Text:
The informant went to high school in Laredo, Texas. At her high school, she always heard stories of this boy with a red backpack in her high school. She heard that it began in the 1990s when janitors would see him really late at night. She says they would try to get his attention, calling out to him, saying, “Mijo, Mijo” but the boy would just walk away. They were always at opposite ends of the hallways and there was never any noise of the doors opening or closing when the boy would disappear. She heard another story of one day when the basketball coach was doing basketball tryouts and while in his office after tryouts, when all of a sudden he heard a ball dribbling. It was already late at night and he went out to check who was dribbling the ball. There was no one there and so he returned to his office. Once again, the coach heard the ball dribble so he went to check. This time the ball is dribbling toward him but there is no one to be seen. Other stories she heard did not involve the kid with the red backpack but were about supernatural instances such as books falling over. There was also this corner in the library that was always really cold. Some say that if you stood in the corner you could feel his presence.

Context:
The informant did not actually believe in the story as she believed that it was just a chance to talk about something in class and thus not do homework. She was told this story by teachers and the librarian so she also believes it was a story used to scare the students.

Interpretation:
This story seems to be very similar to the stereotypical ghost stories that kids are scared of. Thus, because of this, it seems that this story very much grew out of word of mouth and kids trying to make the story scarier every time it was spread around. For example, elements such as the empty school hallways, the basketball dribbling by itself, the books falling over, and the cold spot in the library are all elements commonly seen in fiction and in movies. None of these elements seem to really have any malintent behind them and thus, the ghost doesn’t seem to come from any evil place. It is very convenient that only certain adults would ever see the boy in the red backpack. Nonetheless, the legend stays relevant because it is something that high school kids can look to and claim as their own.