Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Ghost Uncle Visit

Performance Date: March 12, 2023
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

Text:

Late one night in 1966 in Santa Ana, California, my grandma heard a knock at the front door. She opened the door and saw her Uncle Udono, who lived in Japan at the time and felt shocked to see him in the United States. Behind her, my grandpa asked, ”What are you doing at the door?” She turned around to respond that it was her uncle, and when she faced back towards her uncle, he was gone. The next day she found out he had passed away in Japan.

Context:

This is my grandma’s personal experience. After she saw her uncle show up at her house and then disappear, she thought she was hallucinating since she was tired when the experience took place. Later the next day, after hearing about her uncle’s passing, she felt startled but also oddly at peace. Her Uncle had no children and in a way saw my grandma as his child. She interpreted her uncle’s ghostly visit as her Uncle saying goodbye to his favorite niece one last time.

Analysis:

I think her one memorate strengthened her belief in the supernatural because after she described her experience she briefly described another personal paranormal story. Her experience was her smelling an awful stench in her home that only she could smell. About 2 weeks later she found out her brother had died and was rotting for a month in his apartment. She interpreted this as a sign from her deceased brother that he was dead and wanted her to know. I think if she didn’t have her uncle’s ghost experience she may not have correlated the two occasions (the sudden odor and her brother’s death) together.

Hiroshima Miracle

Performance Date: March 12, 2023
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

Text:

On August 6, 1945, next to Hiroshima Japan, my great great aunt (grandma’s aunt) was using the restroom when the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. As she was right outside ground zero, and felt a sudden shake and boom. In an attempt to leave the bathroom, she realized the door to the exit had collapsed. Desperate, she looked for any way out and found a crack in the wall leading to the outside. She escaped and ran for cover. Later on, rescue teams searched the area for trapped survivors. She had questioned if they found the hole she escaped through, but they said there was no opening where she had escaped. In doubt, she went back to her work building to seek out where the escape hole was. After searching around the building there was no crack nor indication of an opening near the outside of the bathroom.

Context:

This story was originally told to my grandma by her aunt but shared the story with me on her deceased aunt’s behalf. She (my grandma’s aunt) interpreted her experience as a miracle from God and a sign that she had meaning in life. My grandma believed her, as she was very respected within the family and was known to be truthful. She strongly agreed with her aunt and the story lead to her Christian belief being strengthened.

Analysis:

After the bomb, my grandma’s aunt was unable to have children, since she was in contact with radiation. She ended up never marrying and lived a long full life. I think because she felt she had a purpose after her experience, despite not being able to produce a family and the trauma of war, she decided to live a fruitful life. When you understand you have meaning you start to see the beautiful parts of yourself and within life more often, rather than it going unnoticed. Her story also inspired my grandma and she too has the same positive outlook on life.

Friend of a Friend Ghost Story

Primary Language: English

Storyteller revered to as JZ.

Text:

At night inside JZ’s home, he and his friend Jay were getting creeped out by looking out at a pitch-black window. Jay began to talk about how he and his family are very into the supernatural and shared with JZ that he (Jay) can sense ghosts. JZ asked how can you sense ghosts? Jay explained by using an experience he had when traveling. The family got an Airbnb, and the house looked and felt haunted. Right when he (Jay) entered he felt a “bad aura”. Then at night when he and his sister were going to brush their teeth, he went to open the door and it opened by itself and started to swing back and forth by itself. Startled, Jay and his sister decided to not go in the bathroom and went to bed instead. They were sharing a room so he slept on the floor while his sister slept on the bed. As they were trying to sleep they heard something walking down the hall while scratching the wall and heard pounding in the attic. Jay also added that he felt like he was being watched. He asked his parents in the morning if they were walking through the hall after they all went to bed, and they said no. Then he asked if they heard any walking through the halls and they said yes.

Context:

JZ was telling this story on his friend Jay’s behalf (Jay’s memorate). At that moment he questioned his belief in the paranormal. JZ explained to me he has a very analytical mind, and he was surprised that he even considered if ghosts were real.

Analysis:

I think JZ’s trust in Jay combined with the “creepy” environment the story was being told in, influenced JZ to wonder if ghosts were true. If you trust someone, you usually don’t question if they’re making up a story. And if a spooky story is being told to someone in an office compared to a creepy environment, there’s a better chance the story will be taken more seriously in an uneasy atmosphere. Jay’s memorate made ghost lore a bit stronger because it had JZ who is not a ghost believer consider if the paranormal was real.

Crocus sac

Text (local legend):

“My parents and grandparents always told us to beware of a man carrying a crocus sac because he might come and take us away.”

Context:

A is 50 years old and from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His entire immediate family is from there as well born and raised. He currently lives in Texas and has lived there for 20 years.

A: “I was pre-teen back then so probably around 7 to 12 and back then y’know we played outside a lot and kind of had free reign so I would play down at my grandmothers house with my cousins and to make sure y’know we didn’t stray too far like maybe two to three blocks from our house they would tell us this old tale to make sure we were at least within shouting distance when they called us.”

Q: “So this was a commonly used warning story to make sure you all were close to home?”

A: “Well all of the kids knew the story as our parents told us growing up if you weren’t on your best behavior, or if you strayed too far from home our parents would tell us this as kind of a scare tactic.”

Q: “Who were these people really that kids thought would take them away?”

A: “It was the 70’s so you rarely saw women working outside the house back then, it was always a guy of working age probably between 20 and 40 carrying that sack and it was pretty big sack so we believed that they could carry little kids away back then. This was the deep south in the around 1970s so it was pre-backpack (laughs) they would really just use it to like carry tools in or maybe carry some lunch in.”

Analysis:

The text is a legend as it consists of a localized traditional narrative formed from historical and societal norms of the time. While the 1970s was a time for progress as more women were increasingly joining the workforce, During this period, however, it was rare for women to work outside of the house as this was reflective of traditional gender norms. With that said, it may seem intuitive that in this narrative, the alleged Crocus monster was simply working men carrying sacs associated with their outdoor work field used to carry dry goods during work or travel. As described by my informant, the sacs that children believed to belong to the Crocus monster was large enough to fit a small child increasing the fear factor of children who were being told this story. This was told primarily by adults to their children in an attempt to discourage them from straying too far from home and to keep them obedient. This is representative of the challenges in the African American community that shaped the ways in which parents approached raising their children. African American parents were heavily influenced by social, economic, employment, and other factors that disadvantaged the community. For this reason, there was a stronger emphasis on discipline and authority when it came to raising children as the emphasis was on instilling “good behavior” in their children.  This is a prime example of Valk’s idea that legends can have a function of teleological orientation occurring when humans wander from their daily practices or routines into alien territory.

The woman in the window

Text (urban legend): 

“There was said to be a book called “The Woman in the Window” and if you opened it the woman in the window would alway be watching you in a window.”

Context: 

A is my little sister who is 9 years old. She is in the fourth grade and loves to read. She recalls this story being shared around school by classmates of hers.”

Q: “Do you only need to open the book for this to happen?”

A: “No, if you open the book and read the pages out loud, then the woman will haunt you.”

Q: “Where did you hear about this book?”

A: “I heard it from one of my friends at school. We don’t know if the book is real or not (quietly)…”

Q: “What does the woman look like?”

A: “I have never seen her but my friend says she has long black hair and wears a white dress.”

Analysis: 

The text is an urban legend as its truth value is unknown and it was shared between two people who both belief it to be true. The fact that the truth value is unknown likely plays a role in the nature of my informant. She heard it from another classmate in primary school and I find that children’s folklore is more likely to be based on fiction rather than actuality or fantasy versus reality. As the story was told and shared between two children, I also view this as a cautionary tale in a sense that the narrative cautions readers to be wary of what they read and a general warning against the unknown as my informant didn’t know if this book actually exists but she was fearful regardless as her voice tended to lower when speaking about the instance in which the woman in the window may appear. I also notice a connection or similarity between the woman in the window and the story of La Llorna such as the white dress, long black hair, and possible feelings of revenge fueling their actions. As described by Carbonell, a variation of the story of La Llorna involves her acting out of revenge on a lover that wronged her. In a male dominated society, I find this common that children’s horror folklore, specifically in young girls, is center around this notion of the volatility and frightening nature of women’s emotions. Ideas of male versus female distinctions in children’s folklore by Meechling also supports my ideas in interpreting this legend in terms of young girls where the stereotype is perpetuated that a female figure fueled by emotions is something of which to be afraid of.