Tag Archives: death

Haunted Hollydale Mental Hospital

Nationality: self-declared "cholo"
Age: 22
Occupation: unknown
Residence: Compton, CA
Performance Date: February 26
Language: spanish

My friends and I were hunting for haunted houses and after googling haunted places in los angeles, we decided to go check out the abandoned Hollydale Mental Hospital in Downey, CA.

We drove around the hospital campus for a bit, and then decided we should probably leave considering all of the buildings were fenced in and we really didn’t know what we were doing. Then we pulled in to a nearby parking lot and saw a group of people get out of their car who looked about our age, in their early twenties. We asked them if they were there to check out the hospital and they said yes, so we asked if we could join. They were very welcoming (the four guys were drunk, and the one girl was clearly  their sober driver) and explained that they were there to “initiate” Cherry because it was his first time visiting this haunted place. According to them, it was tradition to run up to the main house, “where they kept the craziest of the crazies”, and touch the front door for your first time visiting Hollydale. We decided this was exciting and tagged along. The girl, Cindy, began to explain how they were from the area and that they heard stories about Hollydale all the time from other kids in school. She also told us the story she knows of why it was abandoned:

Back in the 70’s, there was an outbreak of Tuberculosis at the hospital, and their way of dealing with it was to get all of those who had not yet been infected out and then left the rest of the people there to die. That is why the whole compound looks as if everyone just up and left, because they did. They just closed up shop like it was the end of another business day.

Cindy told us that they had been inside one of the buildings before and they took a whole box of papers from beside a desk and it had a lot of old, interesting papers and files inside.

She also said that about a year ago, the town planned  on tearing the place down because it was costing them money to have policemen constantly patrolling and whatnot, but a group of animal rights activists wouldn’t allow them too because the site has become a breeding ground for stray cats.

 

the longest riddle in the world

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: llinois
Performance Date: January 9, 2012
Primary Language: English

I was told by the informant of this riddle that it was the longest riddle in world (and therefore the most difficult to guess the answer to).  The informant learned it from her father and she enjoys repeating it because it’s amusing to have people challenge the idea that it’s the “world’s longest riddle”.

So Frank (a very famous celebrity) was out to dinner with his friend Bob (not famous) and they were outside this very famous restaurant waiting to put their name in when the hostess spots Frank and motions for he and Bob to come up to the front. Within minutes, the two are seated and a waiter comes by to take their drink orders. Frank orders a coke and Bob a Black and Tan. The waiter returns a little later with their drinks and then takes their food orders: Frank orders the house special of the night, roasted peacock; and Bob orders a deluxe burger. In another twenty minutes, the food arrives. After taking one bite of his roasted peacock, Frank runs outside and shoots himself. Why?

The answer?

Four weeks prior to this evening out, Frank, Bob, Frank’s brother, and lots of Franks fans were on a small cruise ship together. The ship sank in the midst of a storm and the only survivors to make it to a nearby island were Frank, Bob, Frank’s brother, and Frank’s number one fan. As the hours flew by, everyone’s hunger grew, and as a gesture towards his idol, Frank’s number one fan said he’d take Bob and Frank’s brother with him to go find food for them all. The three boys are gone for hours and hours when finally just Frank’s number one fan and Bob emerge from the trees. They say the bad news is that they lost Frank’s brother ans spent forever looking for him, but the good thing is that they found food, and they presented Frank with peacock which they hunted and killed.

Frank so enjoyed the peacock that he decided to order it four weeks later at this great restaurant, but at the restaurant it tasted so different from what he had had before that it made him realize it wasn’t peacock that he had eaten on the island, but rather it was his brother.

 

This informant said that most people react to this riddle with “that’s not a riddle, it’s an impossible-to-guess story!” But hey, it’s all relative, right?

to obtain a good afterlife in Taiwan

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: Eugene, Oregon
Performance Date: April 26, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

In Taiwan, it’s Taiwanese custom to burn paper food (symbolic of food) and money at people’s graves so that they have these things in their afterlife.

My informant learned of this from her grandma’s parents’ burial and it’s a custom passed down through their family. She likes the custom because it helps keep her connected to her Taiwanese heritage.

Chinese Ritual-Tomb Sweeping Festival

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 52
Occupation: Postman
Residence: Goleta, CA
Performance Date: 19 March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Spanish

Qingming Jie is a public holiday in Taiwan and parts of China that translates to Tomb Sweeping Festival. It is also known as Pure Brightness Day. My dad tells me that the Chinese take death and funerals very seriously. So, on this holiday, which usually occurs sometime in April (it changes based on the lunar calendar), relatives of the deceased must go to their graves and clean them. So, kids and their parents have to go to the graveyards and sweep the tombs and decorate them with Chinese charms. They also leave food at the tomb for their ancestors to eat.

My dad said that even though it was a day of respect, it could be fairly scary when he was little. He said that most the times the graveyards would be dingy and dirty and it was your responsibility to go and clean the tomb and make it look acceptable. So, as a little kid, he did not like Tomb Sweeping Day. After cleaning the tombs, they would pray for their ancestors.

The Qingming Festival originally started as a way to honor a man named Jie Zitui. Supposedly, Jie had cut a part of his leg meat off to save his lord from hunger, since his lord had had to go into exile when the crown was in jeopardy. After 19 years, the lord came back, and decided to reward Jie. However, during that time, Jie had hid away in a mountain with his mother and in order to find Jie, the lord ordered that the mountain be set on fire. Both Jie and his mother were found dead and from then on the lord ordered that only cold food could be eaten on the day that Jie died. Other traditions involved with this festival is kite-flying and spring outings. Both are done after the tomb sweeping is finished as a way to then celebrate life and prosperity.

Source URL: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/qingming.htm

Ghost Story

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Aurora, Ohio
Performance Date: 25 April 2012
Primary Language: English

My informant’s grandma used to live in a hotel because her father owned the hotel and would rent the rooms to workers in the steel mill. Supposedly, there was one renter who was fairly young and worked at the mill, whom everyone would pay attention to because he was very attractive. One day, this man came home early from work and both my informant’s grandma and her sister were ironing at the hotel. Back then, when they ironed, they would put the board across two chairs, so it was blocking the way for the young man to get to his room. So, the young man walked into the room and just stared at the two sisters, so they quickly moved all their things and apologized for blocking the hallway. However, he did not say anything, he just waited there while they put the ironing board away. Then, the young man walked through and went to his room and closed the door. Then, the sisters put everything back and started ironing again. An hour later, the bell at the mill rang. This signified that work was over. All the other workers came home and then a page boy came in and informed the two sisters that there was an accident at the mill and that the young man had died. Both the sisters were confused though because they had clearly seen the young man walk into the hotel and he never left.

Ghost stories are always so fascinating to me because there is no way to know whether or not they are true. Yet, they are so prominent in folk culture. People want to believe in ghost stories. I believe that society’s thirst for knowledge about the after life makes ghost stories that much more exciting.