1) My folklore project is about the Heimberger House, a house found in Pickerington that is well known for being ancient and haunted.
2) I have been collecting stories, legends, and photos of the house. All of this applies to folklore because it is material folklore, along with oral folklore. The house is a perfect example of an urban legend, one that's shared by the people who know about it.
3) I decided to do my research project on this house and the stories that surround it because I find it all really interesting. I had a hard time picking a topic, and then the house just hit me like a brick wall. No pun intended?? I love visiting this house and the final project was a good excuse to go digging a little deeper into its history. I took the opportunity to talk to my friends and their friends to see what they had to say about it. I'm excited to see how everything turns out when I finish.
4) I remembered my first time going there, and who I went with. I went with my friend Aydon and his friend Brittany. We went because Aydon is a photography major in college, and he wanted to take photos their for his project. Pretty cool right? On the drive there, Brittany told me stories about the house and I was instantly excited to go see what this house was all about. So my first step was to talk to Aydon and see what he knew\remembered, and then I had him get me Brittany's information so that I could talk to her. After I talked to her, I had her give me her friend Ryan's info, who told her about the house. I just went from there, going as far back as I could. I also went to a pizza place, near to the house called Tarantos. I'd stop there once a few years to get directions, they knew exactly where it was, and which stories I was talking about. Unfortunately when I went this time, the people who had helped me before weren't there. I went and took photos of the house, and I also asked Aydon for copies of his photos from when we went three years ago. I'm putting all of the stories, photos, and anything else I can get together for an amazing project.
5) I learned that the telephone game wasn't flawed when it showed us how much a story can change through a circle of people. I learned more about the house, how much of it is true, I don't really know. I learned about people staying there, and what their experiences were like. I generally enjoyed doing this, and talking to people and what they thought was true, and what wasn't.
6) I would have thought of this project sooner if I could start over! I was originally going to do a project on my family, but I decided not to do that. After scramblind for ideas for a little while, I finally thought to do this one. I feel like I've done well representing this house and its history so far, but only my grade will tell! I don't feel like I should have done anything else terribly different, as I think I've done an okay job so far. I have not been able to find any real history on this house, and I have soooo many questions about that. I don't know the address. Honestly, the only way to get there is if you've been there before. I want to know more about the actual house, and real history, as opposed to what the oral folklore has to tell me :)