The Pissing Boy – Brussels

Nationality: Belgian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/4/23
Primary Language: English
Language: Flemish

Context: MG is my friend at school and let me know he thought he had a good addition to the folklore archives. He is from Ghent, Belgium and told me this story is popular for parents to tell their children as a cautionary tale.

Performance:
MG: I have a folktale to tell you about a boy named Manneken Pis. This is the Flemish way of saying “The Boy Who Pisses”. Its a little statue in the center of Brussels, very much also a tourist attraction… a niche tourist attraction, but a tourist attraction… of a little boy, it a little fountain and he just continues on pissing. And so that little statue’s got a story behind it, um its a very old statue – I’d have to look up, I don’t know exactly how old but its been around for a while. And so the story is that, um the… the mayor of Brussels put up that statue in Brussels and spread the story in the newspaper that it was a boy outside who was pissing outside, urinating outside in the city, like polluting the city streets, and a witch who wanders around the city, in the shadows of the city, turned him into stone because he was pissing ehhh publicly. And so now this is the eternal boy who pisses. And so he said boys if you don’t want to be turned into stone, if you don’t want to be caught by the wizard, or the sorceress, or whatever mystical force, then you can’t publicly urinate.
And so that became a folktale that was told because mothers would love it as well, they don’t want their little boys pissing publicly, so they would tell their boys at home don’t piss publicly or you will be turned into stone. And yeah, that is a Belgian folktale that has been told for hundreds of years.

Analysis:

This narrative tale is telling about Belgian attitudes towards treating the environment/city right. It is made clear that public urination is frowned upon, even to the extent where the supernatural gets involved in enforcing the societal norms of Belgium. This story also represents Belgian parenting attitudes well. Parents are willing to scare their children with fake stories of the supernatural in order to get their children to behave, which is a common folkloric practice.

The Hermit – Camp Story

Nationality: United States
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/4/23
Primary Language: English

Context: BM is my friend at school and he let me know that he had a good story from his summer camp to tell me. BM is from New York originally, but he has lived in Philadelphia for longer. The camp where he heard this story is located in Maine and it is an all boys camp. A common practice at this camp was for counselors to tell scary stories to the campers. This story is located at the camp’s central lake, in which there is an island where campers would take overnight trips.

Performance:

BM: So at my camp the campers would do an overnight at the island in the middle of the lake nearby. So when we went our counselors decided to tell us the story of the hermit on the island, and we were not prepared to say the least.

Basically I don’t know the word for word story but it goes a little like this: The Hermit (which is based off of a real hermit in Maine) was an old counselor at camp and he was a very disgruntled guy, he was a maintenance guy. Maintenance guys lived on the outskirts of camp and they were always grumpy kinda guys. This guy had some grudges against the kids, against the counselors, for whatever reason. One night decides to light some fireworks under one of the bunks, Bunk 13 (which no longer exists). It was a horrible move obviously, but thankfully only one kid was in there and he turned out to be OK, but [the Hermit] lit the fireworks and he lost his whole right hand cause he didn’t pull it away fast enough and he was in agony and everyone was running and the cops were coming, so he swims in the lake with one arm, and a half, and he makes it to the island. He chops some wood down, because he found an axe, and he built a house, and he made a life there. Sometimes there would be kids that would go on the island while water skiing, and he would go and he would take the kids. He lives on the island, Its his island, he doesn’t live on the house anymore but he’s got places to hide.

And then one of the counselors came from the darkness around the fire, pretended to be the Hermit, and gave us all a scare, nobody slept that night.

Analysis:

This narrative indicates the presence of nature and wilderness in the context of a rural Maine summer camp. Hermits and woodland peoples are common themes of stories, but are most scary when told in a scenario when the audience is also isolated. At the end of the story, it was a tradition for camp counselors to scare the campers by pretending to be the Hermit and running around the campfire. This story also is telling about American cultures idea of societal outsiders. Those who live outside the confines of what would be considered normal society are often demonized and made out to be evil.

Can you get me a glass of water?

Nationality: American
Age: 24
Occupation: AWS consultant
Residence: New York City
Performance Date: 4-3-23
Primary Language: English

Context:

The informant, JB, is my older brother who is twenty-four and currently lives in New York City. We both grew up in a small town in Tennessee surrounded by our close family. The story I interviewed him about is very well known throughout our family and is centered around our grandfather and his supernatural experience in rural Kentucky.

Main Piece:

JB’s summary of the story- Papaw was at a little store/restaurant in Kentucky, and he sat on a stool and ordered a Pepsi at the counter. While the lady was opening his drink an old, straggly looking man with long white hair and a long white beard sat down beside him. He asked papaw to order him a class of water, which he did. The man drank the water and then got up and walked towards the door. As he reached for the door, he looked back at papaw and said something he couldn’t understand. He got to go after the man and see what he said but the mysterious man had disappeared, and no one outside seen him. Three or four years later, in the middle of the night, Papaw was woken up by someone pulling him out of his bed, and I think the first few times he assumed it was Mamaw or mom messing with him. The last time was really aggressive, so he was wide awake and at the foot of his bed was man from that little restaurant with a long white beard and hair. He looked at papaw and said, “I’ll come back one more time, just one more time” then he disappeared; at the time, Mamaw was wake in the living room and didn’t hear or see anything.

Interviewer- Who told you this story for the first time?

JB- Papaw told me when I was younger, but Mamaw and mom referenced the story all the time. Mamaw always that she believed it was true because of how scared papaw was after it happened. She always said it was some kind of angel.

Interviewer- So what was your interpretation of it?

JB- It sounds like some kind of omen, but the time difference is weird since the man came back just a few years later but it’s been at least forty years since it happened. Maybe the 3rd time will be before he dies.

Analysis:

My grandpa’s supernatural encounter can be categorized as a folk legend since he, and the rest of our family considers it to be true. This is my family’s most passed around piece of folklore, so we all develop different interpretations of what this meant.  The way that I interpreted the legend was that of warning, and moral upkeep. Although the story is unique to my grandpa, it contains common motifs of folklore like a figure with a long white beard, the significant group of 3s, and proverbial warnings. Folklorists have consistently found that supernatural legends often develop during times of stress or change as a way to cope. Given my grandfather’s religious background, the man could have represented a pure figure, like an angel, coming to check on the state of his soul. Along with that, the threat of the man coming back at random could act as a deterrent of immoral acts. Although I don’t know if my grandpa was engaging in bad behaviors, it is common for spirits to function as a way to externalize negative feelings, perhaps guilt in this case.

The Manananggal – Filipino Myth

Nationality: Filipino American
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 4/5/2023
Primary Language: English

1. Text

When asked for a folk narrative the informant shared the myth of the Manananggal.

“My mother and father described to me a mythological creature from the Philippines known as the manananggal. She’s described to be a vampire-like creature that can separate the top of its body from the lower half, and preys on couples, grooms, and pregnant women. The manananggal is part of a group of mythological creatures generally called Aswang, but a lot falls under this category, like ghosts and ghouls.”

“A lot like the La Llorona figure in South American stories – her origin story is similar to that of La Llorona in that she was abandoned at the alter, hates grooms-to-be and is jealous of pregnant women so she eats fetuses from sleeping women. She has vampire like qualities, for example doesn’t like garlic, salt, or holy water.”

“My parents told me stories like this were passed down to “scare” or warn children from staying out late, and encouraged them to be careful of their surroundings.”

2. Context

The informant is Filipino American, and both her parents are Filipino. Her parents grew up hearing about the myth and passed it down to her.

The informant interprets the myth as a story used to discipline and educate children on how to avoid danger.

3. Analysis

The Filipino myth of the Manananggal is similar to myths in many cultures of scary monsters that prey on children and the weak. The Manananggal is a female monster, which seems to be a recurring motif, where female monsters filled with hatred and have a tragic origin story prey on those they are jealous of, in this case couples, grooms, and fetuses for the Manananggal. These kinds of tale with vengeance filled female monsters satirizes how many cultures view women as family-centered and a loving mother figure. In a way, myths like these are a rebellious act against those stereotypes by showing females that hate familial happiness. The qualities that the Manananggal has such as disliking “garlic, salt, and holy water”, are a way for people to keep the Manananggal away. These weaknesses humanizes the mythical figure Manananggal since they have weaknesses just like any human. That makes the myth more believable and less scary since there is a way to keep the monster away. The Manananggal may have been a way that people explained inexplicable deaths of grooms, couples, or failed conceptions and deliveries of babies. By creating a monster who preys on people, people can make sense and cope with unexpected deaths.

The Puppy in the Basement

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: University of Michigan
Performance Date: 4/4/23
Primary Language: English

Context: KC is a friend of a friend who volunteered to share her story with me when she found out I was interested in hearing people’s stories. She heard this story at her summer camp, although she failed to tell me where it is located.

Performance:

KC: This story is called the puppy and the basement, I heard it from summer camp.

Mommy told me never to go in the basement, but I wanted to see what was making that noise. It sounded like a puppy, and I wanted to see the puppy, so I opened the basement door and tip toed down a bit. I didn’t see a puppy, and Mommy yanked me out of the basement and yelled at me. Mommy had never yelled at me before, and that made me sad and I cried. Then Mommy told me never to go in the basement again, and gave me a cookie. That made me feel better, so I didn’t ask why the boy in the basement was making noises like a puppy, or why he had no hands or feet.

Analysis:

This is a short story but it still reveals much about cultural ideas of the sick and twisted. The story plays upon the childhood innocence of the narrator and the presence of a puppy to subvert the listeners expectations of what would be normal to have in ones basement. Upon the reveal that the thing in the basement is actually a mutilated boy it becomes clear that the horror aspect of the story comes from the fact that a seemingly normal suburban home, common in American culture, could house something so deranged and sick.