Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Maria Fue Con El Diablo

PP is an 18 year old college student. She is a freshman communications major who’s parents are from Mexico. PP has visited her hometown Tlzazalca in Mexico many times and heard about this legend from her parents.

Context: The informant and I are roommates and I know she has strong ties to her Mexican culture and I asked if she had any folk legends to share as we drank tea on the couch.

Transcript:

PP: In my town, where we live, it’s mostly surrounded by water and rivers. There’s a natural spring where we go for water. But on the other side of town, there’s a huge lake. Supposedly, there was this woman, named Maria I think. She had a few children, maybe 2 or 3, with her husband. He was abusive and treated her horribly. But she stayed with him until this new man came into town. He was attractive, super sweet, a Godly man, and everything you could dream of in a man. She saw him and thought, “Oh my gosh, I like him” and he liked her too. But the thing is he found out that she was in the process of getting a divorce and had already had children. He didn’t like the idea of her having children already because he did not want to raise children that were not his. And so, he told her, “If you want to be with me, you can’t have your children”. She was obsessed with him and would do anything for him because he was perfect, like he was carved from a movie. She still didn’t know where he came from and no one knew who he was. She was surprised by his reaction so she went to church and prayed about it but she somehow fell out with the church and she felt like there was nothing else she could do. One night she was by the river across town and she set up to do satanic rituals to find a way to get rid of her children. As she was doing these rituals, she was speaking to the devil. A few days later she takes her children to the river and drowns them. Then the man finds her there and he says, “You did that all for me?” and he takes her to hell because he was the devil the entire time.

Collector: Wow. Have you been to that lake?

PP: Yeah it’s really scary. It’s horrible and the last time I went to Mexico, we were at a party and it was around 11pm. Right where we live is near a spring of water and we heard something like moaning and decided to ignore it. But who knows what it could have been.

Thoughts/Analysis: There are many variations of stories and legends where a mother sacrifices her children. This one is quite scary though because the devil slowly influenced her. This story and those alike in which they are related to the devil tell folklorists that these folk groups are strongly connected in their faith because the main fear-factor in this legend is not necessarily that Maria drowned her children; it is that the perfect man was actually the devil.

For a variation of this legend, see:

Ryanprod, and Ryanprod. “My Father’s Version of La Llorona.” USC Digital Folklore Archives, November 4, 2021. http://uscfolklorearc.wpenginepowered.com/my-fathers-version-of-la-llorona/.

James Cameron “Titanic” Post-Production Horror Story

Main Piece:

JK: “So there’s this story of a guy who was working on the foley for the ‘Titanic’ movie with James Cameron that’s become this like legendary story in the audio world. Not sure how exact it is, but I’ll tell it how I remember.”
Me: “That’s perfect.”
JK: “Okay, so, supposedly the [foley] guy had been working on creating the sound for this sequence for a while and was going into a review with James. And obviously being near completion, weeks of work have gone into this.”
Me: “Right”
JK: “And James walked in to check out the scene, the dude presses play in ProTools. They’re sitting there, watching the scene, there’s all the sound- he’s watching it. James leans over, and he hits Command+A on the keyboard, then the delete key… and then Command+S. Closes the project, and walks out.”
Me: “Did he say anything?!”
JK: “I’ve heard some people say he did, but most say he walked out silent. [Again] not sure but it seems like it would be, and everyone I know believes it.”

Background:

The informant works in the audio industry for voice over, sound mixing, mastering, etc. This story was told amongst co-workers at a larger audio company he was working for at the time and moved quickly from shock-gossip to legend status.

Context:

While I was receiving a recounting of it over the phone, it was most commonly exchanged as a recognition of the maltreatment of people in their industry by the big shots. Knowledge of the story provides a certain wisdom and a sense of community with the other audio engineers on your level.

Thoughts:

Stories like these in an industry that can be very cut throat because of certain unsavory individuals seem to serve as a reminder that everyone is there to make good art, but also to work and interact with others as human beings. Obviously, it is a stab at James Cameron’s character but also between the lines almost mocks his performative seriousness. Finally, having done work myself in audio and with music, losing project data is always the worst possible thing to happen. You will never really be able to re-create what you’ve done exactly how you had it before, and it can be extremely discouraging. This legend also serves as a lesson to always keep backups of your work. Because if it’s not a crash or a weird glitch that comes for your data, it’s a self-righteous director.

Hamburg Greeting Exchange ‘Hummel Hummel’ ‘Mors Mors’

Context:

Informant RH grew up in Jesteburg, a village in the area surrounding Hamburg, Germany. He spent parts of his young adulthood living in or near the city of Hamburg.

Main piece:

RH: Es gibt so ein anderes das so ein 'call answer pattern' ist, das is "Hummel Hummel, Mors Mors."

SH: Sag das noch mal?

RH: Hummel Hummel, also H-U-M-M-E-L, zwei mal, und die Antwort ist dann Mors Mors, M-O-R-S.

SH: Ah, okay. Was bedeutet das?

RH: Also ich glaube da war früher in Hamburg jemand der, so irgendwie so'n Wasserträger oder so was, oder der so recht, so ein bisschen geistig behindert war, und ich glaub der hieß Hummel. Und den haben die Kinder immer geärgert und haben ihm dann hinterhergerufen 'Hummel Hummel,' und er hat zurück gerufen 'Mors Mors,' denn Mors is das Plattdeutsche Wort für Hintern, für Arsch.

SH: Also das war dann am Anfang benutzt als, so nur für den Typ, aber wie war das dann danach benutzt geworden?

RH: Ja so als, als, Grüßwort oder als, einfach wenn du jemanden triffst so 'Hummel Hummel,' 'Mors Mors.'

SH: Das ist interessant, dass hab ich noch nie eigentlich gehört in Hamburg.

RH: Ja das, also ich weiß nicht ob's noch gemacht wird.

SH: Ist ein bisschen Altmodisch jetzt oder?

RH: Ist ein bisschen Altmodisch, ja.

Translation:

RH: There's another one that's one of those 'call answer patterns,' which is "Hummel Hummel, Mors Mors."

SH: Say that again?

RH: Hummel Hummel, so H-U-M-M-E-L, two times, and then the answer is Mors Mors, M-O-R-S.

SH: Ah, okay. What does that mean?

RH: So I think there used to be someone in Hamburg that was, so, some kind of like, a water carrier or something like that, or who was quite, like somewhat mentally disabled, and I think he was called Hummel. And the kids would always go and bother him and yelled after him 'Hummel Hummel,' and he would yell back 'Mors Mors,' because Mors is the Plattdeutsch word for behind, for ass.

SH: So at the beginning that was used for, like just this guy, but how was it used after that?

RH: Yeah so as, as greeting phrase or like, simply when you meet someone like 'Hummel Hummel,' 'Mors Mors.'

SH: That's interesting, I've never actually heard that in Hamburg.

RH: Yeah it's, like I don't know if it's still done.

SH: Is it a little bit old fashioned now or?

RH: It's a little old fashioned, yes.

Analysis:

‘Hummel Hummel,’ ‘Mors Mors’ exists as a greeting form and as an identificatory symbol of those originating from or living in Hamburg. Before the advent of a running water plumbing system, the profession of water carrier was a pretty normal occupation and part of life in Hamburg The city of Hamburg even has an article on their website explaining the origins of the saying and pointing tourists in the direction of the multiple water carrier statues that still remain in the city. Hummel has taken on a sort of legendary status within the city of Hamburg, which led to the integration of his name (which may not even have been his true name) into popular speech.

One thing to point out here is the integration of a Plattdeutsch phrase that turned into the ‘Mors Mors’ portion of the greeting pattern. Plattdeutsch is a German dialect that is common to northern Germany, but has long been not taught in schools in favor of the standard ‘Hochdeutsch’ or High German. The dialect is associated with poorer, rural populations, and has a class connotation. The ‘Mors Mors’ is likely a shortening of a longer Plattdeutsch phrase, though I do not conclusively know what the full phrase is since I’ve found multiple versions and neither I nor RH speak Plattdeutsch.

The phrase recalls a part of Hamburg’s history, of the water carriers and of the Plattdeutsch dialect, that unites the people using it as a specifically northern German group. The dialect was the predominant language in northern Germany and was pushed out largely by the uniting of Germany and standardization of the German language under the Grimm Brothers’ dictionary which centered southern German ‘High German.’ The dialect survives mostly in rural communities (one set of my grandparents speaks Plattdeutsch, but did not pass it on to their children), but is largely not institutionally accepted. Preserving a part of the dialect in folk speech is a way for northern Germany to retain some of its linguistic identity in spite of attempted institutional erasure.

For more information on ‘Hummel Hummel,’ ‘Mors Mors,’ refer to the article “Wasserträger Statue,” by Hamburg.com (accessible at https://www.hamburg.com/sights/memorials/11747510/wassertraeger/).

Ghost of La Palma

Context:

B is a Mexican Immigrant from La Palma, Mexico. She goes back to her home state every ear and likes to bring back souvenirs as conversation topics. She enjoys talking about her village in Mexico and how it’s like to her friends.

The context of this piece was in B’s living room as I was telling her about an episode of Supernatural I had watched and the plot like had reminded her of the ghost of La Palma. Her dad was the first one to tell her about the ghost but it’s a common topic of conversation in La Palma

Text:

B: “So basically the story I’ve heard is that um in La Palma, you know there’s a Carretera to get to Sahuayo to La Palma and it’s not that long I’m going to say like 2 miles like I don’t know don’t factcheck me on that but anyway so supposedly there is this lady that appears between 12 and 3 in the morning and that supposedly um she only stops um when there’s like a single man in the car and its only between that time and only for a single man in the car. And so we have been on that Carretera in those times but we’ve never seen anything but people in the pueblo talk about her”

Me: “Do people ever try to see her? Like do they chant or do something specific?”

B: “Yeah so when people who supposedly want to see her go out onto the carretera and turn off their lights and roll all their windows down as a sort of like invite for her to come in with them”

Me: “Why does she haunt that highway?”

B: “Everyone has different stories about how she dies but its always because of a man. From what I’ve heard, she was coming back from Sahuayo with a guy when he tried taking advantage of her and after she said no, he killed her. People say that when she appears before single men, its because she’s still trying to find a way back home”

Analysis:

I really enjoyed talking about this legend of this ghost with B. Ghosts are a common occurrence in the Mexican culture. The events and experiences in the afterlife are said to be influenced by the way those people lived their lives before passing. Most of the time, when someone suffers a dark and grim death, the version of themselves in the afterlife are often depicted as looking for some sort of revenge. That is why I found B’s depiction of the ghost so interesting. B’s description of the ghost’s goal to return home and not seek vengeance was important in characterizing the way people from La Palma view the afterlife and ghosts.

The 27 Club

Context:

B first heard about this urban legend when she was in high school during her forensics class. They had done projects on celebrity deaths and the urban legend became a discussion topic.

The context of this piece was during a movie when one of the well-known “members” of the 27 club had a song used in the film.

Text:

B: “The 27 club creeped me out at first when we first started talking about it during forensics. I mean I don’t really like English songs like that so I never really knew about the club at first until they brought it up in the presentation. I would of thought it was just a coincidence you know? But I feel like its weird that so many celebrities joined the club. I remember it being like a mysterious death type of thing. I know it was a bunch of famous people that died from stuff like OD’ing or alcohol poisoning, but they all died at 27. I remember being shocked that they died so young, I think that’s why I remembered about the club. It was people like Cobain and that one Wine something girl.

Me: “You mean Amy Whinehouse?”

B: “Yeah that’s her name. I think I remember some people saying they thought they made some kind of devil pact or something to get famous so that’s why they all died at 27.”

Analysis:

I found this interview really interesting because the urban legend of the 27 club had become a cultural phenomenon with a big following in recent times. I think it was interesting to see how someone like B, who by her own admission recognizes her lack of experience with English-speaking musicians or members of the club, would know about this urban legend. It’s also interesting to see how fast an urban legend can gain traction in the media. I think B’s knowledge of the urban legend goes to show how lore is constantly being spread to different types of people. I also think its interesting how the cultural phenomenon evolved into this urban legend as more and more celebrities are joining the list of 27 club members.