Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

Russian Ghost Story

Nationality: Russian
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 3, 2018
Primary Language: Russian
Language: English

A man was walking to the woods one day with his dog to collect potatoes. They waited all day but found nothing. At midnight, the two began walking back. But just as they were passing the cemetery, the man spots a figure in the distance wearing white rags. It stumbles towards him at first but quickly breaks into a sprint. As it gets closer the man can see that it is a corpse. He becomes terrified and freezes in place. Luckily, the dog jumps on the corpse just before it reaches the man and the two wrestle. The man, however, abandons his dog and runs home. He never hears from the dog again, except when he goes hunting in those same woods, he can hear the howl/bark of the dog in the distance. It sounds like it is in pain.

Amina’s father told her this story when she was a child, to scare her. He thought it was funny, but Amina remembers being frightened at the time. Many of her friends heard this story growing up as well.

Haunted House Tale

Nationality: English
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: NY
Performance Date: April 10, 2018
Primary Language: English

Nicolette’s parents are fascinated by ghosts and purposefully bought a house that is haunted by the ghost of a previous owner who hung herself in it. They say that they regularly experience “chills” or the feeling of a spirit passing through their bodies at the same time when they are in the same room.

Mexico: Chupacabra

Nationality: Mexico City
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 23 2018
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Informant: The story of the Chupacabra is one I have been hearing for most of my childhood. The first time I heard it was at a sleepover when I was about nine years old. We were all getting ready to go to sleep and decided to tell each other scary stories. The Chupacabra is a type of monster that attacks and drinks the blood of livestock, specifically goats. Hence its name “Chupacabra” which literally means “goat-sucker.” The monster is always described as a type of beast with really sharp teeth and black eyes. Even though it doesn’t necessarily attack people, the terror towards it comes from the fact that many people have claimed to see it. It’s almost as if its presence is the horrifying thing rather than its actions.  Even though my fear towards it eventually faded, it was still a figure people talked about. This was especially true for little children. So, like, if you want to scare a little kid or get him to do something you can always say “Va a venir el Chupacabra por ti” which basically translated to “the Chupacabra will come get you.” 

Analysis: 

I find it very interesting that the informant describes his fear towards the Chupacabra as a kid even though humans are not this creature’s target. I think the fear stems from the scary appearance of the Chupacabra.

The fact that the Chupacabra sucks the blood of livestock made me think of vampires. Among other things, vampires are known for sucking the blood of people. Therefore, the trope of taking the blood from another living creature as a form of survival is something both creatures have in common.

I think that the reason why the Chupacabra takes blood from livestock is because many parts of Mexico are rural. Farming and agriculture is very prominent in Mexico and for people living in rural areas their livestock is extremely important and valuable. Therefore, I can understand how the idea of a creature that goes around killing your livestock can become a terrifying prospect. The part that I would be interested to research more are the supposed Chupacabra sightings. The informant mentioned this briefly but I wonder what who exactly it is that has claimed to see the creature. Is it kids, farmers, old people? This would provide a much more holistic understanding to the Chupacabra tale.

California: Family Tale

Nationality: Woodland Hills California, U.S.A.
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 24 2018
Primary Language: English

Informant: There’s this story my dad tells me all the time around the Jewish holidays. He only really tells me this story during the Jewish holidays and he makes it a big elaborate thing. The story goes like this: 

“My great great grandpa was an orthodox Jewish man and a barrel builder in Russia at the turn of the century who started the ‘Levine Hand Strength,’ aka the firm handshake.One day he was coming home from work when a Cossack soldier, who were typically anti Semitic, came up to him and yanked his beard very hard after calling him a Jewish bastard. My great great grandfather responded ‘that was very good of you…let me shake your hand.’ According to the story, the handshake was so strong that  he crushed the Cossack’s hand and blood started gushing out of his finger tips.” That’s the story. 

Collector: How does it make you feel when your dad tells you this story? 

Informant: I love when my dad tells this story because he saves it for special occasions and always makes it such a big deal that it makes it feel like an important story. It also makes me feel closer to my heritage and makes me feel better about being Jewish. It’s part of my family’s identity. 

Analysis: 

This piece of folklore is very interesting because it is personal folklore. The tale being told by the informant is relevant to her and her family. I really like the importance of this tale within the informant’s family. It is a way for her to understand where her family came from and it makes her feel closer to her heritage, which I think is important. I think that the reason why this story is so impactful for the informant is because it has a direct relationship to her and her family and because it is treated by her father almost as if it were an epic tale.

There is a lot that can be learned from the informant based on this tale. First, we learn that her family is originally from Russia. We also learn that she is from Jewish heritage and that her family has continued to follow the Jewish traditions. Lastly, the story provides insight into her relationship with her father. Clearly, he is someone she respects and loves, which is why the fact that it is him telling her the story is so important. All of these small details are specific to this informant rather than to a group of people/society, which demonstrates the difference between personal/family folklore and cultural/public folklore.

El Cucuy

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 54
Occupation: Babysitter
Residence: Los Angeles
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

The informant was my childhood babysitter (referred to as JC) who is from Mexico. She moved to the United States about 25 years ago and would frequently go back to Mexico, bringing me dolls and candies. Every year for Christmas she would make homemade tamales. When I was little and misbehaving she would always tell me  El Cucuy will get me. Recently I asked her to tell me more about El Cucuy.

 

JC: “Behave or El Cucuy will come and find you… We say that to the children to make them behave.El Cucuy is kind of a boogeyman. He gets children who have misbehaved to their parents and can show up to steal you in the night.  He hides in your closet or under your bed and will come to eat your spirit and take you. It is a way for the children to listen.”

 

Growing up and hearing this, I was never really scared because I think that folklore about things coming to get you or haunt you can only really work if it is a widespread tale that most people have talked about. As I didn’t grow up in Mexico, the only time I had to hear of El Cucuy was from my babysitter and so it seemed made up and unreasonable to me. However, I do think that if more people were talking about this I would have believed it and been more intimidated. I think culturally it is interesting because El Cucuy seems to be the equivalent to the boogeyman, which is also a way for parents to get their children to behave.

 

For another version of this story see “Boogeyman,” 2005 film by Stephen Kay.