Tag Archives: old woman

The Homeowner Ghost

Age: 47

Context:

My mother always believed in God and held religious values. Whenever I would ask her about spooky things or if she believed in ghosts she would always answer with “Don’t seek out such things.” It wasn’t until recently she revealed an odd occurrence with a spirit that involved me many years ago. 

Interview:

Me: So when did this occurrence happen?

Informant: It was 2009. You were two years old and we had just bought the house. We knew from the realtor the owner of the house (an old woman) had passed away and her heir had sold it to some house flippers before we bought it. 

Me: Do you think there was a possibility she passed away in the house?

Informant: I rather not think about that.

Me: Alright so how soon after did you see the ghost?

Informant: You mean spirit. Well before it happened there was one bit of information I found important. One time our neighbor needed me to move my car so he could park on the street. I told him I’d move it if his daughter watched you. She did just that and when I came back from moving the car she told me “Wow the inside of the house looks so different. I used to take care of the woman who lived here before. The walls all used to be pink inside and outside.” Which did make sense since paint started chipping outside and it was all pink under. Anyway, when you saw the spirit-

Me: Wait, I saw it?

Informant: Yes. Your father worked all day so it was just me and you. It was summer and the house had no AC so I would have us hang out in the back room of the house that always stayed cool in the latter half of the day. We were playing with your toys when you left the room to chase the dog down the hallway. I called out for you to come back and when you did you had a big smile on your face. You told me “Mami, there’s an old lady waving and smiling at me.” I thought you were joking with me. I peeped my head out and saw nothing. I kept asking “Are you sure there’s someone there?” You were serious and kept saying “Can’t you see her?” I could tell you weren’t joking and I got spooked so I shut the door and waited till your father came back home. The dog didn’t bark or growl so I assumed it was a friendly spirit. 

Me: Do you have any idea who the spirit could’ve been?

Informant: I think it was the old woman who owned the house before. I assume she wanted to check up on who was living in her house and was happy when she saw a small child. The dog wasn’t growling or barking so it must have been a good spirit. I mean who else could it have been?

Analysis:
I believe the ghost of the previous owner was the spirit I saw. She might have been upset house flippers painted over her pink walls for a new family to move in. I think she wanted to see who changed and now occupied her old space. I also believe that her smiling and waving at me was her accepting our presence in her space and moving on. When I asked my mother again if she believed in ghosts she answered this time saying “I’ve always believed in spirits but never had any experience until that day. I don’t seek out things like that.” I have no recollection of this event or have seen the woman since. 

Native Version of “Hansel and Gretel”

Nationality: Native American
Age: 10
Occupation: student
Residence: Franklin, Tennessee
Performance Date: 04-29-2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Blackfoot

Main Piece:

Informant: Ok, so there is like a legend and you know how Natives, they travel? Like, when one place kinda dries out or doesn’t have any buffalo or food, they move to the next place.  Well, that kinda like happened. There was these children and their mom asked them to get berries before they left. They kinda got distracted when they were picking berries. And when they came back they had already left. So they went and said, “ok, maybe this is the way they went.” They went and found a small cottage and, so this is kinda like a Native story of Hansel and Gretel. So they knocked and the lady welcomed them in and got them food and stuff. And then that night when they went to bed and the lady thought they were asleep she started singing a song about eating them. And then they secretly got out of their beds and slowly looked and when the lady, when they were sure the lady got into bed they saw their little sister in a cage. So they had to quickly get her out of it. And they escaped, but the witch was coming after them, because they heard her. But the end of this story can change either way, like they got home safely, or the witch ate them. But the good way is that they got out to a place where the witch couldn’t go and the witch was blocked off by this force field, or something like that. And then they went safely looking for their family and their tribe. And the bad way, is that she got them and ate them.

Background:

The informant is a ten-year-old Native American girl from the Choctaw, Blackfoot, and Lakota Nations. She was born and raised in Tennessee and frequently travels out west to visit family and friends. She is in fourth grade.

Context:

During the Covid-19 Pandemic I flew back home to Tennessee to stay with my family. The informant is my younger sister. My sisters and I were sharing stories one night when I asked if she recalled any old stories she heard.

Thoughts:

I have heard many variations of this story growing up. I’m curious to know how much it has evolved over the years, especially after European contact. It was interesting to hear my sister’s take on it. It shares many similarities with the Hansel and Gretel story; children lost in the woods who stumble across the home of an old woman. She takes them in and is later revealed conspiring to eat them. The villainous hag is a common trope in stories worldwide. In folklore, a crone is an old woman who may be disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in nature. She often has magical or supernatural abilities which can make her either helpful or obstructing. It is also a reversal of the nurturing and protective role a women traditionally plays in a child’s life, though historically, the most power person in a child’s life is the mother, so perhaps it is just a pendulum dynamic.

Old Woman Scratching the Tipi Walls

Nationality: Native American
Age: 14
Occupation: student
Residence: Franklin, Tennessee
Performance Date: 04-26-2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Blackfoot

Main Piece:

Informant: We wouldn’t go to sleep and it was getting really, really late. And the younger kids were still awake. My older cousins and my older sisters would tell us that if we didn’t go to bed there is an old woman with really long nails that would scrape her nails along the outside of the tipi. She said that every time you talked or were loud, even laughed or anything, she would come closer and closer. And you knew she was about to take you when you start hearing her nails on the tipi, on the tipi canvas. It would start on the opposite side of the tipi and get closer and closer until it went passed you to the door. Then she would grab you and take you to the coulees. 

Background:

The informant is a fourteen-year-old Native American girl from the Choctaw, Blackfoot, and Lakota Nations. She was born and raised in Tennessee and frequently travels out west to visit family and friends. She is in eighth grade.

Context:

During the Covid-19 Pandemic I flew back home to Tennessee to stay with my family. The informant is my younger sister. Admittedly, I may or may not have told her this story long ago. We were cleaning the kitchen and I asked if she remembered any old stories she heard while growing up.

Thoughts:

There is a story about the lost children who get separated from their camp. Lost in the woods, they stumble across the home of an old woman. She takes them in and is later revealed conspiring to eat them. The villainous hag is a common trope in stories worldwide. In folklore, a crone is an old woman who may be disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in nature. She often has magical or supernatural abilities which can make her either helpful or obstructing. It is also a reversal of the nurturing and protective role a women traditionally plays in a child’s life, though historically, the most power person in a child’s life is the mother, so perhaps it is just a pendulum dynamic. The part shared above is a bit of a tag on, a tail end used to make sure children kept in line. It also shows the use of spirits as a disciplinary measure, serving as a warning when you edge too close to certain bounds.

House of Tia Toña

Nationality: American
Age: 48
Occupation: Administrative at Santa Monica Unified School District
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 19,2013
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

In the forest of Chapultepec in the capital (DF) there is an old dilapidated house that is said to be inhabited by a woman who flies into a rage when curious onlookers come to visit.  Visitors to the house have said that when she is enraged, you can hear strange noises in and around the house; you will often see a shadow pass through the windows and the feeling of being watched by someone who sends chills down your spine and goosebumps over your flesh. 
The name of the woman was “Tia Toña”, and she was a very wealthy widow who lived many, many years ago in her house by herself. She was a very kind person and to ease her loneliness, she started taking in homeless children off the street. She gave them money, food, clothes and shelter. But in spite of her charitable acts, the kids were unruly and ungrateful. They made her life impossible and one day, they banded together and decided to kill her in order to take the house and her money.
The kids carried out the murder and threw the body down in the attic. However, they were unable to live in peace because the woman’s angered spirit returned and chased them out of the house – eventually leading each to a terrible death.  From then on, the woman’s angry spirit haunted the house and continues to do so now. Kids are especially warned to stay away from the house.

There is another version of this story that I found in this Mexican newspaper:  http://www.vanguardia.com.mx7leyendasdeterrorquehanpuestoatemblaraldf-668416.html
It is all the same except for the fact that the woman is the one who kills the kids (because they misbehaved so much) only to then be driven to guilt by her actions. She locks herself in the house and has been there ever since. Flory told this story to me during a coffee date, there were no particular gestures that she used to relay it; however, she did say that when she visited the capital for the first time with her parents, her mother repeated this story to her in an effort to scare her away from wandering away from them (it worked, especially in said park).