Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

The Ghosts of Greyfriar’s Kirkyard in Edinburgh, Scotland

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student-film studies
Residence: South Pasadena
Performance Date: November 4th, 2011
Primary Language: English

The Ghost of Greyfriar’s Kirkyard Cemetery in Edinburgh

Told on November 4th, 2011

My best friend’s boyfriend studied abroad in the U.K. last year and he visited my best friend at her school, University of Edinburgh in Scotland.  I asked him if he could possibly tell me any ghost stories from his time in the U.K. He told me that he had a perfect story about a cemetery that he went into while visiting his girlfriend in Edinburgh. I have been a best friend of the girl since 9th grade and I have known her boyfriend for a few years. Here’s the story:

R.Y.: “When I was studying abroad in London, I visited my girlfriend who goes to University of Edinburgh in Scotland. I visited The Greyfriar’s Kirkyard Cemetery really late at night with my girlfriend one night. It was like midnight, it was dark and there was no one there. It was supposed to be locked, but the gate was open. We walked around and we were just talking and stuff.  We were in there for like 30 minutes. My girlfriend had taken a tour of the cemetery prior to this visit and she decided to tell me the story of the ghost/ghosts that haunt the cemetery. So, apparently there was a homeless person who was trying to find a place to stay because it was raining, as it always does in the UK. So he went into the cemetery and he decided that he would get into a crypt to get out of the rain. He was on top of a crypt with a dead person in it and then someone came into the cemetery walking his dog in the rain with an umbrella. The dog walker scared the homeless person and the homeless person fell into the crypt and got lost in the bones and it closed on him. It was said that he awakened and disturbed the dead. But what just dead did he awake?

Well some time ago, in like the 1600s, there was a judge, nicknamed ‘Bloody Mackenzie,’ who persecuted the covenanters—Scottish Presbyterians—and he mass burned and crucified them. Then they were buried in masses in this cemetery. He kept them in a field next to the cemetery and murdered some and let others starve to death then they were all thrown into the burial pit. They were all buried together in giant crypts and they were buried without their names on their graves or anything. He was truly an evil person and he would take money from children and kick dogs and what not. Then when the judge died he was buried in the same cemetery with those bodies.

The incident with the homeless person is what disturbed or awakened the burial pit. Apparently, they have to lock up the cemetery at night supposedly because someone was actually injured there one night at the “Black Crypt.”  The “Black Crypt” it the one where the judge was just thrown in with the other people he killed. It is in the corner of the cemetery and it has no ones names or years on it. It was an unidentified crypt.  Sometimes, when tours are held at the cemetery, people will encounter cold spots and when people take photos they see a lot of mystical orbs come out on the printed film. People say that they go into the cemetery and all the sudden there is one spot that is way colder than others. Usually the spots near the “Black Crypt” are way colder than others. Some people also claim that while walking through the cemetery, they feel that they are physically pushed to the side, like someone is angrily passing them. The really creepy part is that when people are on tours, they leave and later they discover that they are covered in scratches and bites.  They don’t feel the scratches happening to them while they are there, but when they get home they will discover small scratches on their arms and body. Apparently, this one time, this one guy was really badly injured, and had cuts scratched all over him. Who caused these scratches and bites? It varies on whom you ask. Some say that it is the judge, known as the ‘Mackenzie Poltergeist’ cutting up people from the grave. And others say that it is all the disturbed and improperly buried dead, having their revenge on the living. Anyways, that’s the story I heard. The versions may vary on who you ask, but almost everyone who visits the cemetery feels some kind of strange omen or deep anguish that occurred there.”

RY’s Interpretation:

“I think there are a lot of ways to interpret the story. I think that the scratches could be from the homeless person that fell into the pit, in that he is trying to claw his way out of the crypt to escape the dead bodies. He is literally clawing his way out and scratching anyone who comes too close to the crypt. Or, it could be that the judge could still be hurting people from his grave because he was so evil. One of the main ideas in the story is that this judge just ruthlessly killed people on no basis other than religious prejudice. So one theory of the poltergeist type ghost or ghosts is that there are many ghosts—the unnamed dead who were wrongfully persecuted and improperly buried. In my opinion there is an obvious moral to the story: wrath and immoral persecution of human beings is wrong and can cause disturbing consequences both here on this Earth and in the afterlife. This legend serves as a way for distancing and understanding a tragic event that has happened and it allows people to remember and reflect on the wrongs of the past.”

My Interpretation of his story:

This story falls into the legends category because while there is documented evidence of Judge Mackenzie’s persecution of the Protestants, he may or may not still haunt the graveyard today. I think that the scratches are coming from ghosts of the improperly buried dead. As we learned in class, when people did not have proper burials, they came back to haunt the living, sometimes until they were given the burial that they wanted. In addition, disturbing the rested dead is often advised against because it is wrong to disturb those who have been put to rest for eternity. I do believe that when the homeless man fell in the crypt he probably angered a lot of spirits. The story is one of warning to those who hear it—it is not a good idea to wake the dead and anger their spirits.

Collection 1: Ghost in the forest by Karen Chik

Nationality: European
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: October 19th, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: French

The subject, a current student at University of Southern California, and a personal friend of mine, told me this legend about her friend’s mom in Switzerland. I asked my friends in my dorm room if they had any ghost stories, and my friend, the subject, stepped up. The subject learned of this ghost story when she was at a sleepover in middle school. As a standard activity at a sleepover, the subject and her friends started telling ghost stories, when her friend’s mom volunteered to tell a legend that personally happened to her. This event happened to her friend’s mom when she was a teenager, when she lived in Rochester, New York.

Transcript of the legend:

My friend’s mom was driving in the car with her and a couple of friends down this like isolated forest where a little girl had been murdered a couple years back. So as they were driving they heard some like random screaming but they didn’t think it was anything so they continued driving. But the screaming gets louder and louder and then like all of a sudden they see like a figure run past the car and they freak out and they like stop the car and then they look in the forest and they see the dead corpse of the girl who was like walking in the forest. They knew it was the girl because apparently she was wearing the clothing they found her in, because they found that girl’s dead body in a particular clothing that was torn up. They had pictures on the news and stuff because it was a known murder and it was a small town. They sped off and just went home and told their parents, and the parents though they were lying but to this day her mom refuses to drive past the forest in Rochester. 

It is very common for ghosts to appear at the place where they died because it has strong emotional connections to the deceased. I believe that there would be an apparition where the girl died, because she was murdered and therefore has unfinished business. Not only was there a visual, but there was also auditory sensory of the girl screaming. I believe that the ghost of the girl is there to warn people of the dangers that a forest- a place where danger lurks.

Legend – China

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Feliz, CA
Performance Date: April 13, 2007
Primary Language: English

Notes:

This is only a part of a bigger story, but the subject doesn’t know the whole story. It’s the story of The Monkey King and The Journey West. There is a monk who is traveling west for some reason, and who runs into the Monkey King at some point, but the subject does not know why or when in the story this happens. The story of the Monkey King was written in the Miung and the Qing Dynasties, but it is set in the Tang Dynasty. This monkey, before he was a king, was born from an egg-shaped rock. He is made of stone. He is very brave amongst his monkey brothers and he becomes Monkey King. His goal is to find eternal life because he figures that he has everything else already. So why not be Monkey King for all eternity? Apparently he was a daoist. During his search for eternal life, he finds and receives these supernatural powers, which allow him to grow very small and also to giant size. He also has supernatural strength as a result of his ability to become giant. He then thinks to himself that he needs to find a weapon to carry with him at all times that is equal to his own power. To do this, he goes to the Dragon King’s palace, which is underwater to get a weapon for him. The Dragon king is infamous amongst the animal kingdom for owning weapons that can defeat any army or anything, even with supernatural powers. The weapon he finally finds perfect for him is a long spear which was grow with him and shrink in size with him. Once he has this weapon, he travels to Heaven to get a job, so to speak. Heaven does not take him seriously, and the spirits there give him a low-level, mostly useless job. He becomes angry once he realizes how useless the job is, and he goes to an orchard, where he declares himself to be equal to all under Heaven (he declares himself “Sage King”). This infuriates the Jade Emperor (the Emperor who governs Heaven and all below it). The Jade Emperor then sends troops from Heaven to defeat the Monkey King. The Monkey King easily defeats all of them with his weapon and his supernatural powers. The Monkey King, in a fit of self-importance and hubris, decides that he will run to the edge of the Earth to show how powerful he is. (The subject is not sure why this is important in the story). When he reaches the edge of what he thinks is the Earth, he urinates on it to mark his territory. Then, he hears a booming voice, which is the Buddha, which says to him, “Why did you just pee on my hand?” The Monkey King realizes that he has been outsmarted by Heaven and by the Buddha, and that he is in fact only on the edge of the Buddha’s hand. Having thus been caught by Heaven, the Monkey King is imprisoned within a prison in Heaven.

The moral of the story is supposedly that one should not let hubris overtake them, and that no matter how important, strong, or powerful one thinks that one is, one may never outsmart or defeat Heaven. Heaven will always put on in one’s place, no matter what. The subject believes that this story could also be a metaphor for the relationship between defiant children and their parents.

It is interesting to not that this is a very popular story among Chinese people. I asked everyone I know of Chinese descent and they all acknowledged that they have heard of, often frequently heard of, the same story from a parent, grandparent, or similar close relative.

Contemporary Legend – San Diego, California

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego, CA
Performance Date: March 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“In Old Town San Diego a whole family was murdered in a certain house and no one has lived there since.  There are tours that go through the house and they are extremely creepy.  Also, it has been documented a few times.  People have stayed there over night and have encountered odd things, such as voices, sightings (reflections of people not there), and sounds (screaming, creeks)”

My informant first heard this legend at the age of five (cerca 1992) when he and his family were driving by the haunted house and his parents told him the story.  However, he was a little too young to understand the extent of the scariness and creepiness that goes along with such a situation, but a few years later he fully understood the story.  My informant’s first reaction upon seeing and hearing about the haunted house was that he believed it and was “weirded out.”  Now at the age of nineteen, my informant lives about fifteen minutes away from the house, so he has gone a few times to take the tour.  During my interview with the informant he was emphatic when telling me that the legend is true, not just because of other accounts, but because he believes in ghosts.

These legends are meant to be told between teenagers who like to tell each other entertaining stories to either scare each other or tell each other something interesting.  The reaction of most teenagers is usually “REALLY, WOW!”  In our culture today it is common to see that girls are more afraid of these sorts of legends than men because men have some sort of desire for scariness.  While this is the case for most of our culture, I personally do not like scary movies or stories, because it makes me worried whenever I think about them.

The reason why this legend is important in my informant’s life is because of the location of the legend.  The location of the legend is in Old Town San Diego and my informant lives in the San Diego area.  Therefore, this legend affects my informant more than it affects me, since I live in Los Angeles.

When I asked my informant his reaction to the legend, he said that he initially thought the legend was unbelievable and scary, but ever since he has taken a tour of the house, the concept of the legend and its validity has been “set in stone.”

When I first heard this legend I thought it was incredibly believable.  When my informant was telling me the legend he seemed very serious, so it made me believe it that much more.  I think it is a very scary legend and I would be incredibly freaked out if there was ever a house like that near my house.  This is why legends are so interesting; they provide you with a story that you thought you would only see or hear in a movie.

Contemporary Legend – Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

Age: 50
Residence: Malibu, CA
Performance Date: March 17, 2007

My mother went to Purdue University for her Bachelors degree.  My father went to Notre Dame and I am attending the University of Southern California.  There is a lot of fighting in my family about who is the best team.  One day we got into the discussion of our mascots.  By far my mom, a boilermaker, has the most unique mascot.  She began to explain the legend behind how they got their name.  She described it as the “Purdue lore” that everyone knew.

A long time ago when Purdue was just getting started, they did not have a name to call themselves.  When Purdue was playing a game against Wabash collage in 1889 in Crawfordsville all the local newspapers were there reporting.  She said there were so many reporters there that they made up for the lack of turnout of fans.  Purdue won the game by an astounding 18 to 4, “Of course we won” my mom added.  The papers started to write about the game.  They called the players of Purdue big burly brutes, and hulking men.

But then two years later Purdue played Wabash Collage again.  This time they won 44 to 0.  Even more reporters were there this time.  Even more fuss was made about how big Purdue’s men were.  They called the Purdue players “a burly gang of haymakers, cornhuskers, log haulers” and finally boilermakers.  The school decided they liked being called the boilermakers, and the name has stuck until present time.

My mother is still very proud of her school and her team the boilermakers.  The first time she told me they were called the boilermakers, she laughed.  The name is not very scary, not very intimidating, and kind of embarrassing, but she will always be a boilermaker.

http://www2.itap.purdue.edu/periodicals/Boilermakers.leg.html

March 2007