Ghost Children of San Antonio The legend of the Ghost Children of San Antonio dates back to the first half of the 20th century, with the majority of accounts placing its origins within a period extending from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. The story is based on a supposed freak accident involving a school bus full of children. As the story goes, the school bus stalled over a set of train tracks and was subsequently hit by an oncoming freight train, killing everyone on board the bus. (Weiser) Not soon after this grisly event, it was said that, should anyone park their car on the very same train tracks and place the gears in neutral, the car will roll uphill (seemingly defying gravity) off of the train tracks to a safe distance away. According to legend, the ghosts of the dead children from the bus accident push one’s car to safety (seemingly uphill) so they may avoid a similar fate. (Mikkelson) This story was recounted to me by a 20 year old female student at my University. She is a Communications major, coming from an upper middle class family in the rural suburbs of New Jersey. I interviewed her in her apartment sometime in the late afternoon in an informal setting. Although she is skeptical about things such as urban legends and ghost tales, she explained to me that this story always unsettled her in an inexplicable way. Yeah, there’s one [story] that’s pretty scary that comes to mind. My one friend [name omitted] – I think you met her once – well she moved to Jersey from Texas about 3 years ago and told me about this place kids would go when they were drunk or just looking for something to do. I asked her if she’d ever been there, but she told me she’d only heard it from a friend of a friend kind of deal. Well, an... ... middle of paper ... ... that the story is representative of how all ghosts behave. Society prefers to consider ghosts as “protectors” or “helpers” rather than as “frighteners” or “killers.” Works Cited Juliano, Dave. "Haunted Places in Maryland." The Shadowlands Ghosts and Hauntings. 09 Apr. 2006. http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/. Lane, Stephanie. "Cry Baby Bridges." Dead Ohio. 09 Apr. 2006 www.deadohio.com. Mikkelson, Barbara. "Helping Hands." Snopes. 24 Mar 2003. Urban Legends Reference Pages. 09 Apr. 2006. www.snopes.com. Sceurman, Mark. Weird U.S. Weird NJ, Inc. 09 Apr. 2006. www.weirdus.com. Wagner, Stephen. "The Haunted Railroad Crossing." About Paranormal. About, Inc. 09 Apr. 2006. http://paranormal.about.com. Weiser, Kathy. "Lone Star Legends: Ghostly Children." Legends of America. Oct 2005. Legends of America.com. 09 Apr. 2006. www.legendsofamerica.com.
Every story, every book, every legend, every belief and every poem have a reason and a background that creates them. Some might be based on historical events, some might be based on every culture´s beliefs, and some others might be based on personal experiences of the authors. When a person writes a literary piece, that person is looking for a way to express her opinion or her feelings about a certain situation. A good example is the poem “Southern Mansion” by Arna Bonptems. The main intention of “Southern Mansion” could have been to complain, or to stand against the discrimination and exploitation of black people throughout history. However, as one starts to read, to avoid thinking about unnatural beings wandering around the scene that is depicted is impossible. The poem “Southern Mansion” represents a vivid image of a typical ghost story which includes the traditional element of the haunted house. This image is recreated by the two prominent and contradictory elements constantly presented through the poem: sound and silence. The elements are used in two leading ways, each one separate to represent sound or silence, and together to represent sound and silence at the same time. The poem mixes the two elements in order to create the spooky environment.
In April I sat down with a friend at my house and asked about any urban legends or ghost stories he had encountered. After a couple legends he had seen in movies, he mentioned a haunted bridge about ten minutes away from downtown. He is a twenty-one year-old White male; his father owns an appliance store and his mother helps out with the books. He first heard this story in the ninth grade from a couple of friends. Supposedly, they had heard from kids who had actually been to the bridge and heard strange things at night. The bridge is located off of Uniontown road, between a couple old farms. He has not encountered the bridge first hand but still remembers the story surrounding it:
The storyteller in the following urban legend is a nineteen-year old man from Annapolis, Maryland. He is currently a freshman at the University, majoring in mechanical engineering. His mother is a nurse and his father, a dentist. One dark Thursday night, he sits me down in his dorm and tells me a chilling story in a hushed tone:
Point Lookout is one of the places I found the most information on. Point Lookout is a mysterious atmosphere on the southern tip of Maryland. Point lookout has a lighthouse that was established and used for 135 years. It began as one of the first Maryland governor’s properties. Also, it has been the sight of many unbelievable tragedies and paranormal activity. In the lighthouse, there has been “pictures taken of ghosts, various frightening EVPs, and
My english teacher once told us that when she was seven years old she begged her father to take her through a creepy maze in her hometown. She thought she was ready, But she was not ready to go through the maze.When she walked around the corner of the maze she found a giant scary mean werewolf jumping out of a cage. She just about peed her pants and cried. The employees felt bad so they stopped being scary and they escorted her and her dad out of the maze. It was supposed to be a fun experience for her but it quickly turned a bad night for her. This can be seen in the following three stories like Oates “Where Is Here “, Arthur Tress’ “Dream Collector” and Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” uses transformation to slowly change into something nice to scary.
By 1989 The Miami Herald had named Villa Paula the most haunted house in the city. In the early 1990s the mansion became a doctor’s medical office. This was good news for the ghostly residents who now could freely roam about in the evening
Case Studies – Atco Ghost, Atco, NJ / Pleasant Mills Cemetery, Bastso, NJ. Accessed at http://www.sjpr.org/atcocem.html--A website from the South Jersey Paranormal Research group providing a detailed account of their experience in visiting the location of the Atco Ghost.
...just another person who wants to be friends and not think the ghost will hurt them or that there is anything scary about it. The tale capitalizes on the fact that an adult would be uneasy thinking that a child can play with a ghost without thinking twice, and even more uneasy that a child can see what they cannot, since adults are supposed to be wiser and more able to explain things. The imagination of a child, which can create some astonishing things, is a scary entity.
A 19-year old female from Harford County, Maryland, narrated the story of Black Aggie, the urban legend of an overnight stay in a cemetery. She grew up Christian, and still lives in one of the more rural areas of Maryland with her younger sister and parents, who own and work at an electrical contracting business. Accustomed to hearing many ghost stories and urban legends, she first heard the story of Black Aggie during a middle school slumber party. Late one Saturday night over pizza in our Hagerstown dorm, she was more than willing to share her favorite urban legend with me.
Dwyer, J. (2005). Ghost hunter's guide to the San Francisco Bay Area. Gretna, La: Pelican Pub. Co.
Ghosts, as with any other misunderstood group or people, have been preyed upon by others without understanding. The lack of knowledge about ghosts and haunting activity has led people astray as to what they really are. What Hollywood and television portrays is very inaccurate and cannot be relied upon as truthful. They show these spirits of the dead as being evil in nature, filled with malice and harmful intent. But that this is not the case. The field of paranormal activity is amazing. It has caught the imagination of people from every walk of life. It has always interested me and has influenced me to pick this as the topic for my research. Through this research I wish to uncover the truth about the existence of ghosts. I also wish to correct the wrong notions that people have about ghosts and enlighten non-believers.
For many years, people have debated whether or not spirits are real. Some people get scared at the fact that there might be something unknown lurking in their house in the middle of the night making their footsteps known to everyone in it. Maybe that person feels watched upon or feel some kind of presence in their home, or even sees shadows moving their way through rooms. Different people around the world have their own opinions based on religion and experiences when talking about angels, demons, and the spirits that have life after death. New technology is getting closer to detecting these energies happening in the world today. The history of haunting dates back many years, and more people want to get involved because of the new technology.
Oftentimes the fears of society manifest within the culture’s own traditions and folklore. This becomes evident when analyzing the ghost stories of different societies. Knowing the background of where the story originates can be largely informative regarding how and why the story came about.
Imagery is used in the story very often and is used by giving the reader a mental picture of what is being described. There are many examples of imagery in this story with the use of metaphors and similes such as “The doors go shutting in the distance, gently knocking like the pulse of a heart.” this imagery allows the readers to picture in their mind the image of the ghost roaming the house and shutting doors in their wake. The title A Haunted House is an irony in itself most people associate haunted house with horror and evil creatures, but in reality this story is the opposite of that, “This gentle tale both references and refuses many of the characteristics of conventional ghost stories, and so ‘we see no lady spread her ghostly cloak’.43 A ghostly couple preside over the house, ensuring its safety and that of those who live in it. Their stirrings are not those of destructive poltergeists.” Woolf decided to reject the conventional ghost stories that have been told time and time again and give people a different view on ghost by making the ghost in this story protagonist who are just reminiscing about good times and the love they share throughout the story. this shows the readers that things are not always as it seems and to not judge a book by its
My great friend Landon Herrmann, who goes to school with me did a research project and presentation on this urban legend. I was able to interview him and look detailedly into his presentation to prove his information accurate. Which it is. Landon said that the incidents that happened with his legend were a huge factor in sparking the popularity of that legend. They had a big impact on the media, which then sparked the information of the legend to be known. I think what was being said here, was that the incident really only happened once, but with the news media they made the people believe that it was happening all over and scared the heck out of those innocent people. They all believed a made up story. Which caused them to be terrified for their children not being