Tag Archives: Superstition

The Night Stalker

Age: 19

Interviewer: Okay, so you said something happened on campus?

ML: Yeah, um… okay, so this was like my second week here, right? I didn’t really know the campus that well yet.

I was coming back from studying kinda late, like, maybe 1:30 a.m., and I cut through this area near one of the older buildings… I don’t even remember which one.

And, uh, I saw someone sitting on a bench. Just like… completely still.

It was this guy, I think? Or… okay, I’m not even sure, actually. They were wearing, like, a hoodie, head down.

At first I didn’t think anything of it, ‘cause, like, yeah, college campus, people are out late.

But then… I walked past them, and I got this really weird feeling.

Like…

You know when it’s quiet, but it feels wrong quiet?

Interviewer: Yeah…

ML: Yeah, like that.

So I keep walking, and then I hear-

“Hey.”

But it was, like… really close. Like right behind me.

Interviewer: Did you turn around?

ML: Yeah, I did.

And they were still on the bench. Same position. Didn’t move.

And I was like, okay, maybe I imagined it, right?

So I start walking faster, and then I hear it again, but this time-

“Why did you come?”

So I turn around again… and now they’re standing.

But I didn’t hear them get up.

Yeah, and their face was still like… shadowed. I couldn’t see it.

And then they took a step toward me, just one step, and I just… I ran.

Like I didn’t even think, I just ran straight back to my dorm.

Interviewer: Did you ever see them again?

ML: No… and I don’t go that way anymore.

Like, I’ll literally take the longer route, I don’t care.

And, um… I asked my mom about it later, and she was like, “Don’t answer when something calls you at night.”

So yeah… I just… I don’t mess with that anymore.

Context:

This story was told to me at around 11am after a get-together with a friend at a restaurant near the USC campus. On the way back, I asked him if they knew of any ghost stories, and they recalled a creepy experience they had early at the start of his freshman year. The interview was roughly transcribed from a video recording of the interview.

The Informant’s Thoughts:

They were skeptical as to whether it was really a ghost. They admit that at the time they were very much convinced that the supposed ghost in question was in fact some sort of malevolent spirit. However, they also talked about how, looking back, there was in fact some suspicious individual who talked to them, but now they believe that many of the paranormal effects they observed may have been due to the nerves evoked by starting their transition into college and the naturally scary circumstances they were in.

My Thoughts:

I am inclined to believe the informant’s analysis of the situation. Being skeptical of ghosts myself, I am more willing to belief that any mystical effects were simply side effects of stress and superstition. However, I did find it fascinating how the environment can have such a massive impact on belief. I know the informant to be similar in disposition to myself, in that they are not particularly superstitious or spiritually inclined and that they display substantial suspicion of any accounts detailing mysterious encounters and phenomenon. However, the combination of several influences, such as the time of night, the lack of other people nearby, the somewhat spooky architecture, and most pressingly the presence of a suspicious unknown individual all cause the plausibility of a ghostly encounter to skyrocket.

The Woman in the Cold

Age: 52

Interviewer: Dad, did anything strange ever happen when you were growing up?

ES: Yeah, there was one thing. I don’t talk about it much.

It happened when I was maybe… thirteen? Around that age.

Interviewer: What happened?

ES: Back then, we didn’t have much. Our house was small, and at night it got very dark. No streetlights, nothing like that.

I used to help my parents with chores, and sometimes that meant walking out to the storage shed behind the house, even late at night.

Interviewer: Alone?

ES: Yeah, usually alone. It wasn’t a big deal… until that night.

I remember I went out to get something, maybe tools, I don’t remember exactly, and on my way back, I saw someone standing near the edge of our yard.

Interviewer: Did they look like someone you knew? Like, do you think it could’ve been someone from around?

ES: No. That’s the thing.

At first I thought it was a neighbor, but… it didn’t feel right. They were just standing there, completely still.

It was hard to see clearly, but I remember their clothes looked old. Not like what people wore at that time, more like traditional clothing.

And they were facing toward the house… not toward me.

Then, I hadn’t made any noise, but slowly… they turned their head. Not their body, just their head.

And when they looked at me, I realized… I couldn’t see their face clearly.

It was like the darkness was covering it, even though the moon was out.

Interviewer: Did they do anything, maybe say something?

ES: No, not at first.

I just stood there, holding what I had, not moving. Then they took one step toward me.

Just one.

And then I heard it, very faint

“춥다…” (Translated from Korean: “It’s cold…”)

It didn’t sound like they were talking to me exactly. More like… saying it to themselves.

But I felt it. The cold.

Not like normal cold weather. This was a sudden change. Like it went straight through my clothes.

Interviewer: What did you do?

ES: I remembered something my mother used to say. Don’t respond to voices at night.

So I didn’t say anything. I just slowly stepped back… and then I turned and ran inside.

I told my mother the next day. She didn’t look surprised.

She just said, “You didn’t answer, right?”

And when I said no, she nodded and told me not to go outside at night unless I had to.

Interviewer: Did you ever see it again? Or see anything similar?

ES: No.

But sometimes, late at night, I would look out toward that part of the yard… and feel like someone was still standing there.

Context

This story was told to me during one of my visits home after a family dinner. I received it from my father, who used to live in rural Korea before moving to the US for education and work. He stated that the region was naturally superstitious and strongly spiritual, and many other ghost stories populated the area. He mentioned that two large Buddhist temples were there as well. Due to some imperfect English, the transcript was slightly edited to improve flow.

The Informant’s Thoughts:

The informant was disinclined to call the entity he encountered a ghost, and instead preferred to call it a spirit conjured by the struggles of his community. He talked about how encounters with spirits and other supernatural phenomena are more likely to occur when peoples’ futures are uncertain, and that this is especially true in places where life was harder. He discussed how life in rural Korea was very difficult due to poverty and lack of support. He recalled how his village would regularly be flooded during monsoon season, flooding houses, and that farming in the Korean climate was a physically arduous process.

My Thoughts:

I am skeptical of the supernatural by default, making me also not wholly believe the story. I though the happenings could be attributed to local folklore, an active imagination from his young age at the time, or dramatization of a memory over time. However, the idea that spirits appear before us during times of hardship resonated deeply with me. The stress we feel during times of uncertainty makes us more prone to believing in ghosts and superstitions which could bring some stability or consolation. I interpreted the ghost as not a malevolent spirit, but instead a kindred spirit, a companion who shares the suffering of the people in the informant’s community.

The Gold that Has Legs

Text:

Interviewee:

My grandparents told me that “gold has legs” when we were in a jewelry shop. There were many things made of gold: gold rings, gold bracelets, gold necklaces… When they saw the gold, my grandparents told me, “Do you know that gold has legs and can run?”

I was very surprised and confused at first. I was like, what? Gold can run?

My grandma then explained that when my father was younger, he tried to hide gold underneath the floor of our house as a way of keeping it safe. However, he failed—after several years, when he tried to dig it out, he was unable to find the gold he had previously stored.

This then led to my grandparents’ conclusion: since it was hidden at home, and nobody has ever taken it or checked it—everything seemed to be very secure—it must be that the gold has run away by itself.

Context:

My informant learned of this folk belief last year, when he and his grandparents were browsing gold jewelries in a jewelry shop in his hometown. He was then told of this belief when his grandparents started telling him how his father used to use the soil to “store” gold underneath their floor, while failing to find it later after time passed.
My informant’s interpretation: He believes that by telling him of this belief, his grandparents were telling him, “Don’t try to hide your expensive things in a place for too long.”


Analysis:

This is a folk belief (and a superstition) shared by the elderly generation in China.

This folk belief exemplifies the use of folklore to fill an explanatory gap: The belief that “gold has legs and can run” is a way to explain the seemingly weird, inexplicable situation that happened to the informant’s father when he tried to store gold underneath the ground. The scientific reason, in reality, is that the ground shifts over time due to geological reasons and crustal movement. In addition, gold has weight, so it is reasonable from a scientific aspect that the gold has either changed its location or sunken into deeper parts of the ground (soil).

Spirit of the Woods

Text:
KK: So, in high school, I used to live in a neighborhood that was known for having a soccer field, right? And the soccer field–I never did this, of course–in high school, a lot of people would go to the soccer field late at night to host these things that they would call “wood parties.” Basically, at the end of the soccer field there’s this long path, and you go straight into the woods from there. And people would go into the woods and they’d basically have this free-for-all where they’d drink, they’d do a lot of things, they’d hook up with people, whatever. Late at night, towards the end of my senior year, one of my friends went to one of these wood parties, and she said that there was this person in the woods that would follow the people who would stray from the group. And they could hear, like, the crunching of leaves, and they would hear, like–I don’t know what it was, but they would describe it as this wood spirit, or something, that would follow them if they were not in their group.”

Context:
KK: The context, I would think–I’m not saying she made it up, but– I’m pretty sure that, I think they were nervous cuz they would go pretty deep into the woods to hide from cops and stuff like that (laughs). So, I’m not sure if this wood spirit was maybe like, a manifestation of their fears towards getting caught by authority. But they would say that it would like, take their drinks and it would do certain things–but um, it was interesting cuz I think they were afraid of getting caught so they were very anxious. So people would say that they would notice certain things going on at their wood parties. You know, it was also a bunch of drunk teenagers, so. I don’t know.

Analysis: I think there’s definitely some value to KK’s theories about why this spirit was believed in. For high schoolers rebelling by drinking in the woods, it makes complete sense that superstitions surrounding a spirit of the forest would arise–it’s a very common set-up to spooky stories and horror movies, and the anxiety is understandable. I also think most forests and wooded areas tend to hold a bit of fear and/or mysticism for humans, and the idea of a spirit of the woods is also extremely common.

Family Death and Paranormal Activity

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Text: Interviewer – “What kind of ghost stories have heard of or experienced? Anything relating to your family?”

JL – “Woo boy, I could write a book! I’ve always believed in the supernatural. I have a lot in mind, but one sticks out the most. That brings me to when my mom died, on October 13, 2012. My mom and I were always close. My kids were very close to her as she was the only grandparent they had a relationship with, and she absolutely ADORED them (she loved them to pieces!, as she would say). She’d visit us half a dozen times a year, we spent summers at her house, she’d join us on vacations. We were CLOSE. My kids were young when she passed, in third and fifth grades. One morning shortly after she died I was getting the kids ready for school. They were sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast, I was at our kitchen island making lunches. We have a light fixture above the table with 5 bulbs in it. One of them had been burned out for months and I just hadn’t gotten around to changing it. Anyway, one of us mentioned that we were feeling sad that day because we missed Granny, and the burned out light bulb switched ON. The three of us looked at each other and thought, “Huh, that’s odd.” I said, “Mom, if that’s you, turn that light back off.” And the light went off. None of us were scared, we all thought it was kindof… cool? Comforting? We spent the next 20 minutes asking questions, and that light bulb kept responding. I finally said, “Mom, thanks for visiting and letting us know you’re ok, but I have to get the kids to school.” And the light bulb never responded again. But Mom hasn’t completely gone. We have a door that leads from our garage into our house that has a deadbolt lock on it. There are times when I will open the door from the house, walk through the doorway, immediately go to shut the door behind me only to have it bounce on the doorjamb because the deadbolt has been fully extended. We’ve tried shaking the door, jiggling it to see if we could replicate it, and nope, no movement from the deadbolt. There have been times when I’ll be carrying groceries in from the car, keeping that door to the house open for several trips, and then when I finally go to close it, the deadbolt is extended. And it’s not just a little bit sticking out, it is fully extended. Every single person in my family has had this same experience. There are two things that I love about this: 1 – Mom still comes around to say hi, and 2 – my family’s reaction isn’t fright, it’s a casual, “Hi Granny, thanks for visiting.” This has been occurring for 14 years. With my daughter’s graduation approaching, I’m sure I’ll see a lot of activity with the deadbolt!”

Interviewer – “Have these paranormal activities diminished in frequency or stayed the same?”

JL – “They’ve diminished in frequency. Mom still comes around and plays with the lock on the door, but now it seems to coincide with times of extreme emotion – when we’re celebrating something like a birthday or a big event with the kids, when I’ve been exceptionally worried or stressed.”

Context: This long story came up as I was asking JL about some of the paranormal experiences they’ve had or if they believed in ghosts in the first place as I have my fair share of history with the supernatural and ghost encounters myself. This specific story has been shared throughout the past many, many years, for as long as since it happened, and is not exclusive to the family, though it is a piece of lore special to the family due to the circumstances of the events.

Analysis: This account is in it of itself a familial piece of lore. Whether it’s a tale to some or simply something that happened, the story of it all has continued to thrive as have the perpetual encounters. Due to the nature of the story and how it doesn’t necessarily have an end, whether someone who experiences it first hand believes in ghosts or not, the event of the deadbolt on a door elongating can be either calming, reassuring, or frightening based on who you are. All individuals who listen or experience this tale are bearers of it, and since the events have continued to repeat, the amount of first-hand sources simply grows as time passes. The ghost story evolves constantly, and the lore that the JL and their family once just held for themselves has continued to be shared to their friends and community.