This story was told when the informant was asked about any landmarks or traditions surrounding her local area.
“Ok, so by my house there’s this old fort from like the civil war called fort reno, and it’s right by the middle school that i went tour and it’s still sort of guard weirdly, and i don’t know, there’s probably a real reason for where there’s fences and guards and stuff, ut like uh, but there seems to be no real reason for there to be guards anymore, and i mean there’s not guards, but there will still be like fences and all these kind of weird structures inside, and so what all the kids say is that’s where, and it’s also the highest point in the city, but what all the kids is that there’s an underground bunker there, and that’s where the president would go if we were ever like attacked, and it’s at fort reno, and no one knows what’s in there, and it’s probably like a water treatment plant, but that’s what I believe”.
When did you learn about it?
“Um, probably like middle school, cuz we walked past it all the time on my way home.”
Analysis:
Because the informant lived in the US capital, it is obvious that much of the folklore would surround this aspect of life. It is like the local middle schoolers are attaching importance to certain landmarks to make it more official and important in their lives, to connect to the general population of politicians in D.C. It is also interesting to note the element of disaster that is worked into this tale, signalling that disaster is never far from their minds living in the capital of the US.