Tag Archives: legend

The Legend of Nian

Context: The informant, CC, describes the legend of Nian that is a popular Chinese folktale
CC: “In chinese lunar new year theres this story where in this old Chinese village, they were all terrorized by this big ol monster called ‘Nian’ …and to combat this they ended up creating big sounds through fireworks and firecrackers, which is a predominant reason why people today as tradition uses fireworks to celebrate the new year.”

Q: Where did you first hear about the story?

CC: “I first heard about it from my parents and other family members since we always get together to celebrate the Lunar New Year.”

Q: Have you heard of the story being told outside of your family?

CC: “Honestly no…well, there was this thing my middle school used to do where we celebrate each other’s culture and one of my teachers told us about the story of Nian. It was pretty accurate to the story I already knew.”

Analysis: The Legend of Nian, as described by CC, is a popular Chinese folktale that tells the story of Nian, a beast who used to terrorize villages in China. Many feared Nian due to its destructive nature. Because of this, many created loud sounds using fireworks and firecrackers in order to scare off the Nian beast and ward it away.

Whittier Tunnels

Q: What do you know about the Whittier Tunnels?

JM: “Ok so basically there’s this whole tunnel system in Whittier and it stretches out to nearby cities like Pico and La Mirada. I don’t know where it stops but it reaches through different parts of Whittier like Whittier High School. There’s different ways to enter the tunnel, but some parts of the tunnel are so small and dark from what I heard.”

Q: When did you first hear about the story?

JM: “It first started in middle school, that was when the tunnels were mentioned but it wasn’t until high school where I learned that one of the tunnel entrances was underneath the basement of the school. I was so shocked. My teacher actually took us down there at the end of the year just to see the basement and the entrance to the tunnel. It’s super creepy though. It’s just super dark.”

Analysis: The story of the Whittier Tunnels are well-known throughout the city of Whittier, CA. Under the city is different tunnels that stretch to different parts of neighboring cities such as La Mirada and Pico Rivera. The tunnels were seemingly built around the construction of the city around the late 1800s. One of the entrances to the tunnels is underneath the basement of Whittier High School, as the informant describes.

Silverhill Hospital

Context: The informant, AC, talks about Silverhill Hospital, a mental asylum where the rumor of “the melon heads” originates from.

“There’s a mental asylum kind of in my town called ‘Silverhill Hospital’ and there’s kind of like a common saying that if you’re not careful or if your alone in the road, the ‘melon heads’ will come get you. I don’t really know what melon-heads refers to, but I guess there’s this legend that a long time ago, a group of insane people escaped a mental asylum and I’m not sure if its my town or one nearby, but they just started living in the woods…they’re suppose to have these big heads and if you see something at night, its going to be a melon head. I feel like more older people talk about it like it wasn’t the kids talking about it. I remember my friends’ parents talking about it more than they did.”

Analysis: The Silverhill Hospital in Connecticut. has had many different rumors surrounding, one of which being the “melon heads”. If you’re alone or not careful at night, the melon heads will come get you. From what the informant explains, the story seems to be more familiar with the older generation than the younger generation. The Silverhill Hospital rumors seem to have originated from long ago, where many would talk about the rumors, It has since then declined from the current youth.

La Llorona

Context/Q: What do you know about La Llorona?
GV: “I heard about it from like different stories that my grandma used to tell me. It was about a lady who drowned her kids in a river and now she haunts different kinds of rivers.”

Q: How did you hear about the story?

GV: “Yeah again, my grandma from my mom’s side would tell the story to me and my brothers. She also used it to like…scare us I guess. If we were being bad, our grandma would tell us that La Llorona would get us in our sleep.”

Q: Have you heard of the story anywhere else?

GV: “I guess basically every form of media. They’re pretty much all retellings of La Llorona but in their own way so like in the form of a book, movie, tv show, and more probably. I’ve also heard that other countries have their own interpretation of La Llorona.”

Q: Are you familiar with those interpretations?

GV: “No I just saw a TikTok explaining the different ways La Llorona is told in different countries. It might actually just be more Latin countries that have their own version of it.”

Q: Why do you think the story is so memorable?

GV: “I feel like it has to do with the story being really creepy and hearing about it super young. Like I think I might have been 8 or 9 when my grandma told me about La Llorona. I guess it just sticks with you I don’t know.”

Analysis: The story of La Llorona is widely known in Latin countries, telling the story of a woman who drowned her own children and now roams different bodies of water in search of them. It’s become widely recognized for its unsettling nature and being a myth passed down through different generations.

“Cursed” Medallion

Text:

H: “So when I went to Florida with my family, I got on some sketchy website, there was like a weird like medallion with like snakes on it. And it was like probably like two bucks, um, but I just like got it ’cause I thought it was cute and I started wearing it. And all of a sudden, like I was getting a lot of bad luck … I had a really bad night, like of sleep, and I was like getting really bad nightmares, like very vivid, like as if it was like, I was like put in an alternate reality and it was actually happening to me. Like for example, since we were on vacation, I was sharing a bed with my sister, and like I would turn over, I would think that it’s real life, like we’d be talking and all of a sudden like her eyes would go red and she’d like… I don’t, she wouldn’t even do anything, but like it was just like scary.”

C: “And were you like still wearing the medallion?”

H: “Yeah, yeah. At this point I didn’t attribute it to the medallion. And then I went… And then like for example, like she turned evil at one point and then like I thought I went back to sleep, and then I thought I woke up again, but like it was still a dream and like she, ’cause she went normal and I was crying. I was like in tears and she was like helping me, like patting my head like, ‘Oh, it’s okay.’ And then like all of a sudden she would turn evil again and I’m like I can’t tell what’s real and fake, so I now attribute it to sleep paralysis. At the time I thought I was like possessed, um, and that was just like reoccurring all night. I was so scared. And then like the next day I asked I think my dad what to do and he told me to like get rid of the medallion, but I didn’t want to touch it so I made my brother put it in the sand, like just to like get it off my head, out of my hands … That night I had another awful night of sleep, not as bad as the first one, and I found out the next day that he [brother] didn’t put it in the sand. He like kept it in my room for some reason ’cause he was just being like a little brother. And I was like… I had like another like possession thing. So then we threw it in the ocean and it was gone for real. Everyone was mad at my little brother ’cause it was like I wasn’t kidding. I was like crying all night both nights. So yeah, now I attribute it to sleep paralysis, but I don’t know. It’s kind of weird. Like the second I started wearing it, it, that happened. And then it made it weirder with like the whole sand thing, like that, it was still in my room.”

Context:

H was on vacation in Florida with her family when she bought this medallion necklace with a two snakes on it. After purchasing it, H started to have terribly bad luck. After falling asleep, H started to have terrible night terrors like where her sister was evil with red eyes. She woke up screaming & crying, so she gave the medallion to her little brother and asked his to bury it in the sand at the beach. That night, H continued to have nightmares, but not as extreme as the previous night. She once again woke up crying only to find out that her brother didn’t get rid of the medallion but left it in her room. They then threw the medallion into the ocean, and she stopped having the nightmares and bad luck.

Analysis:

Since this is a story that takes place in the real world and is/could be believable, this narrative would be classified as a legend. To get more specific, this legend could also be defined as a Memorate since it is a personal narrative encounter with legendary “cursed item,” which are widely believed throughout the world.