Tag Archives: ghost

The Jinn among the Trees

Age: 17

Q: Before we begin, who and where did you first hear about this story and the general context?

A: It happened in Bangladesh and I learned it from my brother. 


Story: This happened in Bangladesh and I was told it from my brother but basically they were staying right next to this deep forest. And if you go there, a lot of kids love to play around and hangout, and it’s like a bunch of trees in the surrounding area. The thing is though, most people don’t really like to go there because they believe there’s Jinns. So for this specific story it was maybe around, like, 7:30-ish at night, and some of the kids were playing out there and just messing around. And because it was getting late, they thought they saw, like, this tall figure. So then they decided to, like, leave, because they were getting spooked down. Like, everyone knew there were Jinns already there, but they realized too late. And one of the kids apparently ended up getting the jinn stuck to him. So then that kid became possessed and took him and immediately the kids screamed and ran to the parents. But as they did so, the possessed kid started to act super weird talking about having a past life and how he was a soldier and some other nonsense. When the parents found out they immediately went to find an exorcist, but I don’t know what happened after. 

Q: And what do you think about this story?

A: Well I think that if I was in that little kid’s position I’d definitely be scared y’know? 

Interviewer’s thoughts on the story: I think this is a very interesting story. Especially because looking at the conversation, Jinns which are heavily present in islamic stories is the first thing to be thought of as the causation for the behavior and also as a cautionary for the unknown. As jinns have a will similar to humans, they can be both ‘evil’ or ‘good’ natured allowing them to freely express themselves. Yet as a result, most Bengali people tend to focus inherently on the idea that they can be ill-natured and cause possession, enforcing this idea to avoid the unknown much like in the forest. 

Forbidden Forest

Age: 18

Q: Before we begin, who and where did you first hear about this story?

A: I saw it in this old tv show I can’t remember the name of years ago and I was watching at night. 

Story: There’s two really poor people in this village that faces a gloomy forest. They are a mother and son and this forest was believed to be cursed, holding spirits that would cause the death of anyone who goes inside. Despite this, the mother and son decided to go into the forest out of desperation for a source of food as they had been starving. When they went in, the had unexpectedly found tons of food and told all the villagers, but the villagers were skeptical but the mother and son ignored it. Instead they ate the food and went home, but that night the villagers claimed they saw a green haze wandering into their home that night. The next day, the villagers found the mother dead and the son barely surviving looking so pale it was like he had no blood left in him. The son’s last words were to never go into the forest again, reiterating what the villagers had said to them before that it was both evil and cursed. 

Q: And what do you think about this story?

A: I think it was a very common ghost story I’ve heard throughout the years. It was from a tv show so I don’t think it’s really a true one, but I’d say it could be scary. 

Interviewer’s thoughts on the story: This story, much like the teller said, is a very classic cautionary tale about ignoring warnings and desperation.  I think it does a good job showing how the mother and son were pushed into a dangerous decision because of their situation, which makes what happens to them more tragic than just a simple “they should have known better.” The mysterious green haze adds a creepy, supernatural element that reinforces the idea that the forest is truly cursed, not just a rumor and overall I would say would be classified as a ghost story. 

Catholic Ghosts, or demons?

Age: 51

BN: [When I] came across listening to Cha Hong, who was one of the very well-known priests in the Vietnamese community church. He has lots of different videos on YouTube people recorded and they put it up there. 

BN: So one time [when I] came across Cha Hong, sort of share that when he was in Vietnam, he witnessed himself, a person that is very, very young. Maybe a teenager, boy or something. That is acting like the grandparent like his own grandparent. 

Me: Wow. 

BN: So meaning…if [you], imagine if [you are] someone that knows the grandparent right? [You] ask this little boy [what year you were] born, everything they knew the answer. And this boy would even know something very, very special between the grandparent, and whoever that is in the room. So let’s say [you are] the grandfather’s son, right? 

BN: And then [when you were] very young, maybe he spanked the heck out of a [you] or something like that. Then this boy would even know that. So in short, Cha Hong also believes that there are spirits that could be…

Me: Haunting him?

BN: Yeah, will go into the person’s body and make the person act as that person. 

Me: Interesting. [Do you] believe that’s true?

BN: [I] also believe some of it, and then, in another time that [I] witnessed myself was in a marriage enrichment course. So every year there is an enrichment course…that we invite the couple, the husband and wife to go on a 3 day retreat, right? And then in [those] 3 days we do different things, we learn different things and [I] saw it twice. This couple. 

Me: The same couple twice?

BN: Yeah, the same couple twice. This couple, the wife when she is blending in with other people, she’s very normal. But during one time, in the course this is where, like, [you] suppose to look back and reflect upon you, your relationship with your spouse in relationship to God. Right, so it’s extremely extremely personal. And extremely spiritual. 

BN: And this time she would then [start] screaming gibberish words very scary things like nobody can understand what she was saying. But she was extremely loud, and [would] shake her body. 

BN: Like non-stop, and then somehow unbrokenly, she was able to say “Help me help me save [me], pray a Hail Mary, pray for me, Our Father pray for me. 50 of them,” like in broken spacing, out between the gibberish stuff, the scary stuff she was able to say that stuff 

Me: Sounds scary. 

BN: Yeah, it is then to the point where, after [I saw] like maybe 30 seconds to a minute of that, it was very exhaustive, so she kind of collapsed, she didn’t pass out. But she would collapse like on the floor. 

BN: Then, the priest in between there. Because we always have a priest in the room. So the priest was trying to do, like, you know, my Father and Son in the Holy Spirit and was doing some, maybe things that try to get the bad spirit out of her soul, whatever that is and would take a little bit, then she’ll snap back to normal. 

BN: But that only happens during the peak of the, you know, whatever we learned in class, not like normal conversation. So that’s why we believe that there’s some kind of bad spirit that goes and quáy phá, yeah. Anyway, that’s what [I] experienced. 

Me: [Do you] think, it’s the same spirit in both stories?

BN: Same mechanisms, same idea, but just depending on the circumstances. And the relative, or the person that’s affected by it. It’s different people, different means like on the little kid, it could be that the grandfather had to reappear to want to do something. But then in the case of that couple, the why, what the why went through is because the quáy phá, you know..what is it in English? 

Me: It’s like, causing disturbance. 

BN: Yeah, disturbing when she’s trying to get closer to God and trying to reconnect herself through realization and things like that. That’s when the bad stuff comes right during that time. 

Me: I see. 

BN: So, it’s different things with [the] same mechanism. 

More Details:

  • Context: This story was told March 18 2026, around bedtime by my mom. She was aware of USC Folklore archives collecting this story and told it freely.
  • Their thoughts: My mom thinks it’s a “religious” ghost or a demon causing these things. She largely leaves it unexplained, and isn’t 100% sure.
  • My thoughts: I agree, maybe the devil is up to weird things with some people. I do agree with the religious point of view for the second one, although the first it’s hard to tell.

The Humming Step-Grandpa

Age: 18

Context: The following story was told on April 28th, 2026, in my dorm room to me by the informant, who is one of my close friends.

Me: “Okay, so just go ahead and just tell the story like how you normally would.”

NB: “Okay, so this was the day of my step-grandfather’s funeral. I will never forget this day. This, I have no explanation for this. Still, no one knows. It’s like a complete mystery. We don’t know what was going on. But anyway, basically what had happened was my grandma had went to the church already with my uncle to take care of like a few things before the funeral actually happened. My mom was putting on her makeup in her room, and when we woke up, my dad wasn’t in the room, but, um, we just assumed that he was in the bathroom because the bathroom was closed. And my sister and I were just, like, talking and whatever, and we were like, oh my god, like dad’s taking, like, forever in the bathroom, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then we knocked on the bathroom door, and then we heard humming, and we were just like, really?”

Me: “And this was in your house that you still live in?”

NB: “Yes.”

Me: “And you’ve lived in this house like your whole life?”

NB: “Yeah, my entire life. And yeah, it has a lot of history. Like every single one of my family members has grew up there, including my mom. So, yeah. And we’ve never moved. But it has a lot of history, but anyway, basically, we knocked on the door. Um, we heard humming, and one thing about my dad is he’s not a sing-songy person, like, he’s not someone who hums, and, like, that was just really unusual for him. And when we heard it, it was like weird because it was like in a much deeper voice. It genuinely sounded like my step-grandpa, and we were like weirded out by it because we were just like, dad doesn’t do that. Like, it’s very odd. And basically, we went back in the room and we were just waiting because we were like, oh, dad’s taking forever. And my mom was like, oh, what’s going on? And we’re like, ugh, like dad is taking forever. But she looked at us like, what are you talking about? Like, what do you mean dad? And we were like, I don’t know. And then my dad came home with breakfast. And we were just like, what the, like, what? You weren’t in the bathroom? Like, what happened? And, um, he was just like, no, like, I wasn’t in the bathroom. I was getting breakfast, and we were talking to our mom, and my mom was like, oh, like, maybe your step-grandfather was just, like, getting ready for his funeral or something in the bathroom, and we were like, what?”

Me: “So did he live in the house prior?”

NB: “Yeah he did. Okay. We all lived in that house together, just like one big Brady bunch, like genuinely, but it was…it was weird, and I still, like to this day, I’m like weirded out because we we’re the only ones home, and, like, I don’t know. Like, there’s no explanation for who was in the bathroom, but yeah.”

Me: “So like, overall, like, what do you make of it? Like, you think…do you think it, like, was his spirit or you just, you don’t know what to think?”

NB: “I just think that maybe, because I do believe in like the paranormal and stuff, I think maybe, yeah, if… I mean, if I died, I’d want to get ready in my house too. So I think that, yeah, it’s valid if he just wanted to get ready one last time before he was buried. Um, but yeah, and that day when I woke up, the house just like felt very off. I’m very like into like energies and like sensing tensions and stuff and that day was just really gloomy and it was just really sad. And then I remember as soon as we buried him, like the sun came out. So it was very, very strange and yeah, half of me just doesn’t know what to make of it. But then another part of me is like, maybe that was him, like, possibly.”

Personal thoughts and analysis: This story was very interesting to hear, as unlike some ghost stories, this one doesn’t really have a logical explanation, and as a skeptic, it has me very conflicted. I believe the informant and their siblings’ account, which conflicts with my views on the dead interacting with the living. The only explanation I can think of is perhaps some sort of appliance was on that sounded like a hum; however, this appliance sounding like the informant’s step-grandpa on the day of his funeral would be a very interesting coincidence. Overall, if it was the spirit of the informants’ step-grandpa just getting ready for the day one last time before he was put to rest, there is something very wholesome about that.

Flickering Lamp

Age: 19

Ghost story

After my great grandmother passed, I remember the feeling of being sad both because my grandmother died and because I couldn’t be around my family due to Covid restrictions. I sat in bed crying after my dad gave me the news and I was distraught. Because this is the first family member I had passin my life, I didn’t know what to do and so I asked for a sign that she was okay. About 20 minutes later my dad came in my room to check on me and turned on a lamp I had never turned on despite living in that house for a year already. As soon as he turned the light on, and I told my dad that I wanted a way to know that she was OK, I turned to the lamp and it started to flicker. I had never used the lightbulb in the lamp and to this day It hasn’t flickered again, but that was my sign. 

Context: This story was told to me during a topic of religion. It was me, my roommate, her, and her friend. She stated that she does not believe explicitly in god, but instead believes in spirits. She then elaborated, telling this story.

Analysis: She thinks that it was her grandma. I think it was just a coincidence. It resembles the flame motif and ancestral ghosts. One attribute that could represent why she believed more was that she was younger, and this was the first time that a relative had died for her. Her emotional state could have been less stable, making her easier to persuade.