Tag Archives: Supernatural

Warning From a Ghost Father

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Norristown, Pennsylvania
Performance Date: November 29, 2024
Primary Language: English

CONTEXT:

The informant holds this story as a memory from her childhood as she has now begun college. Her father passed away from cancer months after she was born and has been raised by a single mother. She has a close relationship with her mother and often learns about her father and his character. The story is a close connection to her family that her and her mother reminisce on. She is my lifelong best friend, and this story was told to me by her and recorded with the details she provided.

STORY:

“When I was really little my mom had a ghost encounter. I had a nanny for a while who would babysit me and take care of me when my mom was still working at her current job or if she was out late. Well, one night she was out pretty late and came home after I was asleep. She heard a bunch of footsteps or noises coming from upstairs where my bedroom is.”

“…I obviously don’t really remember this because I was still a baby, but my mom remembers it well and told me when I was older. But after hearing the noises, she walked upstairs to go to my room, and she thought she saw my dad, who died a year or so prior, in the area outside of my room upstairs. She said it was like an outline of him whose arm and finger were pointing into my bedroom, almost urging my mom to go in. She was caught off guard and entered my room.”

“…From there, she found a hat on top of the lap in the corner of the room. The light was on and the hat was scorching hot, like it probably would’ve started burning or catching fire within minutes. It most likely would have turned into a fire if she didn’t think she heard someone or something happening upstairs when she came in. The hat situation happened because my nanny made a dumb mistake and put the hat on the lamp while it was on and it got hotter and hotter. My mom fixed the situation at almost the perfect time after seeing the sight of my dad at the entry of my doorway.”

INFORMANT’S TAKEAWAY

“The sighting of my dad has to be connected to the problem with the babysitter. Considering it wasn’t very long since my dad passed away, I think he was definitely giving my mom a warning sign and kind of reconnecting with us in a sense during that moment. My mom hearing the noises right after entering the house also shows how she was meant to go up just in time. It’s genuinely such a crazy story and experience. My dead dad helped stop our house from catching on fire!”

PERSONAL THOUGHTS:

Ghosts tend to connect to superstitions or real-world events in unique ways like this. I think the sighting of the father’s ghost figure really brings together the concept of family and security. The ghost showing up to the mom not long after passing reveals the authenticity of the story, especially considering how he showed up during a time of danger with the burning hat. It also makes sense that he was there for his daughter since he died shortly after her birth. Overall, the mom’s experience underscores how ghosts appear to their families at certain important times.

A Ghost Friend in the New House

Nationality: American
Age: 51
Occupation: Investment Company Employee
Residence: Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
Performance Date: November 28, 2024
Primary Language: English

CONTEXT:

The informant, my aunt, has one daughter and she and my uncle raised her in the same house for years. Their daughter became close with the neighbors and their daughter who was about five years younger than her. The couple next door also had a little boy a few years later. Eventually, the neighbors and their two kids decided to move, and the various ghost encounters occurred at their new house. The parents stayed in touch and told the informant all about the creepy events that were occurring. The informant provided me with the details of the story and I recorded it.

STORY:

“When the two of them moved out with both of the kids, some of the first things we heard from them afterward were about how they think the new house is haunted. Creepy things started to happen in the backyard, and the kids both started mentioning stuff about a woman. After looking into it more, they discovered that a previous owner had committed suicide in the house. The pieces started to make sense and creep them out even more.”

“…There were so many different instances where the mom noticed the ghost or something about it. First, the kids would act strange when they were outside playing in the yard. The two of them would tell her that they were talking to ‘the woman’ and it confused her. She was concerned, but it wasn’t anything conclusive yet. Then, she would notice the swings or other things in the yard moving with nobody there, and their dog would just sit and stare or bark occasionally. She started to conclude that the house must be haunted.”

“After she kept noticing little things, the kids would again tell her that they were talking to ‘the woman.” Their mom remained freaked out about the ghost of the woman who was most likely roaming around outside. I’m not exactly sure what else happened after that, if they ever saw the ghost directly, or if anything else came of it. It must have been a harmless ghost who was finding ways to stay in the house.”

INFORMANT’S OPINION:

“The new house was definitely haunted. The previous owner committed suicide and was most likely haunting the house. Since the kids were still pretty young at the time, it’s also possible that the ghost was making herself known to them and even communicating with them. It was so interesting to hear about from the mom after they moved. She always joked about us coming over and seeing the ghost.”

PERSONAL TAKEAWAY:

This is a very straightforward ghost story that was very interesting to hear about since it was so connected to me personally. It embodies so many traditional motifs of ghosts. The haunted house is a classic and is one of the most common instances of ghost sightings or supernatural experiences. The ghost connecting with the children and alarming the dog is also common and makes the story a lot more eerie. It may just be a case of overthinking or disorientation due to them having just moved, but I think all of this coming together and knowing the previous owner died tragically, there has to be some supernatural elements present. I wonder if anything else happened or if the ghost is still there today!

Text: A gold idol that might be cursed is placed in Mahadev Mandir (temple) in India and the idol has been stolen 7 times but mysteriously always returned within 24 hours.

Context:my friend from Kolkata shared a fascinating tale about the Mahadev Mandir in his city, nestled in the eastern part of India. This temple houses an intriguing gold idol, rumored to be cursed. The enigmatic charm of the idol has led to it being stolen not once but seven times. Yet, each theft is shrouded in mystery as the idol inexplicably finds its way back to the temple within a mere 24 hours. This recurring phenomenon has not only deepened the mystique surrounding the idol but also led to widespread speculation and lore among the locals, who regard the idol’s inevitable return as a divine or supernatural intervention, ensuring its presence within the sacred confines of the Mahadev Mandir.

Analysis: This tale encapsulates more than just an intriguing story; it embodies the intricate interplay of faith, mystique, and cultural heritage that pervades many Indian communities. This narrative, shared among friends and locals, transcends the boundaries of mere folklore, touching upon the deep-seated belief in divine intervention and the supernatural that often characterizes Indian spiritual and cultural ethos.

The idol’s uncanny ability to return to its sacred abode within 24 hours of being stolen, a phenomenon that has occurred seven times, resonates with Domino Renee Perez’s observation that folklore figures or objects wield power by making “often incomprehensible and at times contemptible choices” (Perez 155). Here, the idol, though inanimate, assumes a persona imbued with a divine or supernatural will, challenging the rational and inviting speculation about higher powers and the sacredness of objects within religious contexts.

Furthermore, the community’s reaction to the idol’s return, viewing it as a divine or supernatural intervention, underscores the cultural and historical value placed on such artifacts. It reflects a collective belief in the sanctity and divine protection of religious symbols, underscoring the role of faith in shaping communal narratives and practices. This shared belief system, woven into the fabric of daily life, serves not only to affirm faith but also to bind the community together through shared stories that underscore a common cultural heritage and identity.

When the resident house ghost wants pop soda too.

Category: Legend/Tale (Depends on if the person believes in ghosts or sees them as fanciful creatures)

Text: “[D]uring the middle of the night my family members would often go to the fridge, get a glass of pop, go back to bed. So when that would happen, whatever family member would do that, you know go down the stairs, open the fridge, get the pop, go up the stairs, go back to bed, every single time, afterwards there would be the sounds of that same thing happening but no one was doing it. Like it was-it was, there was a ghost that haunted the house and the ghost did other things but this goes whenever someone would do that afterwards. They would walk down the stairs, open the fridge, pour the pop, and then walk back up the stairs, but there was no one no one doing it. But it made the same exact noise and people could hear it from their beds. … And the ghost did other things, but yeah. They eventually moved out of the house cause it was creepy”

Context: 

V is a college student who’s been told this story by family members who live in Hazelwood, PA. She interprets this story as an unresolved, creepy mystery of the house saying it could possibly be haunted by a ghost. She is not sure the identity of the ghost.

Interpretation: Ghost stories often deal with ownership according to Valk. This story is the perfect example of that since the ghost “haunts” the house V’s family lives in. However, V’s family is unsure who the ghost is, so the ghost is not of a known person or ancestor of V. This latter sentence crosses out a different common aspect to ghost stories. Though it may be a ghost of the prior house owner sine Valk also mentions ghosts possibly appearing due to changes in property owners. Telling this story shows some belief in the supernatural.

Script:

(V told this story to an audience of 3, one of which was me)

V: This is a story from my family in Hazelwood, PA. I think I’ve told you this before [P], but I don’t think I’ve told you… but anyways so it’s like this-this old house had been in the family for a while my family’s been in Pennsylvania like since, it was like-it’s in Pittsburgh, PA in the borough called Hazelwood but they’ve been there since like-like pioneer times. Like we traced it back like ancestry and my family’s lived there forever. Anyways so it’s really common to drink like pop soda instead of water, it’s like gross, but so during the middle of the night my family members would often go to the fridge, get a glass of pop, go back to bed. So when that would happen, whatever family member would do that, you know go down the stairs, open the fridge, get the pop, go up the stairs, go back to bed, every single time, afterwards there would be the sounds of that same thing happening but no one was doing it. Like it was-it was, there was a ghost that haunted the house and the ghost did other things but this goes whenever someone would do that afterwards. They would walk down the stairs, open the fridge, pour the pop, and then walk back up the stairs, but there was no one no one doing it. But it made the same exact noise and people could hear it from their beds.

Me: Mystery unresolved? 

V: Yeah that-that’s it. And the ghost did other things, but yeah. They eventually moved out of the house cause it was creepy, so yeah. That’s my story. That’s what I got.

Legend – Fog of Bellevue

CONTEXT: 

J is a freshman at USC, and a good friend of mine. He is from Mercer Island, Washington, a town within the Seattle metropolitan area. The island lies between Seattle and Bellevue.

TEXT:

“So I lived on an island (Mercer island), and it was surrounded by this big lake, and past the lake, it’s surrounded on two sides – one side by Seattle and the other by Bellevue, and there used to be this legend that the Native American people that used to live on our island would see in the morning – there was a lot of fog, right – and so they couldn’t see through to bellevue on the other side. But in the afternoon, when the fog cleared, they could see the land on the other side. So it was said that they used to believe that the island would rise up out of the water during the day and sink under the water during the night. My grandpa lived right on the lake, and I used to visit him a lot, and so he would tell me that story a lot of times when I was a kid, and one time when I was working at Subway just before I moved here to Los Angeles, there was a guy that came in who said the same thing. As a kid, when I was at my grandparents’ house, I would not see the land in the morning and then see it in the afternoon, and I thought maybe that it was true. I think it’s kind of cool to think about – when you’re a kid, you don’t know that Bellevue – that a city is a city, like you see a city landscape, like “oh those are things,” but you don’t really think about there are people there, so when I was a kid I just thought it was a landmass, and it was a really cool idea that it would sink and rise and it was just part of nature, and I guess I still like to think of it that way, so it’s kind of nice to think of nature as something unaffected by other people.”

ANALYSIS: 

The ways urban legends tend to grow out of a mystical view of indigenous people almost seems like a way to detach oneself from superstition. Especially in more modern and developed areas, there is a strong societal detachment from what is considered spiritual or legendary. In this sense, while modern, non-indigenous people may still believe in this story or be able to perceive it, it is much easier to apply that culturally to an indigenous group much more associated with ideas of spiritualism and natural phenomena. Yet the story regarding those previous folk who believed this still persists, striking a narrative about previously held beliefs that then affect the perceptions by those who currently interpret it. In a sense, this is folklore about folklore.