Tag Archives: legend

Haunted house on the hill

Age: 20

Text: Ghost story of Richmond, England – haunted house on the hill

Context: “In my town in London, I live close to this really popular hill. On the hill, there’s a pub, and a lot of people go there at night, or they just walk up the hill during the day. There’s a huge, really nice, old house on the top of this hill. It’s beautiful, and definitely worth a lot of money, but it is completely abandoned. No one actually knows why, but people have made up a lot of stories about how it is haunted, because they think there must be some explanation for why no one lives there, and also why it’s never gone up for sale. When I was younger, my neighbor told me that it was haunted by a spirit. She said a pianist once lived there, named Isabelle. She moved into this huge house completely alone, and no one knew where she got the money to afford it, or why she needed such a big place for just herself. Anytime you walked near the house, you could hear her playing the piano. One night, the piano completely stopped, and no one heard from or saw Isabelle. Eventually, the police broke in and found the piano open, with a warm cup of tea sitting on it, but no sign of Isabelle. No one ever found her. Anyone who moved into the house after this, would hear the piano playing at the middle of the night. When they went downstairs to investigate it, it suddenly stopped. One tenant tried to move the piano out of the house, but tripped and fell, hit his head on the piano, and died. After this, no one dared to move into the house and it has remained empty ever since. After hearing this story, I told all my friends, and we used to dare each other to run up to the house and peek inside. One of my friends swore she saw a shadow sitting at the piano. This was only one of the variations I heard about this supposed haunted house, but to this day, no one has any idea why it has been abandoned.”

Analysis: This story about a haunted house functions as a legend. It is set in a real-world location and is framed around belief. The house exists, but the question of whether the ghost truly haunts it is open to interpretation. However, the purpose of this legend is less about whether or not the ghost exists but more about the negotiation of what to believe and the counter-legends that are produced from it.

The interviewee’s account of the story is an example of ostension, which is when people act out the contents of legends in real life. Her and her friends daring each other to run up to the house shows how the legend became social and performative. These performances do not make the story true, but they make the legend feel real. The narrative structure of this particular legend is also FOAF (friend of a friend). The interviewee heard this legend from her neighbor, which helps reinforce the truth. Additionally, her friend claiming that she saw the shadow also makes the legend more believable.

There is also a cultural function of this story. Whether or not the people in this town believe in the ghost, the legend functions to explain a question: why the beautiful, expensive house remains abandoned. People create folklore, like these ghost stories, to fill the gaps in knowledge. The legend also reinforces a collective identity of the town. The house is no longer just a house, but it is a piece of community and history. It connects people through emotions, whether that is fear or curiosity. This shows how folklore performs a social function in maintaining group identity. The interviewee associates this story with her town and the people she grew up with.

The different symbols and variations that the interviewee has claimed to hear can be considered allomotifs. If a specific part of the story has changed (e.g the instrument being a violin rather than a piano), that part would be considered an allomotif. The function of the story remains the same though, as the idea is that there is a haunted instrument that represents the haunting of the dead spirit.

Hitler Tree – Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Geological Spaces Major Student at the University of Southern California
Residence: Gateway Apartments at the University of Southern California
Language: English

Text:

There is a tree on the USC campus known as the “Hitler Tree” notorious as being the tree that was gifted by Hitler after the Olympics.

Context:

The performer is a Geological Spaces major at the University of Southern California who was required to take an archictecture tour of the University of Southern California for his class. Along this class, he walked by the courtyard near the bookstore. The tour guide/professor stood in front of one of the great trees and said that the gift was a present from Germany (specifically under Hitler’s Regime) because Hitler was so impressed by one of the USA Olympic Champions (who was from USC), that he gifted the school a tree. The tree is no longer called the Hitler Tree for politically correct reasons, but is still in the yard to this day, and an integral part of USC lore because he feels as though one is not a true USC student until they know the lore.

Analysis:

USC is a very proud school with a tight-knit gated campus, 30k+ students valiantly wearing gold and crimson, and low acceptance rate. People take pride in knowing hidden gems along the USC campus because it proves how legit of a student one is.

There’s a lot of speculation behind whether or not the Hitler Tree is real and/or still exists. While some people claim it is that very tree in the yard, others claim it died years ago, but honestly it doesn’t matter whether the tree is still alive or not because it is the notoriety of the story being related to the infamous Hitler and the badge of honor of whether or not someone knows this story exists that is the true testiment to how “hardcore” of a USC student you are. Similar to how German folklore unified people politically and gave rise to modern-day Germany, USC stories (even the taboo “Hitler Tree”) are proof that USC students belong to their tight-knit folk group.

Dokkaebi (도깨비) – Legend

Nationality: Korean
Age: 20
Occupation: Film & TV Production Major Student and University of Southern California
Residence: Orion Housing at the University of Southern California
Language: English

Text: 

Dokkaebi (도깨비) translates to Goblin from Korean to English.

Context: 

“There are these creatures popular in Korean media known as ‘goblins,’ which are mischievous creatures that are essentially fairies. There’s a very famous K-drama by the same title. They usually carry these big, magical clubs which can grant wishes, and they wear outfits that look as if you were to skin a tiger and wear its skin.”

The performer heard about this legend when he was 18 and read Omniscient Viewpoint, a manhwa popular among teenagers in 2023.  He later learned it was popular to use the “Goblin” trope in various types of Korean media, ranging from horror to kids’ shows. 

Analysis: 

Dokkaebi are supernatural beings recorded in Korean Literature since medieval Korea (about 918–1392). However, the oral folktelling of the trope has evolved and remains popular into modern times, often tied to people, places, events, or dreams. For example, older renditions of the Dokkaebi are traditionally adorned in animalistic tiger skin, but in modern retellings (such as with K-pop merchandise or the K-drama Goblin (Guardian: The Lonely and Great God)), the Dokkaebi are portrayed to be at the forefront of fashion trends. This is because in the past, a tiger skin would’ve symbolized wealth and power, but now, that symbol is replaced by expensive suits. Despite physical changes to accommodate the advancing Korean folk, Dokkaebi adhere to Korean values of ethics and morals.

Oftentimes, Dokkaebi figures take on the role of playing with a karmic law: punishing the bad and rewarding the good. They’re considered neither demon nor ghost, taking on a neutral presence within Korean folklore as a figure that teaches humans lessons. Because of this, they are often considered tricksters. They emphasize that good and mischief can coexist as there is a balance and order to the way life plays out. This balance is commonly seen within Korean culture as many subscribe to concepts from Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and shamanism – all of which emphasize duality and harmony.

Dokkaebi plays well into Korean folk beliefs of shamanism and animism as Dokkaebi are often derived from nature and the spiritual imbuing of objects. In some tales of Dokkaebi, the Goblins arise from normal objects turned sacred (such as old brooms or keepsakes) which gain a spirit over time (animism). If the sacred objects were cast aside carelessly, this could result in the rise of a Dokkaebi.

La Llorona

Text:

“Lla Lorona is a weeping ghost who can be found next to bodies of water, like lakes or rivers. She’s constantly crying because she can’t find her children who drowned years ago. If a child walks by the body of water she’s in, she’ll mistake them for her dead children and drag them into the body of water with her.”

Context:

The informant heard this story from their parents, as well as family members from Mexico, when they were a young child.

Analysis:

At its core, La Llorona seems to serves as both a moral warning and a cultural reflection: it reinforces traditional roles by portraying the ultimate punishment for failing in one’s duties as a mother, which is a theme that is shared between many cultures. However, this legend also symbolizes deeper historical and emotional wounds. One possible interpretation is that she represents the collective trauma of colonization—her cries echoing the pain of indigenous peoples who lost their families, land, and identity, serving as a metaphor for cultural loss. She is implied to be a woman of Latin heritage in a time of colonialism, where white men held all the power, and her tragic fate is directly tied to the racist system she existed in. Therefore, she represents the “bane” of an elite, white male demographic in a society where their power and influence finds its foundations in the oppression of those deemed “other”.

The Legend of La Llorona

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 24
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Legend:

“The most popular legend in Mexico is “The Legend of La Llorona.” That of a lower class woman who fell in love with a wealthy man, who was already married. This woman had two children with him, and hoping he would leave his wife, she lost control one day. Filled with despair, she decided to drown her children in a river, and, since then, her soul wanders in sorrow through the streets every dawn, mourning the murder of her children. La Llorona walks each night with disturbing cries of regret, saying “Ay mis hijos!” which means “Oh, my children!” Dressed in a white gown that covers her entire body, down to her bare feet. There are those who say they have seen her: according to them, the ghost also has long hair, and her face resembles a skull. Many have also claimed that this woman also attacks midwives, doctors, and nurses who help pregnant women end the lives of their unborn babies.”

Context:

My informant told me that many Mexican legends are passed down from generation to generation, taught in class, or even shared from neighbor to neighbor on the street. She had heard this legend on the playground when she was 6-7 years old. She said that children would share this legend with each other as a way to frighten other children.

Analysis:

In class, we read an article and talked about the legend of La Llorona. In the article “The Politics of Taking: La Llorona in the Cultural Mainstream,” Domino Renee Perez writes that La Llorona “wails at night as she wanders dark roads searching for her children or any other potential victims” (154). We had talked about La Llorona mainly targeting children, so this variation of the legend is interesting because it instead is about the spirit of La Llorona going after people who terminate their pregnancies/their unborn children. One can argue, that instead of La Llorona attacking children, she is going after people who are making the same choice she did to end (by ending their unborn babies’ lives) that doomed her to haunt the streets. This view/belief depends on one’s own view of terminating a pregnancy, but it is interesting to think about the different interpretations of the La Llorona legend. I find this variation between different versions of the legend of La Llorona fascinating.