Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

El Chupacabra

Text: El Chupacabra 

My informant is the mother of a friend.

She said that El Chupacabra is a Latin American folktale about an unknown creature that sucks the blood out of living animals. El Chupacabra is mostly known for targeting the livestock of farmers, especially goats, hence the english translation of “the goat sucker”. There are different speculations of what it looks like, but the most common tends to be a sort of demented dog.

She also said the tale itself is at least a hundred years old, but became popular around 40 years ago when farmers began losing their livestock in a similar manner to that of a Chupacabra. People, mainly farmers, likely still tell this story as a warning of what to watch out for. El Chupacabra was used as something to scare children with in order to behave or else the Chupacabra would come after them. She thinks the Chupacabra whether real or not demonstrates the highly superstitious culture of Latin America as people quickly speculated the Chupacabra to be of an almost otherworldly nature rather than some animal. She personally believes el Chupacabra is likely just some animal that had perhaps gone undiscovered.

Analysis:

Upon analyzing the Chupacabra, it is a legendary creature or cryptid. The story of the Chupacabra is that it is mainly a monster that goes after farmers’ livestock. Although the Chupacabra is something that is not scientifically proven, people still speculate its existence.

I see this creature as a way to explain the unknown or the fear of something larger and powerful outside. While livestock could have been eaten by wolves or a large animal, the thought of the Chupacabra or a creature in place of a more rational explanation shows a part of the superstitious culture in Mexico that my informant mentions.

The Chupacabra is also used as a monster that parents or older people may use to scare their children, which diverts from it’s origins. Which show a development to its story on a surface level from a creature that is used to explain how livestock or farms get messed with to a monster that also want to potentially hurt humans, or in this case, children.

The Aswang/Tik Tik

Context:

My informant is a member of my family.

My informant said that the Aswang and the Tik Tik are stories about evil entities that live in the provinces in the Philippines. They are very rare that these stories of these entities are in Manila.

But her neighbors around would always talk about the aswang and the tik tik especially when there’s a pregnant woman in the neighborhood. Neighbors would speculate that this person or somebody in the household is pregnant because they saw the Tiktik/aswang lurking on the rooftop. Though they are similar because they can be both seen as Filipino vampires. The difference between them mostly come from the noise that the tik tik makes, which is the same as its name.

She said that when she was pregnant she would always kept a scissors under her pillow. “Because I wasn’t sure if l dreamt of it or if it was real, but I had a feeling that there was a tik tik Outside my window. The tik tik goes on the rooftop and is able to know if someone is pregnant or not. They will open their mouth and let their ling tongue penetrate the roofing until they reach the pregnant belly of the mom and eat/suck the baby out”. Which is why she is told to keep a pair of scissors with her during the night.

She believes these are stories that has been passed down to generations and probably a reminder that we are not alone in this world and that dark entities really exist. It’s relevant because somehow these stories are unique to certain provinces/places in the Philippines and somehow represents culture. Finally, she said that lot of people think it’s real. It would even sometimes be reported in the news if a sighting was witnessed. But there is no actual scientific evidence or photographic evidence or videos.

Analysis:

The tik tik and the aswang are a part of Filipino mythological folklore. But these creatures can be categorized as cryptids.

Filipino vampires, such as the Aswang and the Tik Tik are deceiving creatures. Although my informant does not mention it, these creatures could take the form of animals and even beautiful women. They are widely accepted as female creatures. But with the added context, this story serves as a cautionary tale for those that are vulnerable. Since the Philippines has a lot of provinces and poorer areas, the fear of these vampires is heightened. As they live among smaller communities and prey on pregnant women. The type of tale seems to subvert from the expectation because the tik tik and the aswang are gendered as women that prey on other women. It may be a message directed to women that their fear should not focus on predatory men, but that women or anyone can hurt them.

My informant’s experience with the fear of the aswang and the tik tik comes from being pregnant herself. Pregnant women may naturally fear any harm or danger that could come after their babies and their health. And the fear that a scary monster will hurt them is an extension to this natural motherly fear.

Snipe Hunt

Text:

The snipe hunt was a sort of hazing ritual for older boy scouts to conduct and younger boy scouts to take part in. The basic gist was that the scouts would go out at night in order to hunt a mythical creature called the “rocky mountain snipe” or “west coast snipe”, or any other similar name depending on who told the story and where it was told. Said creature was supposed to be a very fast flightless bird, with feathers along its backbone that would glow in the dark. To simulate this effect, the older scouts would break a glow stick, tie it to a black string and have it pulled by a scout wearing entirely black, who would pull the stick as fast as they could through the forest. The older scouts would react to the “snipe”, while the younger scouts would attempt to chase after and catch it.
One night, a kid caught the snipe and was “bit” by it. They applied a crushed up hostess fruit pie to simulate an allergic reaction- with the raspberry filling resembling blood.

Context:

The informant is a Scout Master for a Boy Scout Troop. Their account of the snipe hunt comes from when they were still a lower rank Boy Scout, with them first hunting the snipe as a younger scout before learning about and assisting in the hunt as an older scout.

Analysis:

The boy scouts as a whole is an organization heavily rooted in the wilderness and nature, and I believe that the snipe hunt is heavily connected to that. It feels like a way to encourage that association among younger scouts. While it is used as a practical joke by many people outside of the boy scouts, especially people who attend summer camp, it nonetheless feels like an encouragement to be curious about the natural world through a legendary creature. It also serves to establish the hierarchy of the boy scout troop, with the higher ranking, older scouts being the ones who lead the hunt and call out the snipe, and the younger, low ranked scouts being the ones who chase down the snipe and fail to catch it. When a scout finally learns the truth about the snipe hunt and gets to join in on the activity, they enter somewhat of a right of passage into the higher ranks of the troop as well.

The Golem

Text:

Informant: So there is this story within Jewish folktales of the golem. So, the golem within Eastern European Jewish tradition is a clay figure and… I don’t remember all the details, but… in Eastern Europe and specifically Western Russia, there are a lot of pogrom within these Jewish communities. And so in order to protect the Jewish communities this rabbi created a figure out of clay. And upon his head, he put the Yiddish word for “protector”. And so the golem grew, and was dubbed “the golem”. It went about and it protected the Jewish towns from the pogroms, and it would come home, basically, and be destroyed- not destroyed, dismantled.

Interviewer: I see. I remember variations on this story. The one you mentioned- you said it came home and was destroyed?

Informant: Yes.

Interviewer:Did you ever hear the version where it’s, like, it goes on a rampage or something? Because I’ve heard that version.

Informant: I’ve heard that version. But it wasn’t necessarily destroyed out of malice, it was… brought in and deactivated kind of. So it was meant to not be, like, forever, it was meant to help in times of woe. I’ve also heard other variations where it continues to live and becomes a part of the community, so it really depends on where you hear about the story from.

Context:

The informant is Jewish, and grew up in the United States.

Analysis:

The story of the golem very clearly reflects anxieties felt by Jewish people in Eastern Europe. It provides a way for these communities to empower themselves, while also relying on specifically Jewish culture- in the case of this account, the use of Yiddish, a language heavily associated with Jewish peoples- as a way to further that empowerment. At the same time, the solution is temporary, perhaps reflecting the more unnatural nature of the golem. As it is something created by clay, it mirrors the creation of Adam, but as the act of creation is something which God handles, it is not suited for humans to fully imitate it. So, the creations, while fitting a purpose, are not fully human, and thus are not meant to last in the same way we do- often being dismantled or destroyed at the ending of the tale for going on a rampage. Alternatively, the temporary nature of the golem could perhaps allude to the idea that it will not always be needed, and that the threats to the Jewish community which these people suffered under would not last forever.

Angel visitation

Name: Elsa 

Text: 

“When my grandmother was sick in the hospital, she was in a lot of pain. She had glaucoma, and due to a mistake at the hospital, she got an infection from the surgery. This is ultimately how she passed.

I never met her, but a story I’ve heard circulated many times is the night she met angels. One day in the hospital, she was in an extreme amount of pain. She thought she was going to die that night. She fell asleep, and woke up to the sound of two voices, and a very bright light. The two voices conversed about it “not being her time yet,” and a hand reached out and touched her back. Her pain immediately subsided, and she fell asleep. 

Although she passed away shortly after, she had enough time to spend with her family.”

Context:

I heard this from my father, who is her son. I think this story is not only a cool supernatural story but one of hope and healing. It was comforting to my dad to hear that she was protected, and hopefully still is by those angels who helped her.

Analysis:

This story is a legend. It can’t be disputed or proven as that is in the experience of the person experiencing it. This genre is often used to showcase a potential truth value that is unknown, and it is not as easily spread. It also highly depends which one is believed and not believed as it is socially negotiated. In Ireland they believe in fairies, but in the states they believe in Aliens. Objectively, the two are the same. In this case, Elsa’s family is from Pakistan. However, the idea of seeing an angel visit someone as they died/about to die/die and come back is quite common. I suppose the connotation of the word “angel” is an Abrahamic perspective of categorizing the being that visited her grandma. The legend of angels are socially non negotiable in America because of its inherent Christian ties. However, the idea of something visiting is quite universal.