October Prompt: Spirits, Hauntings, Legends, Lores & Ghosts
Contrary to popular culture, not all dab are “malevolent spirit[s]” (Fadiman 1998: 4)*. However, in the late 1970s, early 1980s, the sudden, unexpected, nocturnal deaths (SUNDS) of some two dozen Laotians (predominantly Hmong refugees) drew the attention of the national news media. The CDC team that was dispatched to investigate the string of deaths occurring across multiple states concluded that these men (and one woman) had died in their sleep as a result of nightmares. This was the inspiration behind Wes Craven’s Elm Street killer, Freddy Kruger’s “power”.
I was unaware of these events growing up — on Elm Avenue (#truestory). As a Hmong American girl, there were many other things to be frightened of (dogs barking at night, pointing at a crescent moon) as well as to learn about the “Spirit World”. Both my yawm txiv and an aunt are shaman.
For the months of October, maivmai seeks writers and contributions exploring these themes of ghosts/spirits, hauntings, legends and lore. Whether your dab are good or evil, human or other — we want to read your stories about your experiences dealing with the divide and overlap from dab teb. Additionally, we are also interested in stories about superstitions and taboos as well as rituals related to grief, remembrance and faith and forgiveness. Feel free to call upon the ancestors — we’d like to hear what they are saying.
*For further commentary on the Fadiman/dab quote, see maivmai co-editor, Chelsey’s post: https://medium.com/hmongamericangirlx/the-spirit-catches-you-a-malevolent-spirit-called-a-dab-9d8ed7a17060
Suggestions for further reading:
Adler, Shelley R. (2011). Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-body Connection. Rutgers University Press.
Akhtar, Arif (2017). “Some Nightmares Are Real — the Mysterious Deaths that Inspired ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’”, Medium. https://medium.com/@arifakhtar/some-nightmares-are-real-the-mysterious-deaths-that-inspired-a-nightmare-on-elm-street-1cafb7450c78
Lanford, Jean (2013). Consoling Ghosts: Stories of Medicine and Mourning from Southeast Asians in Exile. University of Minnesota Press.
Taylor, Charles (1981, May 15th). “Nightmarish screams precede some of 20 Laotian mystery deaths,” UPI Archives. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/05/15/Nightmarish-screams-precede-some-of-20-Laotian-mystery-death/6775358747200/
