Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Legend – Oahu, Hawaii

Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Merced, CA
Performance Date: March 31, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Hawaiian

In the time of the Ancient Hawaiians, on the island of Oahu, Kaneana Point was often a place of rituals and sacrifices, often human sacrifices. At this time there was a shark who lived in a sea cave directly below Kaneana Point. The cave is called Makua Cave. This shark, known today as Makua Charley, is rumored to have a taste for human blood and flesh because he fed on the human sacrifices. The cave is also close to a popular surf spot on the island. Although the cave is now above water and the reaches of the tides it is still believed that a giant under water lava tube passage may be the residence of Makua Charley, waiting for an unfortunate person to be sucked in by the undertow.

Sam’s father told him this story after he first learned how to surf in Hawaii. His dad was taking him around the island showing him some of the good, locals-only surf spots when he was told about Makua Charley and his appetite for blood. Sam claims that the story scared him a little bit at first and fed to his innate fear of sharks while surfing. But because the cave is no longer submerged and the story is hundreds of years old, he is not really scared of the ancient shark.

This legend serves many purposes, principally demonstrating a relationship with nature. First it establishes a fear and respect for nature; fear of the shark and his hunger for humans but also respect for the shark as he was more or less fed the sacrifices. Also, the friendly name Makua Charley establishes a more friendly relationship between the

humans and shark. The name Charley doesn’t have the connotation of a blood-hungry shark but rather an old friend.

As Sam mentioned, surfers today who surf near the Makua cave do not feel threatened or scared by Makua Charley. He also mentioned that Makua Charley has become more of a joke or term used when someone does something really wrong in relationship to surfing. For example, if a surfer is absolutely crazy and unsafe someone might say, “He’s on his way to visit Makua Charley.”

I think this legend evolved from a scare tactic used to keep certain people from disrespecting a beautiful point of the island (which is now protected) to an ominous story used to teach young surfers to be respectful of the ocean and its inhabitants. The legend is commonly passed down through families and friends all with the same intention. The ties the Hawaiian people feel with their islands are constantly exhibited in their mythologies and legends. The Kaneana Point/Makua Cave legend is no exception.

Ghost Story – Hispanic/Native-American

Nationality: Italian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Ventura, CA
Performance Date: April 02, 2008
Primary Language: English

The San Buena Ventura Mission in Ventura County, CA was built on an Indian Burial ground.  Next to the mission a school was built called Holy Cross for grades kindergarten through eight. One of the buildings was really old, it was first building of the school. The school used to be a small one-building school. The building had a bell tower and the bell tower was said haunted by the spirits from the burial site. Friends of Charly claim to have heard funny noises and seen shadows when no one was there. The bell tower was torn down 4 years ago. On the night the tower was torn down people nearby claimed that there were strange noises and lights around the construction site. A new, really large school building was built in its place. Now it is said that if you are at the new building at night time lights will flash on and off and that you will hear sounds. These are supposed to be signs from the angry spirits in the burial ground. They were angry that they were built on top of in the first place and remain angry that buildings still stand over the burial ground.

Charly went to Holy Cross School in the 6th grade. She said that she heard the story when she became a student at the school. She said that the new students were always told this story when they first got to the school to scare them. This ghost story could be seen as a type of initiation for the new students. Charly said the kids would tell the new kids this story and then also embellish different parts of the story. She said that the kids would pick normal, modern objects and claim that they were haunted too just to scare the new kids and make them feel uncomfortable. This would go on only for a few weeks in the beginning of the year according to Charly, after that liminal period the students would get tired of scaring and just accept the new kids.

The setting of angry Indian spirits is a common beginning to many ghost stories. The Indian polytheistic belief system is directly juxtaposed with the Christian monotheism in this story because a Christian mission is built on top of the burial ground. This may symbolize the stomping out of Naive American beliefs by monotheism and the oppression the Indians went through during the colonization and Christianization of southern California. The angry spirits are a means of retaliation by the Indian people and also bring recognition of their presence.

The active bearers of the story are middle school aged children, ages 12-13. At this age kids are beginning to want to impress others, boys impressing girls and vice versa, and therefore scaring a new kid may be a way to impress these groups. Also, if a new kid says he or she’s not scared he will probably impress the new kids more than if he bought into the story and revealed his fear.

Kids telling ghost stories or daring each other is a commonplace in middle schools, especially when it involves welcoming a new person into social groups. At this age social groups and standards are becoming more important and cliques are established. The ghost story of the Indian burial ground at Holy Cross appears to serve more as a hazing ritual for the new students at the school versus a story actually investigated by the students.

Legend – Vietnamese

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 31
Occupation: Student
Residence: Saigon, Vietnam
Performance Date: April 22, 2008
Primary Language: Vietnamese
Language: Mandrin, Japanese, French, English

In 15th century ancient Vietnam emperor Le Loi was credited for driving the Chinese invaders out of Vietnam. The legend holds that Le Loi was given a magic sword from the gods that enabled him to drive out the invaders. After his victory Le Loi was at a lake, known as the Green Water Lake. While he was there a giant turtle emerged from the lake and told him to return the sword to the Dragon God. Suddenly, the sword shot out of its sheath into the mouth of the turtle and the turtle disappeared.

Kevin learned this story from his parents when he was growing up. Kevin and his family lived in Vietnam for most of his childhood. He said it was common for parents to pass down stories to the children about the history of the country and its rulers. Kevin said that he has never visited the lake but knows that locals hold it in much esteem.

Kevin believes this story is told to keep the ancient traditions and mythology alive in future generations despite the growing industrialization and globalization of the developing country. Also, because the story has close ties to history and ancient Vietnamese it is considered part of the Vietnamese mythology. The Vietnamese people also consider the lake where the legend took place sacred. Today, according to Kevin if the turtle reappears at the lake an extraordinary event will take place.

Interestingly a news story related to this legend recently made headlines. In Vietnam researchers recently identified a rare giant soft shell turtle in Northern Vietnam previously believed to be extinct. The turtle was measured at about 3.5 feet long and close to 400 pounds. These turtles are also able to live more than 100 years, but the age of this particular turtle is unknown. This turtle has great cultural significance to the Vietnamese people because it personifies the description of the turtle in the legend.

Reporters also said that the recent discovery of this turtle will help revive the legend among Vietnamese people. Doug Hendrie, the Vietnamese coordinator of the US zoo’s Asian Turtle Program said: “This species has legendary status among the people of Vietnam, so this is perhaps an opportunity for the legend to live on.” This scientific evidence gives credibility to the legend, that indeed a giant turtle may have appeared, however the probability that the turtle actually spoke is still very legendary.

I interpret that this story’s central message is humility. The emperor would not have been able to conquer the invaders without the god’s sword and from what Kevin told me it does not seem like Le Loi was willing to return the sword or be grateful for their help. Because of this the turtle had to forcibly take the sword from him. Because the emperor was not humble enough Mother Nature, wisdom, and strength, all personified by the turtle had to discipline him.

For the article about the turtle see annotation:

Turtle Holds on in Center of Vietnam’s Capital. NPR. Hanoi. 28 Mar. 2006. 30 Apr. 2008 <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89750339>.

Ghost Story – New York, New York

Nationality: German
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Rumson, NJ
Performance Date: April 11, 2008
Primary Language: English

While the New Amsterdam Theater on W. 42nd St  was being renovated some of the construction men claimed that  they frequently saw a beautiful young woman wandering aimlessly through the theater when they were working. She is always dressed in a Follies costume and a blue glass in her hand. She wore a sash with the name Olive on it too. They think that she’s the ghost of Olive Thomas who died in the 1920s. She was a Ziegfeld Girl which were part of the Ziegfeld Follies that the theatre hosted. Olive died of syphilis in Paris. But once when reconstruction was going on the workers got freaked out because they saw her ghost and they ran out of the building screaming. Another time the ghost talked to a worker in the lobby saying “How are you doing, handsome?” but when he turned around she was gone.

Chauncey spends most of her weekends in New York City shopping, visiting friends from boarding school and going to shows. When Chauncey was about 13 years old she went to see the musical 42nd St. with her Mom. While she and her mom were waiting for the show to begin her mom told her the story of the ghost in the New Amsterdam theatre. Her mom heard the story from a friend of hers who knew the owner of the theatre. Chauncey and her mom both believe the story to be credible because the owner supports it.

The story of Olive Thomas is interesting, but has a fundamental flaw. First and probably most obvious is the fact that Olive Thomas died in Paris, where the follies show was originally conceived. It makes little sense that her ghost would return to New York City. When I asked Chauncey about this she said that she thought perhaps Olive’s most beloved memories are of her time in the theatre and that’s why she wanted to return.

The traits of Olive that came through in her appearances may also reveal reasons as to why she died of a sexually transmitted disease. Olive appears with a glass in her hands, it could be assumed that this glass had a cocktail in it, leading to the assumption that Olive often drank. Also, Olive hit on the workers in the theatre calling one handsome, this might imply that she was promiscuous.  Alcohol and sexual promiscuity are both likely the precursors to sexually transmitted diseases and perhaps Olive is looking to warn others of the dangers.  By appearing with the traits of her downfall maybe it will scare others from engaging in the acts.

Perhaps the only reason her ghost appeared is because the theatre was being gutted and completely reconstructed, this may have disturbed old spirits of the theatre and could be the main reason Olive appeared. As far as Chauncey knows, Olive was the only ghost who appeared to the construction workers. Currently the New Amsterdam theatre is owned by Disney productions and is in use on Broadway. Since it’s reopening in 1997 Chauncey and her mother have not heard any more accounts of Olive’s presence in the theatre, or any other haunting for that matter.

Legend

Nationality: Irish, Hispanic, Polish, German
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Granger, IN
Performance Date: April 26, 2008
Primary Language: English

Legend of Tannadoonnah

“There is a tribe of Indians who lived where camp is now…land of birches; you know, birch trees and a birch lake. They lead a simple, peaceful life…they farmed and gathered fish. They lived like this for many years and eventually the white settlers spread into Michigan. They felt their lives were interrupted because white men were taking things from them. Things were tense because they couldn’t communicate with each other and it looked like there was going to be a war. The chief’s daughter was the peacemaker between the Indian tribe and white man because she won affections of one of the white men. Instead of gaining trust from both, she made both sides suspicious of her. All the Indians were afraid she was betraying them. White men saw how close she was with her father and thought she was a fraud. But then, one day, fighting erupted between the Indians and white men, and the princess was scared and didn’t want her people to get hurt. She didn’t want her new friends to get hurt either, so she got in middle of it. She was killed. The main white man told them she wasn’t a spy…was trying to make peace all along, so the white men and Indian tribe gave Tannadoonah a nice burial site. They grew a tree on top of her grave. It grew and now it protects and watches over the land and is supposed to symbolize protection and friendship between nature (Indians) and white men (campers).

They say that campers are still haunted by Indians. Most of the time, Indians go back to their old ways and play tricks on white men. The council fire room at the camp site was the big council meeting room for Indians. You can go to this tree and her spirit is still there. You can see how she lives through the tree. The roots are twisted and you can see parts of her face and elbow in the tree. It’s her body being incorporated into tree.” –Caitlin Fitzgerald

Analysis:

One day when reminiscing about old summer camp memories, my roommate Caitlin shared this story with me. She went to Camp Tannadoonah, a camp affiliated with Campfire Girls. She learned about the story on a tour of the camp when she was five years old. Every summer when she went back to camp, her campfire leader would retell the story. Caitlin definitely believes in the story. The tree and council room have different connotations. While the tree represents princess Tannadoonah’s guardian spirit, the council room holds scary spirits (and continues to scare the campers).

Before telling me her version of the story (the version her camp leader told her when she was five), she gave me the original story as it was presented on both the camp’s website and others who remember the original version. She says:

“Princess Tannadoonah was promised to be married to a warrior. There was a drought, so the men were in charge of finding food. The princess didn’t want to leave home. She decided to stay because her husband promised to come back for her. In the end, she died before he could come back. He buried her body and planted a tree over her grave. The tree, that is now the tree of Tannadoonah, grew over many years. All of its branches represent the amount of love that Princess Tannadoonah and her warrior had for one another.”

For a camp that has been around since 1921, the legend inevitably experienced multiplicity and variation. Today, according to Caitlin, there are endless variations of the story.

After hearing her story, I recalled my days at Camp Cayuga, sitting around a campfire at 9:00 pm (which was late for me at the time since I was in 8th grade), watching camp counselors and campers enact certain camp songs and stories. This daily ritual essentially brings folklore to life and emulates the traditional act of storytelling that Native Americans started hundreds of years ago. All in all, I could not think of a better place to find folklore than at summer camp. Camp brings people together, creates a sense of belonging, and preserves legends and rituals. I almost think of summer camp as a culture that kids engage in. Since I’m from the east coast (and apparently summer camps are more prevalent there than they are on the west coast), I always bring up summer camp rituals, only to find that no one else knows what I’m talking about. Caitlin was similarly surprised that I had never heard of Tannadoonah’s story.