Tag Archives: memorate

Cuban demon dog teaching moral lesson memorate

Age: 21

Text: 

“it was kind of, you know, he’s this military guy who thinks he’s all that, you know, he has a few mates and he’s, he’s got a nice house. And, and you have to go into town to get groceries and all that. And at some point, it was very dangerous. Like, they had a curfew in the town, because they were like, you know, nobody can be going out. Like it’s dangerous. So whatever. He was, like, Fuck the curfew. Like, I’m a big man, you know. So he goes into town at night. And he’s wandering around and he’s just being a rascal. I forgot, I feel like there’s like more of a story to this, but basically, so he goes into town, and then he sees this dog in the distance and it looks at him and it looks mean. It’s staring right at him,  his eyes are glinting like and there’s like no light around you know, there’s no there’s no streetlights in this time. There’s no anything, it’s pitch black, but he can see his eyes. And he starts charging after him. And so he’s running away, he’s like trying to get away and he thinks that he’s lost the dog and he’s like, “stupid dog” and he’s like, well, I’m going to keep going out at night. And then one day he sees the dog again, and it pounces on him. and its eyes are red and it’s like a burning fire. But then he got away and then he never went back out. That’s kind of it like he escaped, I don’t know I think it like maybe bit him or something and he like ran away and he got in his car and he took off, and he never he never went out after curfew again.”

Context:

This memorate was told to the informant by his Cuban grandmother, about her father.

Analysis:

In this familial legend a man who is proud, stubborn, and dismissive of authority encounters a possibly demonic dog that enforces a moral boundary. The curfew serves not just as a safety measure but as a symbol of order and discipline. By defying it, the great-grandfather positions himself as a reckless figure whose pride demands correction. The dog acts as an agent of consequence, frightening the man enough to change his behavior. Though the man “escapes,” he learns his lesson, never violating curfew again. The legend transforms a moment of social defiance into a story of cosmic or supernatural comeuppance

Cuban donkey murderer memorate

Age: 21

Text:

“So they’re in the mountains. And they have their first house. And he was out at night past, you know, past curfew in the town, so my great grandmother was at home alone. And you know, it’s pitch black. And at some point, she was like, “Oh, I have to, I have to use the bathroom. And in order to use the bathroom, I have to go out to the outhouse outside.” And she was scared. She gets her lantern. She has the light on. 

They had donkeys, right. They have like a little, little farm, like, you know, she’s alone in the house. And then she hears these like, clawing noises on her bed. And she’s like, trying to go to sleep. But she just keeps hearing like, it’s like, (Makes clawing noises) and then as it gets closer, and closer, to where it feels like it’s right on her. And so she’s, she’s starting to freak out. And then she hears the donkey freaking out outside. He’s like, like kicking and she’s like, “What the fuck is going on?” And then she hears it breaking through the gate. She’s like, “Oh, I have to like, get the donkey. It’s gonna break through the gate.” So she tries to peek outside. But the donkey disappears. And then she’s like, “I can’t go running after that. It’s the middle of the night.” Yeah. So she’s like, shit, whatever, the donkey is gone. And she’s just really creeped out like something’s going on. Something’s weird. So then, she goes, to use the bathroom, to the outhouse. So she’s like, okay, and when she starts going outside, the door slams behind her. Like, after she leaves her house. And then she sees it like in the dark. Like, she sees the chairs, like plants around, right? Sees like plants. And it seems like they’re like, like, screwed. Like, she gives us like screeching noise of like, like the wooden playing since. And then she feels like a plant. Like every time she looks at the plants, they’re getting closer and closer. She runs to the outhouse, she runs, and she gets in there, she locks the door. She she goes number two, you know? And then she’s like, “okay, okay,” so she opens the door, and there’s nothing out there. Okay, she’s good. She’s walking back to the house, she starts running, and she sees the plant. The plant is back in this place. Like before, it looked like it was right next to the door. Now it was back like over in the corner or whatever. Okay, okay. And then she’s walking to the, and the plant is fucking back,  to the house. And then she’s just like, fuck that. She opens the door real quick. She gets back in, locks it behind her. And she has her little lantern, okay, so she puts it down on the counter. And right next to the counter, she sees a bloody knife. She faints and then three, actually 8 in the morning, oh, because her husband was away on the military duty, So then in the morning, her husband comes back with you know, some other like military guys and they’re back and like a maid comes in. Also like for work, whatever, comes in and she sees her laying on the floor and she’s like, ‘what’s wrong? What’s wrong?’ She wakes her up. And then And then she’s like, like, “I saw this bloody knife. And there were the sounds and there was blood, it was a bloody knife.”: So they’re like, “Okay, we’re gonna go find this bloody knife,” like because it wasn’t on the counter anymore. So they go investigate, they go investigate. And then one of the military guys is like, “oh shit wait over here” like they see blood and he’s outside and it’s a donkey and it’s dead. The donkey is dead so they took the donkey from the house.”

They never found out what it was and nothing happened after.

Context:

This memorate was told to the informant by their Cuban grandmother about her mother.

Analysis:

As a countryside local legend, this story injects supernatural terror into rural domestic life, creating a chilling narrative rooted in isolation, vulnerability, and the thin line between the natural and the uncanny. The woman’s frightening experiences while alone escalate throughout the night, giving the sense of something malevolent lurking just beyond comprehension. Her journey to the outhouse and back is a liminal journey, emphasizing her exposure to the unknown. The unresolved horror, capped by the discovery of the donkey’s mutilated body and the vanished knife, leaves the listener in suspense, with no closure or clear antagonist. 

The devil as a suitor in Colombian memorate

Age: 21

Text: “They were living like, in the countryside, you know, whatever, they have this house. And they had, they had like a few maids and one of the maids and one of these maids was like, ‘I like you know, I, there’s this boy that I’ve been talking to, that we’re going on a date.’ And so, you know, my, my great, great grandmother was like, oh, yeah, right, like, ‘Go girl’ or whatever. So. So then, this guy, he comes on a carriage. They hear this carriage like approaching the house. And then and then they hear a whistle. It’s like, really sharp whistle, like, and the girl goes running out running out of the house. She’s like, in the middle of some duty that she’s like cleaning or something. She drops it and she runs out of the house. And they’re like, ‘Well wait, you can’t leave what’s going on? Let me meet him’ like that. ‘About what?’ And she runs out and they take off and then they don’t even see the carriage by the time that they leave, they get out of the house and like ‘oh shit, like, where did you go?’ So whatever. The kind of person she knows he’s kind of like, what? Like, she just left in the middle of like cleaning this thing. Like, what the hell? She comes back later that night? Or no, and then they’re like, oh, it’s taking her forever to get back to like, what the hell? She comes back later that night and she smells. She smells like, like, they don’t know what she’s been doing like grease and like, like, some like burns. Like maybe it’s like some barbecue but just like a weird smell. And she’s kind of dirty like she’s she’s a little she’s not, you know, put together and then like, what the like what has happened, but she was like, ‘I know it was amazing. I had the person whom I love. Oh, I love him. I love him. And they’re like, oh, like you just met. So whatever.’ They’re kind of like ‘okay, that’s weird.’ The next day they they hear the carriage and then and then she goes running up they’re like ‘whoa, okay, we have to meet him but the same thing happened, that she was running suddenly. They’re like ‘okay, she’ll come back tonight. I guess whatever. This is annoying. We got to talk to her about that and she doesn’t come back that night

So they’re kind of concerned. She gets back two days later, in the middle of the day, like, they’re like she like kidnapped like, I don’t know. So she comes back. And she’s, dirty, like, she’s actually like got dirt on her face. She’s got dirt in her like, fingers like, she smells like shit. Like, even worse than before. She didn’t she hasn’t showered you know, she hasn’t bathed or anything. She just gets back their like, ‘what the fuck?’ So they go bathe her. And they’re trying to get answers, like ‘what’s, what happened? How did you get like this? Like, what happened?; She’s like, ;No, no, oh my God, it was amazing. Oh, you don’t even like it was amazing.’ Um, but she’s not telling them anything. ‘Because like, I’m in love with him. You know?’ And so then, at this point, they’re like, ‘okay, you need to rest, like, rest off, we’re gonna take care of you. Like, you can’t, like you have to. She has like cuts like scrapes. A few days go by, and they hear that carriage. And then they hear whatever, but she’s in but she’s still resting in her chambers. She immediately, she gets up and she starts to try to run out. So they were already kind of anticipated it, so they have one of the guards come in. And he’s like, ‘no, no, you can’t leave’ and they’re trying to stop her. And she’s this, like, little small little main woman. She breaks through his grip. She like, you know, she gets through it. She runs out. And so they finally see, they see the carriage kind of going in the distance. And they’re like, ‘oh, shoot, we have to follow her.’ But then they try and follow, and they lost it already. They lost it. They can’t follow her. She’s gone for a week. Another week. They’re like, ‘okay, she’s dead this time. Like she, I don’t think he must be, I don’t know. He must be like torturing her and she escaped every time. She’s I don’t know,’ they don’t know what’s going on. Finally, a month later, she comes back. And she is really fucked up. She’s got bruises, she’s got cuts. She’s, she’s so dirty her like she’s getting like infected wounds. And like, she smells like rotten flesh. Like she smells like, you know. And so they so at this time, they put her in the bath. hey shut her in a room and they have a guard outside waiting by her room. They have everyone taking care of her, like she’s not getting away. And then a few days go by nothing happens. Nothing happens. And then, you know, my great grandma, like a great grandmother. She was like, ‘I can’t deal with this girl anymore. Like she’s running off like, we’re sending her to our cousin’s place.’ So they get her in a carriage. They get the guardsmen, like we’re sending her off. And then they hear back, the guys come back that were in the carriage and they said, ‘;she left in the middle of the night. You know, we’re driving, we’re going through the countryside, and we hear a whistle and we hear another carriage and she took off. She jumped out of the carriage she took off. And we lost her’ and she was like, ‘well, that’s it. She’s never coming back.’ And so yeah, so they were like, Okay, that’s it. A few months go by, and she’s back and she’s back at their front door. She’s, she’s ruined. She’s like, half dead at this point. She’s, you know, and she, she really she stinks. It’s like rotten, burning flesh, like disgusting. So like, they don’t know what to do anymore. They’re like, ‘okay, this is what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna have, we’re gonna have guards, and we’re going to keep watch. And the second that we see that guy come with his carriage, we’re going to follow him.’ So they have guards like sitting in a carriage ready to go whenever he comes. A few nights passed by and she’s getting a little better. Whistle, carriage, they’re ‘like okay, we’re after her.’ So they let her run off, and they follow her immediately. And so this carriage is just, it’s going so fast. But they’re, you know, they’re keeping up, keeping up. And then it’s it they’re going like, who knows where they’re going through the mountains. They’re going all over. And finally it takes like, my grandmother, she was at home. Well this happened. So she heard the story after but, so this whole time the guards are, you know, they’re the people in the carriage. They’re following and following. And they come back without the girl. And my grandmother was just like ‘what happened?’ And the guards were like, ‘we followed for a day, we followed for like 24 hours. It was nighttime. We could barely see them but we saw, we reach this peak on a mountain, and they finally stopped, the carriage stopped and they got off. And so they we were like, ‘what what’s what’s here’ so we get off. We go try and look. But it looks like they have like, disappeared into like this, like mountain. They don’t know what it’s like they go further, they go further, and we see this huge gaping hole in the mountain. And there’s fire coming out of the hole. And, and we peek inside. And there’s a pile of burning bodies and demons’ and they said it was, it was like, you don’t know what it is. It’s like, they were red. Their skin was red. And they were all dancing around the fire. And then we saw the maid. And she was with this man. This man is huge man. Like, dark, like dark. Like you couldn’t see his skin. So it was so dark. And they were dancing. They were dancing around this fire of burning bodies. And they came back and they said ‘we saw hell. We saw hell’. And they’re like, ‘Okay, fuck that girl.’ She never came back

“Oh, I also forgot to say that in the in the first story when she comes back, she was like well I live in another, like the maid, but then they’re like what happened and she said she said ‘I’ve not been harmed this is just from the hurt of life,’ like her scars.”

it’s just the hurt energy every time she come back. I wasn’t harmed. It’s just the hurt of life. It’s just the hurt of life. Yeah. Yeah. Oh no. Oh, we and I also forgot to say so the men come back and they’re like, oh, like we saw hell. So then they’re like, so then they got all the military men. They’re like, like, Let’s go investigate. And they go back to this mountain. It was gone. The hole in the ground was the pit of hell. It wasn’t there anymore.”

Context:

This memorate was told to the informant by his Colombian grandfather. Colombian folklore frequently uses the devil. 

Analysis:

This tale illustrates a “slippery slope” image of a supernatural evil which seduces and possesses. The repeated refrain “Just the hurt of life” suggests some sort of psychological entrapment used to justify her increasingly damaged condition upon return home. The rural setting that frames isolation as a catalyst for the supernatural with Catholic undertones. The repeated motif of the uncatchable carriage, the guard’s futile attempts to restrain her, and the final vanishing of the hell-mouth mountain evoke themes of loss, the limits of rational control, and the inescapability of spiritual forces once they take root. Like most oral folk horror tales, the story functions both as entertainment and as a cultural warning. 

Protective snake legend/memorate

Age: 21

Text:

We had a land and Romans and Greek people, you know, used to live there. And

my grandpa was saying, like, in our garden, we have,  gold in our garden. They hide the gold before, like, when they’re, escaping from something, you know, like Turkish, when they’re escaping from Turks, like, they hide the gold. there in our garden. Actually, that’s what he says. And also, like, there’s another story that in that land, he says there is a very, very big snake. We call that snake like a mustache snake, that he protects the treasure. He was telling me that he saw that snake. My grandpa was a farmer, and he was doing some farming stuff, and he was in a tractor. And he told me that he saw this snake. He was kind of overreacting, probably, but he told me when they were driving the tractor, one snake jump off the top of the tractor. That’s what he told me, and what he said was, he got a mustache, that snake. And he’s very big. He’s like five, six meters. That’s what he says. Like five meters. And we call, as I said, we call, like a mustache snake. That snake has a mustache, and he protect the treasure. 

Context:

This is a legend told to the informant by his grandfather when he was 12 or 13. It is rooted in the geographical history of Cesme and Alacati, where he is from; the ancient Greeks and Romans did live in the area. In Turkish mythology there is a protective snake deity named Yilan Tanrı, and past peoples having buried treasure is a trope in Turkish legends.  

Analysis:

This legend/memorate has a few functions. It is educational, teaching the informant about the history of the region, and perhaps embeds some Turkish Nationalism; the garden, and by extension the land is valuable because there is gold buried there. The informant’s disbelief in the memorate, saying “that’s what he said, actually” and that his grandpa was probably exaggerating, highlights the partial belief or belief with doubt that lay at the heart of legends. There isn’t a good reference for a snake with a moustache, but the moustache may be a tool the grandfather used to make the story more entertaining for the informant, or a way to make the story his own given the buried treasure and snake are common themes in Turkish legend. 

The Ghost of Avalon

Text: “In the summer of 1987, right after I graduated from high school, my family rented an old beach house on the 200s block Claressa Street in Avalon on Catalina Island. For those who know Avalon, it was founded in the late 1800s and became an upscale vacation destination in the early 1900s. My great-grandparents had a long-sold off house there and once the iconic Art Deco casino was built in the 1920s, the big bands would come and host their national radio programs from there while dressed-up couples danced the night away overlooking the bay. 

The old beach houses (and Casino) are known for being haunted with spirits from vacations past, but there wasn’t any reason for me to believe it since I’d never seen anything myself in all the years my family had vacationed there. That changed that summer of 1987. 

The original Avalon beach houses all had a similar design with the bedrooms often opening up from each other rather than a hall. In other words you had to walk through one bedroom to get to another, train car style. I was in the bedroom that you could only reach from the one my parents were in, and I had to walk through their room to get to the bathroom.

We would spend the days on the beach and in the sun, and go to bed fairly early since almost all activity takes place there around the ocean. Not much happens at night in Avalon. So after dinner we’d play board games or cards, then go to bed so we could get up early for another day of surf and sun. 

I had gone to sleep that night as always and was awakened by a man standing at the end of the bed looking at me. He was dressed in a dated-style suit with a freshly starched dress shirt with crisp collar points that came up higher on his neck than was the style during the Reagan administration. He was wearing a tie and had a brown hat, rounded bowler style, on his head. He just stood at the foot of the bed looking at me. 

At first I thought I was still asleep, dreaming, or in the confused state between wakefulness and deep sleep. But once I sat up and knew I was 1000% awake and was scared even though he was just standing there looking at me with a benign expression on his face. 

I screamed thinking someone had broken into my bedroom and my mom came running out of her bedroom. She also saw him but knew immediately he wasn’t ‘real’, or flesh and blood like we were. 

She explained to him that he didn’t belong there, that we were in the house now for a visit and that he needed to move along. Just a few seconds later he disappeared into the air. No walking through walls or talking, just dissolved into the air at the foot of my bed. 

I was rattled the whole rest of our vacation but he didn’t appear again. The house is still standing as it was 40 years ago. I’ve walked by it on subsequent trips and thought of the tall, thin man in the suit that visited me.”

Context: This story was shared by the informant, who was a young child at the time of the experience. The event marked a significant moment in the informant’s life, as it was the catalyst for their belief in the supernatural. Prior to this encounter, the informant had not paid much attention to stories of ghosts or spirits, but the vivid and unsettling experience that summer changed their perspective. The informant interprets this as the beginning of their belief in such phenomena, as it was the first time they had directly encountered something they couldn’t explain through logic or reason.

Since then, the informant has experienced several other supernatural encounters, reinforcing their belief in the paranormal. The informant’s perspective is further shaped by the fact that their mother had similar beliefs and, before she passed, shared other stories of her own supernatural experiences. This shared experience between the informant and their mother helped to strengthen their connection to the supernatural world and solidified the informant’s conviction that these types of encounters are real.

Analysis: The figure in the story—a man dressed in an old-fashioned suit—seems to reflect a historical presence tied to the location, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the old beach house. The figure’s benign, non-threatening demeanor contrasts with the fear that the informant felt, suggesting that the supernatural can be perceived as both unsettling and intriguing, rather than immediately harmful.

The way the informant handled the experience—by accepting the figure’s presence and interpreting it as part of a larger, supernatural world—illustrates how personal beliefs can be shaped by direct experiences. This encounter became a touchstone for the informant’s worldview, influencing how they view similar occurrences in the years that followed.

This story also underscores the broader cultural theme of haunted locations, especially in areas with long histories like Avalon. The idea of spirits lingering in places with significant pasts is a common motif in folklore. The informant’s ongoing belief in the supernatural and the continuation of similar experiences suggest that such encounters are seen not as anomalies but as part of a larger, unexplainable reality that transcends time and space.

Informant Info

Race/Ethnicity: White

Age: 55

Occupation: Mother

Residence: Westlake Village, CA

Date of Performance: April 3, 2025

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): N/A

Relationship: Parent