Category Archives: Narrative

The Legend of the Tilly Willy Bridge

Tags: Legend, Ghost Story, Northwest Arkansas, Bridge

Text

The Tilly Willy bridge is a site in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was never meant to be used as a bridge because it’s not wide enough but it does look like a road. One night a lady drives through the bridge. There was heavy rain that night and she ended up driving off the bridge into a ditch and she died. Now people report that they see a woman in a white dress yelling in agony whenever they pass the site. At times, they even see hand prints on cars passing the site.

Informant Info

Race/Ethnicity: Vietnamese

Age: 20

Occupation: College Student

Residence: Northwest Arkansas, USA

Date of Performance: March 2024

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): N/A

Relationship: Sister

Context

GP, the informant, was born and raised in Northwest Arkansas (NWA).

Analysis

This legend of the Tilly Willy bridge is one of the most common ones shared with both locals and tourists. While enough to send chills down the spines of those willing to listen, it serves as a warning to those considering a drive through the bridge. A means of the Fayetteville community preserving the safety of those visiting the town.

The NWA Well Haunted by Mother and Child

Tags: Legend, Ghost Story, Northwest Arkansas

Text

In Fayetteville, Arkansas, there’s a plot of land [Drake Airport] that is haunted. A long time ago and during a full moon, a drunk man threw his crying baby down a well on that plot of land [Drake Airport]. His wife jumped into the well after trying to save the baby, but they both died in the well. Apparently you can still hear them both crying during full moons.

Informant Info

Race/Ethnicity: Indian

Age: 22

Occupation: College Student

Residence: Northwest Arkansas, USA

Date of Performance: March 2024

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): N/A

Relationship: Friend

Context

AH, the informant, was born and raised in Northwest Arkansas (NWA). NWA exists in a region known as the Ozarks.

Analysis

In class, we read “Ghostly Possession and Real Estate: The Dead in Contemporary Estonian Folklore” by Ülo Valk. In his paper, he brought up the Theory of Ownership; that ghosts and property ownership are linked. The Theory of Ownership states that ownership both involves the exclusive control of one’s own body and the use of that control to “claim” material possessions. In the informant’s recounting of this ghost story, I was reminded of this theory. 

Although the wife and child had no claims to the land that they were killed/died on, they continue to haunt the location. It is a common phenomena when talking about the supernatural that spirits remain in locations where they have no ownership simply because of the lingering anger or sadness that they had; either because of how they died or simply because they died.

I believe that the specific well and time that they haunt are a result of them taking ownership of the situation that they both died in.

Origins of the Osage People

Tags: Myth, Origin Story, Osage Tribe, Indigenous Peoples, Northwest Arkansas

Text

In the Ozarks, there’s an indigenous tribe of people known as the Osage. When they came to Earth, nothing existed except mud. And then, a great elk came and rolled around in the mud, blessing the indigenous people with grass.

Informant Info

Race/Ethnicity: Indian

Age: 22

Occupation: College Student

Residence: Northwest Arkansas, USA

Date of Performance: March 2024

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): N/A

Relationship: Friend

Context

AH, the informant, was born and raised in Northwest Arkansas (NWA). NWA exists in a region known as the Ozarks.

Analysis

The Ozarks is home to many indigenous groups, each with their own origin stories. Upon some more research on the origins of the Osage people, I found that the story was more complex than the informant had explained. According to the Arkansas Archaeological Survey[1], they were initially “spirit beings” and came from the sky. In their humility, they called themselves the “Little Ones” and came down to Earth to become people. When they arrived, they found the Earth submerged in water and asked their messenger, the Radiant Star, for help. The Radiant Star sent them a sacred person known as the Great Elk. The Great Elk rolled in the water and lowered it. He then blessed the Osage people with more gifts of grass and landforms.

While the informant AH’s recounting of the origin story of the Osage people contained different details about what medium the Great Elk rolled in, the one similarity was that there existed a Great Elk. In indigenous cultures, a lot of traditions and customs surrounded their spiritual connection with animal figures. The elk, for instance, is often personified as protectors in indigenous cultures. In the origin story of the Osages, this was exemplified through the Osage’s reverence for the sacred Great Elk and the blessings that he brought.

Sources
[1] “Creation of the Work (Osage).” Osage Creation Story, Arkansas Archeological Survey, 3 Feb. 2017, archeology.uark.edu/indiansofarkansas/index.html?pageName=Creation+of+the+World+%28Osage%29.

The Princess and the Pea

Text:

BR: A young price is becoming of marrying age and his mother is eagerly trying to find a suitable princess for him to wed. She doesn’t think that anyone in the kingdom is a “true” princess, and tells him that he must wait for the right person to come along. One night, there is a terrible storm and a traveling girl seeks shelter in the castle. The prince immediately takes interest in her, but his mother judges her wet, ragged clothes and tells him that she is certainly not worthy. To prove it, the mother makes a bed of 10 mattresses and puts a single pea under the bottom mattress. She claims that only a real princess would be able to feel the pea through all of the mattresses. Much to her surprise, the princess tells her that the bed was too uncomfortable and she could hardly sleep. The girl was a true princess after all, and she and the prince lived happily ever after. The moral of the story is to never judge a book by its cover.

Context: 

BR: I first heard this story from my parents as a bedtime story. My sisters and I all listened together and learned that it is important to not judge people on their appearance. I think this message is important for people to know and this story is a good way to teach it to children.

Analysis:

When asked about myths and tales they know, shockingly few people think of bedtime stories they were told as children. This story in particular is a fairy tale from Hans Christian Anderson written in the 1800s. Anderson was a Danish storyteller, yet BR has no Danish roots, indicating the story has become more commonplace. Similarly to Aesop’s Fables, Anderson’s works often feature a concise moral. They differ however, in that all of the characters are human and behave as humans would.

Hanuman and the Mountain

Text:

NS: In the Ramayana, Lakshmana is poisoned in battle so his brother Rama tasks Hanuman with finding an herb that will save his brother’s life because Hanuman is the fastest of all the soldiers. The herb can only be found on a specific mountain that’s very far away, and Hanuman is scared he won’t be able to find the herb and bring it back in time because he isn’t sure what it looks like. As a solution, he carries back the entire mountain to Rama on the tip of his pinky finger. 

Context: 

NS: Growing up, my parents told me tales from Hindu mythology; the tale of Hanuman and the mountain in particular was supposed to emphasize how devoted Hanuman was to Rama, an incarnation of the god Vishnu. This was in part to inspire that same devotion to Hinduism in me and my brother, but was also their way of telling us to stop being lazy (“if Hanuman could carry the whole mountain on the tip of his finger, you can do xyz!”).

Analysis:

I admittedly am not terribly familiar with Hindu mythology, but from this conversation it seems to be full of stories similar to this. Religious myths are often used as a way to understand the world and inspire faith in people. The Bible and in particular the Old Testament is famously a collection of such stories, designed to teach morals and the value in following the teachings of God. As a polytheistic religion, Hinduism splits those teachings into the acts and stories of service to varying gods in the pantheon, but they serve the same purpose.