Tag Archives: ghosts

Creepy Closet

Nationality: American
Age: 55
Occupation: Electric Utility Manager
Residence: Irvine
Performance Date: 4/14/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Armenian

The following informant is a manager at a large electric utility company in Southern California. Here he is describing a legend about ghost that inhabited a closet in a bedroom he shared as a child with his brother. This is a transcription of our conversation, she is identified as T and I am identified as K:

T: When I was a child, maybe 8 or 9 years-old, my sister who was a little older told me and my brother about someone who had died in the house and that he lived in the attic above our bedroom. Because there was an opening in our closet to the attic, we always thought this ghost was trying to get in or out of the closet.

K: Did you believe your sister when she told you this story?

T: Heck yea, and from then on, we could never sleep with the closet door open.

K: Did you think closing the door would protect you?

T: Probably not, but it was better than leaving it open and waking up in the middle of the night to see a ghost in the closet.

K: What was the opening in your closet to the attic?

T: There was an opening in the ceiling of the attic that was closed with a lid. You could open the lid and gain access to the attic. One day, my brother and I gathered enough courage to climb up there and open the lid. Because I was older, I ended up opening the lid and looking but I didn’t see anything.

K: Did you ever actually see a ghost?

T: Never, but it didn’t matter. The thought of seeing a ghost was enough to instill fear for a long time. We did once have someone attempt to break into our house through our bedroom window at night and at first, I thought it was the ghost making noise. The robber got spooked and ran away. After that, I really couldn’t sleep thinking about a ghost in the closet and a robber at the window. I had some rough nights sleeping as a child.

K: Do you believe there is a ghost up there?

T: Definitely not, and I even recently went up there to take a look with a powerful flashlight. There was nothing up there except an attic. I did have my doubts as a child, but I always convinced myself that it wasn’t real. Regardless, I would always close the closet door.

Context: The informant told me this tale while we were sitting on his couch talking about scary stories as a child. He recalled this story and indicated he had forgotten all about the closet ghost until telling it now.

Thoughts:

Similar to the informant, I don’t believe in ghosts, but it is important to note that he changed his behavior as a result of the folklore. Although he was adamant he did not believe in ghosts, he still closed the closet door. This precautionary action likely made him feel better and probably allowed him to sleep easier. It was interesting how a robber was initially mistaken for the ghost, and he used the term “spooked” to describe why the robber ran away. It felt like in an unusual way, this fictitious ghost may have provided protection in his mind and possibly create a benevolent aspect to the ghost.

La Llorona

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Santa Fe, NM
Performance Date: April 22, 2018
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the performer (KM) and I (ZM).

ZM: Any legends? Is there like a New Mexican legend that you…?

KM: Oh! Yes. Indeed. So, there’s this legend. I can’t pronounce it for the life of me.

ZM: Could you spell it?

KM: Yes. So, it’s “la,” like la and then space, “ll.” Actually…it’s on my phone. (laughs) lemme… Okay, so it’s “la,” space, “llorona,” like La Lallorona or something like that. They roll their r’s or something that I can’t do. So, basically there’s this um, legend that this woman, um, took her kids (chuckles) This is scary. So, uh she took her kids like from her house and like drowned them in the river. Yeah. So, and that like… her kids and were like screaming the whole night and like… OH NO NO no. I think it’s… Her kids were screaming so much that she like took them to the river and drowned them. So, the legend is when you… like um… The winds in New Mexico, in the spring, are like really bad, like they’re like fifty miles an hour. Like crazy. And so the legend is, when you hear the like really fast wind. Like the scream from the wind, it’s the scream of her kids. And um, stay away from rivers. So, like the whole thing is like if you’re near an arroyo, which is what we call a ditch…

ZM: (obviously lost)

KM: You know those ditches that like…

ZM: On the side of roads?

KM: Not really. They’re kind of like… um… They’re like where rain water goes, but they’re like pretty deep.

ZM: But they’re not on the side of roads?

KM: Sometimes they are, but not necessarily.

ZM: Are you talking about like natural ones?

KM: Yeah. Like natural ones.

ZM: I’m sorry. Florida doesn’t have much… variation in… (laughs)

KM: So, I have one behind my house and it’s basically like… it’s lower in elevation so all the water goes there and then it goes under the road. So, I guess it’s kind of near the road. And it like drains to like a river.

ZM: whaaaa. hunh

KM: So, it’s kind of like a stream, but it’s only when rain…

ZM: I feel like this is a language barrier. It’s like a land barrier. Like, I’m not exposed to these land forms.

KM: But anyway, so when you go to like an arroyo and you hear the wind scream. It’s like La Lallorona is coming for you and you have to like go in your house or she’s gonna kill you.

ZM: Is that just kids or is that everyone?

KM: It’s mostly just kids. Like, parents tell their kids these stories so they won’t be near the arroyo at night.

 

Context: This is from a conversation with KM about her New Mexican culture.

 

Background: KM is a sophomore studying at the University of Southern California. KM was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

 

Analysis: I thought it was interesting that this version still contained the classic “Stay away from rivers” message, but also more specifically to stay away from arroyos at night. This is a geographic marker because arroyos are only found in arid and semi-arid climates.

 

Ouija Board

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Vermont
Performance Date: 4/24/18
Primary Language: English

When my friend Z was 13, she asked for a Ouija board for Christmas. An odd request, but her parents didn’t really believe in those sort of things so they got her one. Z had always used the Ouija board as a joke with her friends whenever they had sleepovers. All day they messed around, making up gibberish and pretending a “spirit” was talking to them. The family had a big laugh and when night fell everyone went to sleep.

That is except for Z. When she went to bed that night, she couldn’t fall asleep because when she got into bed there was a huge weight put on her legs, like someone was sitting on them. Once Z realized what was going on, she got out of bed, ran to her parents’ room frightened for her life. Her parents subsequently threw away the Ouija Board and that was the end of that.

Z told me that she stopped using Ouija Boards ever since because of the unforeseen consequences that it had. The Ouija Board was used by the Occult to speak to spirits who had passed on, and Z saw herself as disrespecting that mode of communication. The testy thing about Ouija Boards is that once it is used, any spirit can pass through. It’s like trying to open a door to a closet full of balloons just to grab the purple ones. It’s virtually impossible to do that.

When Z told me her experience with Ouija Boards, I actually believed her and never want to go near a Ouija Board. I’ve known for her for a bit and she’s a pretty rational individual. So if she was terrified by something she thought was a ghost, well then it probably was a ghost.

My Brother’s Mom says Hi

Nationality: Cuban
Age: 58
Occupation: Retir4ed
Residence: Miami
Performance Date: 4/15/18
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

This was a story I’ve heard from my parents and several relatives for years. So I have three older brothers because my dad was married twice before my mom and his second wife, M, unfortunately passed away when my brother R was 13. Eventually my father remarried and had me when my brother turned 20, but the wound left by his mom’s sudden death never left him.

Fast forward to his 23rd birthday. We were celebrating as a family in the backyard, playing music, about to cut the cake. A toddler (barely three or four) says that his mom says hi. Everyone took a double-take and told the toddler to explain. So he did:

There’s a belief that those who are really young and really old (so babies and senior citizens) can see into the paranormal world since they still have a close relationship with it. So the toddler says that he saw R’s mom in her funeral attire, looking the same as she did when she was healthy. R was taken aback by it and didn’t know what to say. I don’t think anyone did.

My mom believes this story wholeheartedly. She’s told it to me several times and so has my father and brother, yet I don’t remember it. Which is odd, because I was the toddler who saw her. I served as the medium for which she could connect to her son, who she could see was still mourning for her. And the fact that although I could barely articulate words, I was able to describe her perfectly is creepy.

Tijuana Taxi Ghost

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: los ángeles, ca
Performance Date: April 22,2018
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish

Folklore:

This is a Mexican ghost story about a taxi driver. Several taxi drivers have claimed they have picked up a woman and she instead of giving a location location to the drive she gave them directions. The directions took them to a very far location. The location ended up being a cemetery and when they arrived and the taxi driver looked towards the backseat the woman was gone.

Background and Context:

This story was told to me in a casual setting in middle of the evening on a weekend. The informant is a Sophomore at USC and is Mexican American but grew up in Southern California. She was told this story by her mother in her teenage years. My informant also told me it is a story specific to her mother’s hometown Tijuana, Mexico.  

Final Thoughts:

My thoughts on this story is that it does not hold any specific message but is used as entertainment. I thought this story was interesting that my informant told me it was specific to a city rather than the whole country or region. What I also found interesting is in the story the taxi driver does not realize she is a ghosts until she disappears, there is also no mentions of bad luck, tragedy or horror that most ghost stories tend to have. Overall this story was a very unique type of folklore.