Tag Archives: ghost story

Ghost Story: Smoking in the Boiler Room

Nationality: Scandinavian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
Performance Date: March 28, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Informant: “Millard North High school in Omaha, Nebraska is haunted with the spirit of a kid who was smoking one day in the boiler room. Now, I didn’t even know we had a boiler room but apparently it’s over by the wood shop. Uh, in that hallway. So, this kid was smoking in the boiler room and um a custodian started to walk down the hallway and frightened the kid uh turned around and tried to run away tripped and stumbled down the stairs, hit is head a few too many times and now when you walk past that hallway or walk into the basement, which again I didn’t really know we had a basement, but you can hear the kid’s raspy voice telling you to beware.”

The informant, a Caucasian male, was born in Spokane,Washington and then moved to Omaha. He is currently a student at USC and studies computer science.

The informant heard the story from someone at his high school. He remembers this story because he feels that “ghost stories are always more fun when they have some sort of significance to you, like you have ties to that school, for example, or if it’s in your home town.” According to the informant, the story is not “too frequently passed around,” and he is not sure if anyone at the school truly believes it, or just repeats the story as a joke.

The informant does not believe in ghosts personally, he thinks the story is kind of silly. In fact, the informant stated, “honestly, I’m not even sure if we have a basement.” The informant said that some kids at the school “fall for all of the ghost stories,” but “in many schools there will be some kids who believe that sort of thing.” The informant referred to one friend in particular who believes in ghosts about whom the informant said “I mess with him a lot and he thinks I am entirely serious.” It is possible that this story is circulated as a joke and to “mess with” students who may believe it, but the informant does not think so.

The informant says that “the moral was no smoking in the basement,” and I agree with the informant. Although the story may be used to jest about the paranormal, it ultimately discusses the illegal consumption of marijuana at a school, and the result is death. The student who broke the law is now forced to haunt the hall and warn other students not to make the same mistake. Like other legends, this tale reflects social fears and concerns about the consequences of consuming illegal drugs, breaking the law, and breaking the law on school property.

La Llorona

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: College student
Residence: San Francisco, CA
Performance Date: 4/30/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My friend spent part of her childhood growing up in Mexico, and she would hear this story of La Llorona from other kids.

“La Llorona was a beautiful young woman, as every young woman is in stories, uh… who, like, married this man, and uh… had like beautiful children and… I don’t know, there were like six or something, and…then… he cheated on her, and she got super angry, and killed the kids by drowning them in a river.  And, uh, the legend goes that if you’re a bad child, or if you, like, don’t do something that you’re supposed to do, uh, when you’re a kid, like… the threat of La Llorona is that… um, she’ll come and like, steal you away or something, and there’s like, this legend that she’s still wandering around in riverbeds going like ‘mi secos, mi secos!’”

My friend didn’t believe in La Llorona as she grew up.  Her friends often did, however, and would cite the danger of being caught by La Llorona as reasons to not cause mischief.  I think there’s a different effect when kids tell the stories their parents tell.  I often think of stories such as this as cautionary tales created by parents to warn children to be on good behavior.  For my friend, hearing that other children believed in it made her think the stories were rather silly.  My friend points out that “La Llorona was a beautiful woman, as every young woman is in stories”… I think that she notices there’s a motif in which someone/something beautiful becomes spoiled.  And this ruination of somebody causes them to somehow haunt this world.  I do agree with her; I think La Llorona is not the only ghost story that involves ghosts somehow beginning beautiful and ending as abominations after their actions.  The ghost of La Llorona also hangs around riverbeds, which makes me believe that her existence as a ghost comes as a form of punishment for drowning her children.  It’s interesting that the story that my friend knows of does not really emphasize on the husband.  Instead of a tale of infidelity, La Llorona ends up as a ghost story about a homicidal mother that intends to scare children into compliance.  On the other hand, there might be something more about the husband in other versions – other than the elements my friend finds kind of silly or fascinating, she doesn’t remember too much of a specific narrative.

General Patton’s Ghost

Nationality: United States
Age: 83
Occupation: Nurse (Retired)
Residence: Melbourne, Florida
Performance Date: 4/18/13
Primary Language: English

The informant used to live in Fort Myer, Virginia in the 1950’s. She was also an Army nurse, and is very knowledgable about military history. Thus, she is very familiar with the exploits of the famed World War II general General Patton and the subject is a source of pride for her. This particular legend involves General Patton. At three different points from 1911 to 1940, he was stationed in Fort Myer. He was very fond of taking late night horseback rides. The informant learned from her mother that even though he died before they ever got to Fort Myers, the people who lived in General Patton’s old quarters will occasionally hear Patton’s ghost coming back from a midnight ride.

In many places in the United States, especially southern states like Virginia, General Patton is seen as a national hero. This legend may indicate a wish on the part of the people of Fort Myer that Patton were still around. It is a comforting thought to believe that the ghost of the man who got the nation through a great deal of tough situations is still looking over us. While many ghost stories involve fear and supposed ghosts often have malevolent intentions, in this case, the ghost is welcomed. Patton is simply going about his usual business, not interfering with the living, but making his presence known.

The great impact Patton had on Ft. Myer and the esteem in which he is well documented. There are memorials, statues, and buildings named after him in the town. This is shown in the book Images of America: Fort Myer and the subsequent blog made by the author to further explain the town’s history.

Michael, John. “The Legacy Of Patton.” About The Book. Images Of America: Fort Myer, 15 03 2011. Web. 2 May. 2013. <http://www.historic-fortmyer.com/2011/03/15/the-legacy-of-patton/>.

Ghost Story–Surrey, England

Nationality: United States
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Great Neck, New York
Performance Date: 4/11/13
Primary Language: English

While the informant was studying abroad in London, he stayed with a host family who had family scattered across the area and other parts of England. While he was driving with his host family from London to Hampshire, they gave him an informal tour, telling stories of any landmarks they passed. Traveling on one winding stretch of road entering Surrey, he was told a story about a ghostly apparition that had happened there.

The legend goes that sometime in the early 2000’s, there was a report of a car seen swerving off the road and crashing. When the police responded to the report, they at first didn’t find anything. But they eventually found deep in ditch, covered in growth, an old car’s remains. It appeared to have been there for a while. This hypothesis was confirmed by a decomposed body found near the car. They determined that the body was five months old and identified it as the remains of a criminal who was on the run from the law. This has lead to much speculation as to what the people who called the police had witnessed days before, since there was no sign of a recent crash.

According to the informant’s host family, the ghost of the criminal is restless because his body was never found. They believe that what was seen on the highway was a ghostly reenactment of the incident meant to lead people towards his body. This seemed to be the consensus among the people of that area. There are also theories that the wreckage was disposed of by someone who wanted to cover it up. This legend comes from a need to explain what seems impossible. It captures interest and makes for a good story because  it naturally leads to speculation; whether you believe it be supernatural or otherwise, it is intriguing to think of possible explanations.

Notation:

This story was recently revisited in an online article by a Surrey news source because it was near the 10th anniversary of the crash. The article produces no conclusion and suggests that until one is reached, the story will continue to captivate travelers’ interests.

Bryant, Pete. “A3 ‘Ghost Crash’ Remembered 10 Years On.” GetSurrey. 14 12 2012: n. page. Print.  <http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2125720_a3_ghost_crash_remembered_10_years_on>.

Empire Hotel Marquee Ghost

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: North Carolina
Performance Date: May 1, 2013
Primary Language: English

The theater in my hometown is several hundred years old, from back when uh Salisbury, North Carolina used to be one of the centers of the state economy. There were a lot of famous actors that went there. Charlie Chaplin went there. Sarah Bernhardt went there, and other stage actors. And the legend has it that there was a passageway that went under the theater, under the street, to the hotel across the way where they would stay. It was called the Empire Hotel. And, um, I went down there one time. It’s sealed off.
Apparently there at one time was a secret passage. People have told me a lot of different things. It could have been an air conditioning shaft. But it was structurally unsound so it’s gone. But they say that the big stars went under there to the hotel. I’ve been in both places.
One time I was in the Empire Hotel. I was—I don’t know if I believe in ghosts or not! But I know I heard one. You’ll understand what I mean if you have too. I was on the third floor of this Empire Hotel after filming, it was Halloween night, I know that sounds really cheesy, buuuuut, I was looking around, just taking pictures for the heck of it, it was really dark, it’s abandoned now, so it’s completely empty, and I got the keys from the manager of the city. When from downstairs, the bottom of the staircase in the back came this like, “meaerrrrrrrrgh!” Like groaning sound. Ha, how are you gonna type that? Um it happened twice. I was with a friend and we both heard it, and we were both just like frozen in terror. And, um, then he was scared out of his mind and I was like let’s go downstairs and check this out. And we did. And we didn’t see anything there except this old, like, boiler, coal room.
But then we asked this sort of living-legend guy Clyde, who has no last name in our town, what that was and he told us it was a certain ghost whose name I don’t remember, who used to stand on his head on the marquee of the theater. Uh, that’s all I know about him.

This is a ghost story FOAF that I, for one, will be spreading. It is a ghost story based upon the town’s rich history. The ghost is apparently known to haunt the Empire Hotel. The hotel is actually infamous for its paranormal activity, as is the town of Salisbury, and the ghost Clyde tells my friend about it not the only ghost known to inhabit the Empire Hotel. Ghost stories are popular about the Empire, because it is an old place where a lot of history took place. Besides, old abandoned buildings are always disturbing—especially on Halloween night. The story gives importance to, and knowledge of the town’s rich history. While in America, especially, such creepy events are likely to be interpreted as ghosts, my friend and his pal might have interpreted the strange sound differently if they were from another culture. They also probably would not have suspected it was a ghost if they had heard the sound during the day, in a different building, and not on Halloween night.