Tag Archives: death

Moisesito

Age: 20

Folk Narrative: Memorate 

Text: Moisesito 

“Growing up, I would visit my grandma’s friend’s house. One day, she handed me a toy teaset, and when I was trying to grab it (she had already let go of it), I felt a force pulling the teaset away from me. I specifically remember pulling it; something invisible was pulling it on the other side. I couldn’t pull it toward me until my grandmother’s friend yelled “aplácate ya” or “calm down now,” I could finally pull it. Then, the lights started flashing, and she again asked it to stop. I looked at her, confused, and she told me not to worry because that was Moisesito. Apparently, when he was two or three years old, he died in a car crash, and now he just stays at her house because she was his caregiver. He doesn’t harm anybody but does like playing tricks”. 

Context: My informant had this experience when she was in elementary school, visiting her grandmother’s friend’s house. She mentioned that the woman had asked her if she remembered Moisesito (implying that she had met him before), but she did not. When I asked her if she knew it was him, she said she had no idea and thought she wasn’t strong enough to pull it. She didn’t realize it was Moisesito until her grandmother’s friend told her not to be scared because it was just him playing tricks. She also mentioned that after this happened, her grandmother told her not to fear if she hears noises or other strange things happening because it’s just him. When asked if the existence of Moisesito was born from the grief of his loss, she told me she wasn’t sure but that her grandmother’s friend dreams of him often and sees him walking around. She believes that people who died in a tragic accident stay here until somebody helps them complete their pending last wishes. Because of this, they believe Moisesito is still active in this world. 

Analysis: Looking at this memorate, we can see how what may have been a simple matter of lack of strength was quickly addressed and named Moisesito. In this case, the story of Moisesito—a ghost child who died tragically and now resides in a caregiver’s home—emerges not from a community-wide legend, but from a deeply personal and intimate encounter that was later explained through familial belief. At the heart of this memorate is a moment of confusion and physical resistance: the informant attempts to take a toy tea set, only to feel an invisible force pulling it away. She initially interprets the situation as a mundane struggle—perhaps a lack of strength or clumsiness—but the caregiver immediately intervenes with a supernatural explanation, identifying the force as Moisesito. This recontextualization of the event is critical to understanding the memorate as a genre: an ordinary experience is interpreted through supernatural terms based on existing belief systems. The story is tied to a specific house, the caregiver, and a specific spiritual entity—Moisesito. The informant does not initially ascribe any supernatural quality to her experience; the narrative only takes on a spiritual dimension after being filtered through the caregiver’s worldview. This moment illustrates how memorates are shaped: the individual experiences something unusual, and cultural or familial frameworks help interpret it. The explanation that Moisesito died tragically and lingers in the house until his final wishes are fulfilled aligns with common folk beliefs across cultures that spirits of the dead, particularly those who died young or suddenly, remain in the liminal space between worlds. The familial responses further reinforce this framework. After the event, the informant’s grandmother validates the experience by telling her not to fear future encounters, solidifying Moisesito’s presence as a known and accepted figure within the household. 

Phone Call Premonition

Age: 59

Folklore: “I remember going on a trip once where I saw a man and a woman in Chicago. They were my ex-husband’s aunt and uncle. We had talked quite a bit and spent time with the whole family. When we flew home and walked in the door the phone was ringing. I immediately knew that Mike had died and he did, that was the call alerting us that Mike had died.”

I asked to clarify if she saw them in real life and she said,

“Yes, I had been visiting them in person and then when I flew home from Chicago and arrived home opened up the door and the phone was ringing as the door opened. I knew that Mike had died and that is indeed what that phone call was telling me. There was absolutely no reason to think that Mike had died because the entire visit was perfectly normal and it was a surprise death like a heart attack or something.”

Context: This story came from my mother who said she was 25 when this happened. She had just met her ex-husband’s aunt and uncle that week, and said she “knew” just as much as I knew that I was talking to her. 

Interpretation: This is a memorate, a personal supernatural experience, that reinforces beliefs about death and intuition. This story is similar to a larger folkloric pattern where individuals have gut feelings, especially surrounding and near the death of people close to them. Experiences like these add to the belief that interpersonal bonds transcend physical space and reflect the broader idea that people are more in tune with the spiritual world. 

The Krasue

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: United States
Language: English

Text:

“It’s basically a woman’s floating head with her internal organs attached that goes flying around at night to eat unborn fetuses with her long tongue. She was a princess that was supposed to marry another king but had another lover. The king found out and wanted to execute her by burning her so she found a witch that gave her a potion to drink before she was burned so she could live. But she drank the potion too late because it took a while for its affect to work so she…most of her body burned minus her internal organs and head. Oh and I also know how to avoid it taking your unborn fetus. You basically just need to either have pointed fences or barbed wire by your window because it doesn’t want its hanging organs to get stuck in it so it’ll avoid your home.”

Context:

The informant first heard about it on a youtube channel called Snarled. They interpreted it as a scary story that is generally told to young children around 12 years old.

Analysis:

The theme of this story seems to suggest pregnancy in the form of a horror story. This is represented in Asia as a story of spirits or evil manifested from hatred and revenge. It acts as a warning to be careful during pregnancy by using evil figures. The princess itself represents an entity formed from injustice like a vengeful spirit while also having adding elements of magic, such as the witch and protective potion. This spirit might also reflect the cultural belief that our spirit might come back to life or being unrestful due to injustice. Also, the idea of using pointed fences acts as apotropaic defense system or magic by using physical objects to ward off evil spirits. In addition to a warning for pregnant women, the backstory of the princess also suggests an importance in social contexts, such as placing value or in or respecting a marriage and upholding this contract instead of breaking it or else you might end up like this woman.

Everything in this life can be solved, except death – Proverb

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 24
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text:

Everything in this life can be solved, except death

Context:

My informant told me that her mother would tell her this proverb in moments when she (my informant) was overwhelmed by schoolwork or other aspects of life. This proverb would help put things into perspective for her. She continues to tell this proverb to herself now when she is stressed.

Analysis:

This proverb does a great job at putting everything into perspective. As much as death can be a scary thing for some people because of its finality, acknowledging that it is the only thing that truly is final can be comforting. That means that everything else in life, like the stressful times or the times of grief, is only temporary, or at least, the magnitude of the circumstance is only temporary. There might not be a literal “right answer” or “solution” to everything, but there are many ways to make it through the difficult times in life.

The Nova Scotia Spirit

Nationality: American 

Age: 60 

Occupation: Writer 

Residence: Sherman Oaks, CA 

Performance Date: November 28, 2024

Primary Language: English

STORY: “I was in Nova Scotia staying at my parents’ house on a cove on the water, and my grandmother was very sick, and she was dying nearby at the hospital. And I’d been like two or three times, and it’s grueling. Everytime you leave it’s like you’re saying goodbye to someone for the last time; it’s hard. And she was very very sick. And so, I believe my mother was at the hospital, and I was standing on the dock, overlooking the cove, watching, like, dolphins and whales swim by, and I saw coming down from the sky, this…entity, like, almost like, with like…gossamer, flowing fabric behind it. Came tight down right in front of me, down into the water, up, around me, and then went away. And I was like ‘what the actual?’ And then my mother called and said that her mother just died. So I’m guessing maybe she was…saying goodbye.”

ANALYSIS: Seeing as this happened before the individual knew of her grandmother’s passing, it is less likely that the entity she witnessed was merely a manifestation of her grief, or a way to cope with her grandmother passing away. While it could’ve been subconscious, it is still unlikely. It is interesting, however, that the spirit described in this story with “gossamer, flowing fabric” that came from the sky, is eerily similar to a lot of modern Western visual interpretations of ghosts. It was not a corporal entity, nor one that resembled an animal, but a very traditional “ghost” of sorts. Nonetheless, it could be plausible that it was the ghost or the spirit or the soul of the individual’s grandmother saying goodbye one last time.