No Pork on the Pali Highway

Age: 19

Text: This subject discussed her experience with the Hawaiian legend/superstition that one can’t take pork across the Pali Highway in Oahu. According to her, if you were to drive across the highway with any sort of pork product, your car would mysteriously break down or some other form of bad luck would befall you and your passengers. The subject stated that this was a belief that people took very seriously, even opting to go around the long way via an alternate route – the Likelike Highway – if they absolutely want to bring pork products home or just transport them. She also explained that this superstition was based on the mythological story of the goddess Pele (the goddess of volcanoes) and Kamapua’a (a half-pig demigod) and their failed relationship. She said that the way her father explained it to her is that the two divine beings made a pact to keep away from each other after their breakup and stay on their respective sides of the island. So, if one were to bring pork across the Pali Highway, they would symbolically be bringing Kamapua’a to Pele’s part of the island, which would make her mad. As such, Pele would bring some sort of misfortune onto the traveller as a punishment.

Context: A native to Hawaii, this subject first came across this myth when she drove across the Pali Highway with her dad. He told her the story not because they were bringing pork products with them, but just because he thought it might interest her; she remembers being worried that the goddesses’ wrath would apply if someone had also recently eaten pork (as she had that day), but her dad told her that it didn’t count. She believes that this myth exists because the mythology of Hawaii and its many dieties is very important to the natives. As such, she believes the superstition is a byproduct of respect for the religion/spirituality than it would be just a mere silly explanation for why some cars happened to break down on the highway by chance.

Interpretation: I think that this myth is a way of creating a sort of graspable or tangible connection between the land and the mythos behind it – or at least to the divine beings that inhabit it. I believe it also provides an explanation that locals might connect to more as to why their vehicles would mysteriously break down along the highway. It also helps keep the mythology alive, as it blends traditional narratives of the gods with modern day technologies and modes of transportation. It’s a useful means of passing down the histories and practices associated with this spirituality/religion/culture of native Hawaiians and ensuring its continued existence and belief.

Haunted House on Euclid and Hazard

Age: 19

Text: In her hometown within Orange County, this subject claims that there is a haunted house on a specific street corner (Euclid and Hazard) that has been vacant for years. According to the stories she’s been told about it, one fateful night a pregnant woman was fatally injured in some sort of car accident or physical assault (depends on who tells the story – the subject has heard both of these included in tellings of this tale) and went to the house seeking help. She banged on the door crying out for help, but no one answered and she and her unborn child ended up dying on the doorstep of the house. Ever since then, her spirit has haunted the house – scaring anyone who lives in the building (which consequently has led to the house becoming vacant for years, if not decades). Some people even believe that her spirit occasionally goes across the street to the liquor store, haunting that establishment as well. People believe that her spirit seeks vengeance for her death and that of her child’s. 

Context: This subject heard this urban legend throughout middle and high school in Orange County, from classmates and upperclassmen alike. Growing up in a city adjacent to the one in which the alleged events of this story took place, she claimed to have only come across the alleged haunted house in passing, never really feeling a great desire to go near it. She believes that this ghost story is just a means of scaring kids in the area, almost a means of ‘initiating’ kids within the city. She believes this because she very distinctly remembers her friends in high school teasing their younger siblings or kids from neighboring middle schools by scaring them with the gory details of the haunting, even if they themselves claimed to not believe it. 

Interpretation: I believe that this story could possibly be rooted in some form of truth – maybe the car accident or death of the pregnant woman did truly happen way back when. It could be possible that the community was so shocked by her death and the circumstances that they began to feel guilt which would then have made them susceptible to attributing any bad energy or ‘haunting’ occurrences to the woman’s search for vengeance. Regardless, it seems as though the story serves as a means of scaring or teasing kids, as according to my subject, people quickly grow out of believing in it as they grow up.

Once a Girl went to Camp

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Context: In girl scouts, they sing songs around the campfire. Most songs are call and response but the song provided by the informant is sung in unison. She pointed out that “boy scouts might have a similar but opposite version and this was a friendly rivalry between them.”

Girl scout songs are sung throughout all ages, from kindergarten to high school. The girls don’t start camping until daisy and brownie, typically around fourth grade. “As you get older and become a cadet, senior, or ambassador (6th grade plus) you start being the one to lead the younger girls, so your role changes” according to the informant.

Song: 

Once a girl scout went to camp, went to camp

Went to camp without her lamp, without her la-a-amp

When she found a spider in her bed, 

this is what the girl scout said, girl scout said:

“Spider, Spider go away, go away

You are not allowed to stay, allowed to sta-a-ayy”

This is what my le-eader said

“No two bodies in one bed, in one bed”

Once a boy scout went to camp, went to camp

Went to camp without his lamp, without his la-a-amp

Then he found a spider in his bed, 

this is what the boy scout said, boy scout said:

“AHHH”

Analysis: Before boy scouts became the gender-neutral scouts, girl scouts and boy scouts naturally had a gendered rivalry. Especially earlier in the development of children, they naturally segregate themselves by gender; boy and girl scouts institutionalized this segregation, further strengthening the divide. As children begin camping overnight with their group, they’ll sing around a campfire. On the surface, this song just seems to be a silly campfire song to entertain the kids and pass down for generations, keeping the rivalry with the boy scouts alive. 

Although the informant only points this out to be the purpose of the song, it also provides a warning to these new overnight campers. Firstly, ensure you remember your equipment or bad things might happen. Be aware of wildlife, including spiders; this will make the girls more meticulous about checking their bedding for any sort of bug or animal. Interestingly, this song has the leader warning against two bodies in one bed, suggesting that beds should not be shared at all between two people. Then, the song turns onto the boy scouts to make fun of them for being scared of the spider rather than talking to it, suggesting that the girl scouts should remain calm when facing a scary bug or animal they see in the wilderness. Essentially, this song provides a blueprint for appropriate behavior at camp through a silly song for the younger kids to remember by throwing in some rivalry. This then becomes a cycle to be passed down from the older to the younger girls. 

New Mexico Skinwalker

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Boat Mechanic
Residence: Glendale, AZ
Language: English

Story

In New Mexico, the informant visited the reservation with his Native friends. They decided to go out to hike a mountain at 7pm; the informant was with two friends and his friend’s cousin who he never met before. All of a sudden, it became pitch dark, no moon, no stars, no nothing, and the cousin went missing. They called for her for about a half hour. She came stumbling out of the dark with no recollection of anything that happened, so they thought “maybe a skinwalker or something was trying to lure her” according to the informant.

Context: The informant visited a Native American reservation in New Mexico around the ages 15-16 years old.

Analysis: This personal narrative follows a grander cultural phenomenon to explain the unexplainable. The sky went completely dark, which provides a supernatural backdrop to the story. The idea of nothing in the sky, not even stars, must have been terrifying for the group of teenagers. Suddenly, one of the group members goes missing and they frantically call out and search for her, strengthening the fear for the group as anything could have happened to her. When she finally stumbled out to them, she was disoriented with no memory of where she was for the last thirty minutes. Naturally, the group needed a way to explain what had happened that night. Although the informant was unsure of which reservation he had visited, he had likely visited the Navajo Nation or one of the surrounding reservations that are clustered together in New Mexico. Skinwalkers are a well-known legend in these areas, especially with them being a Navajo legend. This would have the quickest and easiest way for the teenagers to explain this experience. Skinwalkers are an evil witch who shapeshifts and lures people, likely to their deaths. Since the cousin had returned disoriented with no memory, she could have been lured and placed under the spell of a skinwalker and somehow escaped back to the group. 

Tombstone Ghost Story

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Waitress
Residence: Glendale, AZ
Language: English

“So me and my friend right. We took this trip to Tombstone and we did one of those ghost tours in I think it was a funeral home I’m pretty sure. It used to be an old funeral home in Tombstone. And she busted out this um what do they call it? A spirit box where they are just really loud. She had me and my friend stand up facing away from the audience, and there were these purple lights on us too, so you could kind of see if there was any shadows or movement or whatever from the ghost. And um apparently like people had told me afterwards that they had seen the ghost moving my hair cuz it was down and really long at the time. Anyways, with the spirit box, it just saying a lot of random stuff and all of a sudden all you could hear was it really clearly say BITCH! And then my friend just falls to the ground and grabs me and everybody fell.”

Context: The informant was about 14/15 and went on a birthday trip with her friend to Tombstone on Labor Day weekend. Tombstone is a well-known western town in Arizona, known for their ghost tours and mock shootouts. The ghost tour was in the basement of one of the stores which had been somewhat preserved from the time it was a funeral home. The host used a spirit box on her laptop, grid lights, and a barrel of offering which she had audience members stand in front of to invite spirits to touch them. The friend who collapsed claimed that she didn’t know what happened, similar to a short blackout, and she avoided any supernatural experiences for a long time afterward. The host ended the ghost tour after this incident.

Analysis: Although this ghost experience was somewhat institutionalized, the suggestibility of the experience and the host lead the informant into having a true ghost experience. Ghost boxes are devices that skip through radio channels, and the ghosts are supposed to highlight words in response to questions people asked. Initially, the experience had been fun for the informant, being told her hair was being moved by the ghost. This validated and strengthened the belief in the phenomenon in the moment. However, the experience took a turn when the ghost insulted them and her friend collapsed, suggesting that the ghost had pulled her down. With the ghost tour occurring in a wild west funeral home with many violent deaths, the host herself acknowledged the danger by concluding the tour after this hostile incident. Ghosts have been suggested to be especially tied to property and being hostile towards unwanted visitors, which could be a factor for the incident.