The Three Christs of Ypsilanti, MI

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Ann Arbor, MI
Performance Date: April 13, 2018
Primary Language: English

The informant, a screenwriting major, mentioned to me he one day wants to write a screenplay involving “The Three Christs of Ypsilanti.” Ypsilanti is a city in Michigan, the informant’s home state. TP is the informant, PH is myself.

PH: What is that? Is that a legend? Could I collect it for my folklore project?

TP: You can collect it, I’m not sure if it’s folklore because I’m pretty sure it’s true

PH: How about you tell me and then I’ll decide later whether to put it in?

TP: Okay. The Three Christs of Ypsilanti. There was a really well known mental institution in Ypsilanti in the ‘50s.

In it, there were three different men who thought they were Jesus Christ and they decided to put them in a room together and see what happens.

So they spoke to each other for eight hours and at the beginning of the conversation they all got along really well but when they got into who is Christ there was an argument and by the end of it they each decided that the other two were mentally ill and they were Jesus and then they were friends after that

For a published, book-length detailed version of this legend, which was in fact a psychiatric case study, see The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach

Barrel Maker Family Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 27, 2018; April 8, 2018
Primary Language: English

This was collected during a discussion section for this class on March 27, 2018 in which we were instructed to exchange folklore with each other. We could share whatever we wanted, so there was no prompting from me about this legend. This was told to me along with several other people in our discussion. WL is the informant, PH is myself.

WL: Okay so this is a family legend, the legend of my …. great-great-great grandpa. Maybe even further back in the family, I’m not sure exactly. I’ll just call him my grandpa. He was a barrel maker. My whole family left Russia at the turn of the 18th century, they were all Jewish, it was anti-Semitic Minsk, Russia. My dad told me this. So, my grandpa: barrel maker, strong, long beard. A Russian cossack comes up to my grandpa, throws an anti-Semitic slur at him, and pulls his beard. Grandpa replies, “Thanks for putting me in my place,” basically, puts his hand out to shake….but my grandpa is really strong–

At this point, I had to leave the discussion to make it to my next class, so the recounting was interrupted. We agreed she would finish telling me another time. On April 8, 2018 I showed the informant how much I had written down to jog her memory.

PH: It ends with your great grandpa extending his hand to shake

WL: Okay so my great great grandpa, whatever it is…his is around like the beginning of the 19th century…extends his hand to this Russian Cossack and is like, “Oh thanks for putting me in my place” etc etc and ends up BREAKING this dude’s hand because he was such a strong barrel maker…. My dad tells this story pretty much at any event where the entirety of his family is over.

Moses Toeses Tongue Twister

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Washington, D.C.
Performance Date: April 4, 2018
Primary Language: English

At dinner with two friends, we started talking about our school experiences as young kids, and tongue twisters were brought up. One friend recited the “if a woodchuck could chuck wood” tongue twister, which spurred another friend to say the following. LA is the informant, PH is myself.

LA: Moses supposes his toeses are roses but Moses supposes erroneously for nobody’s toeses are poses of roses as Moses supposes his toeses to be

Everyone laughs and the other two of us are confused.

PH: What?! What is that?

LA: Moses supposes his toeses are roses but Moses supposes erroneously for nobody’s toeses are poses of roses as Moses supposes his toeses to be, you don’t know that?

PH: No! (Neither had my other friend at the table; both of us are from Southern California)

LA: Huh, that’s weird

PH: Can you say it again slowly so I can collect it for my folklore project?

LA: Sure! (slower) Moses supposes his toeses are roses but Moses supposes erroneously for nobody’s toeses are poses of roses as Moses supposes his toeses to be

PH: Thank you! Do you know where you first learned it?

LA: I don’t, I’ve like heard it from multiple sources I feel like?

PH: Okay, cool!

Mythology: Irish Folklore

Around St. Patrick’s Day, I found myself curious as the origins of the holiday and the strange figure of St. Patrick himself. However, I did not know anyone with any first-hand knowledge of Irish mythology, so I went online and conducted a search on Irish folklore surrounding St. Patrick. I found on YouTube a publication called Irish Folklore Publications, that specializes in telling short stories about Irish folklore for children. The site aims to keep Irish folklore alive by digitalizing stories that can entertain modern children of all nationalities. The format is a woman telling the story, with visuals from pages of a book. The narrator is Maureen O’Hara who works in the preservation of Irish folklore. On either side of the page is the written words of the story she reads. Interestingly, the right side has the story in Gaelic, the original language of Ireland, and then the left side is translated to English. This provides a nice added touch, as it also helps keep ancient Irish traditions alive through language. The speaker actually uses some Gaelic within her reading of the story as well. I felt that the whole presentation was well done because it made for an interesting story, but one that made sure to incorporate Gaelic elements. As such, it was not only a fun story for children to hear about, but also a learning tool about Irish culture and history. Overall, I found the piece to be informative and helped me understand why the legend of St. Patrick is so important in Irish folklore.

This particular story is about St. Patrick and how he became such a major figure in early Christian Ireland. She reads, “fado, fado, many many years ago, way back in the fifth century, a very special baby was born.” This helps provide a time period for St. Patrick’s birth and life. It also introduces the story in a very similar manner as to many other fairy tales that begin with the tradition, “a long, long time ago” style introduction. The period is in Roman Britain and explains Patrick’s upbringing and eventually his growth into adulthood. It explains his conversion to Christianity, which was still not very popular among the Celtic pagans of Ireland at the time. He became a bishop and helped guide the early Christians at the time. One day, he was confronted with hysteric villagers in Munster who claimed that a giant snake was killing their livestock. So, brave St. Patrick went to look for the snake and found him near the “Galtee Mountains.” He lifted it up with a hook and placed it in a bucket where he threw him in a lake to be kept prisoner. Thus, St. Patrick is hailed for driving out the dangerous snakes of Ireland and making the land safe for farmers and their livestock.

Source: Irish Folklore Publications. (2010). St. Patrick’s Story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjAvF56r-Q

Play: Pirate Folklore

On April 13, 2018 I attended the play Peter and the Starcatcher at the Long Beach Playhouse Theaters. Written by Rick Elice, it was based on the book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and directed by Gregory Cohen. The play is a prequel to the iconic story of Peter Pan, providing the origins for several of the characters of the story, including Hook, Tinker Bell and Peter Pan himself. The play is set in Neverland and opens up with orphan Peter, being called Slank at the time, being sold into some kind of slavery or indentured service to the King Rundoon. This is what sets the stage for his ongoing hatred of adults that stays with him through the original story.
The main piece of folklore that I wanted to explore in depth for this assignment was a story within the larger play about Black Stache, who is reminiscent of the folklore about the infamous Black Beard. Black Stache is first introduced by the character of Smee, played by Jazzy Jones, is Captain Hook’s loyal servant. After taking the Wasp hostage, Smee tells the Captain Scott the legend of Black Stache, which is quite reminiscent of Black Beard. Smee’s monologue is meant to instill fear into the crew so that they fear the elusive figure and plays into the folklore of the figure of Black Beard.
He calls Black Stache “the prince of darkness, our satanic satanic supervisor, foul and nasty with a cloven hoof.” Smee tells the Captain that you can recognize Black Stache by his “celebrated mouth brow, that’s how.” Then, Black Stache, played by William Ardelean, arrives himself and reaffirms all the folklore that Smee has just announced about him. He calls himself “a pirate with scads of pinash wants the key to the trunk with the cash” and tells the crew the he is a “blood thirsty outlaw.”
Interestingly, the play connects this character of Black Stache to Captain Hook, as Black Stache later becomes Hook when he loses his hand later in the play. I found this incredibly interesting, as Smee is elaborate in his tale of Black Stache and the horror he inflicts on the high seas. Thus, the play is harkening back to real folklore tales and placing the story of Captain Hook into these legends as a way to further provide depth and legitimacy to his character. It is an interesting development for Captain Hook’s character and I feel an innovative spin on an old folklore legend.