Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Werewolf Sighting

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 21
Occupation: Military
Residence: West Point, NY
Performance Date: March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Spanish

“I’m pretty sure I saw a werewolf or a witch or something once. In 5thgrade everyone went to some camp in Oklahoma called Camp Classen, and one night there was a bonfire. It was fun, we made smores and played games but then at the end we told some ghost stories too. So everyone was having fun but also thinking of all the weird stuff we heard about I guess, and on the walk back, we walked through the forest and it was really sketchy. Pretty much we were all 5thgraders so I was scared of everything after the ghost stories, but I’m sure I saw some animal at least the size of a human in the distance. Unless there were like bears or something at Camp Classen, I’m pretty sure it was a werewolf. And I told my friend and he saw it too. Plus I remember clearly there was a full moon that night so you know its plausible. Honestly it was probably just some counselor or groundskeeper or something walking around at night. Werewolves don’t exist, but I might have seen one at camps.”

 

This story highlights many aspects of childhood socialization and the nature of folklore. First, the informant goes to great detail to explain the setting: at camp, during the night after hearing ghost stories, and in the dark forest with a full moon. These are all factors that add to the credibility of the story, as they are the conditions in which werewolves and creatures thrive in popular culture. Thus, the informant has turned his story into an memorate, a story of personal experience that, combined with knowledge of popular culture and others’ influence fits a mold of stories that have been told before; in the case the werewolf.

Furthermore, it shows how folk belief can act as social glue for a group. The informant tells his friend who believes him and sees similar things. There is probably not actually a werewolf, but later on the group undoubtedly gossiped and discussed the existence of such a creature, further perpetuating the idea that they may be real, and setting the scene for future discussions and propagation of the folklore.

 

The Manananggal

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

“There’s this monster called the Manananggal, it’s like a monster that feeds on pregnant women’s babies. So what happens is at night, the monster detaches the upper body from its legs you know to eat the babies. The only way to kill it is to put salt on the lower part of the body. So like when the monster is out eating, you put salt on it so it doesn’t have a lower body to come back to. Just some widely known superstition in the Philippines. Everyone just knows.. tells it.”

The Manananggal is a monster in Filipino folklore. It is similar to the Western vampire as, according to sources on the internet, it is afraid of daylight and garlic cloves. Furthermore, it feeds on the blood of humans, and it can spread its condition by forcing others to drink its own blood. It is interesting that the informant did not include these facts, perhaps knowing only the oicotype of his region. According to the wiki pages for Filipino folklore, the Manananggal is closely related or even synonymous to another monster, the Aswang, and it is said that the Aswang originally appeared as a result of a pandemic, dystonia parkinsonism, and the natives’ misunderstanding of this illness.

Straw Trickery

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 55
Occupation: Software Tester/ Chinese History background
Residence: Plano, TX
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: english

“Once upon a time, two nations were at war in Ancient China. One was a peasant nation, while the other was an invading force, attempting to subjugate the peasants and assimilate them into their iron rule. Both sides had been battling for many years now, and their armies had been whittled down to mere shadows of what they had once been. Now, it was time for a decisive battle, one that would determine the outcome of the war, and who would be defeated. The two armies camped across a river from each other, making preparations for this final battle. It was at this point that the peasant army realized that it was dangerously low on arrows. There was no way they could win a skirmish without arrows to support the army. The general knew he had to do something, and quick, or else the invading army would easily win. And so he thought of a plan. He ordered his men to gather all the straw they could find, and bundle these straw piles on all of the boats they had on the river. Then, he ordered his men to strip down and put their clothes on these straw men, and told his men to sleep and be rested for tomorrow’s long day. The next morning, before dawn, the general woke up a small group of soldiers, and ordered them to go with him to the river. They tied ropes to the boats and with a push, sent the straw men in boats on their way to the enemy camp. In the enemy camp, at dawn, the soldiers woke up to hundreds of boats carrying soldiers ready to attack. The general panicked, immediately concluding that the peasant army must have mobilized in the night. He ordered his archers to fire upon the boats, yet was shocked to see that none of the peasant soldiers fell. He ordered them to fire again, and this time the archers sent out an immense volley. At this point, the sun had risen a little higher, illuminating the battlefield better, and at this point, the general realized he had made a huge mistake. He had just expended a huge amount of his arrows shooting at the peasants straw decoys. The peasant army reeled the boats back in, and with a new found supply of arrows, went on to win the battle and maintain their independence.” (translated from Chinese)

 

The informant is from Taiwan, and it is easy to see how the Taiwanese would come up with a story where a smaller, less equipped army defeats a larger invading force with their wits. As Taiwan has been at odds with their Chinese neighbor across the strait, such a story would be a nationalistic tale to inspire the people of Taiwan in their own struggle to gain independence as the underdog achieves victory. It is also a story that parents would likely tell their children in order to promote pride and resourcefulness as qualities to pursue.

Whether this battle actually occurred, or the story is the product of fakelore is a question that cannot be easily answered. In both cases, we see motifs such as the brave good leader defeating the looming imperial force with overwhelming numbers, never giving up and beating incredible odds.

Ashland’s Troll

Nationality: Korean Chinese American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Korean, Spanish

“There’s a young boy named Ashland who is out hiking in the woods one day. For a snack, he packed some bread and cheese. On the hike, he encounters a troll that demands that he tell who he is, as the troll is the ruler of the forest. Ashland is a brave guy, and identifies himself also telling the troll to take a look at a trick he has. He takes out his block of cheese, but tells the troll, “Look at this rock” and squishes the cheese, making the troll think he is very strong if he is able to crush stone so easily. The troll is impressed, and tells the boy he must come eat dinner with him, because a person who is that strong must eat a lot of food. Ashland agrees, but he has another trick up his sleeve. They begin to eat, but after a couple of minutes, Ashland picks up a knife and stabs his stomach with it. The trick is that he had put his backpack under his sweater so he could trick the troll into thinking he could eat more. The troll is so impressed that a small boy could eat as much as him, he demands Ashland tells him the secret. Ashland tells him its simple just cut open your stomach, and so the troll picks up a knife and stabs himself, and dies. And I guess that’s the story of how Ashland got rid of the troll.”

The informant says he learned of this story reading a book of fairy tales as a child. He remembers it well because he says the Ashland’s cleverness really impressed him and his way of defeating the troll without lifting a finger was unique.

This Norwegian story has all the parts of a rite of passage or initiation. Ashland is a young boy, presumably in his teenage years, and goes off by himself into an unknown part of the countryside. He faces a challenge, but with his wisdom and cunning, defeats it easily, doing the people a service and returning home either a grown man or a hero, inspiring others with his quick thinking and achievements. Seeing the explanation of the informant, it is easy to see how this story could have been written to inspire young people. Furthermore, we can infer that this story was created recently, as opposed to in ancient times, using the terminus post quem of the backpack, which was “invented” in 1920.

Northern Californian Campfire Story: The Ring Man

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: Partner at Ernst & Young
Residence: Manhattan Beach, CA
Performance Date: April 15th, 2012
Primary Language: English

Interview Extraction:

Informant: “The story of the Ring Man goes to back when I was growing up, and my dad and his best friend Jim Kaddy who used to go camping in the woods, around where our cabin is in Lassen. And up there, there would be when we were little; there are these trees with these rings on them. There were painted white rings, around various parts of the forest. And so what they told us was that the Ring Man paints a white ring on these trees. And the reason he does that, is that at night various campers are camping out in the woods and he comes to their tents when they are sleeping. And for the girls, he leaves them candy. But for the boys he finds, he kills them. And when he kills them, he puts a ring around the tree for each boy he kills. So you should never go out at night when you are camping, or the Ring Man will get you.”

Interviewer: “So the Ring Man only kills boys? Why?”

Informant: “Because boys are noisy. But you only tell that story at night, when you are camping.”

Analysis:

“The Ring Man” is a campfire story that is unique to the informant’s family.  The story is intended to be told as a campfire story, specifically to younger children.  The reason why the story is intended for children is because only children would believe that the rings on the trees indicate the murder of little boys.  Adults know that the rings on the trees actually indicate the lumber has been marked to be cut down by local logging industry, which has a strong presence in Humboldt County culture of where this story originated.  The high number of trees marked with rings makes the story more believable to the children, because the proof of the Ring Man’s existence is something you can really see.

The violence present in the tale indicates that the authors of the story had a dark sense of humor, and created the tale to playfully tease their children.  This tale also serves as an educational warning to the young audience, in that it warns them of the evils and violence that are present in the world that they should be aware of.  In this sense, “The Ring Man” tale is very similar to other folk tales that warn children of the evils present in the world such as “Hansel and Gretel”.  Another interesting aspect of this story is the idea that the Ring Man only kills boys, because they are noisy.  This comes from the stereotypical belief that girls are sweet and quiet, which is why the girls get sweet candy, and boys are loud and obnoxious.  Therefore the performer of this tale also uses “The Ring Man” as a warning to little boys that they should be well behaved and quiet or the Ring Man will kill them.  The fact that the story puts an emphasis on the importance of being well behaved also indicates that the authors of the story put a high value on manners.

I have heard this tale many times when my family and I would go camping. When I first heard “The Ring Man”, I thought the tale was real, and I became extremely upset when I saw three trees marked with the white rings by an elementary school.  After expressing this to the informant, he explained that the tale was not real and my anxieties were soon forgotten.  There is a sense of pride that comes from the story because it is unique to the informant’s family and a part of their traditions.

My informant was born in 1957 Arcata, California to a high school basketball coach and his wife.  After earning his undergraduate degree in engineering from the University of California, Davis, he moved to southern California to obtain his MBA in business from the University of Southern California.  He now a partner at Ernst & Young. He lives in Manhattan Beach, CA with his wife and has two children.