Manresa Castle at Port Townsend, Washington The story I was told concerns the Manresa Castle at Port Townsend, in Washington State. The myth surrounding the castle is the usual belief that the castle is haunted. People go to the castle just to hear the cries and feel the tingles of staying there over night. People have also reported that when they have taken pictures while they stay there, they will be surrounded by glowing orbs in the background. The story pertaining to this castle I first heard in a coffee house on Capitol Hill, in Seattle, Washington. Capitol Hill is known for being the stomping grounds of a wide variety of people. There are bohemians, hippies, homeless people, drag queens, and lots of college students due to the fact that there are five colleges in the city of Seattle alone. It is also not so full of tourists, who spend more of their time at Pikes Place Market (also said to be haunted) and the Center. I spoke to the storyteller around two in the afternoon on Friday, March 23rd during my spring break. She works at a local hospital and is finishing up medical school. She is recently married, twenty-four years old, and she grew up in West Seattle. Her mom is Ukrainian and is the principal of an elementary school. She knows of the story after hearing it from fellow students at the University of Washington, where she went for her undergraduate studies. The story was told during a regular hangout, by a girl from a town near Port Townsend. The person I heard the story from doesn't really pay the myth and "ghost story" idea any attention because of its common presence in that area. Washington state is a region known as the "Haunted North West." Capitol Hill has so many "ghosts" that companies offer ghost tours year round. [During the telling of the story there were no meaningful gestures, just pauses when the storyteller couldn't remember certain details, or when she wanted to take more sips of her macchiato. The storyteller did not relate the story with intonation or pitch changes, nor did her rate change. It was more like the stating of facts she knew.] Hmm, one that is still going strong is about… well I don't remember the name but it's this castle in Port Townsend, overlooking the bay.
When asked, the storyteller elaborated that the old man was no longer outside the Wawa when his gym teacher went back outside. The teller had slight pauses in several places in his story, most notably before explaining that his gym teacher could see ghosts and after the elderly woman confirming it was her late husband.
When one usually thinks of a hearing a ghost story, the setting is dark with flickering light (such as around a campfire or in a basement with bad lighting) and, of course, it is nighttime. Needless to say, when I heard this story during the middle of the day on a Friday, I was a little taken aback. When prompted for any urban legends or ghost stories a white, female friend of mine immediately responded with, “Have you ever heard of de Sales Academy?” With my negative response, the nineteen year old student jumped into her story:
Since I come from the Eastern Shore of this state, I was surprised to hear a ghost story I was previously unaware of. The story takes place in a park in Salisbury. The person who told me the story is a 19-year-old sophomore at the University, and we spoke about it one evening after dinner. He believes it to be true, because one of his friend’s siblings has apparently experienced the ghost firsthand. I tape-recorded his narrative:
"New Mexico: Ghost Stories and Haunted Places." Haunted New Mexico. Retrieved 5 Apr 2005 http://hauntednewmexico.tripod.com/id1.html.
I have lived in Baltimore for quite some time now, and it is impossible to live in the area and not know that there is a ghost story associated with the Admiral Fell Inn at Fell Point (a section of Baltimore located right on the harbor). The man who told me this story is a very well educated, 61 year old credit union CEO. He told me the story over dinner, with me trying to shush the rest of the guests because they all wanted to tell their own versions. I have included his version of the Ghost of Admiral Fell below, excluding only names and comments from others:
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:
“MURDER CASTLE OF H.H. HOLMES! EXCERPT FROM "HAUNTED CHICAGO” N.p., 2003. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
He relates how Irish storytellers would turn their backs to the audience, or speak from another room in order that the listeners would rely on their imaginations. These types of storytellers would not rely on gestures, or voice inflections, but instead chose to paint a mental picture for their audiences who created vivid imagery in their own minds. The story was paramount to the teller. Lindahl laments that current storytellers have become enamored with their own performances and become as important to the tale as the tale itself. The “quiet, shyer world of the lone, quiet voice figures too rarely in folkloric performance studies.” Lindahl compares the true märchen tellers to the quilters who are more intrigued in the stitches of their work, and not the beautiful patterns or to the skilled basket weavers who focus on the intended use of the basket and not the aesthetic beauty of the weaving patterns (McCarthy xix-xx). In today’s society, the figure of a great storyteller evokes an image of gestures, voice inflections, voice impersonations provided by a colorful character. Perhaps our sensory overload from high definition televisions, streaming video, IMAX theaters have dulled our appreciation for the story itself, which is created in our own imaginations by a teller with skilled
The narration mimics human speech through breaking grammar rules and using informal language. This is exemplified through the passage where Granny is in the hospital and the narrator comments on the medical system saying, “Those doctors tell Granny, ummmm, ummmm, ummmm. Maybe you better stay here. One day. Four days. Maybe we see something” (King, Magpies 23). The narrator pokes fun at a system which frustrates him and a somewhat sarcastic and witty voice is created in the passage. The uncomplicated nature of the narrator’s speech strengthens the voice of a storyteller and makes the narrator more relatable and realistic. The onomatopoeia of the word “ummmm” adds sound to the narration and brings his speech to life. These techniques pull the reader to not only read, but also to listen to the story. The narrator is given a personality through this and is given the opportunity to express personal opinion and engage with the reader, much like a real
Primary source: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls pages (68, 112, 280, 180-181, 225, 212-213)
The story was told to me by one of my high-school classmates, who is a resident of the town of Atco. The nineteen year old young man is currently a sophomore at Clemson University and describes himself as being a Roman Catholic of half Italian-American and half Irish-American decent. The young man also noted that he is normally very socially conservative and a staunch Republican. His father is employed as a general contractor and his mother runs her own catering company. He describes himself as a “self proclaimed expert of all things related to the Atco Ghost.” He cannot remember the specific date when he first heard the story, but stated that he can remember knowing most of the details to the story for most of his life. He also claims to have attempted to see the ghost on only one occasion and after what he saw, he refuses to ever go back to that area of town at night. The following is an almost word for word account, which he checked to ensure its accuracy, of the lengthy story as he retold it to me ...
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.
In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "The Story of an Hour," the authors use similar techniques to create different tones, which in turn illicit very distinct reactions from the reader. Both use a third person narrator with a limited omniscient point of view to tell of a brief, yet significant period of time. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," Bierce uses this method to create an analytical tone to tell the story of Farquhar's experience just before death. In "The Story of an Hour," Chopin uses this method to create an involved, sympathetic tone to relay the story of Mrs. Mallard's experience just before death. These stories can be compared on the basis of their similar points of view and conclusions as well as their different tones.
The narration is broken up into paragraphs of various lengths, all of which contain long and detailed sentences. E...
It might be pertinent and helpful here to first discuss the structure of the narrative itself, for there are several elements in the sequencing of the discourse that contribute in no small way to the overall effect of the narration/narrator. The narrative begins in media res (beginning in the midst of the action at a crucial junct...