Kirkland Hall's Bells, Yes or No?

Collected by Peter Young (steven.p.young@vanderbilt.edu)

Summary: This is a tale that explains a possible reason for the noise in the Kirkland tower.

Text:  "It all began a long time ago when I was but a mere Freshman. I
believe it was August of 1996, when I was touring around with my Vucept
group. Our Vuceptor was discussing all the different buildings and as
we approached Kirkland Hall, he told us that 'actually, I actually heard
from my Vuceptor that the bells in Kirkland Hall are not actually bells,
in fact they are a sophisitcated speaker system which just tolled the
number of times it needed to.'"

Notes:  I think this tale is pretty typical of many tales around the world.
The person telling the tale is passing down a tale they had heard at an
earlier time, but the difference is that the person telling my informant
probably altered a couple of facts or details about their tale, maybe to
enhance it, or maybe to make it his "own." This changing of facts or
themes is something that occurs all the time by people telling tales,
and this alteration is what makes the tales unique. The tale my
informant told me was not verbatim what his Vucept told him, he was
forced to alter some aspects of the tale to make his own tale. People
find pride in concocting their own tales, thus providing themselves with
a great sense of pride.

CONTEXT
A.Brief Summary of tale: This is a tale that explains a possible
reason for the noise in the Kirkland tower.

B.Tale type and motifs: A school history tale

C.Comments on tale: This is a tale that demonstrates how tales get
passed on from one person to another, whether they are true is
ultimately left up to the individual.

D.Approximate date informant first heard the tale: August of 1996

E.Relationship of your informant with the individual from whom the
informant heard the tale: My informant was one of the individual's
Vuceptees at the time of telling.

F.Circumstances when tale was first heard: My informant was taking his
initial tour of the campus during the beginning of his Freshman year in
his Vucept group.

G.Give the following information on your informant:

Age: 21
Sex: Male
Place of birth: New York City
Ethnic Group: White/Caucasion
Languages spoken: American English
Religion: Christian
Year in school: Junior
Extracurricular jobs: none
Date collected: September 15, 1998