This is the blog for Matt Hollingsworth. I'm from Ojai, California. I've worked in comics for 22 years as a color artist.

This blog will largely be used to show my daily life as I live in Samobor, Croatia and as I travel around the region. Lots and lots of photos! Leave me a comment, will you?

All content on this blog is copyright 2013 Matthew Dale Hollingsworth and cannot be copied or used for any purpose without my consent.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Maybe some folks are curious about the Croatian language. I'm posting my homework for my language lessons for yesterday.

The assignment was to write a ghost story or something about a local myth from where I am from. So, I chose "Char Man", which is the most famous legend from my small town of Ojai, California. I had to write this, then tell my teacher the story without looking at my paper. And I made no mistakes! Woo hoo!

First the Croatian version then the English:

U godini 1948. bio je veliki požar šikare u Ojaiu, selu iz kojeg dolazim. Požar je spalio veliki dio doline. Nitko nije mogao ući u dolinu, zato jer je požar bio suviše veliki. Kasnije, ljudi su provjerili sve kuće na obroncima planine. Tražili su preživjelu osobu i našli su zabačenu kolibu gdje je čovjek živio s njegovim sinom. čovjek je umro u požaru i njegov sin je bio opećen. Sin je tonuo u ludilo i objesio je oca na obližnje drvo i ogulio ga je. Kasnije je pobjegao u šumu. Još obilazi šumu kao duh, izlazi noću, luduje kao luđak i plaši mještane.

In the year 1948 there was a large brushfire in Ojai, the village which I come from. The fire burned a large part of the valley. Nobody could enter the valley, because the fire was too big. Afterwards, people checked every house in the foothills. They searched for survivors and found a remote cabin where a man lived with his son. The man died in the fire and his son was burned. The son descended into madness and hung his father from a nearby tree and skinned him. Afterwards he fled into the forest. He still haunts the forest like a ghost, coming out at night, raving like a madman and scaring the locals.

6 comments:

Buddy Repperton said...

CHAR MAN! The first Char Man story I heard was a variation on The Hook, with the couple making out in a car on Creek Road and hearing something dragging across the roof ... which you know turns out to be ... wait for it ... CHAR MAN!

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani said...

What a treat to check my Google alerts for Ojai and find your blog with the Char Man story. We used to scare my little brother and sister by saying that he'd lived in a burned out house just up the hill from us on Signal Street. Ojai folk move around alot but we never forget our roots.

All the best in your travels

Matt Hollingsworth said...

Hahaha! Ojai people unite!

I think every generation since 1948 has heard *some* variation on this story. I don't remember hearing the actual story, just that a charred guy named Char Man was haunting the woods. we always heard it about Creek Road, though.

Thanks for dropping by, ladies.

Girl said...

That's an awesome story! And it looks even awesomer (word?) in Croatian!! :)

Unknown said...

I can't believe you wrote char-man in Croatian. This may be the first piece of literature to ever be written about Ojai and translated into Croatian. Literary history is made!

Matt Hollingsworth said...

Heh heh. Glad to make history. And yeah, Jen, I think it looks cooler and sounds cooler in Croatian.