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Fabio Camilletti Melissa, O La Realtà Dei Fantasmi

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Fabio Camilletti Melissa, O La Realtà Dei Fantasmi 323 Caietele Echinox, vol. 35, 2018: Neo-Gothic – Hybridizations of the Imaginary Fabio Camilletti Melissa, o la realtà dei fantasmi Melissa, or the reality of phantasms I pionieri si divertivano a raccontarsi Abstract: Whereas horror and neogothic storie di paura. La notte capitava che fiction often coincide with the literary or si sedessero nella capanna di uno di cinematographic re-elaboration of folkloric loro o intorno a un fuoco e vedevano beliefs, Melissa’s case – a typical urban legend, chi era più bravo a spaventare gli altri. possessing, nonetheless, a quite peculiar origin: Alcuni ragazzi e ragazze della mia the first testimonies of ‘Melissa’ are actually città fanno la stessa cosa ancora oggi. not to be found in local newspapers, nor even Si ritrovano a casa di qualcuno, spen- in the bush advertising coming from ‘a friend gono le luci e mangiano popcorn, e si of a friend’, but in the works published by spaventano a morte l’uno con l’altro. the neogothic writer Danilo Arona since the La gente si è raccontata storie di paura mid-2000s – inverted the process : from the per migliaia di anni, perché alla mag- parole of the written page, a literary creation gior parte di noi piace essere spaventati had re-entered the langue of shared belief. This in quel modo. E dato che non c’è alcun pericolo, pensiamo che sia divertente. article analyzes the genesis and development Alvin Schwartz, Scary Stories to Tell of Melissa’s legend: as a variant of the ubiqui- in the Dark tous urban legend of the ‘Phantom Hitch-hiker’, Melissa corresponds to a turn of the screw in Non ho mai detto che siano possibili, the hypermodern relationship between Gothic ho solo detto che sono veri. fiction and popular culture. William Crookes, sugli esperimenti Keywords: Italian Literature; Danilo Arona; del medium D.D. Home Ghost Stories; Urban Folklore; Hypermodernity; Phantom Hitch-Hiker. l 3 settembre 2017 il quotidiano online PadovaOggi pubblicava un articolo Fabio Camilletti Idedicato a « Melissa, il fantasma dell’au- University of Warwick, Great Britain tostrada ».1 Il 29 dicembre 1999, alle [email protected] 5 :20 del mattino, quattro automobilisti differenti, su quattro diverse autostrade – DOI: 10.24193/cechinox.2018.35.21 la A13 in corrispondenza dello svincolo autostradale di San Pelagio, a pochi chi- lometri da Padova ; la A1 all’altezza dello 324 Fabio Camilletti svincolo di San Martino, a Parma ; la A27, alla prima testimonianza documentata di presso il casello di Treviso Sud ; la A4 – Melissa in rete : un articolo dello scrittore avevano investito o rischiato di investire la alessandrino Danilo Arona, pubblicato il 1 stessa ragazza, dai capelli lunghi e biondi, febbraio 2005 dalla rivista online Carmilla con indosso un giubbotto rosso e dei jeans. e che è a tutta evidenza la fonte diretta o Inutile aggiungere che nessun altro l’aveva indiretta del libro di Tellaroli.5 Arona rife- vista, cadaveri non se ne erano mai tro- risce a sua volta di « un sito su Internet che vati e tornando indietro, sulla carreggiata, […] ha parlato a lungo » di Melissa, e sul di ragazze bionde non c’era traccia. « La quale tornerà a più riprese : ma il sito in nostra Cappuccetto Rosso », proseguiva questione è inaccessibile da anni, e d’al- l’anonimo articolista, « divenne molto tronde gli unici riferimenti alla pagina e al famosa, ma sua identità rimase ignota […] suo misterioso webmaster ‘Francesco’ sono i media le diedero il nome di Melissa […]. tutti interni all’opera dello stesso Arona, Gli autisti ribadirono però più volte la pro- facendo sorgere il sospetto che si tratti di pria versione dei fatti e fornirono testimo- un’invenzione dello scrittore, tesa a creare nianze precise e attendibili. La verità è che un appiglio extra-testuale ai propri rac- la nebbia padovana non smetterà mai di conti. Non è importante, qui, stabilire se stupire ». sia questo il caso – circostanza che, ad ogni L’articolista non forniva molti altri modo, lo stesso Arona ha di recente negato, dettagli, e il pezzo finiva per apparentarsi in due contributi dedicati proprio al tra- a quelle « testimonianze vaghe, da credere vaso della storia di Melissa dalla letteratura sulla fiducia, e dai riferimenti volutamente all’Urban Folklore dell’Italia settentrionale.6 imprecisi e inverificabili » che periodica- Ciò che importa è che Melissa – crea- mente riaffiorano nella stampa periodica tura indecidibile, al crocevia tra leggenda quando le notizie scarseggiano e il pub- metropolitana e invenzione d’autore – fini- blico ha sete di mistero.2 È interessante, sca per scombinare l’opposizione tra lette- tuttavia, rimarcare i pochi anni impiegati ratura e cultura popolare. Se, nel caso della da ‘Melissa’ – dal dicembre 1999 a oggi prima, compito del filologo è « sceverare – per entrare nel folclore metropolitano l’autentico dal non-autentico, […] resti- di Padova : e farlo attraverso un gioco di tuire l’originale », nel caso di quest’ultima plagi, citazioni, contagi ed echi che sem- l’autore non esiste, o, meglio, « non ha un bra accompagnare la storia di Melissa sin nome ; e anche se lo avesse lo perde perché dalle sue prime manifestazioni sul web. “il suo nome è legione” ».7 In questo esibito L’articolista di PadovaOggi, infatti, si era gioco tra popolare e autoriale, tra originali limitato a ricopiare un articolo apparso perduti (o mai esistiti) e una tradizione dif- non più di due anni prima nel sito web fratta – e nella quale « tutti gli elementi che La vecchia Padova ;3 ma il webmaster la costituiscono hanno uguale valore »8 – de La vecchia Padova, a sua volta, aveva si trova, credo, la specificità di Melissa nel ripreso parola per parola (dichiarandolo) panorama del neogotico contemporaneo, e un capitolo di Misteri e storie insolite di la sfida che il suo enigma pone alle catego- Padova di Paola Tellaroli, uscito nel 2015.4 rie della critica letteraria. E di lì, andando a ritroso, si può arrivare 325 Melissa, o la realtà dei fantasmi Fantasmi della strada che il fantasma ha cercato altre volte di tornare, in genere all’anniversa- a sempre il gotico e l’horror hanno rio della morte per incidente d’auto. pescato dal folclore – reale o inventato Spesso, inoltre, il fantasma lascia nella Dal bisogno – come risorsa di temi e motivi, macchina qualche oggetto come una e a partire dagli anni ’90 anche l’influenza sciarpa o una borsa da viaggio).11 del folclore urbano è diventata esplicita.9 Pellicole come Candyman di Bernard Rose L’autostoppista fantasma aveva atti- (1992), Campfire Tales di Matt Cooper, rato l’attenzione della comunità scienti- Martin Kunert e David Semel (1996) e fica sin dal 1942, quando gli antropologi Urban Legend di Jamie Blanks (1998) – ma Richard Beardsley e Rosalie Hankey ave- anche Ringu di Hideo Nakata (1998) inizia vano pubblicato un articolo intitolato pro- con due adolescenti intente a spaventarsi a prio « The Vanishing Hitchhiker ».12 A vicenda con aneddoti paurosi – si rifanno quella data, i due autori la vedevano ancora esplicitamente a quel corpus di storie rac- come una leggenda tipicamente americana, contate « in genere intorno ai falò degli individuandone quattro ‘versioni’ di base scout dopo il tramonto, quando i marshmal- che possono essere considerate complessi- lows infilzati sui rametti ancora verdi ven- vamente valide ancora oggi : l’autostoppi- gono arrostiti sopra le braci » e che hanno sta che svanisce dall’abitacolo dell’auto (la un solo e unico scopo : « impaurire a morte versione A, la più diffusa), l’autostoppista i ragazzini dopo il tramonto del sole ».10 che prima di svanire formula una profe- Da questo punto di vista, Melissa zia (B), la ragazza incontrata in un bar o appare chiaramente per quello che è : una a un ballo e che chiede di essere portata variazione letteraria sul tema dell’‘auto- al cimitero (C) e una variante specifica- stoppista fantasma’ (phantom hitch-hiker mente hawaiana, che identifica l’autostop- per gli inglesi ; vanishing hitchhiker per gli pista in una divinità locale (D). Già l’anno americani), probabilmente la più celebre seguente, tuttavia, Beardsley e Hankey e paradigmatica delle leggende urbane. dovevano ammettere che il fenomeno si Catalogata da Stith Thompson nel suo estendeva ben oltre i confini degli Stati indice dei motivi della letteratura popo- Uniti, facendo dell’autostoppista fantasma lare come E.332.3.3.1, la storia è definibile una vera e propria leggenda globale :13 da nella sua forma essenziale come segue : allora gli studi si sono moltiplicati, confer- mando questa prima impressione. Tracce Fantasma di giovane donna chiede un dell’autostoppista fantasma si trovano pra- passaggio in automobile, sparisce dalla ticamente in ogni continente14 – e l’Italia, macchina chiusa senza che il condu- com’è ovvio, non fa eccezione.15 cente se ne accorga dopo aver dato Ciò che ci interessa qui, tuttavia, non l’indirizzo dove vuole essere condotta. è tanto la distribuzione della leggenda nel Il conducente chiede della passeggera folclore italiano, quanto la sua presenza alla persona che trova a quell’indi- nella cultura pop : vale a dire, la sua ricono- rizzo e scopre che è morta da qualche scibilità proprio in quanto leggenda urbana, tempo (spesso il conducente scopre che rende possibili operazioni di recupero e 326 Fabio Camilletti ammiccante rifunzionalizzazione letteraria presenza più o meno costante della rubrica come quelle di Danilo Arona e, in prece- ‘Cronache di Bassavilla’ che Arona tiene denza, di Mino Milani e Gianni Celati.16 Se su Carmilla, e la protagonista assoluta del l’editore Armenia, attivo sin dagli anni Set- libro dallo stesso titolo che esce nel 2006.23 tanta nel campo dell’occulto, aveva tradotto Nel 2007 Arona pubblica Melissa Parker e già nel 1985 il pionieristico The Evidence l’incendio perfetto, presentato in copertina for Phantom Hitch-Hikers di Michael Goss come « il primo episodio della saga italiana (1984),17 è tra fine anni Ottanta e inizio anni dell’horror ».24 Del 2009 è Ritorno a Bassa- Novanta che assistiamo, in Italia, a una vasta villa, antologia di gotico padano in cui la operazione di aggiornamento editoriale presenza di Melissa è più marginale : ma riguardo al tema delle leggende urbane.
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