Tag Archives: Legend Quest

Haunted Middle School

Nationality: Mexican, Scandinavian, French Canadian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Beaumont, California
Performance Date: March 28, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Informant: “I know in the town next to us, there is a middle school and there is a legend that this boy fell into a hole in like the thirties or something and they were pouring cement and he got trapped under the cement and there was like somehow an air passage that he was able to breathe through, through the cement that they poured on top of him. But then he died there, and so now this ghost haunts the school and if you knock on the principal’s door three times, he’ll knock back.”

 

The informant comes from a small town in California. The informant states “there is nothing to do there, it is just a small town and the biggest thing we have is a Walmart.” She said that because the town is small “everybody knows each other, and we kind of grew up together.”

The middle school from the tale is located in Redlands. The informant learned this tale as a child from her mother. The informant’s mother used to live in Redlands and attended this middle school. The informant remembers this tale because “Its just one of things you’re told that you remember when you are a little kid just because it is interesting.”

The informant does believe in ghosts and has had a personal experience with a ghost. When asked, the informant recalled that “the house I grew up in until I was seven was definitely haunted, I saw his ghost multiple times, and it wasn’t just me, my parents saw him. We would go to bed with all of the windows and doors shut and we would wake up and they would all be wide open, you would hear banging on the pipes and whatnot. We found out that the person who lived there before us died in the house. So the ghost was of the guy that died there.” Thus, ghosts are very real to the informant.

According to the informant, some kids will try to knock on the principal’s door to see if they can get the ghost to knock back. Thus, some kids use this legend to go on a legend quest. The story is also rather morbid and represents a fear of death, especially a slow painful death.

The Legend of Turnbull Canyon

Nationality: Korean-American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: May 2009/ April 2012
Primary Language: English

My informant told me about this legend of a haunted canyon named “Turnbull Canyon.” This specific canyon is in Whittier and many high schools around this area know about this specific legend. He stated that at his high school Sunny Hills High School, everyone would go to this specific haunted canyon to prove themselves, have a thrill, and sometimes couples would even go there for a night of “romance” per say. This specific canyon includes tales of a abandoned gate with a dark hole within the bricks that hold the gate. Supposedly if you go towards this hole, you will see eyes of a demon as this hole is a portal to hell. Also this canyon is supposedly a breeding ground for Satanists and also white supremacists. There was an incident where either Satanists or white supremacists chained a girl to the back of their car and dragged her down the canyon, dismembering her body. There is also a tree at a specific turnout that  is supposedly haunted as a man hung himself at that spot. If you go to that tree at 2 a.m., you will see the body hanging there. There is also a house which use to be a mental hospital, however a tragedy occurred there. If you go in to this specific house you can see ghosts and hear screams from the tortured patients.

My informant stated that he went to this canyon during high school with his friends as they were bored. He said the personal experience that he had was that he heard noises coming from the house that use to house mental patients. This scared him so much that he drove down with his friends as soon as possible. Another of his friends stated that he saw a group of hooded figures in the woods who seemed to be doing a certain ritual.

My opinion of this piece of folklore is that it is a prime example of a legend quest. High School students around this area would go to this place to have a thrill as they would have story to tell to others about how they survived Turnbull Canyon. What is interesting about this legend is that when I did some research about it, there are incidents of a murder involving a woman found and also a mental institution which burned down. Thus these show where the inspiration for some of the legends came from. However nothing else could really be proven about the occult happenings.

Legend of Blackstar Canyon

Nationality: Caucasian- American
Age: 27
Occupation: Student
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English
The Warning Sign

This sign warns individuals that the county is not held responsible.

My informant tells me that there is a very eerie hiking path within a canyon in the city of Orange. This canyon warns it entrants that the area is not maintained by the city and also the government is not responsible for any injuries or loss that occurs in this place. He states that this was a local spot to hang out in during high school, to either go do drugs or go and get scared. My informant states that kids in high school would take flashlights and cameras, to go and take pictures of the haunted landmarks while night-hiking.

The landmarks that are known are the haunted tree, overturned bus, the forsaken campsite, and also man known as Blackstar Bill. The haunted tree is supposedly haunted by the ghost of many unfortunate people that were punished with nooses there by white supremacists. These ghosts are miserable and angry and if you do something disrespectful to the tree, ghosts will appears. My informant stated that his friend decided to urinate on the tree and they heard noises, thus they ran away as fast as they could. The overturned buss is another landmark that is known for being haunted, as children died there unfortunately as the bus driver loss control. The forsaken campsite is known to be a very eerie-looking campsite that looks like it has been left alone for a long time. Supposedly there are very insane people that live at this campsite that are the remnants of an abandoned mental institution. There also is reasoning that this campsite is home to Satanists and White Supremacists who meet here. Lastly Blackstar Bill is a deranged mountain man that lives within a cabin in the woods. He will shoot at you with no regard for human life and will state that you are trespassing on his property, thus he has the right to kill you. These are the landmarks that kids usually try to get to a night and take pictures of. My informant states that he once went there and saw odd red eyes within the overturned bus and never has gone back. He also states that there are signs along the hiking trail that state that police will not help you beyond these points.

My informant states that the Legend of Blackstar Canyon is still prevalent within many Orange County high schools. He states that he told his younger brother about this myth and that he already knew about and also ventured there before.

This definitely is a legend quest that offers high school kids on a boring night a thrill. What is interesting is that the landmarks are shared by many different high schools, yet with different stories at some parts. An example of this would be the haunted tree; instead of summoning a ghost when you anger the tree, another version is that you summon a very demonic creature that resembles a chupacabra. This could possibly be a latino spin on the legend, but this demonstrates how legends change for different people. What makes this a legend is the fact that there have been sightings of Blackstar Bill by many people. However the meeting site for occultists cannot be proven. Either way high school kids perform this ritual to state that they have been there and survived. It is basically a rite of passage for these high school kids, once they can drive and get there.