Reed Kaplan 19: The Rougarou

“The Rougarou is this story of you say his name he can hear you and comes and murders you. He’s kinda like a Werewolf but swampy. Everyone in Louisiana knows about it.”

Context: I collected this story from Reed at the University of Southern California. Reed is an American Jew with roots in Louisiana. He heard the story from his late grandfather. Everyone in the state apparently knows this story. If one is out alone at night, they are said to hear his cries.

Analysis: The swamp is a large, uninhabited place where a lot of strange noises are heard. It makes sense for there to be stories of monsters that lurk what is unknown. This is probably peoples’ way of coping with the unknown dangers that reside vert near to them.

Natalie Skinner 19: Blues House Ghost Story/ Legend

“My aunt on my moms side lives in a small town in mississippi called bay st louis. She and her husband after katrina, and they were the only house on their street that survived and they left. They moved to a blues hall up the road, which has a lot of history. During the prohibition, all of the town gathered in the blues hall and had a bunch of alcohol and music. Because of their illegal escapades, there were deaths in the house. They renovated half of the building to be a home, and left the stage and the hall to throw events and rent it out. After about a year of living in the blues home, my aunt called my mom saying she heard incoherent voices coming from somewhere in her house. She walks into the party room that they had set up and she watches her 12 foot table get dragged across the room. Now the entire family believes the building is haunted and has encountered multiple supernatural events.”

Background: “Heard the story about five years ago for the first time, and have been hearing about it from my family ever since.”

Context: this story was told to me during a folklore class by Natalie. Her family is from the Louisiana where ghost stories are pretty common thanks to the old structures that are present everywhere.

Analysis: in my opinion, it makes sense that people are telling stories of the travesties of the prohibition, as that time literally still haunts America. Also this is an event that connects her entire family together: this belief of spirits and probably makes them all feel connected to each other as a family.

Whitney Levine 22: Wiffleball

Growing up my dad would always play sports, so growing up he would always play wiffle ball with us and we would play in the tennis court and have all these made up rules. We would turn off the lights and we had a lot of rules. If we hit it over the left side of the fence, its three outs, but if it’s the right side you can keep going. Its kinda like baseball but a little different. Say for example you are pitching, if that person hits the ball and cant make it to first base, if it hits the person running, that person is out. We would always play it every holiday.”

Context: This story was told by Whitney Levine in our Folklore class. She is American/ Russian heritage. She played the game throughout her childhood on holidays. The rules of this game were passed down through her family and everyone in the family is aware of this variation of the game Wiffleball. This game holds a lot of sentimental value for her and it makes her feel connected to her family. Sharing a game with family encourages bonding and inspires a sense of belonging in people.

Hia Hia Witch (Swedish)

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 74
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/23/18
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Background information:

My grandmother was born in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden, and has three sisters who are roughly the same age as her. Together, they have always been best friends and have supported each other through everything. My grandmother and her sisters all have grandchildren, and us grandchildren go out to our collectively shared summerhouse in the Swedish archipelago every summer. This summerhouse was built by my grandmother’s parents and has been in the family for a while, giving it immense sentimental value. The shared summerhouse is located roughly two hours outside of Stockholm, Sweden by a boat ride and is very peaceful as it is located on an island called Södra Träskö that is completely without cars or internet connection.

 

Main piece:

Ever since I was young, my grandmother and her sisters talked about the famous witch that lived in the middle of the island where our shared summerhouse is located: her name was Hia Hia. Every summer when we visited the summerhouse, my grandmother and her sisters would take all of the grandchildren to the middle of the island where Hia Hia supposedly lived and we would search for her. My grandmother and her sisters would hide and someone would shout “Hia Hia”, pronounced “Heeyah Heeyah” which would spook all of the younger children as they did not notice that one of the grandmothers had disappeared and though that the witch, Hia Hia, was making the noises. Delving deeper and exploring more of the middle of the island, it was always apparent that “Hia Hia” had left small goody bags of candy for the grandchildren on an abandoned treehouse that was located in the very middle of the island. As the grandchildren, including I, became older, we realized that Hia Hia was in fact our grandmothers, but carry this tradition onto the children of the newer generations of our family, so that they can experience the fun that we had with Hia Hia at Södra Träskö.

 

Personal thoughts:

This is one of my favorite traditions that my grandmother introduced me to, as it truly shaped my experience visiting the summerhouse on the island in Sweden. My grandmother is a creative woman who does everything she can to make people happy and truly knows how to live into childrens’ fantasies, which I am very grateful for.

How to get kids to finish their meal (Taiwanese)

Nationality: Taiwanese/American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/23/18
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin Chinese

Background information:

My friend introduced me to a piece of folklore about how one can effectively get children to finish their meals. He is of Taiwanese descent, as he was born in San Francisco, California and both of his parents were born in Taipei, Taiwan. His family moved to California since before he was born and have assimilated into the American lifestyle but still stay very true to their Taiwanese roots.

 

Main piece:

My friend explained to me a saying that is often used in Taiwan to get children to finish their meals and not leave any food on the plate. The saying goes that if one wants a child to finish their meal and eat everything on the plate, they tell the child that if he or she does not finish their meal, they will marry someone with facial blemishes growing up. He said that his interpretation of this as a child was that he always thought of the remaining food pieces on his plate as signifying the multitude of blemishes that would be on the future spouse’s face when he grew up. Therefore, in order not to risk this, he would always quickly finish his food.

 

Personal thoughts:

I think that this piece of folklore is quite comical because there is no way that there could possibly be any correlation between finishing a plate of food and one’s future partner having acne. I enjoyed that this was a very different saying than what I was used to hearing in the culture that I am immersed in today, as it is refreshing to hear something that I have not heard before. I did find it a bit strange, however, that it would be considered a fear factor to have a partner with acne or facial blemishes because I do not think that this is what one should focus on when considering potential future partners.