Tag Archives: ghost story

An Ancestral Possession

Collector’s Name: Aarushi Kumar

Gender: Male

Occupation: Employed, Computer Engineer

Performance Date: November 30, 2024

Relationship: Father

Age: 54

Nationality: South Asian/Indian

Primary Language: Hindi

Context:

I asked the subject if he’s had any encounters with spirits and if he would like to share. He said of course and gave me the synopsis of 3 options to choose from. I asked him to recite the story you read above because he experienced it first-hand and it was a story that held many morals that hold true with other ancestral ghost stories as well as the culture my interviewee grew up in.

R is the interviewee, A.K is the interviewer.

Transcription:

[R] This is the time when my grandpa was on death bed and uh and everyone was there, all the family was there, and as soon as my grandpa passed away, then, uh,  my, uh, papa’s younger brother- he started acting a little bit differently and he started speaking in my grandpa’s tone- when she had passed away before my grandfather. My grandma, basically, she was inside my dad’s brother and he started speaking in my grandma’s tone and saying that, oh, uh, I wanted to see how my grandpa was leaving this world And so that’s why she came- she wanted to experience that. My dad’s younger brother– he was crying and talking in her tone and crying. So for 5/10 minutes, he was like my grandma- behaving like how my grandma would behave if she was in the world. After 10 minutes or so, she basically left his body and he was normal. This was more than 30 years back. 

[A.K] But you were there?

[R] I was there, yes.

[A.K] How old were you?

[R] I was in, uh, 8th grade. Yeah

[A.K] And you saw it happen?

[R] I saw it happen, yeah.

[A.K] Did you realize what was happening [in the moment]?

[R] I realized something was not normal, but at that time, everyone was going with the flow. I was told later that my grandmother was there in his body. There was many people- everyone was there at that time.

Their thoughts on the story:

[A.K] So why do you think it happened?

[R] So, in Hindu mythology, uh, religion, we believe that- that- soul, we call it as “athma”, it never dies. But then, if the soul never gets peace, then they are basically traveling in the world only. They haven’t gotten peace, so they will find a way to travel and come back to the family and then say what they need. THey may help also- they will come back and forth and back and forth. Also in our Hindu mythology, we say that when your parents die, like both your mother and father, you should do “Pind Daan”. There is a place in India to liberate the soul and they never come back. My dad and the younger brother- my dad’s younger brother- after a few years, they did Pind Daan and my grandma never came back. I think she’s in peace and she never came back. 

[A.K] Do you know why she wasn’t at peace?

[R] She might have had some unfinished business to take care of. That’s what we believe.

My own thoughts:

First and foremost, I think it is very interesting that the interviewee brought up “unfinished business” as a reason for why his grandmother was not able to rest in peace because it is a motif that comes up constantly in studying ghost stories in class and across cultures. 

I chose this subject to tell their story because I knew it would relate directly to their culture. Despite, in class, us briefly discussing how in faiths like Hinduism have no space to logically believe in ghosts because of their beliefs in reincarnation, this subject tells me that many, if not the majority of, Hindus believe in ghosts and have had encounters with spirits before. Despite logic, the majority of individuals believe or have seen ghosts– a common dichotomy seen in many other cultures as well. 

The “Pind Daan” ritual in Hinduism reminds me of another classic motif when analyzing ghost stories- improper burial and rituals. Although the ghost was given a proper burial, in order to fully exercise it, the subject’s family had to perform a ritual to properly send the spirit off. In Hinduism, Pind Daan is a part of a proper send-off, and, therefore, is a part of what makes a proper burial, so it is understandable why the spirit stayed in the real world prior to the ritual– it hadn’t received a full send-off ritual.

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.

Mad Bess: A Ghost-Story

The informant heard this ghost legend in elementary school, particularly from the older middle schoolers and the old principal. It was a legend to give the campus character and teach the kids some history as well through talking about the mines and buildings around campus. It was an entertaining story from childhood intended to scare young kids as well. Now, the informant tells it to reminisce on childhood and to entertain friends, usually around a campfire or during other such story-telling times.

“The school I went to for elementary through middle school had a lot of old buildings that used to be people’s houses, like people used to live there because they’re super old old mining houses. There’re a little, like, I don’t know, like, kind of like victorian-ish era and from mining times. This family lived in the old lunchroom because the old buildings that the campus was made of were originally old mining homes. Her father worked in the mines that are located around campus and her mother was a stay-at-home mother, doing the cooking and cleaning. There was that collapse in the mine, that like 10 other ghost stories are about, that killed her father. Her mother was, like, older and got very sick and also died. So the young girl was left as an orphan and lived in the house still, but because she was so young couldn’t take care of herself and she just died a bit later because she couldn’t provide for herself but she still stayed in the house after all those years and now she haunts it and protects the house in a wrathful, mean way.”

Although this story teller did not really tell a story so much as a recount of the story, one can still get the general idea of what the story was supposed to be. The story was likely intended to entertain children as well as teach them about the history of the school campus. Being a mining town, the campus is surrounded by mine shafts (safely covered for the children) and all the school buildings are old houses from the mining days. Ghost stories are a good way to teach children about the place they inhabit as the legends reinforce that there were times before the kids got here. They will certainly remember history if it has an exciting story that goes with it. Thus, this culture values remembrance of place and times before. They value history, especially of the relevant place in which they reside. The culture values teaching children about said history, which is unsurprising considering that it is a school, and they realize that stories help knowledge stick. If nothing else, the culture values entertainment for children and thus created the story to do just that.

The Green Hand: A Family’s Traditional Ghost Story

The informant heard this ghost story from his grandfather. The narrative is told each time the family visits their grandparents on a ranch in Wyoming during campfire night. It is a story that caused sleepless night for the young grandchildren, but as they grew up they came to appreciate the humor and entertainment value of the story as well, such as the chosen name of “Beaver Dick” and the occasional history lesson the ever-changing story included. Now, the story is told to entertain family events and to reminisce on family get-togethers and childhood memories. The story generally brings about positive nostalgic feelings and familial memories.

Here is the story as told: “There was two beaver hunters named Beaver Dick and Buffalo Bill. They used to go out all the time together to go hunt beavers to sell their skins and they did it all the time until one night they are camping out and they had a little too much to drink and they got in a big fight and during that big fight Beaver Dick decided to pull out his giant machete that he uses to kill the beavers and he grabs Buffalo Bill by the arm and chops his arms off but not Buffalo Bill is super mad at him so he tries to kill him but in the process, Beaver Dick kills Buffalo Bill. But now Beaver Dick doesn’t know what to do with Buffalo Bill, so he throws his body into the river – yes that river right next to the house – but he forgets to throw his hand in the river too. That night, he sleeps, and the next morning he packs out and takes all their skins and goes to another place to hunt more beavers. He has a pretty good day that day and catches a lot of beavers. He decides to camp out by that lake, and has a good dinner and a nice fire and goes to bed. But then, all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, he wakes up and hears scratching on his tent door (makes scratching noises by dragging nails on the chair he sits on). He thinks it might just be an animal, like a small squirrel or something, so he goes back in his tent and goes back to bed. But he hears it again (makes scratching noises again) and decides to go out and check out whatever it is. So he goes out and lights a gas lamp or oil lamp and shines it around, but doesn’t see anything. He goes back to the tent and tries to go to bed, but he hears something in his tent. He thinks it’s a squirrel or something that got in his tent, so he turns over to try to catch it and throw it out of his tent. But there he sees a green, rotten hand! The Green Hand jumps on top of him! Ahhh! The hand strangles him! (Makes strangled screaming noises) and strangles him and strangles him and strangles him until he dies!”

Campfire stories are told to cultivate community through group entertainment, which happens in this family context as well. The grandchild says that he and his family now reminisce on these story-time fires as good memories, which demonstrates that the community was strengthened through the telling of this story. Why it was a ghost story and not some other story is likely due to entertainment value for the adults of telling scary stories and seeing the kids believe their fearsome legends. Fear brings people closer together as well, so that is a reason to (slightly) scare the children perhaps. This culture clearly values family bonding as they get together to tell stories around a fire each year, which is more often than most American extended families see each other. The culture also clearly finds a sort of fantasy and entertainment in the stories of the American Frontier as that is where the story is based: old beaver trappers in the newfound West.

Memorate: My Great-Grandparents’ Joaquin Murrieta Sighting

Context:

Informant J is a 73 year old Mexican-American man and is the collector’s grandfather. He is from San Jose, California, but his family moved there from parts of Texas and Mexico. For the majority of his life, J was a manager at a regional grocery store, and studied art in college with a focus in jewelry making. J is now retired and his hobbies include guitar playing, metal working, and reworking vintage cars.

Text:

(Please excuse typos, this is an unaltered text message from the informant): “My parents said they were just finishing up a picnic at Alumn Rock park on the East side of San Jose and were getting ready to head home when a man who looked like he had been dug up (his clothes was old and tattered and resembled clothes from the cowboy days. He came up to their car window and just stood there not saying a word but staring in a daze. They believe it was the ghost of Juan Murrieta who lived during the late 1900’s. He was famous for robbing people in that area of the park. My dad started the car and got the hell out of there! My parents were very scared and they were familiar with the legend of Juan Murrieta and never stopped talking about the incident!”

“Ps: The cowboy did have an old style revolver as well!”

Interpretation:

I’d like to note that people often confuse Juan and Joaquin Murrieta, and that my grandpa was almost certainly referring to the latter. I did some research after being told this story, as I hadn’t heard of either figure until now. Juan was a pioneer, whereas Joaquin is a Mexican figure commonly known as the Robin Hood of the West. More specifically, stories about Murrieta rose in California during the Gold Rush. I find it interesting that my great-grandparents claim to have seen Joaquin Murrieta, because they associated something strange with something they already knew about (ghosts), and their knowledge of it is heavily influenced by culture. Even though my family was Mexican-Texan, they had heard enough about this specifically Mexican-Californian legend in the little time that they lived there that they assumed the figure was him. What’s more, this story hints at a combination of folkloric beliefs, as my great-grandparents claim to have seen a kind of undead version of Joaquin Murrieta, who is more of a legend than a popular ghost. There are debates over whether he existed, but stories of seeing him are rarer. But my great-grandparents seem to have believed in ghosts in general, so this memorate only furthered their personal view of the world.