Category Archives: Narrative

Suicide Bridge

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text: 

“I grew up in Pasadena, and I’ve always heard stories about the Colorado Street Bridge, which everyone calls ‘Suicide Bridge’. The legend says that during the Great Depression, so many people jumped off the bridge that now it is haunted. Supposedly at night you can hear footsteps behind you when no one is there, or even him standing on the edge.”

Context:

The informant grew up in Pasadena. She heard this story from her parents and friends in middle school. The bridge does have a history with suicides. My informant let me know that she heard this legend mostly during Halloween, or when she was a teenager and her friends would drive over the bridge. 

Analysis:

The Pasadena Suicide Bridge legend is a blend of history and supernatural folklore. It was built in 1913 but became famous in the 1930s during the Great Depression. The legend reflects cultural anxieties about tragedies, mental illness, and death. By turning a site of real-life tragedy into a location for ghost stories, the community creates a way to process trauma. 

El Conejo en la Luna (The Rabbit on the Moon)

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 48
Occupation: Business
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: Spanish/English

Text:

(transcribed from Spanish)

“My mom told me this tale when I was a kid. She told me that a long time ago, the Mexican god Quetzalcoatl explored the world. So he came down and turned himself into a mortal man. He was so amazed by how big and beautiful the Earth was that he got distracted and forgot to eat and hydrate himself. Quetzalcoatl started feeling faint and decided to rest on the road. Then a rabbit appeared to him and asked him if he was okay. Quetzalcoatl told him that he was very hungry. Right away, the rabbit offered to share his food with him, but Quetzalcoatl refused and told the rabbit that he didn’t eat plants. The rabbit thought for a moment and decided to offer himself to Quetzalcoatl and said, “I am an insignificant creature; you must recover and return to your travels. Please eat me.” Quetzalcoatl was moved by the rabbit’s noble gesture, so he returned to his godly form and held the rabbit high to the moon. He then placed him back on the ground and told him, “You will be remembered all around the world, and when everyone looks up to the moon, they will see the print of you on the moon.”

Context: 

The informant was my father. He is from Michoacan, Mexico, on a small ranch. He grew up off the grid, and his mother told him this tale. 

Analysis: 

This is a myth that is deeply rooted in Mesoamerican tradition. It centers on one of the most important deities in Aztec belief systems. The story reflects core mythological themes such as a godly figure interacting with the mortal world. The rabbit is an example of sacrificial heroism. The rabbit has become immortalized, not because of power or money but through compassion and generosity. This shows the cultural values of Indigenous Mexicans. The myth has also been shared across multiple generations, especially in East Asia, yet it might differ from the Mexican version. 

Tale of Struwwelpeter

My informant told me a short German children’s tale of Struwwelpeter. It translates to “Straw Peter” and it is about a young boy who refuses to eat the porridge his parents have prepared for him. Peter refuses to eat the porridge as he does not like it, and the parents refuse to feed him anything else. Struwwelpeter gets skinnier and skinner every day, and eventually he becomes the size of a straw. And after that he disappears into thin air because he is so skinny. The first time my informant heard this story was through their German grandmother while she was recounting the “crazy and funny” German folklore she has grown up with. My informant has been in elementary school at the time. The story was also taught to my informant in their German language class in high school. According to my informant, the tale of Struwwelpeter served as a didactic story for children to get them to eat the food that has been prepared to them.

It is interesting how both Struwwelpeter and his parents both refuse to do something. This symbolizes a friction between the two generations. While nothing happens to the parents by refusing to serve anything else to their son, Peter disappears because of his refusal, so in a way the stubbornness is at the center of the moral of the tale. As he wastes away and eventually disappears, the message is clear: kids who don’t listen or refuse to obey might just vanish from existence. It’s a harsh moral, but it reflects how older generations often tried to teach lessons through fear and exaggeration.The fact that nothing happens to the parents is also telling—it kind of shows how adult authority goes unchallenged, and how the burden of change or obedience always falls on the child. The tale ends up reinforcing this idea that kids should accept what they’re given and not question it, even if it seems unfair.

When my informant talked about hearing this story from their grandmother, and then again in school, it made me think about how these stories are passed down—not just for fun, but as part of cultural tradition. And even though Struwwelpeter comes across as bizarre or funny today, it still carries those old values around discipline and behavior. In the end, Struwwelpeter is more than just a weird story about a kid disappearing—it’s about control, about what happens when you push back against expectations. It uses absurdity to make a point, but that point is rooted in something serious: the fear of what happens when you go against the grain.

Legend of Chupacabra

The informant told me the legend of a mythical creature Chupacabra. They have heard about it from a book that their grandmother read to them and learned about it in their elementary school in America. My informant is of Mexican descent and according to them it was taught by a Chilean teacher who taught most popular legends of different Latin countries and the legend of Chupacabra happened to be m most prominent in Chile.

Chupacabra is a legendary creature who is primarily known to attack the livestock at night and suck the blood out of them. It is common in the rural areas and “ranchos” where farming is prominent. According to my subject. Chupacabra is a reptilian-like creature with scales and green eyes. It lurks in forests and wilderness at night and comes out to feed on the blood of the livestock. Children, primarily teens are made most aware of the creature. According to my subject, Chupacabra is often mentioned to the teens that liked to go out at night and sneak out to the secluded spaces. Chupacabra is mainly known to attack the livestock but no one excludes the possibility that it might get the humans too.

One of the ways to keep Chupacabra from attacking the livestock is giving it little animal sacrifices. According to my subject, this practice is rooted in indigenous cultures of South America.

The legend of the Chupacabra is an example of legendary folklore that reflects the fears, cultural beliefs, and social values of Latin American communities. The is known across the Americas, including Mexico and Chile, taking on new meanings in each cultural context. In in the case of my informant of Mexican descent who first heard the legend from their grandmother and later learned about it in elementary school from a Chilean teacher, the Chupacabra is portrayed as a reptilian, scale-covered creature with green eyes that attacks livestock at night to suck their blood. It is said to dwell in forests and remote rural areas, especially near ranchos where farming and livestock are common. The story serves several functions: it acts as a cautionary tale to discourage teenagers from sneaking out at night, warns of the dangers lurking in the wilderness, and offers a mythical explanation for unexplained livestock deaths that so often happens because of unknown causes and diseases. Additionally, the mention of animal sacrifices as a way to appease the creature reflects a deeper connection to indigenous South American spiritual practices, highlighting how ancient belief systems are preserved and adapted through folklore. Symbolically, the Chupacabra represents fear of the unknown and a threat to both livelihood and safety, particularly in rural, agrarian communities. Its ongoing presence in stories shows how folklore can influence behavior, strengthen cultural identity, and help people make sense of things they don’t understand.

Tale of Crab Maga

My informant told me a tale of Crab Maga also known as “Why Mosquitoes Buzz In Our Ears,”. It is a Filipino children’s tale and was read to her my her Filipino grandmother when she was about six years old. The tale goes as follows: The story of “Crab Maga,” evolves around a king crab named Maga who struggles with insomnia. To help him sleep, he calls upon the frogs from the village to sing him a lullaby. However, his loud snoring causes rain, which amuses the frogs. When Maga wakes up and learns that the frogs were laughing at a snail carrying its house, he orders his sheriff, another crab, to arrest the snail.

The snail explains that it was laughing at a firefly, which leads Maga to send the sheriff after the firefly. The firefly, in turn, claims it was trying to find a mosquito that was bothering it. When the mosquito arrives, it is unafraid of Maga and mocks him, leading to a confrontation where Maga kills the mosquito. However, this action provokes a swarm of mosquitoes that attack Maga, targeting his weak spots. In fear, Maga and his sheriff dig a hole to hide and are never seen again. The story concludes with the explanation that the buzzing of mosquitoes in our ears is a reminder of this tale, as they are attracted to holes, similar to the one where Maga and his sheriff took refuge.

This particular children’s tale has a huge colonial undertone as it talks about a ruler in a position of power whose whims and ego dictate what happens to the creatures that do not have in a sense a freedom to express how they feel. The creatures have to lie and blame others for laughing and pointing out the flaws of Maga. Like many folk tales, it uses animals with human characteristics—crabs, frogs, snails, fireflies, and mosquitoes—to create a world where complex social dynamics and consequences play out in a playful yet instructive way.

The story also reinforce the power of people and what resistance to the injustice and standing for one’s truth can lead to. Mosquito is the lesser of all creatures yet it stands in its truth and even sacrifices its life for it. A group of mosquitos however are able to overturn the king to avenge the mosquito, thus teaching the lesson of the power of the group.

The ending of the story is very interesting, offering the tale as an explanation of why mosquitos get close to humans and why we can hear them. Mosquitos in this context are already established as heroes thus offering a different outlook on insects that are usually perceived as as pests and annoyance. This reinforced the idea of preserving nature and treating things humans annoying with respect, as they might not know the full story of why things happen.