Tag Archives: ghost

The Ghost in the Weiner Theater

Nationality: American
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Memphis, TN
Performance Date: March 21, 2015
Primary Language: English

The legend:

“During play rehearsal at the Weiner Theater, one girl brought a Ouija board, and while they were on break, the characters went backstage and asked if there were any ghosts residing in the theater. The Ouija board replied with the name Annie, and we have learned that there is a ghost named Annie in the Weiner Theater, and we keep a chair set for her in the tech booth during every show…But Ms. Caskey and everyone else already knew there was a ghost named Annie in the Weiner theater. And then, and then, so the Ouija board moved to Annie, and they were like, ‘There’s a ghost named Annie here,’ and everyone was, everyone who wasn’t there for the Ouija board was like, ‘Yeah we know,’ and they were like, ‘What?!’ and so, it was completely, like…there’s an actual ghost in the theater. Like, actually a ghost. Like Virginia and the people who were moving the Ouija board had no idea that there was a girl named Annie in the theater…but Mrs. Davis told them that there was an Annie. It’s really creepy.”

The informant, my sister and a sophomore in high school, heard this from her friend Virginia who was in a play at the all-girls k-12 school she attends in TN (and from which I graduated). The Weiner Theater is the school’s huge main theater that seats approximately 600 people for school plays, recitals, and other events. Ms. Caskey is the school’s theater director, and Mrs. Davis manages the tech booth in the theater department; according to the informant, both of these faculty members previously knew about the ghost named Annie who haunts the Weiner Theater. Virginia and some other girls in the school musical in the fall of 2014 were unaware of this ghost. Since the girls had no previous knowledge of the ghost, and the older faculty members already knew of such ghost, this Ouija board experience therefore proved to them that the ghost Annie is actually real. Memphis has a lot of old places, especially in midtown and downtown—the Orpheum Theater downtown is also presumably haunted by a little girl ghost—so belief in ghosts isn’t that unusual. The school was founded in 1902; it was one building on a small plot of land with very few students. Its old campus was downtown, but it moved campus to its current location in 1964. This is the history they taught us throughout elementary and middle school, along with even more detailed descriptions of the founder and her students. A portrait of the founder even hangs up in the library. Being over 100 years old, there is great emphasis on the school’s history and traditions. I believe its status as such a historical institution makes it very easy for its students and faculty to believe that it is haunted by ghosts. Ms. Caskey and Mrs. Davis have obviously accepted the fact that Annie exists. Most people who know this accept the knowledge and carry on with their day. They have even given her a chair in the tech booth to watch every show the school produces. And although the informant thinks it’s creepy, she obviously believes wholeheartedly that there is a ghost in the Weiner Theater.

Luther’s Ghost

Nationality: American
Age: 81
Occupation: Retired Dietician
Residence: Berkeley, CA
Performance Date: March 18, 2015
Primary Language: English

Informant: Great Aunt Charlotte was sick in bed once, and she looked up and saw the ghost of her tiny granny—quietly, quietly rocking in her rocking chair, smoking her corn-cob pipe.

Me: You believe in ghosts?

Informant: Oh, yes. The house in Berkeley was haunted, you know.

Me: Really?

Informant: Oh, yes. It was Luther. I passed it on the stairs, sometimes, and I could feel the inner—inner, you know—the inner stuff. And Uncle David said he always saw the rocking chair on the porch rock by itself. And I—we had a couple people—a couple people say they saw the lights flickering, going on and off. It was Luther.

The informant (my grandmother) was born in Missouri and has lived in Berkeley, CA for close to sixty years. She has always been a remarkably hard worker; she was raised by her uncle on his farm, where she more than carried her own weight, and, after completing four years at Penn State (where she was the only female Chemistry major at the time), she insisted on paying her uncle back every dime of her tuition. The informant moved out to California, went to graduate school at Mills College, and became a nutritionist working with nursing homes and other care facilities to develop standards for feeding different types of patients. After having two sons, the informant became the President of the Parents Association for the Head-Royce School in Oakland, CA and remained an active member of the Claremont Book Club.

This particular set of anecdotes came while the informant and I were discussing her house in Berkeley, which she was forced to sell a few years ago for financial reasons. The informant admits to “checking up” on the house frequently to see what the buyers have been doing to remodel it, and was outraged to find they’d changed the layout of the living room (a room visible only from the rear of the house, which means the informant broke into the gated backyard of a property she no longer owns to peer through the windows). Given her attachment to the house (she and her husband owned it for over forty years and raised two sons there), I was no all that surprised to hear that she thought the ghost of her late husband—Luther—haunted the place.

The informant specified feeling a kind of ghost energy, seeing objects move on their own, and flickering lights as signs of her late husband’s presence. All these phenomenon, in my opinion, are easily explainable. The informant is old and her staircase is very tall; perhaps the “energy” she felt was a response to the physical exertion. The rocking chair was stationed on the outdoor porch, so perhaps the wind rocked it. The house was in dire need of renovation (thought the informant would disagree), and I don’t doubt that the electric wiring through the house was ten to twenty years out of date. However, the informant firmly believes that the cause of these phenomenon was her husband’s ghost—no doubt, her belief stems from FOAF (friend of a friend) instances of ghost encounters, such as Great Aunt Charlotte’s, and a wider group of family members who seem to believe.

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.