Kelsey LundFollow

Date Collected

Fall 12-1-2017

Place item was collected

Logan, Utah

Informant

Lauren Romero

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

Lauren is a very creative, kind, and fun person. She is a student at Utah State University studying Graphic Design. She is a very talented person with skills in photography, design, and drawing. Lauren is a member of Kappa Delta Sorority at Utah State. She and I joined the sorority at the same time and have become good friends. Lauren is quiet when in a large group but has a positively infectious personality otherwise. After joining Kappa Delta, she has been able to make many friends and participate in the sorority in different facets.

Context

This piece was collected at a smoothie placed called Jamba Juice here in Logan, Utah. Lauren Romero and I went up the canyon earlier for a place to take pictures and we were going back and she invited me to join her at Jamba Juice with our other friend Lauren Morrill. I had previously talked to Lauren Morrill about talking about Patty, but I didn’t know Lauren Romero had an experience with Patty as well. When Lauren Morrill was asked about Patty, she seemed to have multiple stories, one’s she has told people before. After hearing Lauren Morrill give her accounts, Lauren Romero felt comfortable to share her story as well. She recognized what story Lauren Morrill was about to tell and knew she could contribute a more personal version of this story. Patty the ghost is not often talked about. The experience that Lauren Romero had I had never heard even though I have spent a lot of time with her. Speaking about Patty is usually reserved for small groups and only when asked. As Kappa Delta’s we are not supposed to talk about Patty very openly, especially with potential new members. We are expected to portray the best and Patty is not the most important thing we want other girls to know about. When asked, though, sisters are often willing to talk about what happened to them. Ritual is a very important and sacred thing to Kappa Delta’s. We have a closet that hosts items needed during meeting and our rituals that is adjacent to our chapter room where we hold meetings. There are two doors that lead to the chapter room. We are always to close the main door, but the second door can be open or closed. The main door is only locked from the inside, you cannot unlock it from the outside. This is for the purpose of keeping ritual protected. The rules in place state that whenever we are to open the ritual closes, we must lock the door that leads to the chapter room. This is done to protect our ritual from people who have not gone through ritual. Once the door to the ritual closet is open, the chapter door may be opened.

Text

Lauren M: One time the door was, um, the, what is it called? The acti-

Me: Chapter room?

LM: Yea! The chapter room door was locked

Lauren R: Yea both of them. After we opened the ritual closet both of them were locked and somebody was knocking on the other side of the chapter room door.

LM: And nobody was in there! I don’t remember the knocking part.

Me: Did that happen to you Lauren [speaking to Lauren R]?

LR: Yea, I was over at the house.

LM: It was weird!

LR: And they went to go do ritual stuff [clears throat] to measure composites, or something? But they had to get something from the ritual closet? So they closed both doors and then they opened them and unlocked them and then it just closed. And both of them were locked and so you couldn’t get in on either side of the chapter room. So we had to take the hinges off. And then do it.

Me: Oh my

LR: That’s the only personal experience I’ve had with Patty.

Texture

Lauren was quiet during most of the conversation. She is often quiet when asked questions on the spot. Once she recognized the story Lauren M. was about to tell, she confidently and quietly inserted the portion in which she knew. She was focused when telling the story, and did not use many embellishments. It did seem as though she had retold this story because she knew what she wanted to say and didn’t hesitate. The minor hesitations I saw was when she was recounting the reason for the girls being in the ritual closet, an action she wasn’t present for. She was able to calmly tell the story which added to the strength of the story as a whole.

Course

Introduction to Folklore/ English 2210

Instructor

Dr. Lynne S. McNeill

Semester and year

Fall 2017

Theme

G7: Revenants

EAD Number

2.1.8.5.10

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