Tales
Continued from Page 1
at numerous campuses, garnished
with different details but essen
tially the same stories.
The rumor that if a dorm resi
dent’s roommate commits suicide,
the resident receives a 4.0 GPA for
the term has gained so much na
tional popularity it was made into
a movie, “Dead Man on Campus.”
“My brother said they do that at
his school [Virginia Tech],” fresh
man Ashley Rogers said. “But I’m
not sure if they really do or if he’s
just being stupid.”
Graduate student Bill Hammond
has heard that one, too, as an un
dergraduate at Berkeley. “I heard it
but never believed it," he said.
He’s right. According to the San
Fernando Valley Folklore Society’s
“Urban Legends Reference Page"
(www.snopes.com), no university
in the United States has such a pol
icy. And Sherman confirms that
the University is no exception.
But students continue to tell
the story, sometimes adding that
it really happened to “a friend of
a friend.”
“I think it stems from the fact
that a lot of people aren’t happy
with their roommate,” said Bill
Holmstrom, assistant resident di
rector of Hamilton Complex. “It’s
kind of a fantasy to think about —
their roommate would be gone,
and they wouldn’t have to do any
thing in school.”
Many other campus urban leg
ends spring from fear — fear of
failing, fear of a new place, fear of
being alone, said Barbara Mikkel
son of the San Fernando Valley
Folklore Society.
One tale, in which a dorm resi
dent returns late one night and
leaves the light off, is featured in
the movie “Urban Legend.” The
resident awakens the next morn
ing to a murdered roommate and
the words “Aren’t you glad you
didn’t turn on the light?" written
on the wall. This legend address
es the fear of living on one’s own.
“The legends help by identify
ing dangerous behaviors that
should be curtailed and simple
precautions that should be tak
en,” Mikkelson said. “As such,
Fact vs. fiction
Many urban legends circulate on the
Internet and through e-mail, dis
guised as news stories or factual
items. Here's how to distinguish tact
from urban legend:
1. Be wary of “authoritative” attribu
tion. It doesn't take much to say a
story is from a newspaper.
2. If it doesn't sound like a news story,
it's probably not. Lookfor specific de
tails and thefuil attribution of quote.
3. Be skeptical of anything promis
ing something free.
4. Disbelieve anything that urges
you to forward the message to all of
your friends.
SOURCE: Barbara Mikkelson, The San Fernan
do Valley Folklore Sodety
they help put the student back in
the driver’s seat — or at least give
him the comfort of thinking he’s
back in charge.”
Unlike the 4.0 rumor, some col
lege legends originate at a specific
university, where they become a
part of that campus’ cultural iden
tity. The University has a few of
these, many of them reflecting a
fascination with the structures on
campus.
According to an older legend,
whenever a virgin walks by, the Pi
oneer Mother is supposed to stand,
Sherman said. In another version
of this tale, found in the book “A
Study of American Folklore” by
Jan Brunvand, the Pioneer “father”
whistles at passing virgins.
While these stories are obvious
ly false, other campus legends
have a factual basis.
In the residence halls, RAs often
tell residents of a fire that de
stroyed a dorm room in Bean Com
plex three years ago, said Joshua
Greenough, an RA in Riley Hall.
“We use it to tell people to
make sure they don’t have can
dles and things,” he explained.
The fire, which actually hap
pened, has become an integral
part of campus lore.
Many students have also heard
that Bean Complex used to be a
prison but was converted to a resi
dence hall.
“The reason for that one is be
cause the architect who designed
Bean Complex also designed pris
ons,” Greenough added.
Finally, Greenough said his
freshman residents are convinced
that a network of underground
tunnels connects every building
on campus, another popular leg
end at the University. Some add
that the tunnels are now filled
with telecommunications equip
ment and are inaccessible.
“I think my freshmen are going
to be looking for tunnels all year,”
he said.
These types of urban legends re
sult less from fear than from a de
sire to belong, Greenough believes.
“I think because it’s a new
place, and they really don't know
anything factual about it, the sto
ries help their perception of what
the University is,” he said. "They
can kind of put their hands on it
and say, ‘This is what it is.’”
While freshmen are often cred
ulous about University folklore,
especially those stories based on
fact, Sherman finds that most stu
dents no longer believe the more
outrageous and horrifying urban
legends. She attributes this skep
ticism to the urban legend's fairly
recent initiation into pop culture.
“It’s become a common term.
People know how the tales are
produced, and they don’t believe
it,” she said. “In the past I’ve had
students say, ‘You mean, this did
n’t actually happen?’ But that has
n’t happened for a long time. ”
As students become more famil
iar with urban legends, they disbe
lieve them at increasingly younger
ages, so the campfire storyteller
has a harder time convincing the
audience of their factuality.
But that doesn’t mean the tradi
tional art of folk-telling is dying
out, Sherman added.
“I believe people are still telling
them around campfires; it’s just
their ages are getting younger and
younger.”
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