Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

The Jersey Devil

Age: 20

Text: According to the subject, the “Jersey Devil” is a monstrous creature that supposedly haunts Jersey’s wilderness. The subject described the creature as having bat wings, hooves, a devil’s tail, and a goat head. According to the legend, the Jersey Devil was born as an unwanted 13th child to a mother who ended up cursing him – causing his disfiguration. His curse caused him to transform into the horrifying monster that has become so popular in New Jersey folklore. Allegedly, this creature only appears at night – scaring and even harming those who come across his path.  

Context: The subject first came across this urban legend when he was in middle school. Growing up and living in New Jersey, he would grow up to occasionally hear the creature mentioned here and there, but he just brushed it off as a kid’s story – he never really believed in it. His older brother was the first person to describe the creature to him, as such he just viewed the myth as a way of his brother trying to scare him and tease him. Some of his friends in middle school did believe in the creature, he admitted, and they would be spooked whenever they stayed outside too late. 

Interpretation: I believe that this legend can be seen as a story parents might’ve utilized to try to keep their kids from staying out too late or wandering out into the wildlife at night. I think by playing on this element of fear, children would be less likely to disobey their parents out of fear of this monstrous creature, as opposed to parents telling their children that they can’t stay out late “because I said so”. I think this creates a sense of consequences greater than the parents’ anger and would help motivate the child to obey out of self preservation.

The Mole Socities of New York City

Age: 20

Text: According to this subject, in New York, there’s an urban legend about a secret underground society of homeless people who live within tunnels that spread all over the city. Apparently, as this subject has noted that she’s heard versions of this story from multiple sources, this legend is widespread throughout the city, with some people even claiming that they’ve seen people slip out of “abandoned” subway stations at night, or even from out under sewer grates. Allegedly, these “mole people” as they’ve become known live in pretty complex societies and communities – with some people going so far as to suggest that they have access to every major building in New York. 

Context: Ever since moving to New York for college, this subject has occasionally found herself regaled by tales from classmates and coworkers alike who are native to New York about the urban legends of the secret network of tunnels that run under NYC. She believes that these stories probably came about just as a result of subway stations closing or not getting finished, and she isn’t completely sold on the idea of people living in societies completely underground in the city. 

Interpretation: I believe that this urban legend of a “mole people” society that supposedly has connections within the entire city of New York is based on the fact that there probably are some homeless people who do take refuge in abandoned subway buildings for shelter. The idea about these “mole people” having widespread societies and access into buildings seems a little bit more paranoid, perhaps a byproduct of the story passing throughout the state by word of mouth – people could have added their own additions to this story as they pass them on to make it sound more interesting and wild.

Haunted House on Euclid and Hazard

Age: 19

Text: In her hometown within Orange County, this subject claims that there is a haunted house on a specific street corner (Euclid and Hazard) that has been vacant for years. According to the stories she’s been told about it, one fateful night a pregnant woman was fatally injured in some sort of car accident or physical assault (depends on who tells the story – the subject has heard both of these included in tellings of this tale) and went to the house seeking help. She banged on the door crying out for help, but no one answered and she and her unborn child ended up dying on the doorstep of the house. Ever since then, her spirit has haunted the house – scaring anyone who lives in the building (which consequently has led to the house becoming vacant for years, if not decades). Some people even believe that her spirit occasionally goes across the street to the liquor store, haunting that establishment as well. People believe that her spirit seeks vengeance for her death and that of her child’s. 

Context: This subject heard this urban legend throughout middle and high school in Orange County, from classmates and upperclassmen alike. Growing up in a city adjacent to the one in which the alleged events of this story took place, she claimed to have only come across the alleged haunted house in passing, never really feeling a great desire to go near it. She believes that this ghost story is just a means of scaring kids in the area, almost a means of ‘initiating’ kids within the city. She believes this because she very distinctly remembers her friends in high school teasing their younger siblings or kids from neighboring middle schools by scaring them with the gory details of the haunting, even if they themselves claimed to not believe it. 

Interpretation: I believe that this story could possibly be rooted in some form of truth – maybe the car accident or death of the pregnant woman did truly happen way back when. It could be possible that the community was so shocked by her death and the circumstances that they began to feel guilt which would then have made them susceptible to attributing any bad energy or ‘haunting’ occurrences to the woman’s search for vengeance. Regardless, it seems as though the story serves as a means of scaring or teasing kids, as according to my subject, people quickly grow out of believing in it as they grow up.

Black Eyed Children

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Boat Mechanic
Residence: Glendale, AZ
Language: English

Story:

“I believe they’re called the black eyed children. Its a set of two or three kids or however many. One of them will walk up to you and they’ll as you for like food or to play with them. If you oblige, they’ll be happy, but the second day another set will show up and be really mean to you, super nasty. If you don’t be nice to them still, they’ll mess with you and be angry and stuff” 

Context: The informant heard this legend from high school friends around the age 15-16. He assumed this was a Native American legend because he heard it from his Native friends while travelling to the reservation in New Mexico.

Analysis: The black eyed children are a common urban legend in America. They signify an innocence that has been twisted for evil intentions. They are often described to be children or teenagers with black eyes and an older sounding voice. For my informant, this legend seems to be a warning against the children. A little different from the most popular legend, this one suggests for the informant to always be nice to the black eyed children. The general fear of the children comes from not knowing their intentions. 

In regards to the origins of this legend, the story of the black eyed children stems from an account of them written by a journalist in 1996. As this post spread, more and more stories popped up, claiming to have encountered the children. Because the informant heard this story from his Native American friends on the way to the reservation in New Mexico, he assumed it to be their local folklore. His friends were likely sharing spooky stories on the drive for entertainment purposes, and this story was big at the time since Creepypasta was still very popular. This story had also been big on Creepypasta since that’s where I heard this legend from myself. Notably, Irish changelings and Native American groups around California’s Lake Tahoe and Nevada’s Pyramid Lake with legends of evil water baby spirits are the most similar examples of traditional folklore to the contemporary legend of the black eyed children. All of these legends stay consistent with taking advantage of people’s desire to care for or help someone smaller or younger than themselves, regardless of their intentions. 

New Mexico Skinwalker

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Boat Mechanic
Residence: Glendale, AZ
Language: English

Story

In New Mexico, the informant visited the reservation with his Native friends. They decided to go out to hike a mountain at 7pm; the informant was with two friends and his friend’s cousin who he never met before. All of a sudden, it became pitch dark, no moon, no stars, no nothing, and the cousin went missing. They called for her for about a half hour. She came stumbling out of the dark with no recollection of anything that happened, so they thought “maybe a skinwalker or something was trying to lure her” according to the informant.

Context: The informant visited a Native American reservation in New Mexico around the ages 15-16 years old.

Analysis: This personal narrative follows a grander cultural phenomenon to explain the unexplainable. The sky went completely dark, which provides a supernatural backdrop to the story. The idea of nothing in the sky, not even stars, must have been terrifying for the group of teenagers. Suddenly, one of the group members goes missing and they frantically call out and search for her, strengthening the fear for the group as anything could have happened to her. When she finally stumbled out to them, she was disoriented with no memory of where she was for the last thirty minutes. Naturally, the group needed a way to explain what had happened that night. Although the informant was unsure of which reservation he had visited, he had likely visited the Navajo Nation or one of the surrounding reservations that are clustered together in New Mexico. Skinwalkers are a well-known legend in these areas, especially with them being a Navajo legend. This would have the quickest and easiest way for the teenagers to explain this experience. Skinwalkers are an evil witch who shapeshifts and lures people, likely to their deaths. Since the cousin had returned disoriented with no memory, she could have been lured and placed under the spell of a skinwalker and somehow escaped back to the group.