Tag Archives: college

Delta Sigma Fraternity tradition

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At Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), the Delta Sigma fraternity has a big-little tradition as part of their initiation process for pledges. Big-little is a mentorship program where a pledge (new member) is paired with a brother (active member), and the big (brother) helps the little (pledge) get adjusted to the new frat. As part of their initiation to becoming an official brother, the pledges are required to complete a scavenger hunt in one night, where they are tasked with various tedious tasks, such as taking a picture with a statue on one end of campus, and then having to look for an item on the other side of campus. The pledges are not allowed to return to the frat house until they complete their scavenger hunt, and once they are finished, they need to guess who their big was based on the type of tasks they were given, as each task is often representative of a specific brother. The pledges are given a punishment for wrong guesses, and are only given an official big once they complete the scavenger hunt and correctly guess their big.

Context

The informant is a 22 year old man living in Cleveland, Ohio, and a former CWRU student. He was a part of the delta sigma fraternity during his time in college, and this topic came up when I asked about if he had any interesting folklore to share about his university. The informant’s first encounter with this tradition was during his freshman year of college when he was pledging, and he remembers that it took him until 2 AM to complete this process. When asked to reflect upon this experience, he believed it was tedious at the time, but looks back at the memory as something that honors a unique tradition of his frat. Ultimately, he told me that he was glad he had this experience, as his frat was where he made some of his best memories in college and found his closest friends.

Analysis

This initiation ritual, which blends a fun activity like a scavenger hunt with real consequences, uses this contrast to function as a rite of passage for new members and a building block for brotherhood. The long and tedious tasks becomes a way to see the commitment the pledges are willing to put in, and this ritual being something every member had to go through allows it to hold its place as a significant tradition that characterizes this frat. This ritual is also a reflection of Victor Turner’s concept of communitas, as it creates a tight bond among the pledges from a shared struggle, and the scavenger items being personalized to the pledge’s big becomes a fun way for new members to learn about their new peers in this folk group.

To me, as someone who never took part in Greek life, it’s easy for an outsider to see frats as unneccesary – from the yearly dues and the weeks of doing pointless tasks as a pledge, it may seem like one is paying to get hazed and make friends. Listening to the informant’s experience, however, and through the lens of folkloric significance, I can see the camaraderie this ritual would build and its importance towards becoming an official member of a particular group where you can find lifelong connections.

College rite of passage Tradition

Informant: “One of the traditions I remember most from Yale happens on Class Day, when we all sing the alma mater, “Bright College Years.” Toward the very end of the ceremony, everyone pulls out these white handkerchiefs and starts waving them during the final line: “For God, for country, and for Yale!”

It’s kinda the moment where you realize everyone around you is about to go their separate ways. You’re all doing the same thing, singing, waving these white handkerchiefs, and kind of holding onto that shared experience for just a little longer. It’s simple, but it really sticks with you.”

Context: The informant attended Yale University in the 80s and attended the Class Day celebration the day before graduation at the university. She recalled this tradition after being prompted if there were any traditions at her university. 

Analysis: This tradition is a clear example of institutional folklore, where a formal organization (Yale) sustains and transmits a ritual that becomes meaningful through repeated student participation. The act of waving white handkerchiefs during a specific line of “Bright College Years” acts as a ritual, tied to the incoming graduation.

This is also a rite of passage, marking the shift from individuals being students to alumni. The waving creates a visible sense of unity and collective identity, while the lyrics reinforce shared values. Even though the handkerchiefs have been officially distributed since 1984, the meaning of the tradition comes from its performance and emotional resonance, not just its institutional origin.

The University Of Vermont Hallway Ghost

Age: 19

The story takes place at the University of Vermont, in an old dorm, on an October night at exactly 3 a.m. LL got up to use the communal bathroom. When she stepped into the hallway, she immediately noticed a mysterious girl standing just past the bathroom. The girl had long blond hair hanging in front of her face, was facing away from LL, and was wrapped in a towel as if she had just stepped out of the shower. LL thought it was an odd time for anyone to be showering, and the sight gave her an immediate gut feeling that something was off. It was “creepy,” she said.

After finishing in the bathroom, LL stepped back into the hallway, and the same girl was still there, standing in the exact same spot, still facing away from her. The girl hadn’t moved at all. Feeling increasingly unsettled, LL began walking quickly back toward her room. Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her, growing faster as if the girl were following her. LL sped up, practically running, until she reached her door. She said she was relieved her roommate was inside so she didn’t have to return to an empty room.

LL emphasized that she had “never seen her before” that night and never saw her anywhere on campus afterward. When asked what the figure might have been if not a ghost, she said, “Maybe she was hooking up and then she went to take a shower… or really drunk and trying to scare me.” She also mentioned that she never saw the girl’s face…only the long blond hair and the towel.

When asked about the dorm’s history, LL explained that she lived in the worst dorm on campus and that the university itself was pretty old, so she’s “sure somebody has died in it before.” The combination of the hour, the setting, and the strange stillness of the girl left LL genuinely shaken by the experience.

I agree with LL. On a college campus…where people are experimenting with drugs and alcohol, keeping unusual hours, and living with strangers for the first time…it’s plausible that this was just a bizarre coincidence. The girl may have been standing there in a daze, unaware that her presence could be interpreted as unsettling.

There’s also the liminality of college dorms to consider. They’re your home, but not quite. They’re spaces layered with the histories of countless past students, full of stories you’ll never know. New experiences happen constantly, often before you have the framework to understand them. In an environment like that, the mind is primed to fill in the unexplained with occult or supernatural interpretations, especially when something feels off.

The timing only heightens this effect. It was October, when people are already steeped in horror imagery and Halloween atmosphere. It was 3 a.m., a disorienting hour when you’re groggy, alone, and hyper-aware of everything. In that context, encountering a silent, unfamiliar girl in a towel becomes more frightening than it might be in daylight. LL’s reaction makes sense: the setting, the hour, and the ambiguity of the moment all worked together to make an ordinary situation feel paranormal.

Fuck Around, Fuck Around Go Home Crying

Text: “Fuck around Fuck around go home crying”

Context: My dad, 60, white, living in Washington State, learned this in college, it was his set design teacher’s favorite saying. It’s about when you’re painting and it doesn’t look quite right so you try to fix it but it goes badly and you keep fixing it and fixing it but it gets so bad that you’ve gone completely away from what you wanted. You just spent way more time trying to fix something then you did just continuing to paint. So this saying means: Stop, just stop, leave it, go do something else, go find another area to paint. My dad brought it home and it became a part of the family vernacular. 

Analysis: This is an example of folk speech, a saying that is meant as a warning or advice.  It is unknown if my dad’s teacher created this saying or learned it from somewhere else, but since he learned it in this context that will be analyzed. Artists are known for being non-traditional, alternative, or off the beaten path. This saying reflects that, in its use of tabooist language, swear words. My father and his teacher might have been drawn to it because of this subversion. It is a saying meant to teach and my father learned it in an educational setting but it is not appropriate for kids. I think that is part of the fun, many sayings are all ages but this one ensures that the space is adult only, in the context my dad learned it in that these college kids are adults, and art is a serious business. The repetition also makes it fun to say, excluding the need for any rhymes and making it easier to remember.

Creepy College Cult

Age: 25

Text:

Interviewer: “What is your ghost story?” 


MP: “Um, so I was walking around the basement of, um, one of the buildings at my college and, um, just, like, waiting in between classes, and I saw there’s all these club posters, and then there was this poster about joining Lord Vantis’s cult, and I didn’t know who that was or what that was, but all you had to do is text the number, and I said, yeah, this will be fun. So then I joined the number, I texted the number, and the number texted back, and they started telling me about this like cult leader they had and how he was great and how he had written all these texts. And then they sent me a link to those texts. 
And this like kept going for like a week or two and they kept texting me about this guy and I was just like, well, this is so much, this is so silly. This is so much fun. But then I hadn’t heard from them for a few days. 
And I was starting to get nervous, and so I texted and I was like, is everything okay? And they were like, actually, Lord Vantis has just died. And I was like, oh no, because, well, that’s the head of this cult. 
Um, and then the next day, the pandemic started, and the school closed forever, and, well, for, like, 2 years. And so then, I was really scared because I thought that the death of Lord Vantis had caused the global pandemic. And yeah, I haven’t heard from him since, and I hope not to hear from him again, because I’m worried about what it may bring back to the world.”

Interviewer: “What do you think about or take away from the story?”

MP: “Oh, um, well, I think that maybe… It tells me that, like, the things that I encounter on my day-to-day life, I should maybe be more cautious with. 
And also, maybe don’t text random numbers you find on a poster in a random building.”

Interviewer: “Do you believe in Lord Vantis’s ghostly behaviors?”

MP: “Um, I definitely, I don’t think he’s responsible for the pandemic. 
I mean, like, I know it was, like, an actual, like, like medical thing, but like it could have been like it, it could have been exacerbated and made worse because Lord Vantis died. We’ll never know if he had lived if it would have been that bad. I’ve never seen him, and I don’t think I’d like to see him. 
So that’s good.

Context:

This story occurred at Georgetown University in the winter of 2019, directly before the Covid-19 pandemic rapidly began to spread. The informant was a Freshman at the time of her experience.

Analysis:

This experience is likely purely coincidental, as believed by myself and the informant. However, there is a sense of mystery and uneasiness, as Lord Vantis acts as this unknown, supernatural-like figure. Ghostly encounters also can often be encounters of coincidence (someone happens to hear a creak in an old house, etc). The identities of the person sending MP the messages and Lord Vantis themself remain unknown, appealing to the ghostly aspect.