Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Dual spirit possession. Huh?

Age: 15
Performance Date: 04/17/2026

Context: 

I am an international student in the US. When I went back to India for my winter break, I took a trip to Rajasthan – the western part of the country – with my family. One night, my cousins and I decided to talk about our experiences with ghosts at 2 am. We turned the lights off, sat in a circle, and turned on our touches. One cousin of mine, let’s call her T for the story, volunteered to share her frightening experiences of being possessed by a spirit(S).

The Story:

One day, T was coming back home from school when she unknowingly stepped on a piece of lime on the road. Eatery items in India tend to have an association with black magic, where the magician uses food, i.e., items like sweets, lime, or fruits and leaves them on the roads or distributes them in temples, taking advantage of the naive nature of people as they unknowingly eat the possessed food item, considering it a gift of god.

However, in her case, T stepped on one instead of eating it. Coming back home, she was normal. But it didn’t take long for her to be abnormal. She started liking to sit in the dark, would randomly laugh, and would look at the right side of her bed, and would cry for no reason. 

As the days passed, no one in her family really noticed what was happening. One day, she was having lunch when she randomly picked up her lunch plate and took it out of the house. She walked towards the spot where she stepped on the lime. By then, her mom was out of the kitchen and realized that T was not there. Her mom, in search of her, came out of the house and shouted out loud. “Hey T, what are you doing?” This sharp sound broke her trance, but made her mom realize that something was not right with her. 

After a few days of repeated unusual things that T did, it made her mom certain that her daughter was possessed. She fortunately knew a priest, who previously had experience dealing with necromancy. When the priest paid a visit to their house, he gave a piece of paper with spiritual chants written on it, and asked T to read it for a week and then mix that piece of paper in a glass of water and drink it at the end of the week. T also mentioned that after mixing that paper, the glass of water would turn orange. Before that priest left the house, he told T, “Be strong, someone is fighting for you as long as you let them”.

Days passed, and the priest paid weekly visits. Even though the hallucinations were declining, they weren’t completely gone. Suddenly, one day, T stopped sleeping in her room, saying that the right side of the bed feels inclined, and I feel there is a gush of wind hitting my face whenever I toss towards that side.

After a couple of days, she began waking up in places she didn’t remember going to, and her mother started staying awake at night. One evening, T quietly started walking towards the balcony. As T walked closer to the edge of the balcony, her body refused to move, as if two magnets with the same polarity were kept head-on. It felt like something was pulling her forward and holding her back at the same time. That night, when the priest returned, he explained that  “There are two spirits. One is trying to take her. The other is trying to protect her.”

Over the next few days, the rituals became more intense. T read more chants and the priest performed cleansing prayers in the house. And the weird behavior slowly began to fade away. One fine day, it was the end of the week, when T began mixing the piece of paper in water, ready to drink, but it did not turn orange. After that day, everything stopped.

Their Thoughts: 

T says that it was a horrifying experience for her. She also believes that this made her more spiritual. Not only this, she initially was a bit reluctant to share this story with others, but now she has mustered the courage to talk about it among her peers, and feels “it is just cool, thankfully I have no spirit now”.

My Thoughts: When T began narrating the story, I initially was a bit skeptical about whether the story was true or not. Over the course of the trip, I spoke to her mom to ask if something like this really happened, and to my surprise, it really did. More so, it was scary for me too, as I used to hear legends about people being possessed by back magic, but I never believed them. This time, when it happened to T, I now feel black magic exists, and I try to be vigilant of my surroundings when walking on the road or when eating food given by people.

The mountain ghost! Trip which turned haunted

Age: 75
Performance Date: 04/10/2026

Context: My grandfather did his K-12 studies at a boarding school in India. His school was in a remote location, and it was built on top of a hill. Right below the hill was a graveyard, and a famous legend had its way around campus – whenever children of his school would go out for an excursion and return late at night, they’d see a woman with a veil selling corn, late at night, by the roadside along the mountainous curves. As his school was on top of a hill, people had to be careful when driving around the corners of the mountain, especially at night, to avoid accidents. Residents would call this ghost the “corn seller” as she and her family had died due to an accident on this road. The story is that one day, a group of young boys was driving a super-fast car on these narrow roads. Suddenly, they saw a truck coming from the front. As there was no time for them to brake, the boys took a sharp turn towards the side to save themselves, but unfortunately ran over the corn seller’s canopy, killing her and her two-year-old child.

Story: Let us call my grander D for the story. His school allowed these excursions only for students in high school. Excursions were two-day-long trips from Saturday morning to Sunday night, and the students would travel during the nighttime to attend school on Monday. D had heard many stories of his seniors spotting this corn seller when coming back to school from the city. This time it was D’s turn.

D, as usual, left campus on Saturday morning. On the way down, he was vigilant to find the corn seller and bust the legend, but to his surprise, there was no canopy or woman selling corn. As his trip came to an end, D told me all his friends were super tired, yet they were trying to scare each other by pretending that they saw the women.  

Suddenly, the bus got a flat tire as they were about to reach the hostel, right after they passed the graveyard. It was around 10 pm, and all the children went silent. However, the bus driver was confident and let D and his friends come out of the bus to help him fix the flat tire. Most of the children were either sleepy or too scared to come out of the bus, but D and a couple of his friends decided to step out and help the driver. 

As the bus driver started to repair the puncture, D did not have anything to do. As he and one of his friends (let’s call him V) started talking to each other, paying almost no attention to the flat tire. Suddenly, they saw a deer. It was not moving, but its eyes shone like a diamond. For some reason, it caught their attention. Being young boys, they wanted to see what it was. D told me, “I was not sure if it was a deer, a dog, or some other wild animal, though the eyes looked like those of a deer.” Without thinking much, D and his friend V moved towards this weird creature.

The headlights from the bus barely reached that part of the jungle/road. As they stood there, both heard a faint voice from behind, “Bhutta le lo” ( which means please buy corn in English). V looked at D and said laughingly, “Did you hear that?” Before D could respond, the voice came again, this time sharper than before, as if the person was much closer. D and V slowly turned their heads for a brief second, and though they saw a faint figure on the other side of the road, they moved towards the bus. 

They were merely 200 meters away from the bus, but when they came back, the driver asked where you guys were and why you were both sweating. Both together said, “Kuch Nahi, we were just checking if we could get a lift, that’s why we went a little forward.”  They both did not share this with anyone at school, but now, when they think about it, they still do not know what exactly it was. Did they see the corn seller, or was it just their mind telling them that you are tired?

Their Thoughts: D brings this story almost every time we have a celebration at our house. He says that this incident made me believe in ghosts, and even since he never dared to be curious about spirits or haunted things in general.  He told me, “I still remember not being able to sleep at night, and the next morning when I met V, he too was in a similar situation.

My thoughts: I think D was tired, but if the story is true, then in my analysis, the ghost was wanted and was there to help people by scaring them to not stay on the road, as it was not safe due to the narrow roads. She was there not to scare people, but in reality to save their lives as they were standing on an accident-prone road.

Goat Jinn Wedding

Age: 18

Name: MB

Ethnicity: Tunisian 

Primary Language: English

Age: 18

Career: Student

Hometown: Aurora, Colorado

April 27, 2026

Goat Jinn Wedding

Context: “Jinn” are spirits in Arabic culture that can be good or evil, that aren’t visible but live among humans. It is believed that individuals are constantly surrounded by these invisible spirits. Sometimes, these spirits make themselves appear in moments of passion, anger, or lust. In this story, the Jinn appear from a moment of passion through dance. This story takes place in Kuwait during the 1990s, but is common folklore in Tunisia and other Middle Eastern countries. This story isn’t used as a tale to frighten people, but rather treated as a legend. 

Story: In Kuwait during the 90s, there was a famous singer named Noura who traveled with a small band. She would travel around people’s homes and sing for weddings and various other parties like that. One day, she went to this house to sing – a really big mansion outside of the city, in the middle of nowhere. Despite its ominous presence, they didn’t think anything of it, just another gig. They start to perform just as the guests start to arrive. Everything seems normal and fine, except as Noura stares at the guests, she notices they are dancing strangely. They are dancing in an almost hypnotic way, all swaying in sync. Noura is creeped out by this but keeps performing, assuming this was all some elaborate, choreographed wedding. Noura starts to feel sick and nauseous, but chalks it up to nerves. At midnight, she notices how everyone is taking short, choppy steps. She finally glances down at their feet, only to see no shoes, but goat feet. Every guest has goat feet. Noura is freaked out and terrified but tries to remain composed for fear of what they would do to her if she reacted or they knew she knew. Noura’s band also notices the goat feet but remain calm and keep playing. Noura and her band finish the night at the mansion and speed home. The next day, Noura brings police and reporters back to this mansion. However, the entire mansion is gone, with no trace of it left at all. 

Speaker’s Thoughts:

 “I believe in this story. Goat-footed people sightings in Tunisia aren’t unheard of. The majority of families in Tunisia have pet goats, so they are very much a part of society. I believe that there are Jinns in every corner of a room, with one good and one evil. These goat-footed people are good Jinns, peaceful and passionate about music. My Mom would joke I would grow goat feet when I would dance when I was younger.”

My Thoughts:

I find it interesting that many common ghost motifs, such as midnight and creepy mansions, take place in this story. However, instead of using these motifs to make the ghosts evil as these motifs traditionally do, they are eerie yet peaceful beings just dancing. This story has more of a mystical and enchanting tone rather than horror. 

In many African cultures, particularly West African, the use of music is a symbol of a bridge between ghosts and the living. Similarly, music serves as a bridge in this story, as these ghosts only “come to life” through music and are gone the next day when it is absent. 

Another feature I found interesting was the merging of animals and humans. MB told me nearly every family in Tunis owned goats, so I wonder if there is some familial tie to the animal, hence why they are merged. 

This story isn’t told to scare children or as a cautionary tale, but more of a historical legend. I found it interesting that my friend’s mother would tease her, saying she’d grow goat feet when she would dance passionately. I initially found this story hard to believe, but the fact that it is told so widely across Tunisia as more of a historical recounting than a tale to frighten others makes it more believable. 

Khonsuemheb and the Ghost

Age: 18

Name: JS

Ethnicity: Egyptian

Primary Language: Arabic and English

Age: 18

Career: Student

Hometown: Newport Beach, California

April 27, 2026

Context: 

JS and I were talking about where our families were from one day, and she mentioned her family was from Egypt. I had told her I had always wanted to go to Egypt to see the pyramids and the hieroglyphics. I asked her if she knew much about Ancient Egyptian history, to which she replied she didn’t- save for this one story. 

This story takes place in the Ramses era, 1279-1213 BCE in Egypt. During this time, it was believed that souls continue living in an afterlife when they die, as long as they are properly buried, or mummified. Their tombs would preserve their bodies and allow them entrance into the afterlife. However, only wealthy landowners or members of the court were commonly mummified and kept in tombs. 

Story:

Khonsuemheb and the Ghost

Long ago in Ancient Egpyt during the Ramses era, there lived a high priest named Khonsuemheb who served Amun, the king of gods. One day a frightened man came to Khonsuemhebm saying that a ghost had waken him when he was sleeping near a tomb in Theban necropolis (the city of the dead). That night, the priest prayed to the gods of heaven, earth, and the underworld, asking them to send the spirit to him. 

The ghost suddenly appeared before him, introducing himself as Nebusemekh, the son of Ankhmen and Tamshas. Nebusemekh had been powerful when he was living, serving as an official under a pharoh. He told the priest “ I am mad because nobody remembers my name, my tomb is in disarray, my tomb is exposed to the winds of the winter. I fear that I will no longer exist and be lost because my soul will have no home to contain it,”.

Hearing this, Khonsuemheb wept fot the spirit and took pity on him, saying “Please express to me a fine commission such as is fit to be done for you and I will surely have it done for you”. However the spirit isn’t convinced the priest will fufill his promises citing that many before him had promised the same. The priest has assured him already that, if he cannot build him a new tomb, he will have five men servants and five maidservants bring him food and water as offerings daily, but the spirit would not be consoled.

The sun then comes up, causing Nebusemekh to disappear. The priest is determiend to keep his promise, so he sends men to search for the ruined tomb. The priest completely renovates the tomb and instructs women to deliver food and water to it daily, ensuring that Nebusemekh will never be forgotten. 

The spirit of Nebusemekh was never seen wandering the world ever again, as he is thought to have finally achieved peace. 

Speaker’s Thoughts: I think it is very telling of Ancient Egyptian culture and symbolic of their religions and art, but it doesn’t carry to modern Egypt. I think a lot of people assume this is what modern Egyptians think and what they actively believe in but I personally don’t believe in this. I believe in ghosts for sure, but not in this story necessarily. 

My Thoughts:

This story is a classic ghost story in the sense that it follows the motif of improper burial. The ghost of Nebusemekh only appeared when his tomb was in disarray, and he was no longer properly buried. However, once this was righted, he disappeared – a common ghost story stereotype. 

However, this story drifts away from these classic stereotypes by not making it a horror story.  Nebusemekh only appears to people, pleading for help. Even the priest, Khonsuemheb, didn’t treat Nebusemekh as a being of horror, but rather a being worthy of empathy. This isn’t necessarily a horror story but more of a piece of folklore. I believe this story was told to Ancient Egyptians to convince them that if their pharaoh or other high society members received improper burials, they would exist in a life of misery in the afterlife. 

Given this story is centuries old, I wonder if its meaning or interpretation would change. Modern Egypt is a primarily Arabic nation, so I wonder if Nebusemekh would be considered a ghost or an Arabic “Jinn”. Jinns are considered to be natural spirits that always exist around people. My friend doesn’t believe in this story at all, but I wonder if any Egyptians believe in it and if so, do they interpret it differently, as their culture doesn’t believe in mummification and tomb burial. 

I find it interesting that this story is extremely old, first found on a piece of papyrus from the Ramesside period (13th Century BCE) and later passed down through generations as a piece of folklore. I wonder how long this story has been told, and what its effect on society has been. I find it fascinating that people have been telling each other ghost stories, the same way people are today in 2026. 

Old House Ghost Story

Age: 20

Text:

“My house was built in 1894, and it was built by the widowed wife of General George Custer, who was a American historical figure, wartime hero slash, didn’t do great things for Native Americans. But, um, anywho, his widowed wife built my house. 

Since it’s an old house, it’ll often creak, where there will be weird noises or that type of thing. Whenever that happens, my parents just go, “Oh, Elizabeth,” like, “Stop.” You know, it’s just so (). But she’s a friendly ghost, you know? She’s just puttering around the house as a widowed wife. 

Context:

The informant grew up in a historic home in Bronxville, New York. She explains that the house often makes creaking noises, which are common in older homes. Instead of treating these sounds as purely structural or random, the family attributes them to a ghost named “Elizabeth.” 

Analysis:

This is an example of a legend, because it is set in a real place and is told as something that has been accepted as truth and told as such by my informant and could be plausible but also debatable. The idea of “Elizabeth” as a ghost story provides a way for the family to interpret unexplained sounds in an old house. Rather than treating the noises as random or unsettling, they give them a narrative explanation, turning the ordinary creeks into something familiar and even humorous and her mom would say “Oh, Elizabeth.” This reflects how legends often emerge from real-world uncertainties and provide a way to make sense of it.

The repeated response of “Oh, Elizabeth,” or “Elizabeth stop” shows how a legend is performed everyday. It becomes a ritualized phrase that reinforces the story each time and the belief that the sounds are “no big deal.” Especially since the informant has been told this story since she was young, it gives children a way to quiet their anxieties about unexplained events. The folklore here is performed and repeated.

This example reflects a common pattern with ghost legend, particularly the idea that a spirit is tied to a specific place. By framing the ghost as a friendly presence, the legend reduces fear and instead gives the noises a sense of comfort. This shows how legend can reshape emotional responses to the unknown. Also because it is tied in the history of the house and the town it helps ground the occupants of the house into the greater history of the town and the house as a whole. This strengthens the folk group of not just the family but all the people who have lived in the house and anyone who comes through.