Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Harvard Swim Test

Age: 44
Residence: maplewood, NJ
Performance Date: 12/27/2010
Primary Language: English

Every freshman at Harvard University must pass a swim test. Supposedly, this is because Eleanor Elkins Widener made this a condition of the massive endowment she gave the University to build the Harry Elkins Widener library.

Harry Elkins Widener was Eleanor’s son, and a student at Harvard, who went down with the Titanic in 1912. After her son’s death, Eleanor supposedly imposed the swim test condition on her endowment, so that no student should suffer the same fate as her son.

Joe and nearly every Harvard University undergraduate heard this story before he had to take that swim test. It is a story unique to Harvard. Yet, there is no documentation or legal record of any such condition with the library endowment. The story has been passed down through the years by the student body, and is attached to the initiation of being a Harvard freshman.

H. E. Widener Pornography Collection

Age: 44
Residence: Maplewood, NJ
Performance Date: 12/27/2010
Primary Language: English

Harry Elkins Widener was a 1907 graduate of Harvard University, who tragically died the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Harry’s mother, Eleanor Widener, donated a large amount of money to the university following her son’s death for the construction of the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, more commonly known as Widener Library.

Legend has it that H. E. Widener had an extensive collection of pornography, and that this collection has been stored away in the deepest vaults of Widener library, inaccessible, alongside famous texts like a copy of the Gutenberg Bible.

Joseph heard this legend as an undergraduate student at Harvard University. This particular legend is rarely heard outside of the university student body, probably because it is hardly the sort  of knowledge any of Harry’s relatives would want to be spread around. Also, students harboring some resentment toward the library (and all the work they must do there) might find a release in mocking it’s namesake in such a way.

Urban legend

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student, Oxford University at Emory
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: 27 April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Hebrew

My informant heard this urban legend when she was around thirteen, from a friend who was a few years older than she was and had gotten an email about it. She says that after hearing this, she was afraid to retrieve the change from vending machines, pay phones, and anything else that involved reaching into a small enclosed space. The urban legend is as follows:

“My friend told me that there was a new kind of bioterrorism or something, where drug users are getting rid of their used needles by sticking them into the change boxes on soda machines and stuff. It seems crazy, but just crazy enough to be true. So people are getting all these diseases like HIV, hepatitis, and lots more because the needles prick them when they go to get their quarters back.”

This is a great example of a “friend-of-a-friend” story, because my informant learned it from a friend who also heard it from another source. It undermines the credibility there, but most people are more easily swayed when information comes from a “reliable” source such as a friend. In addition, a story like this makes the “incident” easy to avoid because all the listener has to do is stop retrieving their change from vending machines and they will never experience what the urban legend warns against. Therefore, there is no way to prove or disprove such a story. In addition, I believe that some people may have started doing this after hearing the story, which makes it difficult to discover whether the story came before or after the event. I’ve heard this legend as well, and honestly it stopped me from ever taking change from vending machines or anything without “checking” the change box first. I was about seven or eight when I heard this.

Legend of Cropsey

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Winchester, VA
Performance Date: April 4, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: some French

“Today in class we went over this thing about a guy named Cropsey. It started as a camp legend, but people have started to connect it to real happenings. It’s pretty cool. apparently it’s pretty far spread, it goes back at least to the 70’s if not further. Basically Cropsey owned a lakeside cabin that his family would live in during the summer, one day these kids left “camp scheduled activities” to go roast “marshmallows” and basically they ended up burning down Cropsey’s house consequently killing his family. Cropsey went crazy and ended up killing those kids. There are plenty of different variations out there, it’s pretty cool and far spread. What I make of this legend is that it’s slightly ridiculous, but a good way to keep campers in line.  

 “I think it’s so widespread because it is a simple story that is easy to remember, due to the lack of in depth detail. People can also connect actual killings to it, making it more believable. In fact there’s at least one movie about this myth and why it’s so wide spread, and some of the various tellings of it. It’s really cool how far spread this legend is, in fact it was used in my marketing class as a good example of a story that stuck. It is relatable, simple, and emotional.”

I agree with Elizabeth that the simplistic nature of the narrative lends itself to much interpretation and manipulation.  Used in the context of a summer camp with children, the story could be very effective in keeping young children in line.

Movie annotation: Brancaccio, B. & Zeman, J. (2009).  Cropsey (film).  Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA.

Occupational legend

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 4, 2011
Primary Language: English

“There’s this story and theoretically it’s from a Ballet, but I don’t know whether it actually happened, kinda like a costuming legend. But, um, it’s, it’s the kind of moral of the story is why you shouldn’t leave pins in costumes.
So, this is the story of uh, well I guess a ballerina. And there was a pin that got left in her costume, uh, near the waistline, where I assume the tutu attaches the leotard or something like that, or maybe it wasn’t a tutu or leotard, I don’t really quite know. um, but, they left a pin in it and the, uh, the male dancer who was supposed to be lifting her put his hands on her waist to lift her, um and actually was so surprised when a pin pricked him that he dropped her, she broke her leg and never danced again. And this is why you should not leave pins in, in costumes.”

This is a piece of folklore one would only expect to here in the particular occupation of costume and clothing making. All types of jobs have risks due to oversight and this legend is no exception. In this type of clothing production, producing top quality clothing by hand with little or few imperfections are of utmost importance. Particularly in costume design where the customer is often in the realm physical performance such as acting or dancing, the design and structure of the outfit is even more important. In any employee-customer relationship, the customer expects a top quality product for the exchange of their money. This legend highlights a worst case scenario of a bad mistake; a small, beginner-like mistake having a terrible impact on the performer and customer.

Claire told me she heard this legend from her supervisor at the costume shop where she works. Her supervisor told Claire that she heard the legend at the Los Angeles Opera where she used to work.  Perhaps by telling this legend to new employees, the hope is that they will take heed and not make a similar mistake.