WISHING STONES – folk magic (sympathetic)

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: May 1
Primary Language: English

Transcript of recorded audio
“There’s this place out in the woods, um, I think I told you a story about it before, about me finding a bunch of stacked rocks in the middle of the night, and it’s called the wishing stones, and they’re these piles and piles and piles of rocks. And what you’re supposed to do is you’re supposed to write a note with a wish on it. And you’re supposed to put it under one of the rocks. And it’s supposed to grant wishes. And it’s really pretty during the daytime, absolutely terrifying at night. Don’t go at night.”

Background
This person knows of this location because they attend UCSC, and from what I understand they have actually been to this location. The informant is pretty supersitious. They’ve given me a few of these stories, as they are very into ghost tales and magic. However, its unclear exactly who they learned about this place from.

Context
This story was given as a set of voice memos sent to me by a friend. Most of the stories pertain to UCSC. They talk quite quickly, but I tried to match the transcript as closely to what was actually said. Also, it should be noted that for the bit where they say “I think I told you a story about it before” that I have literally no memory of this. She might have told me a story like this before and that I just forgot it, but as far as I know, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of this location.

Thoughts
Like the buddha story told to me by another person (which is also in UCSC), this seems to be a pretty classic example of sympathetic magic. And just like the Buddha story, it seems to contain a strange element of fear that you wouldn’t really expect from a tradition like this. After all, you’re literally just writing wishes. What could be more wholesome? But even in spite of this, we get this strange warning: “Don’t go at night.” Almost as if by going at night, one might reverse whatever positive elements the sight brings, and unleash something more sinister.

THE MISSING ROOMS – Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: May 1
Primary Language: English

Transcript of recorded audio
“My um, psychiatrist told me this one, cuz he went to UCSC. Um, he told me that Stevenson and Cowle, the college that I go to, that they’re said to be incredibly, deeply haunted. And he told me that story about the jogger getting killed by the cougar. (reference to an earlier conversation) And he heavily implied that like her spirit is haunting the woods. And then he told me to count the windows of the, um, like some of the dorms. And count the doors on the inside. And he implied that some of them don’t match up, so that there are sealed off rooms within Cowle Stevenson that like nobody is suppose to go into, and honestly with the amount of asbestos at my school, I kind of believe it.”

Background
This story is part of a set of voice recordings that a friend sent to me, pertaining mostly to tales at UCSC (University of Santa Cruz). As stated in the tape, they gained this story specifically from their psychiatrist, who also went to the school. They also likely felt attached to this piece as they are an avid fan of ghost stories, and UCSC has a lot of them.

Context
As stated above, this story was given to me as part of a voice recording. The enthusiasm for the story was palpable, even just from the audio. I tried to capture everything that was said through the transcript, although the speaker does fumble with speech a bit sometimes.

Thoughts
What’s interesting is that there is an element of performance for this legend, but this performance is simply acting as proof. By counting all the windows and doors, nothing good or bad is going to happen. It’s just given out as a form of proof or justification for the legend. Also, the dark joke at the end with asbestos is something I found interesting. Outside of being deliciously dark, it also brings in a real world element of death and sickness to this ghost tale.

THE ASYLUM AND THE SHAH OF IRAN – Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: April 29, 2021
Primary Language: English

Transcript – informant speaking
“There’s a myth that my old dorm building was an insane asylum. Also there’s a building on campus that was supposedly funded by the Shah of Iran.”

Background
This ones short, and almost like a two-in-one. It was given to me by a person who attends college in Washington D.C.. They likely heard both of these rumors from their classmates or dorm-mates. He likely would have heard them both separately. But what’s interesting is how he pairs them both together here, giving them about the same weight.

Context
This information was given out during a zoom conversation on college legends. It was given during the tail end of a conversation, almost off-handedly. He didn’t seem to take too much stock in either of them. He was just laying them out as he heard them. It should be noted that the informant is a very rationally minded person, one who would often look down on things such as ghost stories and rumors.

Thoughts
The fact that a rumor about an asylum is being put in the same vein as the notion of an Iranian funding a college campus building is interesting. Its almost as if the fear of a foreign power having a monetary stake in the U.S. is being given the same weight as the fear of the insane Might speak to some of the isolationist and nationalistic sentiments that have been spreading across the U.S.. I would like to note though that I don’t think giving these two legends the same weight was the informants doing. He was likely just telling both back as he heard them.

CAT GRAVEYARD – Legend / Ritual

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Santa Cruz
Performance Date: April 29, 2021
Primary Language: English

Transcript – informant speaking
Informant 1: “There is a place at UCSC called the cat graveyard. They say that someone had a cat on campus once, and when that cat died they buried it in the backwoods of campus. As the years went on, that spot became a place for the burial of pets, as well as the site where the book of shadows of a local coven in buried. They say that that place is where one of the covens practice.”
Informant 2: “Did Steven king base his book pet cemetery on that?”
Informant 1: “Naw, none of the pets ever come to life. Some people just practice magic there.”
Informant 2: “Seems legit.”

Background
I couldn’t find any information online to confirm the existence of the burial sight. But said informant attends the school, so I find the existence of the burial ground to be a likely story. Assuming that at least the place itself is real, then it’s interesting how a certain legend spawned an actual burial ground which in turn spawned more legends. There’s no reason everyone else had to bury their cats in that location, but they did so off of one supposide story. Then by burying more pets, the land somehow took on a more mystical tone. It goes to show that even when it comes to animals, we seem to have an obsession with locations of burials. But what’s interesting is that opposed to human burial grounds, this story doesn’t contain any notion of the animals returning to life, as clarified by the informant.

Context
The story was provided during a zoom conversation about on campus college legends. The informant told the story till the end. Then afterward, a different person, who was a part of the conversation, asked if this location was related to the Steven King novel. It’s interesting how he immediately made the leap from a folk story to pop culture, even though the stories themselves are not related. After all, while the location for this story is in a graveyard, there is no notion of the undead.

Thoughts
I like ghost stories, so this one appealed to me. One thing I keep coming back to is the presence of magic within the story, but the absence of any undead. I wonder if this has anything to do with the way people view pets versus people. People might be less inclined to believe pets have souls as compared to humans, which might signify the lack of any resurrection among these animals. However, the location is still clearly classified as a place of magic. So the location of the animals resting place is still given power, but to a lesser extent than what might have been a human graveyard.

CSU STADIUM BELL – Legend / Ritual

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Fort Collins
Performance Date: April 29
Primary Language: English

Transcript – Informant Speaking
“Outside of football stadium there is a bell – I will point it out when we check out CSU – that bell is from the original campus – the oval – and what ended up happening was the original building the bell presided on was burnt down in a fire and it was lost someone took the bell…then years and years later it was returned to the school before the stadium was finished being built it is thought the people who stole it buried it…now after every win the football team gets they ring the bell!”

Background
Here my friend is telling a story about the Colorado state university Bell. Said friend is a big sports guy, and is very into football games, giving him a big attachment to this ritual. The story about the school being burned seems relatively close to the truth (I cross checked on the schools main page). I’m not sure about the bell being stolen and returned though. Seems like a good speculation though. They likely learned this story from their other college classmates.

Context
I was on a zoom call asking about college legends with some of my old high school friends. Seeing as they all go to different schools around the country, I imagined it would give a wide array of different stories to share. This one was one of the first presented to me. It should be noted that said informant is a very passionate speaker. I’m pretty sure he told this whole story in a single sentence

Thoughts
I’m not too into sports stories. I never really liked football. But I thought that the bit about the bell being mysteriously returned was interesting. Almost got a more ghostly quality to it. Of course, Cameron explained it with a more logical sports centered explanation (it was obviously just a rival team who felt guilty) but it’s easy to see how it might be construed differently if it were an object or a bell not related to sports.