Tag Archives: legends

Kissing Bench

Age: 17

Date of Performance: 4/01/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a high school student. She referenced a myth at her local university regarding the “Kissing Bench.” It’s said to give couples good luck if they embrace while sitting on the bench in the center of the university campus.

2. Context

“I heard this one from a friend when we were walking around the campus, actually not too long ago, probably a few months ago. They basically just said that both of their parents went here and they told them about this tradition on this bench but apparently, it can also be applied to friendships and if you hug on it you’re supposed to have good luck in your friendship too. I don’t know, it’s kind of wholesome, I like it.”

3. Analysis

This is a myth, in that, it is not subject to literal truth, but rather rooted in a playful, social commentary. It is a fun, light-hearted tradition to engage informants with the university campus and create tradition in the environment. We talked in lecture about the role of folklore in formulating tradition and how it shares culture through storytelling across generations. The Kissing Bench feels like a myth that transcends generations in that it can be applied to various points of time, and it involves a long-standing object, making it more applicable to multiple people.

Scary Aerie

Age: 17

Date of Performance: 4/01/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a high school student. She referenced a legend from her summer camp as a kid, known as “Scary Aerie.” It was the name of an outdoor ropes course at the camp, with a legend about a girl who fell from the course into the lake below it. Her name was said to be Aerie, and legend has it– she haunted the course so that campers would hear her screams when they zip-lined over the lake.

2. Context

“Yeah Scary Aerie always freaked me out a bit because I was already afraid of the heights on the rope course and the tale they used to tell us honestly made it ten times worse.”

“I got told it my first year as a camper so I was probably seven years old or so. I don’t know, sometimes I felt like I could actually hear her screams but I might’ve just been in my head about it. Some of my friends said they would hear it and some said they didn’t so, yeah, I don’t know.”

3. Analysis

Scary Aerie is a legend, with questionable truth value located in the real world of the summer camp where it originated. It’s again, a social tool and example of folklore that bonds a community. They all share the knowledge of the legend and are impacted by it differently.

It seems a bit of a tactic to incite fear into the new members of the camp, a strategy for younger campers to have to learn their place in the community. It’s a common practice by many organizations– to inflict some hardship on new members before they can feel fully established in their new area. This seems to be the function of Scary Aerie.

Cardiff Giant

Age: 50

Date of Performance: 3/31/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Financial Advisor

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a financial advisor and father. He referenced a legend about the “Cardiff Giant” near where he grew up. He told a story about how the remains of a 10-foot-tall man were seemingly discovered by two men digging on a farm. It turns out the remains were a hoax by a scam artist, who was inspired by the idea of giants in the bible. He constructed a stone man and buried it in an area of much religious fervor. When the giant was uncovered, it became a legend about stone people that had used to live in the area, inspired by a local native tribes’ understanding of humans.

2. Context

“This one didn’t scare me but I was always interested in it. Each fall, my family would go apple picking in that area and I was always asking my dad about the giant. I found it interesting that someone would go through that length to create a hoax once I found out the giant wasn’t real.”

3. Analysis

This legend is a testament to the power of ‘belief’ in human nature, a concept we talked about in class. Legends go in hand often with what people believe– this legend represents a creator of the legend taking advantage of the human obsession with spectacle, and the desire to be engaged with anything out of the ordinary or seemingly obsurd.

This legend could be classified as a historical legend, a story about the history of a giant and its attachment to native tribes that has not been accepted as true, but is set in the real world. Through the practice of ostension, in this case, the two men digging up the giant, the legend became “true” in a way, and real to the community it involved.

For the informant, it was simply a playful legend, a chance to poke fun at the environment he was in and engage further with his community. This is representative of how legends are very social, and often a part of peer groups. It allowed the informant to socialize with his family and have a deeper understanding of his community.

The Legend of the Skinwalker

Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 03/31/2024

Text:

“If it is late at night and you hear coyotes howling in a residential area, close your window and do not look outside because it is a skin walker who waits to make eye contact before it strikes.”

Context:

The informant, who grew up in a relatively suburban city, recalls hearing this legend from her grandmother when she was a child (about seven years old). Her grandmother, who was rather spiritual, learned it from her mother, and passed the story down. At first it was told as a way to get the informant to close her eyes and go to bed, however, continues to be told today. The informant strongly believes in the story, and maintains that whenever she hears a coyote howl, she feels eyes on her and knows that it is more than simply an animal.

Analysis:

The notion of skin walkers is not isolated to just the part of the United States the informant is from, but is rather widespread. The idea of a “skinwalker” has both been repeated throughout folklore, but has also been a feature of several popular movies. Several Indigenous groups in the United States speak about skinwalkers as well, contributing to their notoriety. This displays a value of cultures in enshrining “villainous” figures (similar to the boogeyman). The value of a figure to warn against also makes these figures common as parents are able to use them to instill lessons upon young children (ie. go to bed when you’re supposed to), however also are lessons in safety as the “truth value” of the legend holds plausibility. While I don’t necessarily believe in the notion of a skinwalker, it is a story I have heard before. Ultimately I think that it is just too unverifiable to holds explicit truth, although I think it is definitely possible. I do think that someone would have caught a skinwalker if they were real (although many argue they would remain in their chosen form).

El Cucuy is Everywhere

Background: The informant is a 26 year old female who lives in a suburb of Chicago. She was born and raised around the city with her grandparents, mother, and younger brother. Her grandparents, immigrants from Mexico, imparted most of their knowledge to the informant.

Context: The context was watching a horror movie and being reminded of a legend she was constantly told as a child.

Text:

VA: So, in Mexican folklore, there’s El Cucuy. It’s like the boogeyman. Mexicans threaten their children with El Cucuy coming and taking them away.

Me: Oh my. How does El Cucuy come?

VA: El Cucuy is everywhere, everywhere around you.

Me: Would you mom tell you this to scare you?

VA: Well, it was my whole family. My mom, my grandparents, all of them. It was how they scared children into behaving. Oh also, just anyone of Latin American culture like my babysitter from Central America. Basically, if you speak Spanish, chances are you know El Cucuy.

Me: What does he do to children?

VA: He eats children once they’re taken. Basically, if you don’t behave, you’re getting eaten. 

Analysis:

Informant: Her voice was extremely solemn when speaking about El Cucuy, likely still remnants of how childrenhood fears can continue to affect someone. Even at 26, she didn’t want to take any chances.

Mine: The boogeyman is a very common theme across cultures as a way to scare children into behaving. While it may not be scary to everyone, it seemed to hit something deeper for the informant. She told the story more calmly than her other ones, not making any humorous jokes, or pausing often. While it likely is still childhood fears sticking with her to some extent, it may also be because the informant has a younger brother and would have to tell him the story as well. In this case, the informant has been both the receiver of the tradition and has passed on the tradition. It brings up the interesting placement of the older sibling, in that they may become active bearers of their traditions much earlier than the younger siblings.