Tag Archives: mystery

Family Heritage

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 64
Occupation: Mom
Primary Language: English

Folklore Piece 13

 

Main Piece: Story of the Romanov Family

 

My family is distantly related to royalty through the Romanov family, and my mother told me this story as a part of our heritage.

 

“The Romanov Family rules Russia for over 300 years. The last Czar of Russia was Nicholas II, and he had been in power for over 20 years. In 1917, Russia was on a downturn in terms of following the current diplomatic state of the Czar. Their economy was on the downturn as a result of their involvement in World War 1. The Lenin-led Bolshevik revolution led what was called the Red Army in an attempt to overthrow the Czar, who’s loyalists were attempting to contain the coup, referred to as the White Army.

A curse was put upon the royal family by Grigori Rasputin, who was the advisor to the Czar. The general public blamed their misery on Rasputin because of his poor job of advising the Czar, including getting Russia involved in World War 1. Sensing something was coming, Rasputin warned Nicholas II of a prophecy: ‘Czar of Russia, if you hear the bell, it is telling you that Grigori has been murdered and you must know this: it was one of your relations who brought death upon me, and no one of your blood will live past two years, being killed by the Russian people.’

Both of Rasputin’s prophecies came try. Only two weeks after warning Nicholas II, Rasputin was killed by Prince Yusupov, who was married to a niece of Nicholas II, meaning his death was family related as was prophesized. A year and a half later, the entire Romanov family was executed once Lenin’s Red Army had seized power.

It is believed that Princess Anastasia of the Romanov family escaped the firing squad of the Bolshevik’s, carrying with her many family jewels. It is still unclear what was the outcome of Princess Anastasia, as she disappeared after escaping the overthrown state.

Imposters have tried to identify themselves as her over the years, but in 2008 there were remains found that match her DNA.”

 

Background:

 

My mom Laurie told me this story as a partial history of my heritage. I am distantly related to the Romanov family on my father’s side of the family, and my great grandmother told my mom this story once when my mom and dad still lived in Canada. My mom likes this story because it gives us a small bit of heritage in a royal family, and she thinks that is very cool to be able to say. She likes that it is historical while at the same time has a mysterious side to is, as it is still unclear what was the outcome of Princess Anastasia.

My great grandmother died before I had the chance to really have a conversation with her, let alone remember having seen her, and she had many stories about our family’s past. My Great Grandparents were raised in Eastern Europe during World War 2, as my Grandfather told me the story of how his father lost three fingers on his right hand. He was out playing in the field with his siblings when a grenade landed in front of him, and being a naïve child, ran to it to pick it up. It detonated near him, causing only damage to his hand but blowing off his middle, ring, and pinky fingers in the process.

 

Context:

 

My mother told me this story to give me a sense of where our family came from, and although we are distantly related, we still hold close to our heritage. When people ask what nationality our family is, saying Canadian isn’t exactly intriguing to people, and since my grandparents were the first generation to live in Canada, we tend to tell people we have Eastern European roots, giving this story as a background to where we come from.

This is generally told when someone asks about our heritage, and doesn’t necessarily have much context otherwise. It is usually an attention grabber, as most people would not expect my family to be of Eastern European descent, let alone royalty. Obviously the Romanov’s were overthrown, but to still have a connection to them is something I will hold on to and tell my kids about.

 

My thoughts:

 

As a kid, I loved the movie Anastasia, which was an animated depiction of how Anastasia escaped the Bolsheviks and was on the run to avoid getting executed. I like the mysterious aspect to the story in that we are not entirely sure what ended up happening with Anastasia. I personally would’ve loved to have a distant relative still in royalty but just being related to something so significant in history.

 

The Golden Spruce, Kiddk’yaas

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 20
Occupation: Game Designer
Residence: Vancouver
Performance Date: 4.15.2014
Primary Language: English

Item:

“I think he got away on a kayak or something? Haha I have no clue how it got to that point but I know he disappeared, I think maybe someone helped him.”

There existed a tree off the coast of Vancouver that was considered sacred and highly meaningful to natives to the region (the indigenous people). The tree, called Kiidk’yass, was a bright gold spruce tree among a sea of green ones. A man who lived in the region grew very frustrated with society / the world, and wrote a manifesto detailing his issues. As a means to bring attention to his manifesto, he cut down the golden spruce tree. This caused an immense amount of anger and response from locals. The man was arrested immediately. However, on his way to court for his date of trial, he disappeared. The informant says he heard that the man was set free by someone else and kayaked away from Vancouver, never to be seen again.

 

Context:

The informant struggled to remember details of the story: why exactly the tree was sacred (beyond being stunningly stark in color), the man’s name, and the course of events that led to his identification and arrest. He was told the story by a family member, who heard it from a friend. Despite being born and raised in Vancouver, he didn’t have any personal connection to the idea of the tree, and neither did anyone in his family. He said the sacredness of the tree was mainly recognized by true natives — people who’s descendants were the first to populate the area.

 

Analysis:

In researching it further, the story of the golden spruce is rather well-documented by a book, The Golden Spruce. Filling in the details of the informants story, the man responsible for the crime took action as a statement against deforestation and industrial logging. He did in fact escape on a kayak, but the destroyed kayak was later found on an island. It is unknown if he died or purposefully left things behind on the kayak and was able to escape. Further information and another perspective on the story can be found in this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Spruce-Story-Madness/dp/0393328643

Superstition

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 12
Occupation: Student
Residence: Riverside, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

The Bermuda Triangle

“Some people say that ships and airplanes have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. My teacher told us about it because she passed through it but noting happened. I believe in it but I’m not scared.”

To be honest, I had never known of the superstitions of the Bermuda Triangle. I always thought the Bermuda Triangle was a name for a triad of islands. In fact, it is a triangle of islands with an eerie reputation. The apexes of the triangle are relatively Miami, Florida, San Juan, PR, and Bermuda. Encyclopedia Britannica describes the Bermuda Triangle as a “section of the North Atlantic Ocean off North America in which more than 50 ships and 20 airplanes are said to have mysteriously disappeared”. While this encyclopedia leaves an unbiased opinion, there are many firm believers, as well as many firm disbelievers.

According to encyclopedia Britannica, reports of missing vessels dates back to the mid 1800’s. Recovered ships were found abandoned without explanation. Then, with the rise of airplanes as a means of transportation, reports of missing airplanes started to come through over that area and still have not been recovered.

With unexplained circumstances, theories rose about the Bermuda triangle. Some thought it was the work of the supernatural. This superstition is one in which believers are not identified to any specific race or religion, just a shared belief due to their interpretation of the information. Others discount any paranormal activity and with that, many scientific theories have arose. Most common is the role of geography and the environment. According to the Naval Historical Center’s website, a strong current called the Gulf Stream could be the culprit. The Gulf stream, they say, is very “swift and turbulent and can quickly erase evidence of a disaster.” Likewise, discounting the superstitions, they also say that in the past, the combination of hurricanes and the lack of detection equipment for them on boats could leave the ships unaware of a disastrous storm until it was too late. Other explanations they offer include the variations in topography of the ocean floor; and the fact that many ships have been wrecked around the world, and that they occur more frequently in the Bermuda Triangle because it is a popular place with more traffic.

The Bermuda Triangle mystery remains an argued and unsolved mystery today. Like many unexplained events, people will always have opposing theories based on their personal rationalizations. Just like Area 51 or the Lock Ness Monster, unexplained events will always try to be solved and therefore always yield a variety of explanations. However, one conclusion can be drawn- these mysteries make great storylines for Hollywood movies. In addition, they spark curiosity and leave people wondering.

Sources:

“Bermuda Triangle.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 30 Apr. 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/62319/Bermuda-Triangle>.

“The Bermuda Triangle.” Naval Historical Center. 11 Apr. 2007. 30 Apr. 2008 <http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq8-1.htm>.