Tag Archives: family

In the barnyard

Information Info

Age: 20

Date_of_performance: 02/13/2025

Informant Name: EK

Language: English 

Nationality: American 

Occupation: Student 

Primary Language: English

Residence: Los Angeles, CA  

Text:

“For as long as I can remember, my family loved to play card games, especially euchre. Euchre is essentially a trick-taking game with two teams of two, with a little skill and lots of luck of the draw. In euchre, you play to ten, and whenever any team got to nine, one team member would stick their hands out, interlocking their hands together except for their thumbs which would stick down in as “udders”. Then, the other team member would spray milk on the opposing team, paired with lots of jeering and taunting as they would flaunt how they were “in the barnyard!”. That phrase has only come from my family from what I can tell, but whenever I’m close to succeeding at something, I often say I’m in the barnyard because of that.”

Analysis:

Out of all of the proverbs I’ve got from the interviews, this is the first one that doesn’t have the intention of wisdom or a hidden passage that is being passed down from different generations. This one was created about of a fun game night with his family. It is a proverb that came from a family memory and E created into a message for himself and turning it into a feeling succeeding because he would say that phrase when he won the game. I love hearing stories about a family saying that becomes ingrained into people and soon becomes of great importance to them. if you were to hear someone yell “In the barnyard” after finishing up a hard assignment or getting a dream job, it would be fair for your first reaction would be to be weirded out because that would be the last thing you expected to hear. But to them, it is meaningful for them. That is what proverbs should be at the end of the day, they don’t have to make sense to others as long as you understand the meaning and carry it with you giving you hope or reminding you have good memories.

“Eddie’s Home”

Nationality: American

Age: 21

Occupation: Student 

Residence: Los Angeles, CA, USA

Date: 02/22/2025 

Primary Language: English

Language: English

Description: 

“In my family and other—I’ve heard it done other in other families too, but to like, signify or, like, tell somebody that they have something in their teeth, like at a dinner party or just like in public. You say that ‘Eddie’s home’. And you can be like Eddie’s upstairs, Eddie’s downstairs, Eddie’s upstairs in the left bedroom, etc.”

Subject’s opinion:

Subject:  I feel like that has a lot to do with, like Texas mannerisms and, like, politeness, because…you are like, very like, um…people pleaser, and, I don’t know.” 

Interviewer: Where did you first hear this? Do you remember? 

Subject: I think my family taught me, like, when I was little at the dinner table. Like I was told like, never to put my elbows on the table and that kind of stuff. So, like, as a…how to be polite, I guess.

Interviewer: Do you know why it’s called Eddie? 

Subject: No. I don’t. 

Analysis: 

Though the subject lives in Los Angeles, she noted that this piece of folk speech is deeply rooted in her family’s Texan tradition and highlights the American South’s great stress on social etiquette. The phrase itself—a code only understood by members of her community—reinforces presentation and politeness. It suggests that having something in one’s teeth is not only uncomfortable to oneself but also a violation of a collective commitment to cleanliness and sophistication. In this context, the phrase becomes a way to care for or protect someone, as it prevents them from potential embarrassment. It’s also clear that the subject was brought up in such an environment based on her reference to dinner table manners. The subject, however, displayed a degree of disillusionment towards her community, often putting on a dismissive attitude when discussing such practices. Though the subject did not elaborate further on these feelings, it’s reasonable to assume that she doesn’t entirely subscribe to her community’s commitment to upholding values on social etiquette. That said, the metaphorical code is incredibly vivid and engaging and left a strong impression on the subject. It’s an obscure yet potent piece of folk speech that not only reflects Southern values but also how and where the community engages in a rich oral tradition which “Eddie’s home” is only a small part of.

The Basement Ghost of the Chicago Fire

Nationality: American 

Age: 54, 60

Occupation: Producer, Producer/Writer 

Residence: Silverlake, CA, Sherman Oaks, CA 

Performance Date: November 28, 2024

Primary Language: English

CONTEXT:

This story was told by two sisters who were born and raised in a nice metropolitan neighborhood in Chicago in the 1970s.

STORY:

L: Alright so we lived in a building that was built over a graveyard. After the Chicago fire, that whole area was a graveyard, and they dug up all the graves and put the buildings over that area. Why they had the graves in what was potentially some of the best area, I have no idea.

So our house was built over a graveyard; this was not known to me.

We lived in, we had the basement, and we had a bedroom down in the basement–a couple bedrooms and a bathroom. And this was after Roberta had lived down there. I lived down there. And I went to the bathroom, and it was late at night, and as I was–I think I was peeing, I don’t know–the shower, uh, handle– so you have a handle where you turn the water on and off–the shower handle, the backing for it flew off the wall on its own. And so I opened up the thing cause I thought maybe something had fallen, I wasn’t quite sure, and when I opened up the thing, water came out of the shower head. And I freaked out.

And now, you have to understand, I believed in ghosts anyway, because when you live in Chicago you have ghosty experiences.

I freaked out and I ran upstairs to my mother’s room and I said “there are ghosts in that bathroom!”

And she said “what are you talking about? Go away. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She was asleep.

And I went back downstairs and I said okay cool. I’m never gonna shower in that bathroom again, that’s fine. And I went about my business.

Days later, she said “I talked to your sister, Roberta,” who also lived down there “and she said that she agreed with you; there are ghosts down in the basement.”

Roberta, what did you experience?

R: The shower would just turn on. The shower, you’d walk in and the shower would just turn on. 

L: Like it did for me.

R: You’d walk down the hall and suddenly the shower is on, or the sink has been turned on. And there’s no one there. And yeah it’s over a graveyard. It like, they are still finding bones and other body parts when they’re excavating those houses. So… 

L: So I would go into the bathroom, and I would talk to the ghost. I never showered in there again, by the way. I think you did, I never did.

R: I showered in my shoes.

L: I would go in the bathroom, I would pee, I would wash my hands in the sink, and I would talk to the ghost sometimes. I would just chit chat. No one talked to me–I never saw a physical ghost–no one had words back for me or anything like that. But we came to an agreement that I would not use the shower and it would not, I don’t know, kill me.

ANALYSIS:

This story very evidently displays some unexplained instances that occurred in this house, and is a prime example of one element commonly found in ghost stories: improper burial. Because the house in this story is still standing to this day and has not been excavated, it is not known whether or not there were remains under this specific house. But it was made clear that the area was once a graveyard for the victims of the Chicago fire, and the neighboring houses–when excavated–had bones and other remains in their foundations and the soil beneath. So it could very well be possible that the souls of individuals who were given an improper burial still lurk within the basements and abandoned rooms of these homes.

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.

Family Comfort

Collector’s Name: Aarushi Kumar

Nationality: Indian

Relationship: Mother 

Occupation: Employed

Performance Date: November 30, 2024

Age: 53

Primary Language: Hindi

Context: When talking about ghost stories with another subject, K willingly chimed in with her story. To maintain confidentiality, names and adjectives suggesting relations to the interviewer have been removed. This recollection has been transcribed from the interviewee’s native language, Hindi, to English. 

A.K is the interviewer, K is the interviewee

Transcription: 

[A.K] Do you see any of your loved ones who have passed away in your dreams?

[K] I have very vivid dreams, yes. I see “Daadi” (the subject’s mother-in-law) more than [her husband] does– he never sees her, but I do. 

[A.K] And what is she doing?

[K] Oh, she’s always doing what she did before she died. Cooking food, sitting at the dining table, chatting on the phone. It’s like she never left.

[K] I often see my mom in my dreams. She appears usually, uh, after big events, like when I got into the car crash– the one by the stop sign– and she’s always there to give me advice. She never speaks- she normally gives me, like, a nod or a smile from the corner [of the room], but that- that is her way of saying what she needs to say. Like when I got married– I did not want to get married at all. I really didn’t! I argued so much with [her father]. But, the night before the wedding, I saw my mother in my dreams with a reassuring smile. That’s how I knew I would be okay, and only then did I feel ready to marry. 

The Subject’s Thoughts: 

[A.K] Why do you think you see her so vividly and only in crucial moments of your life?

[K] She is watching over me. I think she is resting peacefully, but she died so young. She didn’t get to raise her children properly, and I think that is what makes her reappear in my dreams. She wants to raise me, so she.. I think she does it in the afterlife by showing up in my dreams.

My Thoughts: 

K’s story demonstrates a very heartwarming instance of an ancestral ghost story. 

It’s common for people to see their loved ones in their dreams, and, like in K’s story, they often are there to provide some sort of reassurance. For K, her mother appears to her in very anxious moments of her life, and K always feels calmer and more in charge after her appearance. Often, as an adult, there are fewer sources of comfort for people to turn to because you are usually emotionally and physically farther away from your birth family, and this is the case for K as well. Having her mother make appearances, therefore, is very important to K because it’s one of the only times when she can feel not alone. This is especially important to note for K’s instance because K immigrated to the United States and away from her family 3 decades ago. She has been very isolated from her birth family due to this, so these appearances by her deceased mother help bridge the distance between her childhood and her adulthood. 

It is also important to note the cultural background of this story. K had an arranged marriage, a custom that was very standard at the time in India, and her reluctance to get married makes more sense in this context. She would have rather stayed in India with her birth family, but the marriage opened the door to a new family and, soon after, a new home across the globe. Although she is very happy with her life now, K describes how she always misses home. Seeing her mother in her dreams is a way to go back home without physically going back, adding to why it is so comforting for K.