Stories from the places where we grew up
What local stories were part of your formative years? Where did you hear them? Who told you them? Were they part of your school curriculum?
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The World Mythology and Folklore Society
Discussions and comments on characters and stories from all over the world
Susan Brown says:
We heard about Black Bart, a
We heard about Black Bart, a California bandit from the Gold Rush days. Dad used to tell us about him and how he was finally caught because of a laundry mark on something he had left behind. Dad also used to tell us about the explosion of Mt. Tehama--he would point out the random rocks in this field or that one that the volcano's eruption had scattered for miles. I don't know if these were exactly formative, but they were fun and were the sorts of things Dad would tell us as we went driving around the northern part of the state on summer camping trips. Susan
Luciana Lhullier says:
Susan, when I lived in
Susan, when I lived in Oregon I heard some stories of volcanoes, too. But most of them were about the eruption of Mount St. Helen, that happened in the eighties, I think. It was very interesting to observe how the stories kept getting bigger and more detailed from person to person, and according to some, the ashes and the smoke had reached as far as southern Oregon :-D. When I visited Pendleton, in eastern Oregon, there were lots of stories about outlaws, but also about a Chinese community that lived under the town. I love that Pacific Northwest/Northern California folklore.
Susan Brown says:
Luciana, in Sacramento, it
Luciana, in Sacramento, it used to be possible to take tours of the 'city under the city.' After repeated flooding from the Sacramento and American rivers, the city was raised eight or ten feet, but the former city is still there underneath. I'm not sure when Mt. Tehama exploded (a couple of hundred years ago?), but there are fields full of rocks for miles and miles around, as the mountain was entirely destroyed. We were also reminded frequently of the 1906 earthquake, as my great-grandparents lost their home in the fire and lived in the tent city in Golden Gate park with their five children (and later had three more, including my grandmother). My sister still has the permission slip from an army officer giving my great-grandmother permission to have a lighted candle in her tent because one of her children was sick.
JoElle Martin says:
I spent my early years in
I spent my early years in Oregon and remember the Big Foot legends. Like Luciana, I also remember volcano stories. Mostly the one revolving around Crater Lake and the eruption of Mount Mazama.
Then I moved to Mexico and the stories I heard there could go on forever.
~ JoElle
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