Tag Archives: urban legend

The Doc Benton Story

Title: The Doc Benton Story

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal Folklore: Urban Legend
  • Language: English
  • Country: United States

Informant #1 Data:

  • The informant is a Dartmouth ’18 male. He went on a first-year trip in September 2014 and was a member of Lodj Croo in September 2017.

Informant #2 Data:

  • The informant is a Dartmouth ’18 female. She went on a first-year trip in September 2014, was a member of Lodj Croo in September 2015, and served as one of the two Lodj Croo Captains in September 2017.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context
    • Each trip culminates at the Lodge for one day and one night. During that night, the trippees all sit outside under the stars. They’re told that they will be hearing a true story about the history of the Lodge. The trippees do not realize that it’s a horror story.
  • Cultural Context
    • The trippees are nervous about trips ending and returning back to Dartmouth to begin their freshman year. They’re also nervous because they’re finally among a large amount of people, not just the few people that have been on their trip with them.
    • Lodj Croo wants to expose them to Dartmouth traditions as well as give the trippees a bonding experience.

Item:

  • Members of Lodj Croo scare the trippees with a horror story about Doc Benton. The story involves croolings scaring the trippees by screaming or running across the field at various parts of story.

Transcript of Informant #1 Interview:

“The most obvious one is the Doc Benton story. Trippees are told the horror story at the end of their night at the lodge, and all of the lodge croolings and any students that are helping out end up popping out and scaring the new students, which is a lot of fun. People are unsure how real the Doc Benton story is. There’s an addendum that’s supposed to be real, but there was a ‘12 named Naomi, or maybe they’ve hidden her name for security reasons, but she was working at Moosilauke and for some reason, she was there. I think her job was to clear the ice off of the roof of the Lodge. And she was on a hike. Her boyfriend was skiing but was going to meet her at the lodge at night. And he came back, the door was open. He was a little nervous about where she might be. And he ended up looking around the Lodge and found her in the freezer, clutching a knife, saying “He’s here. He’s here.”, which has been added to the Doc Benton story because people assume that it’s Doc Benton and that the stories are all real.”

Informant #1’s Comments:

  • “We scare people during the Doc Benton story, and the addendum is a new and exciting thing that kind of freaks me out as well.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • Informant #1 was able to shed insight into new variations of the Doc Benton story, showing the evolution of this piece of folklore.

Collector’s Name: Roshni Chandwani

Transcript of Informant #2 Interview:

Trips is full of many Dartmouth traditions…one that’s particular to Lodj Croo is the Doc Benton story, and so there’s a scary story that’s told to the incoming class, and it has a lot of little parts of Dartmouth in it, and also is basically just meant to make people think about the history of the area as well as freak them out a little bit. There’s other traditions involved it, like Lodj Croo scaring all of them at one point and making them all scream.”

Informant #2’s Comments:

  • Informant noted that the story was part of all three of her trips experiences.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Informant #2 was able to give a detailed account of the way in which the story is told.

Collector’s Name: Roshni Chandwani

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Folklore, Urban Legend

The Legend of La Llorona

Title: The Legend of La Llorona

Genere and Sub-Genre:

Verbal Folklore: Horror Story (Urban Legend)

Language: English

Country of Origin: Mexico

Informant Data:

Samantha Collins was originally born in New Jersey, is 22 years old, and currently attends Duke University for graduate school. She moved to Arizona at a young age and has grown up there ever since, expect for when she was away at college.

Contextual Data:

In Arizona, there are an abundance of mountains and canyons, and when camping in one people often hear the wind going through the canyon, which sounds very much like faded wailing or screaming, making the legend of La Llorona fairly popular in Arizona.

Item:

Transcript of Audio File:

“La Llorona is a story typically told around the campfire. When you’re camping with family and friends. La Llorona the story about a woman, who had two children, who wanted to marry a man. But, the man didn’t like kids. He just wanted to be a husband. Therefore, Maria (as she was known back then) drowned her kids. As their bodies floated down the river she realized what she did and ran back to the husband and told him.

But the man did not like that. He did not want a murderer for a wife. So unfortunately, Maria ended up committing suicide. Now, Maria went to heaven to see Saint Peter to see if she could enter heaven. But, Saint Peter would not let her enter heaven without the bones of her children. That is why Maria, or La Llorona, as we know her now, cries and wails as she searches for the bones of her children to bring back to Saint Peter.”

Informant’s Comments: Samantha stated that this was a story that was often told around a campfire.

Collector’s Comments: I have heard multiple variations of this legend, where Maria (La Llorona) wants children’s bones to give to Saint Peter instead of her own children’s to try and trick him in order to get into heaven. There’s also variation between whether or not La Llorona is a banshee or a ghost.

Collector’s Name: Alexandra Collins

Deering Estate: A True Haunted House

Title: Deering Estate: A True Haunted House

General Information about Item: Deering Estate is a 1920s mansion in Miami, Florida said to be built on tribal burial grounds. Recently, it has received a lot of attention for its supposedly paranormal activity. “Ghost hunters” have even visited the state. Deering Estate is within walking distance of my high school.

Genre and Sub Genre:

  • Genre: Horror story
  • Subgenre: Urban legend

Language: English

Country where Item is from: The United States

Informant Data: Pablo Perez is from Miami, Florida. He is 50 years old. He is married and has three daughters.

Contextual Data: Born and raised in Miami, Pablo has heard a great deal about Deering Estate as a prime location for ghost sightings in the area. The Estate, located on the coast and overlooking the bay, is said to have been built on Native American burial grounds. Today, many tourists visit the site as do many locals. People in the area frequently go for runs near the property at dawn or at dusk because of its picturesque location.

Item: Associated file (a video, audio, or image file)

Transcript of Associated File:

Many of my friends do their early-morning or late-afternoon exercise routines near the premises of Deering Estate. Many have reported hearing drums or chanting from nearby, but can never place the sound. Some believe these are the ghosts of Native Americans who refuse to move on from their homeland.

 

Informant’s Comments: Pablo says that he understands where the urban legend comes from, as the Native American population was very robust at one point in Florida’s history. That being said, he has never heard the drumbeat or chanting for himself.

Collector’s Comments: I, too, had heard of this urban legend prior to collecting it. I’ve run around Deering Estate many times in the early morning, but have never heard the said drumbeat or chanting. Individuals who say they have heard these things are mostly older adults, which might indicate that the urban legend originated with their generation.

Collector’s Name: Sarah Perez

Tags/Keywords:

Cropsey

Title: Cropsey

General Information about Item:

  • Vebal Folklore: Urban Legend
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: United States

Informant Data:

  • Rachel Zhao was born in  New York, New York in 1997. She grew up in an Asian American family in Brooklyn. She currently attends Dartmouth College as a member of the class of 2019.

Contextual Data:

  • As a native of New York City, Rachel is very fond of her city and the people in the city. This is a story she has heard often in New York City. The urban legend circulates by word of mouth from New Yorker to New Yorker.

Item:

Transcript of Associated File:

This is the story of Cropsey. In Staten Island, there is a place called The Willowbrook Mental Asylum. A ghoul named Corpsey with a hook for a hand and rumored to be an escaped mental patient wanders the halls looking for children and hauling them away never to be seen again.

Informant’s Comments:

“This story scared me more as a child than is does now.”

Collector’s Comments:

This urban legend is perceived as true by many, but there is no proof for the validity of the story. A documentary was made about Cropsey in 2010.

Collector’s Name: Sydney Zhou

Tags/Keywords: Horror, Urban Legend

 

Bloody Mary

Title: Bloody Mary

General Information about Item: Bloody Mary is a game usually played by children when they are bored and looking for something to do. It involves an attempt to conjure the evil spirit of the deceased Queen Mary I of England.

Genre and Sub Genre: 

  • Genre: Horror story
  • Subgenre: Urban legend

Language: English 

Country where Item is from: The United States

Informant Data: Carolina Miranda is from Miami, Florida and is 13 years old. She attends Leewood K-8 Center.

Contextual Data: Carolina first heard about Bloody Mary in the cafeteria at her school. She was eating lunch with her classmates, who had played the game the night before at a sleepover. She told me the story as it was originally told to her. She, herself, has never participated.

Item: Associated file (a video, audio, or image file)

Transcript of Associated File: These friends of mine, Mason and Jack, were going on about this weird game called Bloody Mary. The night before, they had tried to get a ghost to appear in the bathroom. Mason and Jack grabbed a candle, lit it, and made their way to the bathroom at Mason’s house. Jack chickened out, so Mason went into the bathroom alone. It was his house, after all. He was confident nothing was going to happen anyways. Jack promised to wait outside and call for help if necessary.

Mason went into the bathroom with candle, locked the door, and turned off the lights. Setting the candle down on the sink, he spun around 13 times while chanting “Bloody Mary.” After the 13th time, he expected to look in the mirror and see the ghost of the evil queen, but, he saw nothing. Feeling very dizzy, he fumbled around with the lock on the bathroom door. When he finally stepped outside, Jack looked very relieved.

Informant’s Comments: Carolina says that she would never play the game, even though nothing happened to her friends.

Collector’s Comments: I have heard about many variations of the game. Sometimes, the faucet is left running. This is supposed to help call the spirit. The number of times the participant spins around, as well as the chant, are also subject to change. In one version of the game, the participant taunts Bloody Mary, saying, “I stole your baby, Bloody Mary.” This is a direct reference to the Queen’s ghost pregnancy. She was under immense pressure to produce an heir to the throne, but was never able to.

Collector’s Name: Sarah Perez 

Tags/Keywords:

The Haunted Hotel

Title: The Haunted Hotel

General Information about Item: Urban legend surrounding the history of the famous Biltmore Hotel in Miami, Florida. Commissioned in 1926 by the land developer, George Merrick, the Biltmore’s guests included the rich and famous alongside infamous mobsters like Al Capone. During WWII, the resort was transformed into a military hospital and was then abandoned for several years. There have been several reports of paranormal activity at the site, including the story from the following informant.

Genre and Sub Genre:

  • Genre: Horror story
  • Subgenre: Urban legend

LanguageEnglish
Country where Item is from: The United States 
Informant Data: Cecilia Perez is a senior at Gulliver Preparatory in Miami, Florida. She is 17 years old and will graduate in the spring. She is one of three sisters and her family is of Cuban descent.
Contextual Data: Cecilia first heard this story while on a “ghost tour” of the Biltmore when she was 7 years old. She said that the Biltmore frequently hosted such tours on Halloween, and she distinctly remembers going trick-or-treating in the surrounding neighborhood following the tour.
Item: Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):


Transcript of Associated File:

Early on, Miami was the center of a lot of mob activity. Many of the gangsters ended up staying at the Biltmore, actually. One night, there was a very loud party going on on the 13th floor of the hotel. Word got around that the celebration was being hosted by Al Capone and a couple of his cronies. A rival gang caught wind of their location and stormed the hotel. They demanded the room number and made their way upstairs.

After breaking down the door, the gangsters mobsters opened fire on the partygoers. Capone was shocked and fled the scene. There were several injuries and one fatality. Thomas “Fatty” Walsh, a close confidante of Capone’s, was killed in the crossfire by another gangster. Walsh swore that he would have his revenge someday, somehow. Today, Walsh continues to wander the halls of the Biltmore Hotel, menacing guests. He moves their luggage, unplugs their appliances, and has even been known to stand over them as they sleep. Many believe that Walsh will continue to haunt the hotel until he completes his “unfinished business.”

Informant’s Comments: Cecilia recalls being very frightened by the story. She wanted to leave immediately and never wanted to return to the Biltmore again.

Collector’s Comments: Growing up in Miami, I too, had heard of ghost sightings at the Biltmore. While I had not heard of this story in particular, my father had told a similar one. As a teenager, he and his friends snuck into the Biltmore. He claims to have seen the ghost of a soldier in uniform. The Biltmore, as I previously mentioned, was converted to a military hospital during WWII. When my father and his friends visited, there was still old, abandoned medical equipment lying around. Insert Collector’s Comments Here

Collector’s Name: Sarah Perez

Tags/Keywords: 

 

Airlifted to Boston

Title: Airlifted to Boston

Informant info: Courtney Ligh is a current member of the class of 2016. She is 21 years old and from New York, NY. On campus, she is involved in Students Fighting Hunger and her sorority.

Type of lore: Verbal, urban legend

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: Courtney was interviewed in her dorm. She has experienced the bonfire three times (once her freshman year and twice her junior/senior years).

Item: A student from a few years before the 16s came to Dartmouth attempted to touch the fire. The student was running too fast and could not stop themselves. They fell into the fire and got very severe burns. They needed to be airlifted straight to Boston to treat their injuries.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript (if verbal lore):

“Freshman year, a bunch of times before running around the bonfire, I heard that a few years prior: somebody touched the fire and fell in and actually had to be airlifted to Boston.”

Informant’s comments: Informant remembered hearing about this urban legend from multiple people before her freshman homecoming weekend.

Collector’s comments: Collector remembers also hearing this urban legend. This story is often told as a warning about touching the fire.

Tags/Keywords: bonfire, urban legend, airlifted