Tag Archives: Boston

Kilachand Hall is Haunted

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Boston University Student
Residence: Boston
Performance Date: 03/12/19
Primary Language: English

Content:
Informant – “Kilachand Hall is supposedly haunted. That’s where the honor students live. It used to be a hotel. The most famous resident was a playwright named Eugene O’Neill. There was also another famous writer there who won a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer or something. I don’t know. But anyways, O’Neill died in this hotel. And BU bought the building and turned it into a dormitory. Strange things have been going on on the fourth floor ever since, cause that’s where he lived. Apparently he died there. Lights inexplicably dim. Elevators stop working and open on the fourth floor for no reason. There are knocks on the door when no one is outside.”

Context:
Informant – “I heard it on my college tour. It makes me not what to live there haha.”

Analysis:
Eugene O’Neill did in fact die in Kilachand Hall (formerly known as Shelton Hall). I think this legend is popular because it is a reminder that a famous person died in the building. It adds panache to the idiosyncrasies of an old building.

“Sweet Caroline” at a Red Sox Game

Nationality: American
Age: 39
Occupation: Manager
Residence: Wilmington, Delaware
Performance Date: 3/30/19
Primary Language: English

Background:
Going to a game at Fenway park is a unique experience. There’s nothing like being surrounded by thousands of devoted Boston fans all with the same mentality of victory or death. There is truly an unmatchable energy at Red Sox games in Fenway park. My stepfather is from Boston so when we go to the games we bring several members of his family with us and we travel as a small gang. One tradition that stands out amongst the lot is that Boston fans will sing Sweet Caroline by Neil diamond after the seventh-inning stretch. The whole crowd will cheer that melody- “SWEET CAR-O-LINE” and so on.

Piece:
Me: “why do we sing this?”
S: “I don’t really know. But I do know it started during my lifetime.”
Me: “what do you mean? Well why do you think?”
S: “about 20 years ago I remember the song coming around and for some reason it stuck so I’ve been singing it ever since.”
Me: “Do you like it?”
S: “I love it.”

Discussion:
Immediately after the conversation I looked up the reason for this song being used at the games and there wasn’t much story to be told. A woman named Amy Toby like the song and she played it during a game and everyone knew it fit perfectly. It started out only been played at random games but then in 2002 it became the official Fenway tradition. I believe that this song resonates well with Boston people because of the emotional impact it has on the crowd. People can get rowdy during baseball games, especially people from New England but, this song has an exciting feeling that is both calming and unifying. This song was even used as a memorial after the Boston marathon bombings. There is no piece of evidence stronger than that to exemplify how important this song is to people of Boston.

Boston University, Trash Can Punch

Nationality: American, caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: 325 West Adams Blvd./ Los Angeles, CA 90007
Performance Date: 04/09/18
Primary Language: English

Title: Boston University, Trash Can Punch

Category: Recipe/Food

Informant: Julianna K. Keller

Nationality: American, caucasian

Age: 20

Occupation: Student

Residence: 325 West Adams Blvd./ Los Angeles, CA 90007

Date of Collection: 4/09/18

Description:

“Trash Can Punch” is a mixed alcoholic beverage made in the fraternity houses at Boston University. The trash cans used are the large grey janitorial trashcans that are often used in cafeterias and janitorial carts. The trashcans are bought or cleaned thoroughly before use (one can hope). “Trash Can Punch” has no real recipe but follows the same general guidelines. There is usually a strong fruity component or flavor, and then a variety of different forms of alcohol. Each fraternity or house serving “Trash Can Punch” will usually have its own recipe and sometimes color. All guests are welcome to drink it at the party and is served by the host or resident of the house throwing the party.

Context/Significance:

Ms. Keller visited Boston University her senior year of high school to catch up with a friend and gain firsthand insight about the university as she considered where she might study after graduation. Her visit just happened to fall over halloween weekend and her friend invited her to go out with a group of them for the occasion.

When they got to the party, held at a fraternity house, Julianna asked where she could find drinks being served. The girls hosting her visit pointed to the trash can in the corner where it was filled close to the top with a sweet orange alcoholic mixture. When she asked what was in the drink, no one was really abel to tell her an answer.

One of the girls said they were made from recipes. That each fraternity house had their own mixture and color and was only served at their house in particular. Another friend agreed and that the remaining contents from the party was poured into a bucket and saved in the fridge for use at the future party as a base to go off of (kind of like a rue for gumbo or starter for sour-dough bread.) A separate girl told her that ht house will only fill the trash can half way and then as party guests arrive they bring alcohol with them to add to the trash can so no one can ever really tell what’s inside.

Personal Thoughts:

Sounds dangerous to me, but who am I to judge? This seems like a form of half passive bearers of tradition, half active bearers of tradition. No one is explicitly taught how to make “Trash Can Punch,” but underclassman seem to hear these stories of how it’s made and perhaps learn them from fraternity histories during the pledging process. When these students reach the level of upperclassman, they then attempt to make these recipes themselves and alter them themselves in the process. The recipes have undoubtably changed over the years but remain somewhat iconic to each fraternity in some way.

Winchester Rubber Duckie Festival

Nationality: Venezuelan American
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: usc
Performance Date: april 17, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

What is being performed?
TA: I’m from Winchester, Massachusetts which is like 30 minutes from Boston and every year
we have a Rubber Duckie Festival that the whole town comes to.
AA: What’s the rubber duckie festival?
TA: I don’t even really know. But I’ve been going my whole life. Basically, though, it happens
every summer and every kid brings a rubber duckie and a crane drops all the rubber duckies
into the river and they race. The duckie that makes it to the end gets a cash prize but it’s really
hard and completely dependent on luck.
AA: What are you celebrating?
TA: It’s about summer. I’m not exactly sure if other places do this but the rubber duckies are
supposed to just be symbols of happiness.

Why do they know or like this piece? where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to
them?
AA: When did you first discover this festival?
TA: When I was a little kid my parents took me. And then I kept coming back because my dance
class would always perform.
AA: Do you like the festival?
TA: When I was a kid it was super fun because I would want my duck to win but now it’s just a
time for me to catch up with my friends and do something for Winchester. For my incredibly
small town, it means the world.
Context of the performance- where do you perform it? History?
The Winchester Rubber Duckie Festival happens annually in June. It brings the entire
community out, features youth performers, and has live music. It is a way for Winchester to be
united for a day.

Reflection
I have never heard of this festival before but think it’s cool and wish my town did something like
that. Having the racing of the rubber duckies is a fun way to get even the littlest children
involved. I think this is something that only works super well in small towns like Winchester but
is a good idea in theory for all towns.

The Woman in Black

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: Financial executive
Residence: Boston, MA
Performance Date: 3/11/17
Primary Language: English

“Ok, so this is a story of Georges Island, an island out in Boston Harbor.  During the Civil War, they built a fort out there called Fort Warren.  And that’s where they held prisoners of the Civil War, so Confederate soldiers were held out there.  Um, so there was a soldier out there who wrote a letter to his wife that he was being held out there and she got the letter, she was from Georgia.  So she comes up and she wants to break him out of jail.  So she ends up staying in Hull, right, which is a town right on the water and one stormy night, she rows out there, dressed in men’s clothing, and she had cut her hair, so she looked like a prisoner.  So she broke into the prison and she was doing everything she could to break her husband out of jail.  And as she was doing it, she was captured, along with her husband, and as they were about to take her, she went to take the pistol of one of the guards, and as she was grabbing at the pistol from the the guard, the gun went off, and it killed her husband.  And then she was tried for trying to break him out of prison, and she was convicted, and she was gonna be put to death.  And they said, “So you have one request.  What is your request?”  And she said, “I don’t wanna die in men’s clothing.”  They said, “Ok, that’s reasonable.”  So the guards at the fort went around, but there were no women on this island, so all they could find was like this black material and black robes.  So they put her in the lack robes and then they executed.  And from that day on, when you go out to that island… people swear that there is the “Lady in Black” that everyone sees walking around by herself.  And the legend is that that’s this woman.”

 

Conclusion:

 

This story was told to me by my dad’s buddy, Stephen.  As a Boston native, I found the story to be very interesting.  Apparently it was based on true events.  It’s funny, as Stephen was reciting the tale, I recalled a short news clip from a Boston station that I’d seen several years ago.  The clip showed a shadowy figure donning black robes standing in heavy winds on an island in Boston harbor.  When Stephen, got to the end of the story, I put two and two together.  This was one of my favorite pieces of folklore that I collected.