Tag Archives: town legend

Topanga’s Dog Eaters

JC is a university student who grew up in Topanga Canyon, a town in the mountains of LA. His mom works for the local animal rescue and knows a lot of people in the town. 

JC- So, growing up in Topanga Canyon, there was this story that the old timers used to always tell us about, which was that there was this group of unhoused people who were all meth addicts and lived under this bridge in Topanga in a big encampment. The story went that they would steal people’s dogs and eat them, so there was a superstition about not walking your dogs in this one specific area of town, lest they get eaten by the meth addicts. I grew up believing this my whole life, and it didn’t occur to me til I was older that this story probably wasn’t true, but I like to believe that they are still up there eating dogs

Me- Do you have any clue how this story originated?

JC- Given Topanga’s nature, It’s likely that someone just made it up so people would keep their dogs on leashes and not let them run around, um, it’s also possible that the legend started because it was real. My mom claims to know people whose dogs have been stolen and eaten, so who’s really to say, other than my mom.

Analysis: 

Every town is riddled with its many personal stories and tales, and when they are passed from person to person it’s hard to know what is fact and what is fiction. It’s interesting how local tall tales like this appear, often having a pretty standard beginning, like wanting to keep people off of one’s property, that can very quickly spiral into heightened and darker tales. Like a game of telephone, the more the rumor spreads, the bigger it becomes, and the harder it is to know where it originally began. 

Studying local tales also gives insight into issues and values that are pertinent to the town’s population. The housing crisis in Los Angeles is an ongoing issue. When rumors like this are spread around and believed by wide portions of the population, it creates even more negative stereotypes towards the already struggling houseless people. These stories allow the population to have a reason to not like and be mean to their homeless community and further helps spread the hateful anti-homeless mindset that is prominent throughout the area. Hating the local homeless for eating dogs feels more valid a reason than hating them for being homeless. Creating stories like this helps stereotypes stay alive and gives communities a ‘common enemy’ to which their anger can be directed towards.

The Bull that Leads to Gold

Informant: The informant is a very good friend of mine. She and I met in my sophomore year of high school. She is currently an undergraduate at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The following transcript is a retelling of a ghost story that she heard from her mom and that has been passed down by the family. 

Context: This story took place in Jalisco, Mexico, around the late 1980s. It was an experience and encounter that the informant’s mom had. My informant states that this story is a little hard to believe yet based on how there is evidence of such occurrence, she has now been obligated to believe it. The informant states that the reason why she believes this ghost bull might have appeared in front of her mom was because children are innocent, and unselfish.

Story: “This is another story from my mom that took place in Mexico when she was a kid. She was at home with her younger brother, just playing and her mom was out. They saw this full-sized bull that ran from one wall and ran to another wall straight through it and disappeared. The bull looked dark gray and a little bit of dark gray. A regular bull-like light reflects off of it. She and her brother were scared out of their minds, and they ran out of their house. They went looking for their mom and ran around the small town and told a few people about what they saw. No one believed them. Present-day today, that house has been torn down and the wall where the bull had appeared from years ago was found out to contain a lot of gold.” 

Analysis: I find this ghost bull, a little hard to believe myself. It might be because I haven’t seen this wall of gold which my informant says to exists or because the individuals who experienced this where children. However, I think it’s important to note that children do not lie. Well at least, in Mexican culture, children as taught to not lie. Therefore, when my informant stated that the townspeople did not believe her mom demonstrates just how much children are not relied upon. If whoever at that time had listened to the informant’s mom, then they could have gotten away with so much gold/riches. I think it is important to have faith and trust children a little more. Although, a child might have a crazy imagination, children do not make up stories to scare themselves.

Haunted Quarry

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: May 2nd, 2021
Primary Language: English

Background

The informant, Chase, is the brother of the interviewer. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois where he currently resides. 

Context

Chase tells the interviewer about a haunted quarry where he used to work.

Transcript 

“Every summer in high school I have worked at a kayaking company. In the center of town is this ancient quarry that they have filled with water so it looks like a small lake. I taught kayaking and paddle boarding lessons on the quarry. The company rented out these kayaks and paddle boards to anyone in town. So over the quarry is this big bridge that a lot of cars drive over. It is pretty busy. People at work always claimed that like sixty years ago this family was driving across the bridge, but the dad was drunk and speeding and accidentally drove their car off the bridge into the quarry. They say it was too deep to retrieve the car or people and if you were able to dive down deep enough you would still be able to see the car and their bodies. Sometimes, at night, you can see the ghosts of the family crying in the middle of the quarry. I personally have never seen any shit like that before, despite all my years working there. I do believe that someone could easily drive off the bridge, it kinda looks like an accident waiting to happen. But I don’t really believe that they didn’t retrieve the car or people’s bodies. It’s definitely a fun story to tell though.”

Thoughts

I too worked at the quarry throughout high school. I never had an encounter with the spirits like other people at worked described and I don’t really believe it either. I do agree that the story of someone driving off the bridge accidentally is probably true, but I can’t imagine the quarry is so deep they cannot retrieve the bodies. It is very interesting town lore though.

The Legend of the One-Eyed Gangster

Nationality: Irish/Italian
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles, from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Performance Date: 4/7/2012
Primary Language: English

So this kid lived in my neighborhood – I don’t even think this is worth telling because it’s so ludicrous – he was like, “Yeah, I’m like wanted by this gang member who lives across the train tracks from us.” And he only has one eye and he wears an eye-patch. (laughs) And when he kills people he takes their eyes and makes a stew and eats this eyeball stew. (laughs) So he’s like, “yeah, I started dating his girlfriend and then 15 of his thugs jumped me in an alley and I killed all of them, but then he like, killed my girlfriend and so I had to bring her body back and I left it on the doorstep of her parents house. But they saw me put it there so they thought I did it…so I had to watch her funeral from afar.”

 

This story is indeed ludicrous, and was probably told to my informant just to be an entertaining story that would impress listeners with the tale teller’s character: he tangled with dangerous people, was skilled in battle, and ended up dating the girlfriend of the gang leader – a bold move. They both also lived in the same town that had cultures divided by train tracks, which I’ve only heard of in films and books until this point. So, the gangster coming from the other side of the tracks evokes a sense of otherness.