Tag Archives: ghost

Death Means…

Nationality: Jamaican American
Age: 19
Occupation: USC student athlete
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April1,2015
Primary Language: English

The informant was born and raised into the American culture and way of life. Her mother’s side of the family is in touch with their Jamaican culture and heritage and as the informant grew older she was able to become more into with the beliefs and customs of Jamaica.

Jamaican Death Means…

Informant…

When I asked the informant about different believes in the Jamaican culture this was the first one to come to her head. She said that “death signifies the end of someones physical life, however if someone dies and is said to have “unfinished business” their spirit will not rest. Instead, the spirit roams the earth until it is able to finish it’s business.”

I was then really intrigued by this so I asked her if she had ever witnessed this or knew someone who did and he informant said that her grandmother passed away and a few weeks later the informant’s mother saw her grandmothers spirit or ghost. This was important to the family to know this because it told them that she hadn’t passed on and would watch over them until she was able to continue on. This is a normal thing in there culture, so it is safe to say that this culture believes in ghosts  and spirits waling the earth. This is interesting because it clashes with other beliefs in society.

Analysis…

This culture does believe in ghosts and spirits roaming the earth with unfinished business. This kind of collides with other religious beliefs that the culture may have about God. I didn’t get a chance to ask the informant how that works, and how they deal with the collision of beliefs, but it is definitely a part of my thought process while analyzing this specific aspect of their culture. It seems like Jamaicans are in touch with their ancestors whether that is doing rituals to please them, or seeing their spirits roam, they have a close connection to their families. Maybe Jamaican culture is big on family, I just have to assume this because I didn’t ask the informant this question either.

Any Woman should be Lucky to Marry a Cornell Gentleman

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Preschool Teacher/Student on Leave
Residence: Bronx, NY
Performance Date: 3/20/14
Primary Language: English

Item: When you get married at the chapel at Cornell the building was not designed with a room for her to prepare and wait.  The only room separate from the main building is the crypt, which happens to also be the place where the founders are buried.  So the legend goes that if the bride gets cold feet, the ghosts of the founders will rise from their graves and escort her down the aisle because any woman should be honored to marry a cornell gentleman.

I first heard this story when I went on a college tour of Cornell, but I asked my friend about it, since she goes there.  She liked the story because along with being fun and mystical it makes her school look good, since any woman would be lucky to marry a man who went there.

I think this is an interesting superstition because it is very connected to the liminal aspect of the marriage ritual.  The legend is about the time right before the marriage occurs, while everything is still in flux and everything can still go wrong.

Burning Sage – Ghost Protection

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Sorority house? Los Angeles. From Oregon and Washington.
Performance Date: April 30, 2014
Primary Language: English

Informant is a student at USC. Theatre major, girl, brunette, an older sister, a cat mother, a child of divorced parents, and a resident of multiple states – CA, OR, WA, TX.

—

You said you wanted to share ghost stories. Have you had any personal –

No. Luckily, no. It’s like my biggest phobia, is ghosts. But my mom and my sister have seen them.  So I believe in them, because they wouldn’t lie to me. So, basically – our last house in Oregon was haunted. And I didn’t even know it until after we moved out, and they were like “By the way, it was haunted.” There was a ghost in my room. And in my mom’s room. And, they were really mean.

And they were really mean?

They were mischievous, as my mom puts it. But – that means mean to me. ‘Cause I don’t like pranks. And I don’t like ghosts playing pranks on me. So, basically, it was terrifying. For this newest house – in Texas – I made my mom – before I showed up, we had to burn sage around the house. And then when I got there we burned more sage. And we’re gonna have a preacher bless the house and everything. Basically anything to get rid of the ghosts.

What is this thing with the sage?

Supposedly when you burn sage around the house, in like – definitely in the corners, and you say positive things, like “Go away ghosts, this is a peaceful home,” it convinces them to go away. It also smells really bad. And then your entire clothes smell like you’ve been smoking cigarettes. But also, you can do that – and then you – it’s basically in the corners, and around windows, and door handles. Just so they can’t get through. It makes ghosts stay away. Or you can have a preacher bless the house and get rid of ghosts. Or I think you can burn oil on the door handles as well too.

Why in the corners?

I don’t know, maybe they can hide in corners.

Aren’t they supposed to be able to go through walls?

I try not to think about that. We just basically ran it all the way around the room. And said positive things, like “Go away ghosts.”

That’s a positive thing?

“This is not a good home for you? We’re too nice of people?” I don’t know. We got rid of the ghosts. That’s all I care about.

How did you learn about this ritual?

Mmmm, my mom’s friend knew about it. I think it’s just like – I feel like it’s an old wives’ tale kind of thing? But I don’t know – I had never heard it before. It was just something that I was told from my mom, who heard it from a friend.

Did you make your mother do it, or…?

I just freaked out enough so that she decided to do it. ‘Cause otherwise I wasn’t gonna visit her.

And then you did it together.

Yes.

And you felt better about going in the place.

Yes.

There’ve been rumors of any hauntings of the place? Or was it just a precaution?

Not yet. Just a precaution. And I think in Texas you have to – before you can buy or rent a house, you have to say whether someone’s died in that house before. It’s not a law in Oregon, but I think in California and Texas and some other places it is. So no one’s died in the house, but I mean I was a little afraid because apparently the owner’s wife died – not in that house, so, y’know, just a precaution.

 

—

Informant took part in a ritual to lay her fears at rest, because her belief in ghosts was threatening to interfere with her relationship to her mother. Informant recognized the irrationality of her behavior, early on using the term “phobia.”  Informant was a folkloric poster child! “I believe in [ghosts], because [my family] wouldn’t lie to me.” “This was something I heard from my mom who heard it from a friend.” Awesome.

The Ghost of Spangenberg

Nationality: Indian-American
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles/Palo Alto
Performance Date: April 1, 2014
Primary Language: English

This piece was told to me by my co-worker who went to high school in Palo Alto, CA. At the high school there was a large theater, called the Spangenberg theater, where the theater students would perform shows during the years. The rumor around the theater was that it was haunted by a ghost. My informant learned the rumor from an older theater student. She felt that the ghost story was both fun (to pass on to a new generation) but also slightly scary because of the small chance that it might be true.

“In our high school we used to have this rumor circling around the theater group that there’s a ghost in Spangenberg. So, we kind of ran with it. It wasn’t written anywhere, we just kind of passed it off as… generation to generation within the theater community at our school. Basically if anything went wrong we kind of just blamed it on the ghost. Supposedly there was a backstory to this ghost, about someone committing suicide in the building, I don’t know much about that, but things that happened were like: I was pretty sure I turned those lights off and I’d be the first one in the building the next morning and the lights were on and I know no one else was in there because the building was locked and I was the last one out the night before, so yeah… things would just come up and terrify you occasionally. There would be random noises, that was terrifying up in the rafters. I didn’t like going there by myself and we just kind of blamed it on the ghost, and because of that if I was ever there last, by myself at night I wouldn’t just be there, you know, taking my leisurely time making sure everything was locked up. No. I would be sprinting. I wanted out, immediately.”

Q: Do you remember who told you about the ghost of Spangenberg? How did they tell you about it?

“It was more of a reference, like, ‘Ooh, watch out the ghost of Spangenberg might mess it up for you” Or ‘don’t let him catch you’ or just kind of like, mocking. And I kind of feel like that’s how I passed it off, too.”

Q: Did you try to scare freshman with it?

Yeah, obviously. It’s what we do. No shame

Q: So, what would you say to them?

The first time I would ever mention it to them I would try not to scare them, actually, just like ‘Oh that’s super weird, it was working yesterday. It’s because of the ghost.’

 

It’s interesting that this ghost doesn’t have a name or any method of identification (even a gender) because generally this kind of “haunted building” folklore would come with some sort of a back story to add to the believability. However, it sounds like the story was believable enough even though the ghost didn’t have any special features.

Grandma Walking Stick

Nationality: Colombian, Argentinian
Age: 21
Occupation: Game Designer
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4.12.2014
Primary Language: English

Item:

The informant’s great grandmother, a well-loved Argentinian woman, passed away when he was very young — at an age where he could only speak a little bit. He and his mother’s side of the family called her “Abuela Bastón”, or Grandma Walking Stick, for the distinct sound of her moving around with her trusty walking stick. After her death, there was a day where the family was sitting around, and the informant was nearly sleeping lying on his back. Suddenly, he sat up, pointed ahead, and exclaimed “Abuela Bastón! Abuela Bastón!”, claiming he heard the sound of the walking stick. It caused a bit of a reaction especially with his grandmother, who was very spiritual.

 

Context:

The grandmother (daughter of the deceased) was apparently very spiritual. She completely believed the informant was pointing at the spirit of Abuela Bastón only he could see. The rationale was that Abuela Bastón was there to check in on her great-grandson. While the informant doesn’t remember this incident, he does have vague memories of the sound of the walking stick during his youth. He doesn’t believe in ghosts or spirits but does respect the fact that it’s an important part of his family and culture, so he stays pretty objective about it so as not to offend.

 

Analysis:

It stands out the the informant, despite not really believing the spirituality of the situation, is motivated by cultural and familial respect to not refute that it was indeed a spirit. It’s also not quite a “ghost story” — more so a visitation from the spirit or soul of a recently dead family member. There wasn’t anything terribly haunting about it, and there wasn’t a visual component. Plus, it came from the mouth of a young child, although the clarity with which he suddenly woke up and spoke her name was uncharacteristic.