Behind a kickball field in Pasadena, there is a house that belongs to an old lady that all the kids call Quazi Minono. She lives in the house directly behind the tall fence at the back of the kickball field. Whenever Garret and his friends play kickball, they never go to retrieve their ball if someone kicks it over the fence. It is said that a boy climbed over the fence one time to get the ball and the old lady Quazi Minono killed him. Apparently, no one has ever seen what Quazi Minono looks like or exactly how old she is. However, she has a husband, or what the kids believe may not be her husband, who everyone can see because he sits in his wheel chair on the third floor of the house constantly peering out the circle window that faces the kickball field. He sits facing out the circle window for most of the hours of the day without ever moving. It is rumored that the old man sitting in the wheel chair is actually the kid who Quazi Minono killed. Instead of killing him, she kept him prisoner in his house. He can never leave because he has a full body paralysis. So, he sits almost all day staring out the window wishing he could leave and play kickball again. Garret and his friends never ever go over the fence to get the kickball.
Most likely, a killer old lady does not live in the house, and the man in the window is her husband enjoys looking outside instead of sitting facing a wall all day. It is sad to think that kids can think up such a scary story for the situation the old man is in.
Category Archives: Legends
The Witch on Louisiana Avenue
In West Los Angeles on Louisiana Avenue, there was a certain house where an old lady lived by herself. She would yell at the children walking by if they came too close to her house. It was rumored that she was a witch who would take the lives of children walking by in order to keep her alive. It was said that if you walked past her house and stepped too close to her lawn, you would get stuck on her grass because the grass would grow around your ankles. Then she would come out of the house screaming and take you inside of her house. Once taken, you were never seen again. However, it was said that she planted another rose in her front garden for each child that she took.
Danny and his friends would always cross to the other side of the street when they got near the old lady’s house in order to avoid walking to close to her lawn. Sometimes, Danny and his friends would pressure someone who thought they were brave to walk on the old lady’s lawn. They would play a game to see who could get closest to the house or who could stand on the lawn the longest. Most likely the witch on Louisiana Avenue was just an old lady who yelled at all the kids who would constantly ware out her lawn.
The Legend of Ibo Landing
This is a legend in the African American community, and the name of the island is occasionally spelled differently: Ebo, Ibo, Igbo.
“It’s sort of this coastal—this island off the coast of south Carolina and Georgia, kinda in between. Kay, so, the story goes that there was a slave ship that was coming—oh wait, let me start over. In Africa, there were this group of, like, native Africans and they were enjoying life in Africa and one of them had a wife who was pregnant. And, you know, the guy loved his wife and loved his child and he was looking forward to having a family, and then one day his wife was sleeping and he was just up doing whatever and he thought he heard the unborn child say “the water will bring you home”. And he was really confused because he didn’t really know what that meant… but it kind of stayed on his mind. Okay, and so later he was walking through, like, the savannas or the jungles of Africa and he was with some other Africans and they all got kidnapped by this slave trader, and so then they embarked on the middle passage and were on the ship headed to America and they were all really scared, of course. They didn’t know where they were going they didn’t know what was going on, they were shackled in these miserable conditions and people were dying, there was disease, like you know all that gross middle passage stuff you hear about. Finally they get to the island of Ibo Landing and they get off the slave ship and they’re led, and then, like, the slave–okay, hold on. They’re led around and then the slave trader just sorta looks at them and says okay this is where you’ll be staying–except less hospitable because it’s not like they’re at a hotel–and so then the slaves look around and they’re like oh no, we’re not staying here, or they’re still Africans, I guess they didn’t really become slaves. And so the main one who had the child gets an idea and he suddenly remembers the phrase “the water will bring you home”. And so, you know, all the Africans are shackled together but they turn, so starting with the native the main guy with the child he whispers a message to the guy standing next to him and then that guy does that to the guy next to him and to the guy next to him and so on and so on until they get to the end of the line. And so then when the slave traders aren’t looking or are preoccupied with something, the Africans turn around and walk back into the water. And it’s just like the child said, the water will bring you home. So the story goes that they never became slaves and that they walked across the water all the way back to Africa. And of course, it depends on who is telling the story because some people are like well they turned around and drowned and others are like they walked all the way back to the continent of Africa so you can take your pick which version you like better.”
This is an extraordinarily meaningful legend on many levels. One of the messages, according to the informant, was the notion of controlling one’s own destiny and doing the impossible to avoid a fate put on someone. The imagery also comes out of the Bible, with Jesus walking on water and telling Peter that he too could walk on water if his faith was strong enough. Clearly, the faith of these Africans was strong enough (or not, depending on the teller) to bring them back home. It also stresses the importance of family, as it is family ties that bring the slaves back home and the unborn child that gives them the idea to do it. All of it happens during a period of change in their lives, a liminal period, in which anything could happen (thus explaining the mysticism). Mysticism is also common in African tales and tribal religions, thus emphasizing that legacy as well.
It exists in a lot of African American popular culture. Toni Morrison uses different themes of it for her books Tar Baby and Song of Solomon, and it is recounted in the film Daughters of the Dust (1991, directed by Julie Dash).
Grandmother’s Ring
This is a scary story told by my informant’s father to her and her sister when they were children, that he said his father used to tell him.
“Basically this boy and girl, siblings, very spoiled, and they have this insanely rich grandmother that they never really cared for. One day, she passes away and they attend the funeral and it’s very sad, parents are a mess, everyone’s crying and it’s an open casket ceremony. So when they get their turn to get up and see the grandmother for the last time, instead of feeling sad, um, all they can notice is this huge ring on her finger, that’s just got a huge rock on it. And they’re thinking, you know, ‘our grandma was so rich how dare she die and not leave anything for us, she has all this money and we didn’t get a cent of it, and here she is burying herself with all these treasures.’ And so after the funeral, the boy and the girl start scheming, and they decide that they’re going to go visit the grave and get the ring.
Yeah, so, they get shovels and they dress in black and they start making their way to the gravesite and they get there and they start digging, and the entire time they’re just so excited thinking about the ring and how they’re going to get it. And they’re just totally disrespecting the site, and so they finally dig up the grave, open the casket, and there she is lying there looking beautiful with the ring on her finger. And the girl reaches to go for the ring, and she’s like “I can’t get it off! Her fingers have swollen, it’s stuck!” And the boy is like “let me see, like, get out of the way, we can get this off”, and he starts pulling and pulling and pulling and it won’t come off. And so finally they realize they’re going to have to chop off the finger. And so the boy takes the shovel and, um, severs the finger from the hand and they make off with the ring. And I think they kind of shantily throw dirt back on the spot and make it look somewhat normal, but really they were just happy to get out of there.
But the thing is, they live in this kind of mountainey area and it’s winter time, and there’s a storm coming in and, um, it gets very blizzardy and they begin to become uncertain if they were returning the way they came, the correct way, and they start wandering about. And you know, it’s getting colder and colder and they’re hungry and it’s dark and really at this point they’re starting to question whether or not it was even worth it to come out here because they may not make it. And then up in the distance they see a light, and they hurriedly run towards it hoping that its some sign of civilization and they come across a cottage and they’re banging on the door banging on the door, saying “someone please let us in we’re cold we’re starving”, and finally after a few minutes the door opens and there’s this very nice looking lady.
And you know she’s got a shawl on, your classic grandma figure, and she ushers them in and gives them new clothes, gives them tea, and, um, she’s sitting there and asking them do you want anything to eat? And they say yes, we would love cookies if you have cookies, and so she goes into the kitchen and she starts telling them about her life. And, um, how she had a family once but they didn’t really care for her anymore and that made her sad, and, um, sometimes it makes her very angry. And, um, basically she’s bringing them the cookies and as she’s putting the tray down the children notice she’s missing a finger. And the little girl looks at her brother, looks at the grandma, and says excuse me but I can’t help but notice you’re missing a finger, who would ever do something like this to you? And the grandma says in a loud, scary voice, “YOU DID IT”*. And that’s the end. And you never know what happens to the kids.”
*According to the informant, the teller at this moment is supposed to look menacing and bend towards the audience and say that line very loudly.
The prevalent theme in this story is the importance of honoring your family. Regardless of how greedy these kids may be, they should have put their grandmother’s memory first and shouldn’t have been so selfish. This story is a scary story for children that warns against disrespecting the dead and against greed. The scary things, of course, happen at night, in a dark storm, and the kids seek refuge in a warm house with an elderly women and cookies (much like Hansel and Gretel, though with very different personalities). The story is left open ended effectively, letting kids fill in a more terrifying gap than words could really express. Unlike the similar Hansel and Gretel, this story is not guaranteed a happy ending because of the difference of the natures of the two protagonists.
Legend of Lost Gold in Mexican Cave
Informant Bio: Informant is a friend and fellow business major. He is a junior at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. His family is from Mexico but he has lived in Southern California for nearly all of his life.
Context: I was talking to Fabian about Mexican stories and folklore. He originally learned this story at age 13 from his mother when he went hiking in mountains in which the specific cave is supposed to be located. His uncle had previously gone exploring and looking for the gold in this area. The tale is well known in the informant’s state of Michocoan.
Item: “So there’s this famous bandit, and, um, he like stole a lot of gold, but the thing is, he disappeared all of a sudden along with all his gold. They never found his body or his gold. People think that he buried it in some tunnels in the mountains. The legend around the gold is that you can only find it if you are looking for it by unselfish means. People who have been looking to get rich have never found the gold, but, people who have explored the cave for fun have randomly stumbled upon gold coins. And then at night, sometimes you will the bandit’s spirit running on his horse”.
Informant Analysis: Ghost riders are an extremely common phenomena in Mexican legends and tales. Unlike in the U.S. where ghosts and dead spirits are seen to be creepy, dead spirits are common in Mexican tales.
Analysis: Many Mexican tales seem to have an emphasis on intentions and values. The bit about only the unselfish/non-evil searchers being able to find the gold out of virtue seems to be a common thread in other cultures across the world. Mexicans are highly religious in general and also place great importance on familial duty, honest work, and honor. If you perform honest work then no one criticizes you while you can be ostracized for doing dis-honorable, illegal or morally question deeds. This tale seems to celebrate the fact that if you have good intentions and live purely, that you will indeed sew good luck and receive benefits in the end.