Tag Archives: ghost

Moki Hana – the Haunted Dormitory

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Honolulu, HI
Performance Date: March 17, 2016
Primary Language: English

The informant is an 18-year-old college student attending university in Hawaii. She was born and raised in the Bay Area, California, but has a great deal of family living in Hawaii who she visited frequently when growing up. While I was on a hike with the informant in San Ramon, California over spring break, she was describing her dorm to me and began to tell the story of how it came to be haunted.

“I live in a dorm called Moki Hana on campus. I first heard of the ghost from my RA, he told us about it on the first day we moved in. There’s a closet on my floor on the side of the bathroom with a sink in it that is used as a janitor’s closet. In the 80s a freshman hung himself in that closet, on my floor, and his ghost haunts the tower. The Resident Assistants have to stay in the dorms over the summer and one night one of them felt a really sharp pain on her chest and couldn’t get up, and she refused to sleep in the dorms for a few weeks. You’re not supposed to sleep with your feet to the door because it’s a way for spirits to enter your body. Also nobody will go to the bathroom during witching hour because they don’t want to encounter him. I just try to be respectful when I’m talking about it, especially if I’m in the dorms. Anywhere on campus or in the local vicinity they call the dorm ‘Moki Haunted.’”

In this ghost story, a tragic event that actually took place in the Moki Hana dormitory, the suicide of a freshman student, is transformed into a persistent haunting that affects any student who lives in the dorms. Upon hearing of this, I was reminded of previous conversations that I have had with the informant in which she has emphasized that Hawaii has an extensive history of spirituality, and I believe that this coupled to the sense of isolation and unfamiliarity that many college freshman face when moving to an island away from home serves to amplify the fear instilled within the students who are placed in Moki Hana dorm. The informant’s Resident Adviser may or may not believe in the ghost, but I think that his purpose in informing the freshman who live in the haunted dorm about it is in part to make them aware, but moreso to provide a sense of unity among the residents and as a way of initiating them into the dorm, as for the year they live in Moki Hana the common fear of encountering or upsetting the ghost of the student who committed suicide there will function to bring the residents together.

The Ghost of Chula Vista

Nationality: Nicaraguan
Age: 20
Occupation: Student at USC
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 03.15.2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Original Script: “Most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me in my life. My friend, before she was officially moving out, she invited me to stay the night at her grandparents house. The house use to be a brothel and I have always felt that her family has something that has really negative energy around it. Anyways, when I walked into the house I like got the weirdest feeling ever. The first thing that happened, happened in the nieces room. You know like how small storage rooms have that little door? Well, apparently none of the family even knew that that door was there because it was painted over and plastered. But, like, the family was looking for the niece so she could come say hi to me but they could not find her. An HOUR, later, they found her playing with her ‘imaginary’ friend, the room was just plain sketchy. But, it was creepy because she had never had an imaginary friend before. Apparently, the imaginary friend would tell her a lot of weird things and things that happened in the house, like women coming and going. She also described her imaginary friend as being this tall man, nothing any cutesy stuff about it. Anyways, I was getting bad vibes from the minute I stepped into the house and especially after the whole imaginary friend scenario. Later on in the day, that night we slept in her guess room, which was not even a bedroom to begin with, it was the extension from the garage and the family had made it an extra room, like a new room…we both stayed in that room…And when we were asleep, I woke up to hearing a bunch of things outside…because we were by the boarder I just thought it was some animals or construction outside but then I saw a figure pass by the window, like, a silhouette of a man walking passed the window, to get to the backyard someone would have had to sneak in because the backyard was gated and made of high bushes around a brick wall…we got so freaked out both ran to the grandparents room…the grandfather checked the backyard and did not see anyone so he checked the cameras—which they had because they lived so close to the boarder and saw that no one had passed and sent us back to the room.

I was freaking the hell out but my friend fell asleep…an hour later, I saw the man again!!! But this time, the silhouette just stands there, like it was staring inside the window…and the lamp turned on by itself! I scream, my friend wakes up and see what’s happening and she runs out and finally I was able to move…I ran back to the grandparents room, and the grandparents said it was probably a ghost because they knew the place was haunted. Like really? Thanks for telling me. I could not sleep at all that night and the next morning before I left I went to the fridge outside and felt like someone was behind me…I was felt terrified in that house.”

Background Information about the Piece by the informant: Kamilah and her mother have always been spiritual people. The belief in witches, demons, and angels is strong to Kamilah’s mother however, it is even more so in her home country—Nicaragua. Kamilah has always believed that spirits and demons haunt people that are surrounded with negative energy.

Context of the Performance: Visiting a friend’s house in Chula Vista

Thoughts about the piece: Re-writing the story word for word from a recording, gave me a different thought process than the first time I had heard it. After reviewing the story a second time, I saw how Kamilah’s spiritual belief the unknown made this story so terrifying for her, in terms where it became a product of cultural relativism.

To begin with, most people hearing this story would think that it was either somewhat scary or that Kamilah’s child mind had interrupted something from out of its context. However, given the fact that Kamilah was a sophomore in high school as well as her spiritual background, it gives this story a whole different meaning—a meaning where imagination becomes a dangerous game. In a second follow up with Kamilah, she explained how she thought of spirits and demons as completely separate entities: spirits were more of an ancestral background, that guided you, while demons were very dark spirits that fed off the negative energy from people. The fact that she felt negative energy around the house, and not a very friendly feeling from the figure outside the window, as well as the creepy feeling she got when the niece talked about her imaginary friend, and the very label of “terrifying,” Kamilah associated this story with that of a more demonic presence.

Furthermore, this story would not fall under a legend quest because Kamilah did not know about the grandparent’s house being haunted. It would not of been just a legend because this pertinent information was also kept from Kamilah. Instead, this story was more of a memorate for Kamilah, in which a memorate is a personal experience that is translated into a traditional narrative. After discussing the story with her mother, when she came to pick Kamilah up, her mother told her it must have been a demon. Thus, as Kamilah told her story, the social atmosphere labeled the unexplainable (i.e. the man at the window) as being a demon.

The Generous Jesuit Ghost

Nationality: USA
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 10, 2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish, Hebrew

“So I have this friend who goes to Fordham, and I live in the Northeast so I’ve visited plenty of times, and she told me this popular legend around the school. There’s a church on campus since it’s a Jesuit school, and one day some girl saw a priest in the church that she hadn’t seen before. She was looking for tutoring in the field of his expertise, so she befriended him. He tutored her for weeks until the end of the semester, but something wasn’t quite right. At the end of the semester, she went back to thank him for all of his help, but she couldn’t find him. So naturally, she looked up the name of the priest in the school’s records, and found the name and picture of the priest who had helped her. The funny thing is, he had apparently been dead for almost 90 years!”


I got this from one of my friends who is from Providence, RI. Her friend is a freshman at Fordham, and keeps in regular contact with her. According to my friend, the legend circulates among Fordham students, and it’s a local legend that that building is somewhat supernatural. Having gone to a Jesuit high school, I kind of have an insight to this legend. The Jesuit priests at my school loved stories like this, and they always told kind of tongue-in-cheek stories about Jesuits helping people, so I feel like this may have originated with the Jesuits themselves.

The Ghost of Drunken Moon Lake

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 4/29/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish, Mandarin Chinese

The informant learned the following legend while studying abroad in Taiwan, and told it to me while recounting her experience at National Taiwan University.

“At National Taiwan University, there’s a big lake in the middle of campus, and it’s called Drunken Moon Lake, and the story is that there was a woman who was I think rejected by her lover, for some reason couldn’t be with her lover, and she drowned herself in the lake and I’m not sure how long ago it was, so they believe that a ghost is an unhappy spirit, like an unrestful soul. And they believe that she lives there on the lake. So there is a pagoda in the middle of the lake that doesn’t have a bridge to it, there’s no way to get to it, so there’s just birds there, and they believe that she lives there with other unhappy female ghosts, female sprits, and that if you’re a man, you should not walk by the lake, especially at like sunset or dusk. And if you do walk by the lake, you should definitely not talk to any woman because it could be an evil spirit trying to seduce you and she’ll drag you into the lake with her. Or else, if she doesn’t drag you into the lake, she could also go with you and pretend to be your wife or your girlfriend, but she’ll continue to bring bad things into your life and continue to haunt you without you knowing. And you’ll think you’re in love with her and meanwhile she’s destroying your life. So yeah, don’t find a girlfriend at Drunken Moon Lake”

The informant learned of this legend gradually over her time studying abroad in Taiwan, as whenever she would be around the lake, other people would warn her and tell her about the ghost that resided in it. She received pieces of the story in both English and Mandarin from different people.

The informant did not mention anything regarding the origins of this tale, or why people believed it, but it seemed to be taken quite seriously. Like many other horror tales and legends, maybe its origins had some practical application. Perhaps it was meant to deter young men from approaching the lake for some reason. Perhaps someone wanted to keep them away from flirting with the women around the lake, or keep them from trying to swim in the lake.

Ghost spirit in our house- Los Angeles

Nationality: American
Age: 30s
Occupation: Lyft driver

I was headed home from friends house and decided to use the lyft application, not knowing what to talk about i asked the driver Charles “Carlos” Van Stuesen if he knew any folk lore, he asked and i explained and he told me a rather interesting, supposedly factual story his mother had told him she witnessed, Afterwards he told me this:

Informant: Well there is a.. feels like a ghost sprirt in our house umm.. me and my roommates named him Prior Walter for like the Walters before him.. but.. just a funny name that we gave him .. but everybody that comes to our house.. kind of feels this..  that spends the night their question the next day is is there a ghost in the house cause they always feel something..but umm.. he’s not ever evil.. he seems like he is always at the entry way .. its a split level home so when you come in your either going to go up down or at that main level..and he seems like he is always at that main level.. like to me it seems like he’s waiting for family to come home but they are no longer there.. and he doesn’t know any better.. whats the weirdest thing is .. is when my dogs will walk around him they will go up do a U and go.. keep on walking they do not walk through him and thats the weirdest thing to see… um but.. like i said he’s never been evil or bad or anything.. just you feel a presence every now and then and like i said everyone who has stayed the night has always asked that the next day..

Collector: where do you live?

Informant: In montabello … i’ve kinda gooled but nothing comes up.. but we’ve always just said we have a ghost named Prior Walter.

Collector: Do the dogs look at the ghost as they walk around him.

Informant: umm yea actually all of them would look and walk around him except for one.. she would sometimes just sit at the bottom of the stairs and just stare at him.. she would just look at his direction when there was no one there to look at.

 

This story definitely raises some flags to me, i have personally asked the question of whether there was a ghost or not and people have responded.. everyone asks that. This consensus of “feeling” of a ghost might shed light on why we believe things. There could be multiple reasons why people are feeling this without it being a ghost but we begin to believe in the unbelievable, when multiple people are experiencing and witnessing an inexplicable phenomena the tipping factor of belief might be that it is a unanimous or majority consensus. Also for some reason Dogs always sense spirits as shown above as in the movies as well. Dogs have a great sense of smell maybe whatever is causing these sensations also gives off a smell which triggers the Dogs attention. Regardless the Dog’s attention is a contributing factor in the weighing of odds of whether or not there is a spirit, and as my informant has told us he believes that there is a Ghost because (1) he himself feels a presence (2) multiple people have felt a presence without foreknowledge of others’ feeling. and (3) because the Dogs don’t act as they usually do near where this presence is felt. These three pieces of folk-evidence might be sufficient to inspire belief in Ghosts.