Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Thoen Stone

Context:
J is 80 years old and grew up in Spearfish, SD. He told me about a local legend from the Black Hills, a region in South Dakota.

Text:
“The Thoen Stone story was always a part of the local folklore in and around the Black Hills of SD, where I spent part of my youth. A sandstone rock with names of some deceased gold prospectors carved or scraped into the surface of the sandstone was supposedly found on a hill called Lookout Mountain. In addition to the names, a story of hidden gold was part of the message on the rock. It was carved by one of the prospectors named Ezra Kind who was hiding from Native Americans who were hunting for him and the gold, which he claimed he had hidden on Lookout Mountain or in the general area. This story created a “search for the gold” mentality with the kids in the area. When my brother and I were growing up, we, along with friends, would spend many summer days searching for the hidden gold while hiking or riding horses. BTW we never found it nor has anyone else!”

Analysis:
This legend is a local legend of the area in which these people grew up. This legend like many others is a legend of gold to be found (similar to El Dorado). It’s interesting how most people probably know it’s just a legend since many have spent so much time and energy searching, but somehow the legend is still alive and the folklore persists. This is an example of childhood folklore that is exclusive to the Black Hills, as it is almost like a shared experience and a part of growing up in this region. The hope and possibility for gold remains.

The Chatsworth Tunnel

Context:

NL is my boyfriend who is twenty-four years old and grew up in the valley region of Los Angeles. The story he told me was passed down to him by his mother and is about a haunted tunnel in Los Angeles that was very infamous in the 1980s & 90s.

Main Piece:

NL: So, my mom used to always tell me the story about the Chatsworth Tunnel, especially if we were on the road and about to enter a tunnel; she loved to scare me. Basically, two young kids died in the tunnels a long time ago either because they were smothered, or the train hit them. Some say the train sucked all of the oxygen out of the tunnel and that’s how they died, or they couldn’t get out since the tunnel is so long and the train hit them. For some reason, this terrible tragedy created like a challenge and so at night kids would go and stand on the inside of the tunnel wall and wait for a train to come. They wanted to see if they could survive, I guess. But the areas surrounding the tunnel is very mountainous and rocky, so allegedly if you go at night, you can see people who have died standing on the rocks and cliffs. There have been a lot of supposedly bad things happen in places surrounding the tunnels that are unrelated, so it’s kind of become known as a haunted and disturbing area in general.

Analysis:

The story that NL describes can be categorized as an urban legend, considering how recent it is, and that many people in the Valley believe this story to be true. Traumatic stories like this often turn normal places where something exceptionally bad happens into legendary places. As the story of legendary places get passed around facts get mixed with personal claims to create the lore surrounding the area. This draws people in, since a legend could be true, to see it for themselves, like if the train really does suck all the air from the tunnel. Legends can also act as a warning for people which can either deter or attract them from replicating whatever dangerous actions were at the origin of the legend.

Mula Sin Cabeza, Brazilian Headless Horse

Text:

M: umm , oh another one is the, ah, mula sin cabeza. This is actual like folklore that umm basically is the…  mula sin cabeza its a type of horse without their head, that’s the name

Me: ok

m :  umm

Me: is it mula sin cabeza?

M: yeah, aaand what happened is it’s a creature that is created or born or whatever, when a woman sleeps with a priest. Which your no supposed to cause like a priest is like 

 Cannot have sex and bla bla bla. But, if you do, the woman becomes that horse 

O: what!?

M: yes..

O: that is so anti-woman.

I laugh

M: well, whatever, it’s, it is what it is

Me: maybe society is anti-woman

M: yeah

O: oh m goodness society

M laughs

M: and then so she would 

[I laugh because o realizes that I’m recording and leaves]

M: she would like walk around at night, cause you know the mystic anything will transform at night

[O leaves closing door]

M: and so, and the way she is, imagine like a horse without a head, and on the place the head was supposed to be its just flames

Me: yo, thats metal

M: right, it’s literally that! It like a horse without its head and in its place fire. What else we have…

Me: wait wait, what does the horse do?

M: just haunt the city

Me: the whole city.

M: yeah cause, like it would like walk around us when it was.. And don’t have a head. And it was like a punishment for like sleeping with the priest. Cause you’re not supposed to sleep with the priest

Me: that’s your take on it? You’re not supposed to sleep with a priest

M: yeah basically. In conclusion, do not sleep with priests

I laugh

M: so fleabag would not have survived Brazilian culture

ME: you’re right

Context:

The informant, M, is a 19-year-old USC international student from Brazil. She delivered this piece in the workroom of a campus center before class alongside other pieces in order to share some personal and Brazilian folklore. She learned about this legend growing up in Brazil.

O is a mutual friend of the informant and me, they briefly walked into the workroom and commented on the legend, before realizing I was recording and leaving.

Analysis:

As M said “You’re not supposed to sleep with the priest.” this legend clearly indicates the cultural value of not sleeping with priests.

To me (as partially stated in the text) transforming the woman who slept with the priest rather than the priest indicates blame on women for the sex rather than priests/men. This would indicate a larger cultural understanding that having sex with a priest is wrong, not a priest having sex. This could relate to western christian notions of purity culture that blame women for the loss of virginity and other sexual acts.

The specifics of M’s speech also indicate that mystic transformations are thought to more commonly happen at night,

Loira do Banheiro, The Brazilian Bloody Mary

Text:

Me: ok, we’re recording

M: Oh okay great. Let’s start with the Brazilian version of Bloody Mary. So we call her the blonde woman. It’s a legend, like of course, as every child would when I was in school and I was like elementary school, of course, the children were like ‘oh yeah! Its a legend, but it actually happened here in this school. Umm it’s basically a story that she was a girl she was blond she’s in school bullied. And she went to the bathroom to cry, and then she slipped, hit her head, and died

Me: oh my god

M: and there’s a specific stall that it happened in. In my school it was the bigger one for accessibility. after that I never went to that bathroom again by the way. Cause I was, I was like ‘i don’t believe in it’ but still like ‘Yeah I’m gonna use the other one.’ umm, and to summon her you had to like throw like a one piece of hair. And then..

Me: your hair?

M: yes

Me: Okay

M: on the toilet and then like flush three times, go to the mirror and say like. Uhh loira do banheiro, loira do banheiro, loira do banheiro. Which, loira do banheiro is blond from the bathroom. And then she would appear and kill you.

Me: obvi

M: yes. And then I remember I had a friend who like, my friends would go to the bathroom to try it, but that’s like– it would only work in the girls’ bathroom and there were two boys. So I don’t know how they were doing it!? Cause I never went with them cause I was like I’m not doing that. But yeah. Dunno what they were doin’, but yeah whatever we were kids so it’s umm

Me: what’s your take on what that means? Like what’s the meaning, what’s the story?

M: ummm I don’t know. I think it’s, probably for either just– it’s just a scary story the children told each other or maybe to make them behave when like between going to the bathroom and going back to class. But yeah, I think that it’s just a scary story that kids created.

Me: alright

Context:

The informant, M, is a 19-year-old USC international student from Brazil. She delivered this piece in the workroom of a campus center before class alongside other pieces in order to share some personal and Brazilian folklore. She learned about this legend growing up in Brazil.

The informant suggests that the legend is either “just a scary story the children told each other” or something adults said to make kids behave in bathrooms.

Analysis:

M says that this is a Brazilian version of Bloody Mary. Indeed the two figures share much: They each appear in girls’ bathrooms. they both are summoned by some action and three repetitions of their name. both kill their summoner. And both fall into that space of legend where people will say they don’t believe, but then avoid the thing/action/place anyway.

Because of this association with Bloody Mary, this legend may also be related to the fear of menstruation (as other scholars have drawn the connection with Bloody Mary). This seems believable because both stories are set in bathrooms and are most popular among young girls, but I hesitate because of the Loira do Banheiro lack of blood references. Instead, there is the focus on hair: you put a piece of hair in the toilet to summon her, and her name-worthy trait is her blond hair.

There is also the moral included that you should not bully someone because they might die and haunt a bathroom killing children.

Saciperere, Brazilian Trickster

Text:

M: Oh we have the umm sasi, saciperere.

Me: sasipere?

M: yes, he’s a guy with only one leg

Me: okay

M: he has a a red cap. Well like kinda, kinda like a beanie, kinda like a cap. And he would like [coughs] sorry, umm, im kinda sick

M: don’t worry about it

M: he would like walk around, and he was more of a prankster. So he would like, if you were building stuff he would like– if you had like a plant, he would steal some of it, so he could eat. Like for him to eat, he would steal some of the crops. Anf he would like, I dunno, let’s say he would like tangle the horses like hair. He would like tangle it so you’d have to like brush it. He would like, if you left, let’s say you baked a cake and left it on the, he would steal the cake. Just liek stuff like that. He was more of a prankster. And then there was a thing that if you stole his cap he had to do whatever you make him do. And there was a whole thing that you could capture him. That if like you pick a bottle with a cork, and then you draw a cross on it, and then– uh I don’t remember the whole process– but I know you had to do that so could capture him, put him in the bottle. So if you want like him to go away.

Me: wait, whats his deal? Like, why is he like that?

M:its just a prankster

Me: just a prankster!

M: like you know harry potter, you know how there was like the poltergeist, that was just like pranking everyone in the hallways. 

Me: just like a mischievous spirit or somethin’

M: yeah, a mischievous spirit

Me: cool

M: yeah, and he was jumping on one leg so he.. And he, that’s the thing, he did, when he was walking around like long distances, he would create a small tornado thing. So I think that’s how people explained like those, those, sometimes we have those small vortexes. I think that’s how people explained it. It was him.

M: cool

Context:

The informant, M, is a 19-year-old USC international student from Brazil. She delivered this piece in the workroom of a campus center before class alongside other pieces in order to share some personal and Brazilian folklore. She learned about this legend growing up in Brazil.

Analysis:

Trickster figures are very common worldwide. Saiperere fits this trickster model quite well, being a bit odd and performing traditional trickster activities: stealing cakes, and tangling horses’ manes. A specific of his unusualness, his single leg, indicates to me that limb differences are seen as funny or associated with untrustworthiness and trickery.

the idea that you might be able to trap Saiperere with a bottle bearing a cross is also interesting. the cross being relevant demonstrates the relevance of Christianity in this culture. And also the belief that the Christian god can control and contain malevolent spirits. Because of the cross being able to control him, Saiperere might also be thought of as a demon or devil.