“So when we first built my house, it was finished on New Year’s Eve and we moved in. There was a really weird howling sound in the house, like there was a window open or something. And it just so happened the power was out that night. Anyway, we had candles everywhere and we kept hearing this howling sound but all the windows were closed. So we all went upstairs, and it was really cold upstairs. We found that all the candles upstairs had been put out in all the rooms. We didn’t find an open window but we definitely hard the howling sound all night. I don’t know, I thought that was really spooky.”

As a result of this first experience in their house, K.D. and his family now think their house is haunted. Now, whenever K.D. or any of his family members hears the howling, they attribute the howling and spookiness to the house ghost. Thus, this account marks the beginning of an urban legend. The howling they continue to hear every once in awhile at night has reinforced this urban legend.

K.D. thinks the howling is really scary; it creeps him out whenever he hears it. He says the first time was just especially scary because the power was out, it was eerily cold upstairs, and all the candles were out in the upstairs rooms. K.D. is not really sure whether or not he believes in ghosts, but when he hears the howling he cannot help but think there has to be at least a possibility that ghosts exist. He is unsure why the ghost is haunting them; he thinks maybe they built their house on haunted ground. He kind of regards this urban legend as his own personal urban legend, and it has made him think that maybe urban legends do have some truth to them.

K.D. tells this urban legend whenever other people start telling ghost stories, which is usually at night. For instance, he has told the story to cabin-mates at sleep-away camp, while on camping trips with friends and family, and during childhood sleepovers. Whenever people ask about his house and/or the building process, he answers their questions and also brings up this story about when they first moved in.

Urban legends usually have creationary figures (Big Foot, vampires, aliens, ghosts) in them. This urban legend is no exception since it contains a ghost in it. Legends tend to resonate with the audience, which is why people keep performing this particular genre of folklore. I know that I personally enjoy hearing about urban legends. They tend to scare me a little bit, but I am fascinated and always want to hear them. I agree with K.D. that these kinds of stories are spooky and I also do not know if I believe in ghosts. Legends show what a group might consider believable or acceptable. This urban legend shows others in the world that Americans may allow belief in ghosts.

K.D.’s urban legend is an example of a memorate. This is a personal experience of his and he and his family put it into a traditional framework. The howling and the candles being extinguished despite no open window being found is difficult to explain. So, it was put into a traditional framework to explain this phenomenon. Howling and the extinguishment of candles is associated with ghosts, so when he and his family experienced it, they automatically said it had to be a ghost. When they told other people about their experience, other people also automatically assumed the howling and extinguished candles had to be the result of a ghost’s presence in the house. Personal experiences translated into a traditional framework strengthen the legend. So, now people have even more “evidence” behind ghosts being the culprit behind howling and candles getting mysteriously put out. Now people will even more strongly associate howling and candles inexplicably getting extinguished with ghosts.

“In a certain park in Henderson, there is a little boy that is seen swinging by himself. When visitors to the park approach him, his face changes to that of a demon, and then he vanishes. He is supposed to be the spirit of a boy killed by a drunk driver near the park.”

Robson heard this story from his mother, who heard it from a friend. Usually, urban legends do have a “friend of a friend” format. It is usually hazy who actually did see these occurrences. This urban legend is no different: Robson does not know anyone who has actually seen this boy, he only knows people who know people who know people who have possibly said they have seen this boy. He says he has also read this urban legend on websites and in the book Weird Nevada.

Robson lives across town, so this story has not affected him in particular. However, it does scare him a little bit. He finds the story slightly spooky and very eerie. He is not sure whether or not he actually believes the demon boy exists, but he does not want to take his chances so he will just avoid the park altogether if he ever comes across it.

Robson only really ever tells this urban legend when people in a group start telling ghost stories. Because he is from Nevada and lives in the same city as the park, he tells what he has heard about the urban legend whenever people bring it up. It is a pretty popular urban legend in Las Vegas, so people have brought it up multiple times. People might also tell this urban legend when passing by the park, or when actually visiting the park. According to Robson, this urban legend has actually driven down attendance at the park. People will purposely go to other parks instead of this one.

People are not really sure whether or not they believe in ghosts in general, let alone the demon boy. This demon boy seems more real because the back-story is that it is the ghost of a child killed by a drunk driver. I agree with Robson that this is a spooky story, and honestly I would probably completely avoid the park, too. If I ever saw it, I would probably feel terrified and agitated. If someone tried to pull me to the park as a joke, I would undoubtedly fight against it and probably scream in terror. I find it interesting that I, or anyone else who feels as I do, would react so strongly to something they are not sure is even real. The demon boy has not been proven by science. Most people admit to having never seen the boy, just hearing about the boy being there.

I am not sure why the ghost of a boy killed by a drunk driver would take on the face of a demon. Because I think it is people making this up (at least I think/hope it is people making this up), I wonder why people would assign a demon face to a poor, young boy who got killed.

Urban legends invite discussion about beliefs and this urban legend is no different. When people hear this legend, including myself, they are unsure about whether or no they believe in this demon boy. Considering the fact that attendance at the park went down though, I think people are leaning towards believing it is possible for demon boys to exist.

Annotation: Oesterle, Joe, Tim Cridland, Mark Moran, and Mark Sceurman. Weird Las Vegas and Nevada: Your Alternative Travel Guide to Sin City and the Silver State. New York, NY: Sterling Pub. Co, 2007.

Haunted School House

Apparently back in the 50’s and 60’s the hillside behind Mt hamilton was used as a missile test site and other government tests and was highly top secret. Those who worked back there made new lives for themselves because they were rarely able to leave. They had food and other products delivered to the small communities and the children even went to a school back there. The teacher of the school was going insane from the isolation and one day she hung all of the children (some say she even slit all of their wrists). She then took her own life and since then it has been haunted. People told me the story and said that if I went there and actually walked into the school, the kids try to help you and push your car away from the school to keep you from the ghost of the teacher, leaving fingerprints on the car. The first time I went there I was too scared to get out of the car and nothing happened. I went there again with my friend Trent and Dusty and oddly enough three other people were there. The weird thing was, the three kids went to my school Cuesta college and majored in architecture – same college as me, same major, all of which I thought was extremely weird because we were 200 miles from our school in San Luis Obispo. Then we went inside and saw a few ropes hanging from the ceiling and the atmosphere of the school was freaking me out. We then walked back to the car and parted ways with the people we met. They left first so we know they didn’t follow us but we happened to see them a few blocks from my house. We then got home and noticed a few finger prints on the car and the whole experience was pretty hard to comprehend.

Chris went on to tell me that has never been so scared in his entire life especially when we went into the school and saw ropes hanging from the ceiling. In retrospect he thought someone else might have gone in there and hung them to make it even scarier. Also the fact that the three other kids whom he had never seen before even though they were students with the same major at his college were there hundreds of miles away. He claims since seeing them that night he has never seen them again. The combination of all these things scared him to no end.

I feel this ghost story does so well because of the childhood aspect. The children’s handprints on the car are a very nice touch to the story that add a twisted aspect to the story. The children were innocent in this case, although sometimes in the media we see the children portrayed as evil. This story in general invites discussions about the belief of ghosts, after all, Chris did say he noticed some hand prints on his window. A ghost story is so popular in my opinion because of that unknown element, who knows why those handprints showed up or why there happened to be kids from his school there that same night.