Najar: The Evil Eye

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Residence: Texas
Performance Date: March 15, 2017
Primary Language: Gujarathi
Language: English

“We were probably like – I was probably like 11, and [my sister] was probably 9-ish so it was kinda long ago, but I remember we were at my grandma’s house [in India], and she had three different stories. No one goes on the second story; it’s just like boarded up. And then the third story is a terrace. So, we go to the third story, and we’re just talking and my sister said something like ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’ or something, like literally those words. And so I was like, ‘Oh my God, dad’s gonna get so mad at you, you said a bad word, blah blah blah.’ Usually she would be like, ‘ok stop, you’re not being funny,’ but like legitimately she was like, ‘oh my god, you’re so right,’ and she just starts bawling. She’s crying, she’s losing it, she’s like freaking out, like legitimately I thought she was going crazy. She was like ‘I have to tell dad I said it!’ and she’s like running everywhere and she’s like ‘when’s dad coming home, when’s dad coming home? I have to tell him, I have to tell him, he’s gonna be so mad at me.’ And like, she’s nine years old, so she’s old enough to where it’s like ‘ok you’re being weird.’ And so, like no one thought much of it, and then my dad comes home, and she’s like ‘dad, I said “dumb”’ or whatever the word was. And he was like, you know, like, ‘don’t say that word again’ and whatever, and she was like ‘I know, I’m SO sorry.’ She just starts crying and crying. And she was doing weird stuff like that for three or four days, and we were like ‘ok what’s going on?’

“[It started] since she was on the terrace, I guess – because – we had gone somewhere, we had like taken the train somewhere and it’s super common knowledge that the train stations are like  the most haunted places in India because people commit suicide and stuff; they jump off while the train is coming. And so, they think that she got some “bad air” – so like a ghost, like, spirit thing. Because they don’t – it’s not like a ghost possessed you, but it’s just like you picked up on some bad aura or like a bad spirit from the train station and it kinda like made her go crazy. So like, I was freaking out. I was like, ‘Get her away from me. I don’t want her in the same room. She can sleep outside!’

“But yeah, so we took her to the pandit, which is a priest, and he like, did all this like, fire smoke stuff, and like put it around her and stuff. And he like gave her this bracelet and was like ‘okay, after doing that, this bracelet will collect the bad spirit inside of her, and then you take off this bracelet and you like dispose of it.’ If you were in India, you would throw it in one of the holy rivers, but we were going back home [to the United States], so he was just like ‘just put it in a river anywhere.’ I honestly think we took it to the Trinity River, I’m being so serious. It sat in our garage for a while. But yeah, he put that bracelet on her, and a couple days later, she was like fine, like it immediately went away. So I don’t know if it worked or like she was doing it to herself, like a placebo-type thing. I don’t know, but she was just acting super weird for a couple of days, like freaking out about things that didn’t matter. She was like losing her mind over stuff, like she couldn’t get over it. So yeah, I think that she picked up on some…some sort of bad air.”

 

When I was researching Indian ghost belief, I came across the belief of “najar” which roughly translates to “evil eye.” I asked my Indian friend that I knew from Texas if she knew of or ever had an experience with “najar,” and this is the story that she gave me. I find it interesting that her sister never caught this evil eye while in the United States, but it was only a trip to India that spurred this occurrence. I asked her to elaborate more on “najar,” and she told me a bit more about how people typically act when they have new (cute) babies.

 

“If you have a child – and some babies are ugly, but some are super cute. So if you have a baby and everyone’s like, ‘Aw, your baby is so cute, blah, blah, blah,’ – my mom would like freak out. She hated that, she would not let people like – you know how sometimes you like see a cute baby at Walmart and you’re just like staring at it like ‘aw that baby is so cute!” and you just look at it? – she would not like that at all. She would like turn her kids, us, around. She always said that if people were staring over you, like gawking over you, they’re gonna get jealous because you have this cute baby. And that jealousy is like evil, you know? And so your child is going to catch that evil eye.”

 

My informant also told me a bit about the steps that mothers would take to protect their babies against the evil eye, other than just staying away from potentially jealous people.

 

“Babies will sometimes have black dots on their foreheads to protect them from the evil eye. I guess it’s just symbolic of evil, like evil is black. You [also] always have this silver bracelet with black beads; I’m pretty sure my mom still has all three of ours. Because like, you wear it for a long time, until you’re older. Because I guess as an infant, you’re more vulnerable to the evil eye because you’re younger.”

 

In conclusion this interview, my informant expressed uncertainty as to whether her sister was affected by a spirit or simply rattled from leaving home for a prolonged period of time.


“I don’t know if it was actually a ghost or if she was just like being weird, but she was acting really weird and spooked me out too. There’s so many things; it could’ve been like we’re home now and she’s calmer; we had been gone a while. Or it could’ve been like the ghost left her on the plane or something. But yeah, she was back to normal when we got back home.”

Ghosts in the Bathroom?

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4th April 2017
Primary Language: English

In this collection, I will be using initials to record a conversation between the interviewer (JC) and interviewee (RP)

 

JC: Has anything strange ever happened to you?

 

RP: Strange in what sense? Like strange or… weird?

 

JC: Uhh strange in the sense that you couldn’t explain it when it happened, and maybe you still can’t explain it now.

 

RP: Umm… in reference to something I can’t explain, or I don’t know, maybe something paranormal, this happened when I was a kid. We recently just moved into my home and my home was 80 years old, one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood, so it had very creaky floorboards and all that stuff. I’ve never believed in ghosts or anything paranormal like that, but I was alone in my house, my parents were out and my brother was at school and I was brushing my teeth and the toothpaste bottle just… it was just sitting on the counter and as I looked away, I turned back and watched it fly across the room and was immediately scared out of my mind and ran from the bathroom immediately. I don’t know if my house was haunted, nothing else happened while I lived there that I can remember; I tried not to think about that anymore

 

JC: Looking back at it now, do you think you know how it happened?

 

RP: My rational sense wants me to say that the counter was wet and that maybe I hit the thing when I was turning but… I don’t know… I really can’t explain it

 

 

There are several common motifs from ghost stories that we can see in this, the first of which is the setting. While the house itself isn’t actually very old, it was still one of the oldest in the neighbourhood, thus in a sense making it a separated area of the neighbourhood and a prime place for paranormal activity to occur. Moreover, the interviewee was a child who was home alone at the time of occurrence, which links to the common trend of paranormal activity happening when one is alone at an old house.

The interviewee mentioned that he never believed “in ghosts or anything paranormal like that”, but when asked to try and explain what happened, he was still unsure of what really happened and did not really believe what his rational sense was trying to tell him, which hints at an underlying belief that it may have been ghostly activity, or at least something out of the ordinary that happened

Ghostly Foresight

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 2nd April 2017
Primary Language: Chinese

In this collection, I will be using initials to record a conversation between the interviewer (JC) and interviewee (HK)

 

 

JC: Has anything strange happened to you?

 

HK: Oh, is this for your ghost stories class? I heard you asking around for stories.

 

JC: Yeah! Do you have any? Or do you know anybody who has one?

 

HK: Er… you want one that’s happened to someone personally right? Not something generalized like…uh…Bloody Mary, have you heard of that one?

 

JC: Yeah we talked about that in class, and yes I’m looking for like anecdotes of strange things that happened to people which they couldn’t explain.

 

HK: So this happened to my friend back home, it was a couple years ago sometime around Halloween. I remember because we were at this Halloween party when her mom called her and told her that her grandmother had just passed away. I thought she’d be very surprised or sad, cause… you know, her relative just died and all that, but she wasn’t. She was just sort of… accepting I guess. So after a while I asked her why she wasn’t more sad. She told me that her grandmother was already very weak before her passing, like she wasn’t even fully awake most of the time, but on the day of the party when she visited, her grandmother was wide awake and smiling. She, the grandmother I mean, told her that her grandfather, who by the way already passed away a couple years earlier, visited her the night before and said that they would be reunited soon. So yea, my friend was sort of expecting her grandmother to pass anytime so she wasn’t that surprised. And her grandmother looked so happy that she couldn’t really be sad about it…at least that’s that she told me

 

JC: Was your friend’s family superstitious? Did they follow any old Celtic traditions or the like?

 

HK: Umm I don’t really know that. I don’t think she believes in ghosts? But I’m not sure so don’t quote me on that

 

Unfortunately, since this was a recount from an external party, I was not able to ask what the subject thought of her experience when it happened, and whether or not she thinks he really visited her or just in a dream. However, we can still see some characteristics that are prevalent in ghost stories.

The biggest trope we can see is that it happened during Halloween, which is the Celtic New Year and a liminal time period. Thus, it is more believable that the grandfather visited the grandmother at that time, as it is believed that the borders between the living world and the Otherworld is blurred during this time. It can also follow that since it is easier for ghosts to visit us during that time, that it would also for easier for us to go to the Otherworld as well, which may be why the grandmother passed away that night.

This story also coincides with the most common ghostly experience – a meeting with a loved one that has passed away. Moreover, the ghost of the grandfather also told the grandmother than she will be joining him soon, which did happen, which justifies a belief held in many traditions that ghosts are extremely knowledgeable and may possess the power of foresight.

 

A Figure in the Night

Nationality: Chinese & Vietnamese
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: Boston, Massechusetts
Performance Date: 4/1/17
Primary Language: English

“When I was 12 or 13, one night I woke up to go the bathroom around 2 or 3 morning- you know, the witching hour. I cam back to bed, and was still fully awake- it usually takes me a little bit to go back to bed. I was alert. I was looking out my open doorway, which was lit only by the light of the nightlight in my bathroom coming out into the hall. Then I saw a figure walk out of one room, past my door, and into the next room. And it wasn’t, like, a dark, shadowy figure- it was very clearly a person, a person-shape. It wasn’t dark either, it was fair- more white and washed out than how an actual person would look in the dark. It looked white, and it was wearing some sort of clothes- nothing specific. I didn’t know what I saw at first, but my entire body just froze. I had never been so scared in my life. I just froze in my bed, and eventually was able to fall back asleep.”

My friend who told me this story also told me a lot about her mom’s beliefs, and it was interesting to hear them, and also see how they affected her own personal beliefs. Her mom is Chinese, but grew up in Vietnam. She is a strong believer in the supernatural, as well as the many superstitions that are common in her culture. One thing that I found particularly interesting is that her mom believes all young children can see ghosts up until a certain age, because they are still in the liminal early stages of life. Her superstitions were also interesting, a couple being that owls are an omen for death, and that if a cat jumps over a body at a funeral the body would sit up straight in its coffin. That latter one amused my friend who told me, and said she had asked her mom if she had ever experienced it, to which she replied that she hadn’t but didn’t want to take any chances by having cats at a funeral. It seemed like her mother’s, and grandmother’s as well, pronounced belief in ghosts actually caused her to be more skeptical for a while, not believing all the crazy stories they told her. However as she got older, and experienced the story she told me, as well as others, she began to accept it. She said that now she still doesn’t know if she believes some of the more out-there stories her mom has told her, or the superstitions. It was interesting to see the affect of prevalent ghost belief at home on someone who grew up in America (in Boston, Mass).

The Haunted Third Floor

Nationality: Japanese & Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: Hawaii
Performance Date: 3/30
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese

“When I was in 5th grade, the school that I went to was really old. It was founded in 1841 and had a long history, and a lot of ghost stories. This one building that used to be dormitories, the third floor of it was supposed to be really haunted. My class was on the 2nd floor, but we could charge our laptops in this one room on the 3rd floor. It was always locked since people’s laptops were in there. One day we went up there to put our laptops away, but our teacher forgot to come meet us and unlock the door. So we were standing in the hallway and there wasn’t anyone inside the room. But then the doorknob to the room started shaking a lot. At first we thought someone was in there, but then we realized no one would be in there if it was locked. We got really freaked out and went and got the teacher, and went back up with her. She opened the locked room and no one was in there. It was eerie”

My roommate told me this story about her school back in Hawaii. She does believe in ghosts, so she obviously thinks that is what the cause was. It is interesting to hear this, as it is not such an overt siting, so someone more skeptical on the subject would probably write it off as nothing. While collecting this story from her, we began to talk about Hawaiian ghosts and how they relates to their culture. She said that ghost belief is very prevalent in Hawaii- more so than the rest of America- and intertwined with the native culture. She observed that Hawaii has had a large influence from Asian immigrants from many different countries, especially Japan, which has a more pronounced belief in ghosts. Since she is of Japanese and Chinese descent, we talked about how those cultures have also influenced her beliefs and led her to be more open-minded to ghost belief.