Tag Archives: death

The Red Balloon Ghost Story

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

My informant told me a story about her deceased Nana sending her red balloons for her birthday. Her Nana, whom she was very close to, passed away ten days after her 12th birthday. The next year, when her 13th birthday was approaching, she, my informant, felt a lot of grief, because the approach of her birthday meant that the anniversary of her Nana’s death was approaching as well. She prayed to God and her Nana to feel some comfort from her grief. The next day, when she came home from school, there were a bunch of red balloons in the tree in front of her house. My informant told me, “Red was my favorite color, and they were birthday balloons; one or two said “Happy Birthday.” She only took one of the plain red balloons: “because I did not want to be greedy.” That night, she prayed that the balloon would float for seven or ten days (she could not remember the exact amount of time) and the balloon stayed afloat for the amount of time she had prayed for.

Context:

My informant shared with me that she grew up with strong Christian roots. She was Catholic and attended the Catholic Church for several years when she was young before her family switched to a Protestant Church. She told me that she had developed the habit of praying to God to give her a sign as proof of His existence or to help her make big decisions when she was going through rough times. The balloons appeared when she prayed to her deceased grandmother My informant has shared this story with her mother and her mother shared other memorates with her about supernatural events regarding her Nana.

Analysis:

My informant presented this story to me as a ghost story, however, I would argue that there are sign superstition elements to it: praying to her grandmother and then finding the red balloons in front of her house. There is a supernatural element to her story, though, too: the balloons being her favorite color and the one balloon lasting the length of time she wanted it too. One can argue that the spirit of her Nana brought her these balloons for her birthday, therefore making it somewhat of a ghost story. In class, we talked about ghosts/spirits are mostly vengeful and to haunt the living, but I wonder if it is a possibility that there are some spirits that present themselves, specifically to their loved ones, to bring support and to show the living that they are not alone (in a positive way).

Pop Rocks and Soda

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: clerical staff
Language: English

Text: So this kid from the cereal commercial. Well supposedly when he became a teenager, he ate Pop Rocks and soda and died. It was supposed to be a thing that if you ate Pop Rocks and soda at the same time, they will cause a chemical reaction in your stomach and you will die. So of course kids wanted to do it.” 

Context:

“There was a kid on a cereal commercial for LIFE cereal, his name was Mikey. Originally, it was like they got him to eat the cereal and were like, “Oh he won’t eat it, he hates everything.” And then he eats the cereal and they say “hey, Mikey, you like it!”

Analysis:

This specific variation of the “A+B eaten together will make your stomach explode” legend uses Pop Rocks and soda, both sugary and therefore likely liable to make someone’s stomach upset if eaten in excess. That isn’t even mentioning the carbonation and release of gasses that may disrupt the stomach biome. It’s incredibly likely that the story was originated by a concerned parent, but it is just as likely to have originated from other kids and altered through word of mouth. Whatever the origin, the focus for the informant seems to be on the repetition. 

The context is based around who the person was and how he was known from a commercial. His visibility, then, is what granted this legend more credibility and status than if it had happened to some random person. The object of legend matters immensely. Then, other kids wanting to try the combination as well perpetuates the legend. By knowing people want to or do try this, the legend can become a theory for an absence or an expectation from even a minor stomachache. 

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.