White Lady its usually one of your relatives that has passed on..”

SF: “Oh wow, ok. So-so the story goes..when people see her uh..she takes the appearance or a relative?”

CP: “A lot, A LOT of times, its someone that they’ve known, yeah-yeah-“

INFORMANTS OPINION:

SF: “so..do you believe in her?”

CP: “Umm…..I’m not going to say she’s not real?..That-uh-I’m sure that they probably have seen her, right. Of course I haven’t seen her myself but um, but I do believe in ghosts and spirits..and um..but the thing is I believe they’re around for a specific reason. To…finish something..There’s something that needs to be taken care of, there’s something that needed to happen before she goes on, and moves on to her world. You know, but um..yeah I definitely believe in the afterworld and spirits and stuff like that. But I think that comes with the religion, and um..yeah thats one of the stories, yeah.”

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

As someone who is Latinx, I was raised knowing and partially believing in iconic urban legends such as ‘La Llorona’. Having friends, acquaintances, and certain family members, from different countries in Latin America, the story of the mysterious woman in white varies, and changes depending on the culture or simply who’s telling the story. It was so interesting to hear and learn of something, someone, so similar to La Llorona, who is of general knowledge in the Philippines. I do agree with the informant that, though I’ve personally never seen Babaeng Nakaputi, La Llorona, or any ghostly apparition, I do believe in the supernatural. Though there are vital differences between La Llorona, and Babaeng Nakaputi, their similarities lead me to believe in the possibility of her, Babaeng Nakaputi, existence.

Instances in a Haunted House

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 2015
Primary Language: English

Background 

The interviewer and informant, EM, met in college. EM’s mother’s best friend is sure she lives in a haunted house. 

Context

EM tells the interviewer about two ghostly experiences that the lady has told her. Both instances happened in the supposedly haunted house.   

Transcript 

“Basically, she has had so many instances of a ghost in her house. I remember two specific times where very scary things occurred to her. She told me this five years ago, like 2015. In her bathroom, there is a small circular stained glass window that is tinted red and yellow. There is no image in the stained glass, only patterns made with the colors. At night, she woke up to go to the restroom. As she was sitting on the toilet, her attention was drawn to the little window. The outline of a head and neck- like a headshot- the figure of something, or someone, was outlined in the window. She looked away and immediately looked back to find that it was still there. She got off the toilet and looked again. It was gone for two seconds, then reappeared. Of course, I questioned whether or not she was just kinda loopy from being half asleep. She said she went to check the window and the morning and it was normal- no figure. 

The next instance was a little more scary. I am afraid of her house because of this. She woke up in the middle of the night to a strong presence pushing against her. She is convinced she saw the figure of a man above her. She could not get out of bed due to the weight of this body pressing her shoulders to the mattress. She says she ticked and screamed- tried to escape- but was unable to breath. She said the only way for it to stop was for her to give into it. When she stopped resisting this presence, the terror eventually ended. She did not go to sleep in that room after that.”

Thoughts

According to EM, this woman is a very “animated and dramatic lady”. EM explains that she remembers these stories because the way the lady told them was incredibly captivating and spooky. EM has been scared to go into her house since then, because of the ghost the lady is convinced lives with her. EM definitely believes in her, however, because this lady is “so dramatic and loves telling stories”, it makes it hard to believe everything she says”, EM explains. “Everything has happened whenever she has been kind of asleep. With that being said, because she is so passionate about the supernatural and considering she has not been entirely awake, you may question whether or not she has been dreaming.” 

I agree with EM’s interpretation of this lady’s experience. I am sure something must have happened in that house to make these presences felt. Whether or not that it is related to the supernatural and ghosts, can only be interpreted by the people living there. EM also explained that all three people living in that house have felt similar things relating to their house being haunted. However, because this lady in particular is so passionate about these things, I believe she has a tendency to generalize any presence to that of a ghost. Moreover, just like EM said, these instances have happened when the lady was somewhat asleep which may have had an impact on her perception of her surroundings. On the other hand, being half asleep is a very liminal state and I do believe that contributed significantly to the appearance of these ghosts. 

La Llorona

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 10/26/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Interviewer: Thank you for taking the time out of your day to help me with my project. I asked you if you knew any ghost stories and you said, “Of course every Mexican should at least know one.” Could you tell me what you mean by that?

Informant: Well the reason I said that is because as a Mexican when I was growing up there was always this one story that my parents would tell me. This story is called La Llorona or in English the Weeping Woman.

Interviewer: And the reason that you said Mexican should know this story?

Informant: This story is probably the most told and widely known story in Mexico. I don’t know anyone in Mexico that doesn’t know this story.  So, the story goes that there was an indigenous woman that had 2 children. One day she finds her husband with another girl. In a fit of rage, she grabs her children and brings them to a nearby river, and drowns them. She is instantly filled with regret. She is so filled with grief and regret and roamed the river bank hoping to find her children. She eventually dies there but her spirit still roams around searching for her children.

Interviewer: That is a pretty good story and it reminds me of another story, but before I insert my own thoughts I would like to ask you what this story means to you.

Informant: This story currently doesn’t mean that much to me now but when I was younger when my parents were telling me this story, it was used to scare me from going out at night and also doing bad stuff. It was almost like a scare tactic to keep me from trouble.

Interviewer: That is exactly what I was getting from this story. It feels like a story similar to the boogeyman in its purpose is to scare people.                                                                                                                                                              

Quincho

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 10/27/20
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

 Story: This story is about my great grandpa’s best friend Quincho. Quincho had curly black hair and green eyes and was alive during the Mexican Revolution. One day, Quincho was falsely accused of a crime and the punishment was execution. The place of his execution would be a cemetery. Knowing that his best friend has been falsely accused of a crime goes to the government office to get a repeal for the execution.  He did get that repeal and rode on his horse to get to the cemetery as fast as possible. He was right outside the cemetery before he heard the gunshot and he knew he was too late. When my great-grandpa got to the body, Quincho looked at peace, but another thing that he noticed was river rocks in Quincho’s hair. At his funeral, those exact rocks were seen to be falling from the ceiling. So, whenever these rocks appear we say, “Oh that’s Quincho.”

Informant’s View: When I was first told this story as a little boy, I did not believe it. That was until one day out of nowhere there were rocks in my hair. The exact same as the ones in the story.