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The Discourse of Spirits in Enlightenment Bristol
7 Beyond the witch trials Public infidelity and private belief? Public infidelity and private belief? The discourse of spirits in Enlightenment Bristol Jonathan Barry Recent work on the history of witchcraft and magic has identified three themes or approaches as of particular importance in our understanding of a subject which, although it has been centre stage since the publication of Religion and the Decline of Magic in 1971, has continued to trouble historians. The first problem, acknowledged as ‘the most baffling aspect of this difficult subject’ by Thomas himself, is that of ‘decline’: by rendering early modern witchcraft beliefs intelligible, historians have highlighted the issue of why and how far they ceased to have meaning (or function), and many have regarded this as the least satisfactory feature of Thomas’s account.1 The great interest now being displayed in the culture of the long eighteenth century, including its occult aspects, has rendered this theme of pressing concern.2 The second issue concerns the need for case studies. It is broadly agreed that witchcraft must be studied as a conjunctural phenomenon, operating at a whole series of levels and affected by the interplay of a variety of institu- tions, interests and languages. While these can all be analysed separately, it is equally crucial to study their interrelationship and this, for the moment at least, is best done in specific settings where the evidence survives to allow a full reconstruction of the development and resolution of a witchcraft episode.3 Third, historians have become particularly interested in witchcraft as a linguistic phenomenon and one imbedded in narrative. -
“Supernatural” Beginnings in North American Folklore: the Vanishing Hitchhiker and L
“Supernatural” Beginnings in North American Folklore: The Vanishing Hitchhiker and L... Page 1 of 6 University of Missouri A Journal of Undergraduate Writing “Supernatural” Beginnings in North American Folklore: The Vanishing Hitchhiker and La Llorona David J. Shewmaker Rock music blares from the speakers of a car as it drives down a dark wooded road. The young man driving is speaking to his girlfriend on the phone explaining that he can’t make it tonight because it’s late and he has to work in the morning. Just when he hangs up, a beautiful woman in a flowing white dress appears on the side of the road. She stands staring at the car as he slows to a stop. He asks if she needs a ride to which she mysteriously responds, “Take me home?” He opens the passenger door and she gets in. As they drive, he takes notice of her skimpy, white attire. “Coming from a Halloween party or something?” Then, looking from her burgeoning cleavage to her morosely wandering eyes he says, “You know, a girl like you really shouldn’t be alone out here.” She responds by lifting her dress slowly over her knee “I’m with you,” she says. “Will you come home with me?” Excitedly accepting, he speeds off arriving at an abandoned house some time later. He takes a look at the boarded up windows and dilapidated porch. “Come on, you don’t live here . .” he says. She looks at the house longingly. “I can never go home.” “What are you talking about? Nobody even lives here,” he says staring at the house. -
Kynomartyrion)
DOG SACRIFICE IN ANCIENT AND MODERN GREECE: FROM THE SACRIFICE RITUAL TO DOG TORTURE (KYNOMARTYRION) Manolis G. Sergis Abstract: The article presents and discusses the custom of kynomartyrion (dog torture) which took place in the Greek lands until the 1980s. In many areas it stopped in the 1930s because of its cruelty. The author begins his discussion with the presentation of some elements that are related to the dog. More spe- cifically, the dog is an animal that entered the humanized environment long ago and belongs to the creatures whose nature is twofold because it is part of the human and the non-human worlds and it has been treated as twofold by at least the Indo-Europeans. It is also maintained that the liminal Hellenistic period was decisive for the formation of folk worship because of the religious syncre- tism and the invasion of demons that dominated in the Eastern Mediterranean. The author points out its remarkable similarities to ancient Greek and Roman (and Indo-European) fertile, cathartic and other sacrificial practices. Due to industrialization of agriculture and rationalization of the magical way of thought of the “traditional” peasant, performance of the custom was transformed into a folkloric, spectacular one with intensely violent and sadistic behaviour on the part of humans in the places where it still took place after 1960. The writer argues that violence was always an inherent characteristic of the custom. None- theless, the archaic, and later folk thinking ritualized the performance and attributed to it a different facet, devoid of any sacred elements, during the 20th century where its inherent violence was manifested in its raw essence. -
(2011), I Found a Relationship Between a Local “Vanishing Hitchhiker” Legend and a Murder That Took Place Near Owego, New York About 180 Years Ago
THE WHITE LADY O F DEVIL ’S ELBOW ELI za BETH TU C KER While doing research for my book Haunted Southern Tier (2011), I found a relationship between a local “Vanishing Hitchhiker” legend and a murder that took place near Owego, New York about 180 years ago. This legend, “The White Lady of Devil’s Elbow,” raises an interesting question. To what extent can speculation about a violent death that happened many years ago influence the development of a local legend that belongs to a migratory legend pattern? This essay will explore the development of “The White Lady of Devil’s Elbow” from the early 1900s to the present, examining legend texts and reports of “White Lady” pranks played by teenagers. It will also delve into the White Lady’s symbolic meaning, in an effort to explain why she has been important to young people in upstate New York for many years. Near Owego, New York on Route 17C, some people who have driven past a hill called Devil’s Elbow have claimed to have startling experiences. Legends about these experiences describe a young woman wearing a long white dress. Narrators who learned her story in the early twentieth century have described her as a young Victorian lady carrying calling cards who travels in a horse-drawn carriage. In the 1980s, 1990s, and early twenty-first century, adolescent and young adult narrators have described her as a prom queen or a bride. Before vanishing, she asks the driver to stop at the bottom of Devil’s Elbow Hill. When the driver goes to a nearby house to ask about the young woman, he learns that she died in an accident on the hill many years ago. -
The Adorabyssal Oracle
THE ADORABYSSAL ORACLE The Adorabyssal Oracle is an oracle deck featuring the cutest versions of mythological, supernatural, and cryptozoological creatures from around the world! Thirty-six spooky cuties come with associated elements and themes to help bring some introspection to your day-to-day divinations and meditations. If you’re looking for something a bit more playful, The Adorabyssal Oracle deck doubles as a card game featuring those same cute and spooky creatures. It is meant for 2-4 players and games typically take 5-10 minutes. If you’re interested mainly in the card game rules, you can skip past the next couple of sections. However you choose to use your Adorabyssal Deck, it is my hope that these darkly delightful creatures will bring some fun to your day! WHAT IS AN ORACLE DECK? An Oracle deck is similar to, but different from, a Tarot deck. Where a Tarot deck has specific symbolism, number of cards, and a distinct way of interpreting card meanings, Oracle decks are a bit more free-form and their structures are dependent on their creators. The Adorabyssal Oracle, like many oracle decks, provides general themes accompanying the artwork. The basic and most prominent structure for this deck is the grouping of cards based on elemental associations. My hope is that this deck can provide a simple way to read for new readers and grow in complexity from there. My previous Tarot decks have seen very specific interpretation and symbolism. This Oracle deck opens things up a bit. It can be used for more general or free-form readings, and it makes a delightful addition to your existing decks. -
This Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation Has Been Downloaded from Explore Bristol Research
This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: O Lynn, Aidan Anthony Title: Ghosts of War and Spirits of Place Spectral Belief in Early Modern England and Protestant Germany General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. Ghosts of Place and Spirits of War: Spectral Belief in Early Modern England and Protestant Germany Aidan Anthony O’Lynn A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts School of History August 2018 Word Count: 79950 i Abstract This thesis focuses on themes of place and war in the development of ghostlore in Early Modern Protestant Germany and England. -
Articles & Reports
1 Reading & Resource List on Information Literacy Articles & Reports Adegoke, Yemisi. "Like. Share. Kill.: Nigerian police say false information on Facebook is killing people." BBC News. Accessed November 21, 2018. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt- sh/nigeria_fake_news. See how Facebook posts are fueling ethnic violence. ALA Public Programs Office. “News: Fake News: A Library Resource Round-Up.” American Library Association. February 23, 2017. http://www.programminglibrarian.org/articles/fake-news-library-round. ALA Public Programs Office. “Post-Truth: Fake News and a New Era of Information Literacy.” American Library Association. Accessed March 2, 2017. http://www.programminglibrarian.org/learn/post-truth- fake-news-and-new-era-information-literacy. This has a 45-minute webinar by Dr. Nicole A. Cook, University of Illinois School of Information Sciences, which is intended for librarians but is an excellent introduction to fake news. Albright, Jonathan. “The Micro-Propaganda Machine.” Medium. November 4, 2018. https://medium.com/s/the-micro-propaganda-machine/. In a three-part series, Albright critically examines the role of Facebook in spreading lies and propaganda. Allen, Mike. “Machine learning can’g flag false news, new studies show.” Axios. October 15, 2019. ios.com/machine-learning-cant-flag-false-news-55aeb82e-bcbb-4d5c-bfda-1af84c77003b.html. Allsop, Jon. "After 10,000 'false or misleading claims,' are we any better at calling out Trump's lies?" Columbia Journalism Review. April 30, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/trump_fact- check_washington_post.php. Allsop, Jon. “Our polluted information ecosystem.” Columbia Journalism Review. December 11, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/cjr_disinformation_conference.php. Amazeen, Michelle A. -
The Vanishing Hitchhiker” in Rumorfolk Database
Rumours and contemporary legends today: “The Vanishing Hitchhiker” in RumorFolk database Carme Oriol Carazo & Emili Samper Prunera Rovira i Virgili University [email protected] / [email protected] Abstract Although rumours and contemporary legends are widely present in our daily conversations, they can often be difficult to collect through interviews because informants can find it difficult to understand clearly what it is we want them to tell us. When collecting such materials, it is therefore important to use strategies that assist us in the task of identifying rumours and legends. Once the materials have been collected, it is likewise important to ensure that they are kept under the best possible conditions so that they can be easily consulted during the subsequent analysis phase. Given these challenges, the present paper describes strategies that are used to collect rumours and contemporary legends in the research conducted at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain). It explains how the information obtained during research is organised and introduced into the special “RumorFolk” database that has recently been created at the Folklore Archive of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, and concludes by demonstrating how the entire process functions through the analysis of the various versions of one of the legends contained in the database: “The Vanishing Hitchhiker”. Keywords rumour; contemporary legend; database; RumorFolk; The Vanishing Hitchhiker Estudis de Literatura Oral Popular, núm. 5, 2016, 71–83 | DOI: 10.17345/elop201671-83 ISSN: 2014-7996 | http://revistes.urv.cat/index.php/elop Carme Oriol Carazo & Emili Samper Prunera Resum Tot i que els rumors i les llegendes contemporànies estan molt presents en les nostres converses del dia a dia, sovint és difícil recollir-les a través de la tècnica de l’entrevista, ja que als informants els pot costar identificar clarament el que volem que ens expliquin. -
Black Shuck's Lesson in the Anthropocene Jonathan
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Apollo Hounded out of time: Black Shuck’s Lesson in the Anthropocene Jonathan Woolley Division of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Abstract: Drawing in nightmares, shadows and loneliness, this article follows a rarely- trodden and difficult path across the shifting geology of Norfolk; a track marked by fleeting glimpses and horrible signs of the deadly consequences of deep time and human choice. The subject of fascination for folklorists, cryptozoologists and the general public alike; in East Anglia stories abound of a huge, devilish hound, with saucer-shaped eyes and followed by the demonic stench of sulphur; Black Shuck. Pursued by - rather than pursuing - footprints in the mud, whispered stories from isolated places, and the mysteriously mutilated corpses of deer, this ethnographic description considers the significance of encounters with this phantasm for recent debates surrounding the proper understanding of the beginning of the Anthropocene, and the implications of this for our sense time and responsibility. In this era of unprecedented human power over the natural world, the Shuck - the mere sight of whom brings death - still haunts us; his chthonic presence reminding us of the inexorable, yet unpredictable power of death. By attending the monstrous, spectral ambiguity of the Shuck, and his ability to reformulate the landscape of East Anglia as a social space, this article explores the how coeval quality of the longue durée of deep time, and the haunting rupture entailed by the prospect of our own mortality, can enchant, rather than blunt, our sense of human responsibility in the Anthropocene. -
Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: an Authoritative Edition
Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 1-12-2005 Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: An Authoritative Edition Paul Melvin Wise Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Wise, Paul Melvin, "Cotton Mathers's Wonders of the Invisible World: An Authoritative Edition." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2005. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/5 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COTTON MATHER’S WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD: AN AUTHORITATIVE EDITION by PAUL M. WISE Under the direction of Reiner Smolinski ABSTRACT In Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather applies both his views on witchcraft and his millennial calculations to events at Salem in 1692. Although this infamous treatise served as the official chronicle and apologia of the 1692 witch trials, and excerpts from Wonders of the Invisible World are widely anthologized, no annotated critical edition of the entire work has appeared since the nineteenth century. This present edition seeks to remedy this lacuna in modern scholarship, presenting Mather’s seventeenth-century text next to an integrated theory of the natural causes of the Salem witch panic. The likely causes of Salem’s bewitchment, viewed alongside Mather’s implausible explanations, expose his disingenuousness in writing about Salem. Chapter one of my introduction posits the probability that a group of conspirators, led by the Rev. -
Late-Victorian Folklore: Constructing the Science of Fairies
Late-Victorian Folklore: Constructing the Science of Fairies Francesca Bihet Introduction In Andrew Lang’s and May Kendall’s satire That Very Mab (1885) the fairy Queen is captured by a scientist, treated like a butterfly and categorised. When his son starts worshiping the fairy, the scientist proclaims to have discovered the origin of religion. ‘It is worshipping butterflies, with a service of fetich stones. The boy has returned to it by an act of unconscious inherited memory, derived from Palaeolithic Man’ (40). This ‘amusing moment of self-satire’ (Silver 1999: 202), parodies anthropologists searching for the origins of ancient beliefs, especially in fairies. The origin of fairy belief was also one of the first questions addressed by Thomas Keightley in The Fairy Mythology (1828: 3-8). This question of origins also became centrally important to the late Victorian fairy science of the Folklore Society (FLS). Driven by a cultural Darwinian obsession with origins and spurred on by new anthropological theories, folklorists attempted to use cultural survivals to fill the vastly expanded boundaries of human time. Gillian Bennett notes, alongside the field of geology, Darwinism ‘opened up a vast chasm of uncharted ages which, like a vacuum, demanded to be filled with-something’ (1994: 27), therefore anthropologists employed evolutionary theories to provide new explanations. She explains that cultural evolution enabled the ‘fragmentary and diverse materials of anthropology’ to be systemised, promising a ‘scientific basis’ upon which to establish ‘the construction of a prehistory of mankind’ (27). The scientific methodologies of anthropology, to which most FLS members were committed adherents, could now explain the popular Victorian theme of fairies as survivals of ancient religions, primitive animistic beliefs, or half memories of ancient peoples distorted through time. -
2E Haunted Houses
BA RBAR A VIL L IE RS D C H ESS O F C L E VE L AN D , U . m th m z z o tu z t t r in in o e e af e W g . K 3 :2 e HA UN T E D H O US E S T ALES O F T HE SUPERNAT URAL With S o me Acco unt o f H ereditary C ur s e s a n d Fa mil y Le g e n ds By CH A RL E S G A R PE R Ill ustr ated by the A uthor a n ha t ohnson sa id I mer ely me to say w J . T hat i n the cour se of some sex tho usand year s A 11 nations ha ve beli eved tha t f rom the dead A visitant at interva ls appea r s ; t s str n t u on this str a n e hea d A nd wha e a g es p g , bar the r eason rear s ’ ‘ nst such hehe s some thin str on er sh ll Gaz . “g In its beha t those den who w ill f YRO N . lf . y LON DON H L T D C H A PM A N 85 A L L , . 1 907 P RE FA CE vii lands o distant seas and amon the most un is f , g l etter ed sava es r eli ion has been ever o und g , g f , as inva r ia bl th li h t this an d y e be ef in g os s .