Mercy, Mercy Brown

Just finshed reading Kathleen Tierney's Blood Oranges, the first book in a proposed trilogy by one of my go-to-authors (recognized more readily as Caitlin R. Kiernan). This is a witty parody, filled with tropes and commentary on many of the current poular fantasy novels and films featuring vampires (definitely doesn't sparkle) and werewolves in a contemporary urban setting. While I enjoyed/cringed/gulped the adventure, I was particularly taken by the many references to Rhode Island's historical famous "vampire," Mercy Brown.

I spend a little time with Mercy and legend tripping behaviour in What Happens Next? Contemporary Legends and Popular Culture (page 48). Two of Kiernan's earlier works are annotated: the novel The Red Tree (2009) and the short story "As Red as Red" published in Haunted Legends (2010).

Kiernan, writing as Tierney, has her narrator Quinn say this about the gravesite:

The tombstone's nothing fancy, a slab of marble with dates of birth and death, just the usual. Visitors had left a random assortment of tokens lined up along the top of the storn: pennies, small stones, a pewter pin from the Newport Folk Festival. In front of the stone there was no grass at all, just a dirt patch worn smooth by long years of the feet of those who came to see. The letters engraved in the marble had become ever more indistinct as a hundred and sixteen years of rain had eaten at the stone. Another hundred, it'll likely only be an anonymous slab. But maybe I'll still be around, and I'll remember.

The stone was securely bolted down with iron bands and concrete to ensure some damned frat boy, goth kid, or eBay huckster wouldn't try to make off with it (241).

Spotting contemporary legends in pop culture

"Not much scared me, but someone scratching under my bed as I lay on it was way too urban legend for me. Next I would hear a drip only to discover it was the blood of my boyfriends hanging dead from a tree. Luckily, I had no trees in my apartment. Then I thought, Hey, a tree would add a nice touch." (page 68)
A bit of a mismash from "The Boyfriend's Death" and "Dogs Can Lick Too." Fun all around.

Forthcoming Title (April 2012)

Truth Seeker by C. E. Murphy

I am always delighted to find several of my divergent research topics together in one novel. I have just finished reading the first volume in the two volume storyline by C. E. Murphy. I thoroughly engaged with the story line and the characters and enjoyed the mentions of the contemporary legend of the scuba diver in the tree and the ballad of Tam Lin. Now I have to await patiently (not my strong suit) for the conclusion of the story in Wayfinder (coming soon).

The contemporary legend:
"Where did you come from? A pool full of water fell out of the sky, and then you did. I didn't see a -- an airplane?" She looked skyward, and Lara did, too, remembering urban legends she'd read about scuba divers found in the middle of forest fires, dropped there by helicopters scooping seawater to battle the fires with. She wished she had a similar story to explain away her arrival. (page 153)

The ballad:
"In fairy tales if the fair folk stay in our world it's usually because they're trapped somehow and aren't strong enough to get away. Like Tam Lin except in reverse."
"And it was mortal love that saved Tam Lin when he rode back into this world with the queen's host," Ioan said. Lara looked between them, bewildered, through Kelly's expression said she knew the story. "Had Janet come to Annwn to rescue him, she never would have been able to free him. We're weakened by this world," Ioan said again... (286)

Legend tripping and Tam Lin

I have been working on my research for my new manuscript on the topic of legend tripping. A google search on the term resulted in an entry from Wikipedia which was of double interest to me as it incorporates two of my fascinations-- contemporary legends and ballads. The entry begins:

Legend tripping, also known as ostension,^[1] is a name recently bestowed by folklorists and anthropologists on an adolescent practice (containing elements of a rite of passage) in which a usually furtive nocturnal pilgrimage is made to a site which is alleged to have been the scene of some tragic, horrific, and possibly supernatural event or haunting. The practice has been documented most thoroughly to date in the United States.

[1] Ellis, Bill. "Legend Trips and Satanism: Adolescents' Ostensive Traditions as 'Cult' Activity." In The Satanism Scare, ed. James T. Richardson, Joel Best, and David G. Bromley, 279-95. NY: Aldme DeGreyter.



It then continues...

Much older versions of the custom may be glimpsed in traditional ballad tales such as the ballad of Tam Lin. In this ballad, a young woman is warned that the elf Tam Lin is known to haunt a place called Carterhaugh, and that all who go there must lose either an article of clothing or their virginity to Tam Lin. Janet, the heroine, defies the warning: she goes to Carterhaugh, picks a rose, encounters Tam Lin, and becomes pregnant with his child. She learns that Tam Lin was once human, and that to free him, she must make a second trip on Halloween night to a crossroads, where she has an encounter with the Queen of Elphame, and succeeds in reclaiming Tam Lin from fairyland.
In both the old ballad and in Mark Twain's version, there is a specific location that is supposed to be accursed, ghost-haunted, or otherwise dangerous. There is a folk story, of the type that is now called an urban legend, that explains why the place is haunted, accursed, or dangerous. The story is retold in preparation for the legend trip. In outward form, the legend is a cautionary tale warning of a danger; in practice, however, the cautionary tale is turned into a dare, inviting the trippers to go test its veracity. There is sometimes a ritual that must be performed at the site, the ritual is explained in the legend. The ritual invokes whatever dangerous spirits haunt that place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_tripping#cite_note-Ellis-0

The Boneshaker at Chasing Ray

A lovely review and interview with author Kate Milford with crossroad references:

http://www.chasingray.com/archives/2010/05/you_come_to_know_the_road_that.html

More about my experience with the book soon.

Today's Dilbert (Jan. 29, 2010)

And more Dilbert and contemporary legends

Dilbert and Contemporary Legends