The informant and I were on the same hike. They were talking to a friend about this place close to their hometown when I asked if I could record them.

So tell me about the urban legend around Gravity Hill.

“So the place is called Gravity Hill because it like, defies gravity and your car- if you put it in neutral and drive up the hill- And the myth behind it is that there was this school bus filled with like little children going down the mountain, and then…. went like off the cliff because it’s… just like not a very safe driving route. Um… all the kids died, and like the kids are there, and will like push your car… up the mountain.

And like some people say that if you put like flour on your car… um while it’s going uphill, you’ll see like little handprints, but I think it’s like not at all true and have never put flour on my car.”

I thought that this was an interesting piece; it has a fun, “classic” ghost story, and audiences can choose to undergo a quest of sorts to test the validity of this urban legend. I am also reminded of when the class talked about how the general environment and setting influences one’s willingness to believe in ghosts and ghost stories in that moment. While they might not believe in this specific ghost story, the informant seems quite open to the idea of ghosts in general. On a separate occasion, they described a certain building as haunted; they were walking through it alone and late at night when they heard creaking sounds from the walls. In contrast, they shared the first piece in broad daylight with a group of peers around.