In late May, a Pennsylvania high school hums with the rumor that a
Satanic cult plans on killing the first four couples through the
door on prom night. A horror writer in the Catskills is overcome
with grief, alienated from his wife, unable to write, and suffering
from recurring thoughts of physical and sexual indignities he has
no words to describe. He concludes he has been abducted by aliens.
In a Pizza Hut in Ohio, employees refuse to close alone because the
ghost of a hanged man haunts the refrigerator. Tales such as these
are the subject of Bill Ellis's Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends
We Live. In the book, he explores the complex relationship between
ordinary life and outlandish but oft-told legends. What he finds is
startling. In multiple case studies legends become part of life.
Officials take action in answer to each story's weird details, and
people adjust their behavior to avoid or to experience aliens and
ghosts. Written for both the cultural studies expert and the reader
fascinated with reactions to extraordinary phenomena, Aliens,
Ghosts, and Cults pursues motivations for why people tell these
""true stories, heard from a friend of a friend."" Ellis shows
legends creating a sense of community in a multi-ethnic
institutional camp. He traces some contemporary scares to such old
tales as the vanishing hitchhiker and murderous gang initiations.
In analyzing some newly emerging legend types, such as alien
abductions and computer virus warnings, Ellis discovers connections
between earlier types of religious experience and supposed
witchcraft. Finally, the book reveals how legends can inspire
people to actions, ranging from playful visits to haunted spots to
horrifying threats of violence. Legends rely on active discussion
to spread and mutate. This book considers them to be a social
process, not a kind of narrative with a fixed form. People
worldwide may tell a legend or one person to whom the event
allegedly occurred may ""own"" the story. Individuals may relate an
event as something strongly believed or as something laughable.
Legends may be very new or have roots in old folklore. But when
high schools, law enforcement agencies, city governments, and
individuals take action, the story becomes one of the legends we
live. Bill Ellis is an associate professor of English and American
studies at Penn State University, Hazleton campus. His previous
books include Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religions, and the
Media, and he has been published in Psychology Today, Skeptical
Inquirer, Journal of American Folklore, and Journal of Popular
Literature.
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