My informant is Jackson, a 19-year-old male student at USC. Jackson is white and of Danish and Irish descent and grew up in a suburb outside of Los Angeles called Palos Verdes.

Jackson: “There was this house that everyone would talk about where I was from and I probably first heard it when I was around 12, in middle school. It was a mansion on this private road and it’s called Vanderlip mansion and there’s not that many houses around it and it’s kind of secluded but apparently a whole family got murdered there. I’m not sure exactly what the story is but I think the owner murdered his own family and is said to haunt the house. I guess it is a scary place. One of my friends lives on Vanderlip Lane and we would go check out the house but we never went in.”

Do you believe the house is haunted?

Jackson: “When I was younger I did. I was definitely afraid to go there and there was always something a little off about it but now its getting renovated and remodeled so I don’t think so”

Do you know who told you this story?

Jackson: “No I can’t remember. It might have been my friend that lives near the house but a lot of kids knew about it when we were growing up”

What does this mean to you?

Jackson: “I’m not sure if it means anything to me it’s just cool and weird how there’s like this ghost story about a house and it’s a place I’ve actually been. It just reminds me of my childhood when I would believe that stuff and be so scared”

I like this story because as a kid I would always see on television and movies that there was always a haunted house but I never had that growing up but to some people that actually happened. Jackson actually heard stories about the haunted house and just like in the movies went with his buddies to explore and ended up running away scared. Even though Jackson doesn’t remember who started this story, the fact that many different kids know about makes me believe this is actually a legend in Palos Verdes.