Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Haunted Houghton Mill of St. Ives

After asking my dad for some ghost stories of his childhood he remembered this specific one that he heard in primary school (elementary). It was based in his small village where he grew up, outside of Cambridge called St. Ives. It was based on a thousand year old Houghton Mill that was seen as a monument and preserved as a historic sight. The ghost story is a spooky story that the older kids would tell the younger kids on the bus to scare them and be funny. Haunting the kids, there was a sense of shaken up when walking past the mill in town.

GP “There was a story of the ladies who would mend the sacks for storing flour or grain at the Houghton Mill in Cambridgeshire, UK. It was a type of local legend that was passed down from the kids of the town to scare them into staying away from the watermill that was on the River Great Ouse, it was such a crucial hub for primarily grinding grain. The legend was based on the tasks of mending sacks and these women supposedly fell into the mill pond that powered the millwheel, they drowned and died. The reason they fell into the water was unclear and never confirmed but it was assumed that the women could have been caught off balance when they were working around the edge or a mishap on the structure. The story continues around the town that the mill is haunted by their spirits, and apparently the visitors and locals have heard some ghostly sounds around the mill and felt some eerie sensations like a ghost was present near the millpond. Being told this story in primary school led to my friends and I steering clear of the mill.”

Analyzing this haunted tale, I felt as though the idea of the ghosts presence is wildly seen through eerie feelings near the place of death or hearing sort of ghostly noises that would represent the souls that have died is such a common functionality of spirits reappearing in the real world. Hearing this story made me realize that ghost stories are passed down through ages and are told with a purpose, it was told to my dad in primary school from the older kids which would try to scare them into running past the old mill in town.

The Piper Piping

Speaking to my mother about ghosts and tales in Ireland led to one significant story that stood out to her as a child when she would visit the nearby school in Co. Donegal to play Irish football, better known as gaelic. The town Ballintra was renowned for the Pullan Caves on the Brown Hall Demesne estate. This story was passed down throughout the years to scare away the kids from intruding on the Brownhall House, my Mom’s older brothers would tell her and her sister these spooky stories to frighten them whenever they would travel down to Ballintra. My mom took this haunted legend seriously as a child and then later grew out of it which later led to less and less visits to the town Ballintra as she got older. 

GP “We would travel down to the Ballintra football pitch to either watch my brothers games or for my sisters and I’s games, the pitch was just on the outer parts of the Brown Hall Demesne forest. This forest had the Brown Hall house that had many caves in it and they were known as the Pullin Caves. The story started with a group of traveling pipers that went around Ireland from pub to pub performing gigs most nights, and one of their stops was in the town pub of Ballintra so they stayed in the Brown Hall house. The next morning after their gig one of the pipers went on a walk and wandered into one of the caves, he had his pipe and started playing it which made a very large echo that the rest of his piping band heard but it suddenly stopped. The piper that walked into the cave walked too far and never came back, he was named dead after being missing for so long. The last memory of him was the sound of his pipe, which lingered ever since he died in the cave. As time went on, the cave would make sounds of the pipe echoing and would happen more frequently on nights of full moons; it was the sound of the ghost of the piper trying to find his way out. The cave was then named the Piper’s Hole and everyone stays well away from the Pullin caves of Brown Hall Demesne but especially the Piper’s hole.”

After hearing this story and being able to connect with it on more of a deeper level, I realized that Ireland has many spooky traits to it due to the history that lies beneath the architecture and nature all around. Having visited Ballintra plenty of times, I noticed that the town is much more grim as some others stemming from the lack of lively-ness and having such a bland main street. Leading this ghost story to fit right into the town’s persona. Highlighting the functionality of music in ghost stories as well caught my attention, the idea of spirits playing an instrument that would represent their presence.

Water Ghost

AGE: 56
Date_of_performance: November 27, 2024
Informant Name: Jongsoo Park
Language: Korean
Collector’s name: Sunghun Park
Nationality: South Korean
Occupation: Businessman
Primary Language: Korean
Other language: English
Residence: Busan, South Korea

Main description:

JP: It was 27 years ago when I was serving in the military in Gangwon Province. Then, a serious rainy season came for a while. I thought that this rainy season would reduce work because it was early on my duty at that time. 

However, with a lot of serious rain, I started to have more things to do. There were even floods and casualties. My unit started to help local firefighters and help restore small villages. The first thing I had to do was find the missing person. While traveling with Sergeant Park on a boat, I found what appeared to be a human head among the reeds. But Sergeant Park kept saying no, in an uncharacteristically hard-line manner. 

Later, when I told the other firefighters about this, one of them asked where it was. The next day, the firefighter who asked where he was went missing during a search operation. In the midst of shock, Sergeant Park kept muttering that the body in the water could not stand upright, and that it could be a ‘water ghost’ who wanted to ascend by making another victim when he got close. After a few days, the village recovered normally, but the firefighter was not found. Years later, the area still experiences strange drowning once in a while. Even today, the incident and something in the water keep popping up in my mind every time I visit again. 

INFORMANT’S OPINION:

MP: Do you think the weird thing you witnessed during the finding missing person process was really a water ghost or do you think there’s a more substantial explanation?

JP: I’ve been thinking since it happened that it really was a water ghost. Given what I saw and the firefighter’s disappearance since I brought it up, I don’t think those two things can happen by accident. And even the Sergeant Park’s claim about the water ghost, I think what I saw that day was really a water ghost and why the firefighter who was going to check it went missing. 

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION: 

The story is deeply related to the ‘water ghost’ that has been discussed a lot since ancient times in Korea. These events, such as seeing a head among reeds, the disappearance of a firefighter, and the warning of Sergeant Park, are other supernatural phenomena that JP cannot understand. The core of many ghost stories is the soul trapped in a certain place for a certain reason, and repeated drownings in this area might be the proof of this. The story as a whole really suggests that JP has witnessed supernatural warnings linked to the local faith. 

My Mother

Age: 53

Occupation: Landscaper

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Performance Date: November 28, 2024

Primary Language: Spanish

Language: English

Story

EG: “Have you ever witnessed or been told of an unexplainable occurrence?”

RG: ” Let me think… hmmm. Oh yes, I do remember one. This one is about one of my uncles when he was a little boy, and it all happened back home in Guatemala… uh maybe around 12 years old…He was heading back home one night from working on one of the fields and then he saw his mom on an open field calling his name. But uh… the weird thing was that his mother had already passed away. But with the innocence of a child, he believed that his mother was really calling him, so, uhm, he followed her through this open field in the dark because she kept telling him that there was a cow or something like that. This is what my uncle remembers. When all this is happening, he uh… actually goes missing for about a day. Now… from my parents I was told that when they found my uncle he was by a huge rock, which was basically by, uh… a cliff. His mother said that if he moved, he would have fallen. The devastating thing is that when they found my uncle he was slouched, and he remained that way for the rest of his life. No one knows, including himself, what was done to him to cause him to stay that way. “

Informants Opinion

EG: “Do you think that it was his mother’s spirit calling him that night?”

RG: “Umm, not at all actually because I don’t think his mother would have hurt him or put him in danger in that way. Instead, I believe that it could have been La Llorona because she is known to also lead people to cliffs. It was a bad spirit that night, but luckily my uncle was still alive when they found him. But uhm I still wonder what was done to him that caused him to permanently stay slouched.”

Final Thoughts

I can agree with the informant that the spirit that night was not the boys’ mother and possibly La Llorona. She is commonly known to take children away when they are alone at night, but this time it just seemed like she tried to lead the boy to his death. Also, since it was late at night and dark the possibility of him encountering some kind of ghost was high. After hearing this story, I also wonder what happened to the boy after he lost remembrance during the interaction. This story also can teach people not to let their children out on their own at night, or just in general to avoid being out dark places alone.

Detroit’s East Market – Legend

Text:

My father told me about living in Detroit. His side of the family is almost all Italian (Sicilian, more specifically). There was a saying that “You always know someone in the Mafia”, even if you weren’t aware of it. Detroit is notorious for high crime rates, or at least it was when my father was younger. He himself knew that his uncle was friends with people in the Mafia, which made many family members very uncomfortable. My father assumed that this meant he didn’t have to pay for protection (to the Mafia) for his liquor store, which many other store owners had to do. 

My dad knew a story about a newcomer to Detroit – someone who moved there without knowing what the situation was like. He sells their house and buys a new one in Detroit, with hopes of making it in the motor industry. Unfortunately, his perfect view of the city is shattered upon arrival, where robberies are rampant and terrible shootouts happen every day. The newcomer is terrified and keeps moving to new neighborhoods, asking for police help each time. The police prove more than useless and it becomes clear that they have little to no control over the city. Eventually the man, who has been robbed and mugged multiple times, is ready to give up on his dream. Just then, he stumbles into a new neighborhood. People are selling fresh fruit, vegetables, and flowers out in the open. The newcomer is baffled – how are they able to do this and feel safe? He figures this area is more affluent and can fund their police better. But when he asks about the police, he gets laughed at. “The Mafia protects us,” respond the vendors. Apparently, this was the area in the city most tightly under the Mafia’s control. Crime was almost completely eliminated. My father referred to this place as the Eastern Market – one of the first farmer’s markets. He visited himself and testified to its truth – it was safer than most other places in Detroit at the time.

Context:

My dad heard this story from his parents, who warned him about going in certain neighborhoods because of high crime rates. My dad knew it to be true himself after visiting the area. The story reminds them that oftentimes there’s a whole lot going on that you don’t see – his uncle was a good example of this. A different relative was put in prison for obstruction of justice related to Detroit crime. He worked for the police. My father took dangerous places very seriously, especially after working at a Detoir emergency hospital where he saw gunshot patients and stabbed patients constantly.

Analyis:

There’s an inherent warning in this story, and a forced acceptance of the way things are. The story’s purpose is to help children (maybe more mature children) understand the city they live in, and come to terms with the fact that someone they know might be involved in crime. They must also come to terms with the fact that the police are not, in fact, safe people to talk to. They can easily be bribed and were not effective at all in eliminating crime. Finally, the story helps the children remember that the Eastern Market is one of the safer areas in Detroit.