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Out of the Ordinary: Folklore and the Supernatural Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 1995 Out of the Ordinary Barbara Walker Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Cultural History Commons Recommended Citation Walker, B. (1995). Out of the ordinary: Folklore and the supernatural. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Out ofthe Ordinary Out of the Ordinary Folklore and the Supernatural Barbara Walker editor UTAH STATE UNNERSITY PRESS Logan, Utah Copyright © 1995 Utah State University Press All rights reserved. Typography by WolfPack Cover design by Michelle Sellers Copyedited by Michelle Sanden Johlas Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Out ofthe ordinary: folklore and the supernatural / Barbara Walker, editor. p. Cffi. ISBN 0-87421-191-3 (cloth) ISBN 0-87421-196-4 (paper) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Folklore. 2. Supernatural. 3. Folklore-United States. 1. Walker, Bar­ bara, 1946- . GR81.098 1995 398'.4-dc20 95-4422 CIP To my daughter, Becky, who for many years lived with the ghost ofMrs. Carson and my disbelief. Contents Preface ix Introduction I. Perception, Belief, and Living 1. Beings Without Bodies: An Experience-Centered Theory of the Belief in Spirits 11 DavidJ. Hufford 2. The Moccasin Telegraph and Other Improbabilities: A Personal Essay 46 Barre Toelken 3. Folklore, Foodways, and the Supernatural 59 Timothy C. Lloyd II. Supernatural Power and Other Worlds: Making Contact 4. Ghosts, Spirits, and Scholars: The Origins of Modern Spiritualism 75 Kenneth D. Pimple 5. Aftermath of a Failed Seance: The Functions of Skepticism in a Traditional Society 90 Maxine Miska 6. Supernatural Experience, Folk Belief, and Spiritual Healing James McClenon 107 Vl11 Contents 7. "If I Knew You Were Coming, I'd Have Baked a Cake": The Folklore ofForeknowledge in a Neighborhood Group 122 Gillian Bennett III. Demons and Gods: Cultural Adaptations and Incorporations 8. Bad Scares and Joyful Hauntings: "Priesting" the Supernatural Predicament 145 Erika Brady 9. The Tourist Folklore ofPele: Encounters with the Other 159 Joyce D. Hammond 10. Terror in Transition: Hmong Folk Belief in America 180 Shelley R. Adler Selected Bibliography 203 Editor 212 Contributors 213 Index 215 Preface THIS BOOK IS AN OUTGROWTH OF UTAH STATE UNNERSITY'S 1991 FIFE CON­ ference on folklore and the supernatural, with some of the articles stemming from lectures presented during the conference by guest faculty members-spe­ cifically, David Hufford, Barre Toelken, Timothy Lloyd, and James McCle­ non. The conference was well received and highly successful, and a book on the topic seemed a worthwhile undertaking. In addition to obtaining these essays from conference faculty, I solicited manuscripts from other scholars working on various issues ofbelief. It would be close to impossible to assemble a complete, comprehensive vol­ ume on folklore and the supernatural. But this book offers a useful selection of topics, ranging from Barre Toelken's examination of Native American com­ munication systems (which confound non-Natives) to Kenneth Pimple's account ofthe ramifications ofpossible hoaxes, the Fox sisters, and the advent of Modern Spiritualism in America; from Timothy Lloyd's interviews with Lloyd Farley about fundamental belief systems that rely on zodiac signs for determining agricultural practices to Erika Brady's exploration ofexorcism and the role of Catholic priests; from David Hufford's intellectual discussion of how belief as a concept is defmed and regarded to Joyce Hammond's look at tourists, Hawaii's goddess Pele, and the desire to experience "Other." .As a whole, the book offers a spectrum of writing that invites questions, generates discussion, and engenders reflection. My sincere appreciation goes to each of the authors for their industry and patience. Many of them are long-time scholars of the supernatural and have published other stimulating works on parallel topics. This project, which encouraged my own thinking about the supernatural, particularly about belief itself as a general concept, has been mentally fun and personally gratifying. It also created an opportunity to work with old friends and a framework for x Preface meeting new ones, which has been an unexpected serendipitous benefit of the book. I am grateful to my colleague Barre T oelken, who, as director of the folk­ lore program at Utah State University, allowed me time to converse and gather, to think and write. Without his generosity and encouragement there would be no book. We share a multitude of impromptu discussions at work and many longer, more memorable conversations in homes, restaurants, auto­ mobiles, airports, and planes. Through tears, laughter, and even disagree­ ments, we have a caring friendship. It would be an oversight not to mention William A. "Bert" Wilson, who is a good friend to many ofus who have written here. Although he is not a direct contributor to this book, Bert and I have worked, walked, talked, and argued together for several years over many ideas that skirt these pages, and I deeply value his keen intelligence and his great heart. I want to thank my former and present workmates Karen Krieger, Randy Williams, and Michele Casavant, who cheerfully toast the good times and unfalteringly soothe the bad. They make Monday through Friday especially good-humored and productive. I am indebted to Michael Spooner and John Alley ofUtah State University Press for their careful and helpful insights, their skilled editorial and produc­ tion know-how, their unwavering encouragement and calming influence, and for being both professionally and personally kind and supportive. Also, I am grateful for the warmth and hard work of their office-mates at USU Press, Anna Furniss and Cathy Tarbet. Finally, I thank copyeditor Michelle Sanden Johlas, who amazed me with her expertise and editing memory, kept our schol­ arship scrupulously clear and honest, gave straightforward feedback, and gen­ erally rescued me from passive voices ofall kinds. BARBARA WALKER Logan, Utah, 1995 Introduction THE ESSAYS IN THIS VOLUME CALL INTO QUESTION THE IDEA THAT THE SUPER­ natural is something strange or even extraordinary, and reading them as a whole brings attention to the fact that aspects ofthe supernatural are comfort­ ably incorporated into everyday life in a variety of cultures (even in those "advanced" communities that emphasize formal education and technological sophistication). These assimilated aspects of the supernatural act as an integral part ofbelief constructions and behavior patterns, and, in many instances, have significant cultural function and effect. The realm ofthe supernatural is inextricably connected to belief, and belief is rooted near human cognition itself, starting with a simple trust in words as symbols that allow thoughts to be communicated, ranging to polished and often complex systems ofbelief on which we may establish meaning and moti­ vation for our lives. As much as we may prefer to think otherwise, we live in an imprecise and ambiguous world, which in its inexactitude allows for the awesome, the inex­ plicable, the wondrous. Consider a circle drawn on a page: In your early alge­ bra lessons, you were taught that to fmd the circumference of a circle you multiplied the diameter by pi, which represents the ratio between the diameter and the circumference ofa circle. But pi is an irrational number (which means it is infmite, it has no end), and when a rational number is multiplied by an irrational one, the resulting number is also irrational. What that meant to me in eighth-grade algebra, and still does, is that either the ratio of the diameter to the circumference (pi) is inexact-perhaps because our mathematical sys­ tem is inadequate for dealing with circles-or that circles have an inherent infmite quality about them. Either way, this phenomenon is pretty astound­ ing, considering circles, our mathematical system, and how our society relies on both. Think how we believe in our circles and in our numbers: think of wheels and gears and things that turn round; think ofone (unity, uniqueness), two (dualities, bilaterals, opposites), three (wishes, examples, strikes and you're out), four (seasons, compass points, humors), ten (numerical and mon­ etary systems), and twelve (inches, hours, months). Think how irrational and infmite our belief is when using pi. What I want to suggest here is that even-or perhaps especially-in areas where we have come to think ofour world as rational and stable, there are ele­ ments of belief and acceptance that are equally as astonishing as belief in the supernatural. There are more than 225 languages spoken by at least one mil­ lion speakers each; the speed at which the earth rotates on its axis intermit­ tently varies, with those variations classified as secular, irregular, or periodic. These two simple facts alone leave amazing latitude regarding how the people ofEarth consider space, time, and the nature ofthe universe. And regardless of how these conceptualizations are formed, they are by nature, at best and always, limiting, compromising, and accepting of a particular way of thinking. There is a leap of faith necessary whenever we adhere to any system of thought, whether it means relying
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