Tag Archives: ghosts

Fruit Ghosts

Nationality: Asian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Washington D.C.
Performance Date: 4/23/2012
Primary Language: English

My informant heard this from her Vietnamese grandmother when she was a child.

“When a fruit bruises, it’s because a ghost bites it.”

She thinks it’s weird and funny. She likes the image of a ghost trying to bite a fruit.

Ghosts are much more natural and interact more with the world in Asian cultures than in western ones.  Also when a fruit bruises it means its gone bad or damaged which ties in with death. It is as if the ghost cannot fully interact with the world and leaves destruction behind instead.  It can’t quite bite through the fruit but it is enough to leave a mark. Fruit is also left as an offering at graves, so it shows that the spirit of the dead person the offering was left for is enjoying the gift.

Ghost Story

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Aurora, Ohio
Performance Date: 25 April 2012
Primary Language: English

My informant’s grandma used to live in a hotel because her father owned the hotel and would rent the rooms to workers in the steel mill. Supposedly, there was one renter who was fairly young and worked at the mill, whom everyone would pay attention to because he was very attractive. One day, this man came home early from work and both my informant’s grandma and her sister were ironing at the hotel. Back then, when they ironed, they would put the board across two chairs, so it was blocking the way for the young man to get to his room. So, the young man walked into the room and just stared at the two sisters, so they quickly moved all their things and apologized for blocking the hallway. However, he did not say anything, he just waited there while they put the ironing board away. Then, the young man walked through and went to his room and closed the door. Then, the sisters put everything back and started ironing again. An hour later, the bell at the mill rang. This signified that work was over. All the other workers came home and then a page boy came in and informed the two sisters that there was an accident at the mill and that the young man had died. Both the sisters were confused though because they had clearly seen the young man walk into the hotel and he never left.

Ghost stories are always so fascinating to me because there is no way to know whether or not they are true. Yet, they are so prominent in folk culture. People want to believe in ghost stories. I believe that society’s thirst for knowledge about the after life makes ghost stories that much more exciting.

The Franklin Castle

Nationality: Caucasian American
Age: 48
Occupation: Database Manager
Residence: Monterey, CA
Performance Date: 4/19/12
Primary Language: English

Informant Bio

My informant grew up in Kent, Ohio, attended Bowling Green State University, and spent over ten years after graduation living and working in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a self-professed lover of cities and turn-of-the-century architecture. She considers herself every bit a midwesterner, though she now resides in California.

My informant told me about the Franklin Castle while discussing her plans to visit Ohio this summer.

The Franklin Castle

The Franklin Castle is a mansion-sized Victorian stone house in Cleveland, Ohio that is commonly believed to be haunted. My informant told me that the story she heard is that the man who built the Castle in the 19th century was a twisted, evil man who would kill travelers that he would allow to stay in one of the house’s many rooms. The many rumored ghosts haunting the place are supposedly the spirits of those the man killed.

The Castle is full of hidden passageways and storage places that were likely used by servants. Apparently a recent renovation attempt did uncover bones in one of these hidden compartments in a wall. Tests done on the bones showed that they were very old, however my informant puts more faith in rumors that the bones were planted there by the current owner in an attempt to revive interest in the haunted building.

My informant is more interested in the Castle because its a fascinating looking old building than because of the rumors that it is haunted. She suspects that the rumors that the man who built it were evil stemmed from the fact that he was, in fact, a wealthy banker, and was likely not well liked in the community. “He probably foreclosed on a couple of people and suddenly its going around town that you’re evil. And everyone comes up with their own idea of what that means.”

Cleveland itself has been in recent years viewed as a dying metropolis. The city itself is an amalgamation of incredibly old buildings like the Castle (which have faded from their former glory and now comprise the poorer, more run-down parts of the city) and large modern skyscrapers, bars, clubs, and museums. Though the newer entertainment and shopping districts have not brought the population or reputation of the city back to what it once was, expansion and modernization are considered the only way to revive the city. Stories about spirits lingering in the old buildings mirror (and encourage) the fear of the older, poorer sections of the city.

Japanese Ghost Story

Nationality: Japanese American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Torrance, CA
Performance Date: March 12, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese

So a group of Japanese boys decided to play hide and seek in their school at night.  One of the boys was trying to find a place to hide when he saw a woman with long dark hair in a white dress.  He got really scared so he ran into the bathroom and hid in the fifth stall.  All of a sudden, he heard the bathroom door open and looked under the stall door.  He saw the feet of the ghost woman.  The woman then opened the door to the first stall. Nobody there.  Closes it.  She opens the second stall. Nobody there. Closes it.  She opens the third stall. Nobody there. Closes it.  She opens the fourth stall. Nobody there. Closes it.  The boy was so scared and waited for the door of his stall to open.  When it did not happen, he decided to stay in the stall until somebody came to look for him.  Eventually, he fell asleep and when he woke up, realized that school had started.  He got off of the toilet and tried to open the stall door.  But the door would not budge.  Then he looked up.  The woman had been hanging over the door and staring at him the entire time.

My informant told me this story during a sleepover.  It had been pretty late at night and really dark.  I asked her where she had heard it from, and she replied that her mom had told her this story when she was young.  My informant told me that she interpreted this story has a lesson to not hang out late at night.

After hearing this story, I noticed that this story has a connection to Hanako of the Toilet.  Hanako of the Toilet, is a very popular Japanese urban legend about the ghost of a little girl named Hanako who haunts school bathrooms. With the story of Hanako and my informant’s ghost story, I believe that they are both conveying how the bathroom is a very vulnerable place to be in alone.  The restroom can be considered to be a vulnerable place because people usually go alone and are half-naked when there, making it a perfect place for something to take advantage and attack people.  Both of these stories enhance the fear of dangers that can occur while using the toilet.

Ghost Potato

Nationality: English
Age: 43
Occupation: Acting Professor at USC School of Theatre
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 21st, 2012
Primary Language: English

Click Here for Audio file of Interview

“So, Ghost Potato is a game, that was passed on to me, uh when I lived in England, by a colleague. And I don’t know where he got it from, whether it’s an ancient game, I am uncertain about that. But in Ghost Potato, a large group of people are divided up into two possible roles: one is Ghost, and the other is Potato. Uhh, the game is then played blindfolded or with closed eyes. Nobody can see anything. And uh, the participants wander around a-a confined space. When they bump into each other, they must gently whisper their identity to one another. So for example, someone would bump into someone and then they’d just go ghost, or like that, or potentially potato. Now, and then the rules of the game state that if a ghost meets a ghost and they, exchange identities, then nothing happens. And if a potato meets a potato, then, nothing happens. But if a ghost should meet a potato, then the potato DIES! That is the rule of the game. And then all dead potatoes move to the side of the room, next to the sensei or referee who’s looking, who’s looking after the whole thing, and um, and then when potatoes, dead potatoes see live potatoes in danger of being caught by ghosts, they are encouraged to make the following sound: oohwoahohoh. Like that, thus warning the still living potatoes, or tubers, uh that they are um, potentially about to be caught. That’s ghost potato.”

“Well, I understand, all walks of life can attempt Ghost Potato, but it is a little dangerous. So I prefer to reserve it for, um, sophisticated, uh, actors, who understand, the dangers of, of the imagination. And uh, I think in my time only one or two people have tipped over the edge and, and sort of lost themselves in the spiritual abyss that awaits them, at the vortex which is Ghost Potato.”

 

This game allows the players to really have fun, and prevent them from taking themselves too seriously. The rules are extremely simple, and its very funny when Actors, many of whom try to come off as serious artists play something that was probably designed for kindergartners. Its also like a practical joke on the players, because the source, who moderates this game with his students, gets to watch a group of adults wander around a room, bump into each other and whisper.