Legend-Tripping Online

01001010010101010101101010010100010110100Legend-Tripping Online

Supernatural Folklore and the Search for Ong’s Hat

Michael Kinsella

University Press of Mississippi • Jackson www.upress.state.ms.us

The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association of American University Presses.

First printing 2011 ∞ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kinsella, Michael, 1973– Legend-tripping online : supernatural folklore and the search for Ong’s hat / Michael Kinsella. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-1-60473-983-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60473-984-8 (ebook) 1. Supernatural. 2. Legends. 3. Parapsychology. I. Title. BF1040.5.K56 2011 130—dc22 2010038182

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available For my mother, Cheryl McDonald This page intentionally left blank 01001010010101010101101010010100010110100Contents

preface IX

acknowledgments XIII

1. Legends and Legend Ecologies 3

2. The Performance of Legend-Tripping 21

3. The Technology of Magic and the Magic of Technology 42

4. Conjuring Tales 56

5. Accounts of Past Happenings and the Challenge to Investigate 66

6. Journey into Uncanny Territory 85

7. Contact with the Supernatural 112

8. Intense Discussion and the Processing of Events 127

9. Conclusion 137

Notes on the Appendices 149

appendix 1. Key to “Incunabula Papers” and “Ong’s Hat” Referents 150

VII VIII CONTENTS

appendix 2. Ong’s Hat: Gateway to the Dimensions! A Full Color Brochure for the Institute of Chaos Studies and the Moorish Science Ashram in Ong’s Hat, New Jersey 151 appendix 3. Incunabula: A Catalogue of Rare Books, Manuscripts & Curiosa—Conspiracy Theory, Frontier Science & Alternative Worlds 162

Notes 186

Bibliography 198

Index 206 01001010010101010101101010010100010110100Preface

In 1882, the Society for Psychical Research was established to empiri- cally test firsthand accounts of ostensibly supernatural phenomena such as “raps,” levitation, and apparitions commonly reported by persons participating in séances. Although religiously significant to Spiritualists, sé- ances were also an extremely popular form of entertainment, as people wished to see for themselves whether the many stories and legends they had heard about the medium’s abilities to summon the otherworldly were true. Four years earlier, in 1878, the Folk-Lore Society had been founded to collect and classify stories and customs of the Old World, including those that involved supernatural tales, beliefs, and practices. Andrew Lang, the only person elected president of both these organizations, as- sumed, as did his fellow folklorists, that supernatural tales and beliefs were “survivals” of primitive folk psychologies and remnants of ancient modes of thought. Lang, however, also proposed, along with other psychical researchers, that many supernatural stories were in some way related to actual psychical occurrences. Lang aggressively attempted to merge folklore and psychical research into the study of “psycho-folklorism” in order to examine how concepts of the supernatural relate to both individual experience and cultural traditions, but neither the Folk-Lore Society nor the Society for Psychical Research pursued this union.1 Historically, the disciplines of folklore and psychical research have shared an interest in the supernatural, although to very different ends. While the folklorist is concerned with the ways that supernatural traditions—consisting of behaviors, beliefs, narratives, and material culture— are transmitted and how they creatively express and address the worldviews of individuals and groups, the psychical researcher (today more commonly known as a parapsychologist, though these roles somewhat differ) investigates whether the experiences described by supernatural narratives are based in scientific fact. As a folklorist, I have studied

IX X PREFACE people’s versatile relationships to the supernatural and while observing and participating in psychic circles, ghost-hunting expeditions, Peruvian shamanic ceremonies, and UFO investigations, I’ve come to appreciate that many supernatural traditions operate in such an ingenious fashion as to motivate people to generate the very supernatural worlds these traditions portray. By harnessing the interpretive frameworks that supernatural traditions provide, people can enter particular states of mind in which they become especially inclined to have supernatural experiences that may consist of anything from seeing visions or conversing with the dead to encountering otherworldly intelligences. Such experiences, once recounted as legends, then become assimilated into the very traditions that described them. Though folklorists and psychical researchers have for over a century preserved the distinction between “experience” and “tradition,” I suggest we look at how people draw upon supernatural traditions to generate supernatural experiences. As both a thematic category and as a perspective with parameters dictated by sociocultural conventions, discourse communities, and individual experiences, the supernatural offers us op- portunities to step outside the confines of the everyday, which, in turn, can reframe our expectations and modify our beliefs. The supernatural permits us and sometimes even forces us to go beyond the dichotomies of fact and fiction, truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, tradition and experience. In doing so, we become able to effect changes upon ourselves, although this process sometimes proves traumatic rather than therapeu- tic, bewildering instead of sagacious. But just as the legend transforms, it also preserves, maintaining long-held assumptions and beliefs about the otherworldly. That we opportune supernatural experiences by no means precludes the possibility that some anomalous experiences occur in the absence of familiarity with supernatural lore.2 But by examining both the experi- ential and traditional aspects of legends as performances, this book ac- knowledges that supernatural legends demonstrate efforts to codify and manage anomalous perceptions and states of mind, making them, at least in part, theoretically and experientially accessible. Supernatural legends are complex narratives that encourage ostensive reenactment of their content and inspire investigations of their veracity. Ostensive reenactments specifically motivated by the desire to test a legend’s truth are known to folklorists as legend-trips—ritual performances in which participants seek to presence the very experiences chronicled in the legend. Preface XI

Legends do not exist within a vacuum nor are they told exclusively in face-to-case interactions. Many people today regularly tell legends by using various combinations of image, audio, video, and text in online en- vironments.3 Legend-telling online operates slightly differently than when performed in face-to-face situations, since computer-mediated communi- cation permits tellers to instantly present various kinds of “evidence” and to hypertextually connect their accounts to other legends to form vast legend complexes. And when people become immersed in these legend complexes, they may participate in an online form of legend-tripping. In this work, I provide an ethnography of online legend-tripping performances surrounding two enigmatic documents collectively called “The Incunabula Papers.” Anonymously written, the Incunabula Papers present a series of past accounts, blurring together factual and fictional in- formation with various elements of supernaturalism; they are transmitted through the virtual equivalent of word of mouth and prompt much debate, since there is no consensus as to what these documents really “are.” Although they may seem different from other kinds of supernatural legends people normally come in contact with, the Incunabula Papers and the communicative performances surrounding them constitute a legend complex. Incunabula is a term that generally refers to artifacts of an early period, particularly books printed before 1501; its literal meaning is “cradle,” and the word itself denotes the earliest stages or traces of anything. The Incunabula Papers are arguably the first immersive online legend complex that introduced readers to a host of content, including what religious historian Robert Ellwood has called the “alternative reality tradition,” which are those customs and beliefs that involve seeking out metaphysical or occult knowledge and experiences.4 Chapters 1 through 4 describe the various forms and functions of legends and legend-trips and show how supernatural legends and legend- trips operate akin to occult texts and magic rituals that promote shifts in attitudes and worldviews. These chapters also illustrate how supernatural concepts shape and are shaped by technological and scientific innovations. My presentation of the ethnography follows the structure of a legend-trip as described by folklorist Bill Ellis because this permits the clearest illustration of means by which immersion within an online alter- nate reality unfolds as a legend-trip.5 As such, chapter 5 explores the Incu- nabula Papers’ accounts of past happenings and its challenge to audiences to investigate these accounts; chapter 6 describes participants’ journey into uncanny territory; chapter 7 recounts various reports of encounters XII PREFACE with the supernatural; and chapter 8 summarizes the intense discussion and processing of events that conclude legend-trips. It is important to understand that the ritual structure of legend-trips is progressive as well as recursive; experiences resulting from legend-trips become incorporated into the legend narrative. Many of the transcripts I’ve gathered include a number of idiosyncratic phrases and misspelled words. Perhaps some of these apparent errors are nothing more than typos (such as writing the word “catlogue” instead of “catalogue,” etc.), but some indicate a specialized form of communica- tion that participants of the Incunabula Papers legend-trip use to shift the mindset of the writer and/or reader. Because of this, I have left all distinctive and erroneous spelling, punctuation, and spacing unchanged. I have, however, occasionally provided excerpts in lieu of lengthier texts, though I’ve tried to prevent compromising the integrity and ideas of these posts. I do not refer to people who post on message boards as either male or female, unless their gender has been confirmed elsewhere. The phrases “Incunabula Papers” and “Ong’s Hat” are used several times to refer to various phenomena, so Appendix 1 provides a key. Legends are assuming ever-greater influence in a world confront- ing new speeds of diversity, connection, and knowledge. As guardians of tradition as well as agents of change, legends—especially supernatural legends—contextualize persistent and emergent ideas, behaviors, and technologies that challenge our familiar realities. This book offers a theo- retical perspective that analyzes supernatural legends accordingly. 01001010010101010101101010010100010110100Acknowledgments

I developed many of the ideas in this book while working toward my MA at Western Kentucky University, and I am indebted to the Department of Folk Studies for their guidance. I’m also grateful to all who shared their photographs, stories, and adventures with me over the years.

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