Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

Hitchhiking And Serial Killers In The U.S.

Nationality: American (Arizona)
Age: 22
Occupation: Aerospace Engineering Student
Residence: Tempe, Arizona
Performance Date: 4/10/2021
Primary Language: English

Informant’s Background:

My informant, DK, is a undergraduate student at Arizona State University studying aerospace engineering. He lives in Tempe, Arizona. His family is American and he was born and raised in Arizona, where he has lived his entire life.

Context:

My informant, DK, and I are friends, after meeting online through a mutual friend during the pandemic. I asked him if he had any folklore to share.

Performance:

DK: “Alright. Uhh… My middle-school math teacher, his name was (REDACTED), uh, very interesting guy. He fled home when he was 18, and I think he joined… he joined up with a traveling circus. (DK laughs). Like, I’m not making this up he legitimately joined a traveling circus. Uh, and then, at another point he decided to hitchhike across America. You know, hitchhike from point A to point B… uh, not really caring where he was going, you know… it’s the 70s. Uh, and so he is on the West Coast, in California during this time… And uh, he is hitching of course, like I said… and so he gets picked up by some guy, guy is giving him real creepy vibes. Just like a no-good dude kind of situation. Uh, and the guy keeps asking like creepy questions like… “Do you have any family? Do you live nearby?” Like that kind of stuff. And eventually my math teacher gets creeped out SO much the decides to bail from the car, literally like jumps out of the car while it is still rolling and runs away. And… you know, and normally that’s the end of the story except my math teacher saw on the news later that day, err…. The next day, actually, that there was a hitchhiker found who was found dead on the beach, uh, nearby where he was. And that… probably was the like same guy picking up another hitchhiker and killing him. And that that was like a serial killer who was doing that stuff so… that’s the story of my awesome math teacher who was almost killed by a serial killer when he was a young lad.

AT: “Ok, did you hear this from your math teacher?”

DK: “Yeah!”

AT: “Ok, what was the context in which he told you the story?”

DK: “Uh… It was math class. (DK laughs.) We didn’t have much to talk about at the time. He was a really neat dude, he had a lot of stories like that.”

AT: “Was it a known or a famous serial killer?”

DK: “I think it was, but… it… it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten which serial killer.”

Thoughts:
Serial killers have played a prominent role in American culture and folklore ever since the late twentieth century, if not earlier. While serial killings still occur in modern American society, the rise of mass shootings and other large-scale violence and killings such as the rise of domestic terrorism have in a way pushed serial killings and serial killers away from the limelight, and at least in the collective conscious they have become a almost quaint thing of the past. Television shows such as Netflix’s Mindhunter, or it’s various documentaries about real-life serial killers have propelled the murderers of the late twentieth century into the status of myths and legends. This particular story seems a perfect encapsulation of this kind of serial killer tale. The time period is the late twentieth century, with the setup of the story being that the informant’s teacher is hitchhiking, a phenomenon that has widely fallen out of practice as it is nowadays deemed “unsafe”, primarily because of stories such as this one. Popular American media is also full of such stories, such as in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where a group of hitchhikers find themselves at the mercy of a family of hillbilly serial killers. The scary and widely now considered relatively unsafe times of the late twentieth century in America lead themselves to all sorts of morbid tales, cults, serial killings, and the like were at the forefront of American cultural consciousness at the time, and as a result many such tales of the period, such as the one found in this article, have lasted to this day.

The Farmer and the Snake – Chinese Tale

Nationality: Asian American
Age: 61
Occupation: Software Developer
Residence: San Jose, California
Performance Date: 02/02/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

Context: My father (GW) was telling me to be careful of strangers and being overly compassionate when I moved in with my roommates. He told me a Chinese tale as an example. 

Story: 

GW: “There once was a farmer who was very compassionate. He was always tenderhearted to everyone and supported his neighbors and his community when they didn’t have enough food. Everybody really liked him. One particularly cold winter, he was going into his house when he found a snake lying on the ground, freezing, and half-dead. Feeling pity and sadness for the snake, the farmer held the snake close to his bosom and went inside, hoping to warm the snake and save its life. When the snake woke up, the farmer was relieved. The snake bit the farmer, and the poison soon reached his heart. The farmer died.”

Me: “Wait that’s it?”

GW: “Yup”

Background: This story was one that my grandparents told my father when he was in his teens. My father told me the tale to tell me to be careful of strangers because while an individual can be kindhearted and want to help someone, there are people in the world who will take advantage of that. 

Thoughts: I was really surprised about the abrupt ending of the tale given the way my father told the tale in the beginning. I was expecting the ending to be the farmer saved the snake and something good happened. My father said that the abrupt ending he used was to emphasize the coldness and finality of the farmer’s death. Of course, we all want to be compassionate towards others, and we often feel sympathetic when we see other people in pain, even when we do not know these other people personally. The tale has taught me to be smart about my decisions, and to keep in mind that while helping others is always good, it is also important to always be cautious.

The White Lady

Nationality: Asian
Age: 56
Occupation: Businessman
Residence: Honolulu, HI
Performance Date: 4/23/21
Primary Language: English

Background

Informant is college educated and has lived on Oahu, Hawaii for their whole life. Informant was dating the Interviewer’s mother for around a year. 

Context

Informant discusses the urban legend of Pele, the goddess attributed to making the Hawaiian islands. Informant speaks on how the encounter will go, what Pele will look like, and what will happen if you disrespect her.

Transcript

Informant: “Ooo, what about the white lady?”

Interviewer: “The what lady?”

Informant: “The white lady, if you see the white lady, you have to pick her up. If you don’t pick her up-”

Interviewer: “Oh, Pele!”

Informant: “Yeah, so she comes out as either a young beautiful woman, or whatever, but if you don’t pick her up she’ll end up in the back seat of your car.”

Interviewer: “What happens then? I heard that-”

Informant: “I think she’ll either stay there until you go to where she wants to go or when you notice that she’s there, you’ll turn around and she’ll be gone. But after you see her you gotta make offerings, like food and drinks so you don’t make her mad.”

Thoughts

    The story of the white lady is an incredibly common myth in Hawaii. Even though Pele is supposed to only live on the Big Island, tales of encountering her on all islands are a relatively common affair. I personally have never encountered the white lady while driving alone, but I have family members who swear to have seen her. Nobody I know says she has gotten into their vehicle though. While I respect this story and the culture it comes from, In my mind I chalk most of these up to just seeing a random woman wearing white while driving, as that is not an uncommon outfit on Oahu by any means.

Huldra- Scandinavian Folktale

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: Doctor

Main Story:

“My father immigrated from Sweden when he was twelve years old after his parents died a few years earlier. He came with five dollars in his pocket but a very strong work ethic.  Growing up he lived with family members that often told him folklore so I’m glad you asked me! One of the main ones I heard was about The huldre or Huldra? I believe it was huldra, but she was a very beautiful troll who lived in the woods. She would seduce unmarried men and take them into the forest where she would not let them leave unless they married her. She had a tale of a cow so if she was married, in a church, her tale would go away.”

Context:

The interviewee’s father told him these stories as a boy. I had remembered my girlfriend telling me that her grandfather had immigrated from Sweden. He, unfortunately, passed away a few years ago. I asked her father if he had heard any folk stories from Sweden. Luckily he remembers a few his father told him as a boy.

Analysis:

I had not heard many Scandinavian folk stories so I enjoyed learning about this one. I was interested that Scandinavian folk stories often portray trolls. It seems like a unique theme that carries through quite a few folklore stories. 

Baba Yaga

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Realtor
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/9/21
Primary Language: English

Main Story:

“I heard this story from your great grandparents who were from Ukraine. It’s famous it’s called Baba Yaga, I was also told it was called The Witch. But pretty much… If I misbehaved as a kid my great grandparents would say the Baba Yaga or Witch will find me and capture me and take me to her hut in the woods. They also told me when I was behaving well that the Baba Yaga would bring me, sweets. Today, I heard Baba Yaga is a witch in the woods who eats people, but I had never heard that as a kid. It was pretty much if I was good Baba Yaga would reward me and if I was bad she would capture me. Luckily I was never taken away to her hut in the woods.” 

Context:

I asked my father about stories that had been orally passed down to him from his parents or grandparents.

Analysis:

I had heard of Baba Yaga before I asked my father, I was interested in the fact that his grandparents used Baba Yaga in a very different way than most people. They used it as an incentive rather than a scary story to tell children.