Over the course of millenniums and across civilizations, people have been searching for signs of powers greater than themselves. Despite the numerous differences in where people have found these powers, how cultures have interpreted them, and how religions have sanctified them, two things have remained constant. Firstly, people have always had a desire to feel a deep and meaningful connection with the powers they value, whether these power were religious or spiritual. The objective of a vast number of religious and spiritual rituals and practices are to build and strengthen the practitioner’s bond with their chosen source of power. Secondly, one of the major methods people use to accomplish this goal is by performing their rituals and practices in spaces whose purposes are to be a bridge to their greater power. These spaces become the most powerful connection with this power. This chapter consists of two papers which examine the extent of these eon old behavioral traditions in two vastly different modern contexts.

“Legend Tripping: Pious Pilgrimage or Heathen Holiday” by Meaghan Graney questions the line of division between sacred and mundane. Legend tripping is a practice extremely common in America, especially among adolescents and young adults. In these ventures, people visit the locations of urban legends and ghost stories in an attempt to connect with these tales and the forces behind them. The paper examines some of the common practices of participants as well as potential motives and goals of legend tripping. By comparing these with goals of religious pilgrims, this paper attempts to discover whether legend tripping enhances or diminishes a place’s sacredness and legend tripping’s standing between pious rituals and profane actions.

Whether you see religion as a sacred tradition or one that can be openly practiced throughout the day, there is no misjudging that religion brings on external sacred feelings.  Deciding whether a place is sacred or profane is one question, but, “Roman Catholic: Religious Experiences” by Brandan Herlinger will solely focus on only the religious feelings and emotions that are felt by practicing Roman Catholics.  The goal of this paper is to see if Roman Catholics religious practice feelings are a common factor among other religions or show an opposing perception. To accomplish this, the paper will include some personal ideologies of the Roman Catholic author, but also look to connect the results of external practices.

The commonalities between religious practices and legend tripping might not appear obvious at first, but both revolve around the meaningful practices that people participate in strengthen the bond within their respectful practice.  These practices have a deeper meaning than simply their rules and rituals as their outcomes create feelings and emotions that help fill a void felt by the individual.

Legend Tripping: Pious Pilgrimage or Heathen Holiday

By Meaghan Graney

Legend-Tripping is a fascinating and complex topic.  Scholars disagree on some of the nuances of the definition depended on their views and opinions.  As its core, Legend Tripping is the visiting of sites and locations connected or alleged to be connected to a story of tragedy, horror, and supernatural forces (Wikipedia 2018).  Legend-tripping occurs all over the world and America has one of the strongest participation in as well as academic study of this controversial practice (Wikipedia 2018).  The debate of Legend-Tripping argues over whether the practice is merely a social gathering at spooky locations or a purposeful search at sites of spiritual forces.  This paper will look at literature on legend-tripping, the practices within, the motivations behind, and the connections between legends and their sites in an attempt to discover when legend-tripping becomes a sacred pilgrimage to a spiritual place.

One of the first areas that should be looked at when attempting to answer this question is sacred spaces’ connections to people and religion.  In 1993, Shampa and Sanjoy Mazumdar published an article titled “Sacred Space and Place Attachment” which studies how personal identity, religion, and attachment to sacred spaces connect.  The article studies each connection conceptual as well as within the case study of a Hindu house (Mazumdar and Mazumdar 1993).  Mazumdar and Mazumdar (1993) by looking at several types of sacred spaces discuss how an individual’s attachment to sacred spaces is extremely dependent of one’s identity.  While Mazumdar and Mazumdar (1993) acknowledge the impart of the strength or weakness of the attachment between religion and sacred space has, they emphasize the greater impact of the connection between personal identity and spirituality over that between identity and religion.  This work shows that sacred spaces and attachment to such spaces are impacted strongest by an individual’s identity (Mazumdar and Mazumdar 1993).  Because of this, what exactly a sacred space is; what about the space makes it sacred; how someone interacts with themselves, others, and the spiritual elements; and the answers of several other questions vary at least slightly between individuals even of the same religion (Mazumdar and Mazumdar 1993).  As a result of Mazumdar’s and Mazumdar’s findings (1993) with religion’s connections, spaces of strong personal emotion and spirituality can hold sacredness through individuals as opposed to needing a connection to religion.

When determining the sacredness of a space, a baseline must first be established.  Caitlin Finlayson’s article “Spaces of Faith: Incorporating Emotion and Spirituality in Geographic Studies” (2012).  The article explores how members of different houses of worship are impacted by emotion and personal affect thorough the case study of Saint Paul’s United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, Florida and the Tallahassee Taoist Tai Chi Society (Finlayson 2012).  Finlayson (2012) discusses the difficulties of studying emotion and affect as a religious geographer due to their extremely personal and conceptual nature.  The Tai Chi Society is a “nontraditional house of worship” because its members are many different religions and the former house is not used as a religious space by all its members (Finlayson 2012).  Through her interviews with and observations of the both the Church’s and the Society’s members, Finlayson (2012) comes to the conclusion that an important trend in sacred spaces is that they are personally meaningful, “different” from common everyday spaces, and create feelings of calm and community for the individuals who hold them sacred.  This is an extremely important article to consider because it studies what determines a space’s sacredness in a modern setting without relying on religious sanctity.  Through her research, Finlayson creates a blueprint for sacredness that can be used on any space.

This ground work can now be used to begin looking at legend-tripping itself.  Julian Holloway’s article, “Legend-tripping in spooky spaces: ghost tourism and infrastructures of enchantment” (2009), breaks down the field of ghost tourism as one field of legend-tripping.  Holloway (2009) emphasizes the power simple performative ghost tours have in creating feeling of connection between tourists, stops, and tales told.  Holloway (2009) discusses in detail the theatrical manners and performative use of space and architecture of these tours such as the use of door and archways as well as the use of low light.  Continuing off this point, Holloway details how is possible for these ghost tours create a “sense of enchantment”; this enchantment is a combination of excitement and uncertainty (Holloway 2009).  Holloway (2009) discusses multiple times how the “enchantment” is dependent on a feeling of possibility.  The article also examines how the amount of “ostension”, or the presentational “doing of the legend”, and an individual’s level of investment in the legend determine whether the experience is truly spiritual or not (Holloway 2009).  Within his discussions of ghost tours, Holloway (2009) shows how the space’s characteristics and practices occurring feedback on one another to increase the desired emotions.  This is done within traditional sacred spaces; one example of this is often seen with Christian churches.  As the church’s architecture and design make the alter a glorified focus point, the sacraments preformed glorifies the alter and the decoration that brings focus to it.  Holloway’s work (2009) leads to a conclusion about legend-tripping’s potential purpose: to experience spiritual feelings of “enchantment” and create a personal connection with forces of possibility.

Libby Tucker focuses on another potential purpose of legend-tripping in her article “Legend Quests” (2006).  Tucker (2006) collected dozens of firsthand accounts of legend-tripping from American college students over the course of six years.  Through research, Tucker (2006) rejects other academics’ thesis that teens and young adults partake in legend-tripping to rebel.  Tucker (2006) proposes that the most common motivation behind these student’s trips is to search for answers about the unknown and to experience deeper emotions.  Tucker (2006) provides evidence that one of the largest groups of legend-trippers, which had been dismissed as the most casual and socially-oriented legend-trippers, had a deeper motivation than previously believed written off as one of legend-tripper.  Tucker’s research (2006) leads to the conclusion that the college students used legend-tripping to these sites to challenge their ideas and beliefs as well as themselves mentally and emotionally.

Bill Ellis’s 1996 entry “Legend Trip” in the American Folklore: An Encyclopedia provides a detailed insight in to the practices of legend-tripping.  Ellis (1996) details the three steps of the structure of a legend trip.  First, the “origin legend” and the “proof legends” are told (Ellis 1996).  The second step is the recreation of the site’s legend by the participants, such as staying inside a haunted house for a certain amount of time or saying a particular phrase or word aloud (Ellis 1996).  Ellis (1996) documents the last part as retelling the events experienced after leaving the site.  This configuration is highly interesting and insightful when it is compared to common structures seen within religious practices.  Telling stories and narratives of the past to establish and prove a force’s powers and rules is very reminiscent of reading scripture from Holy Books during religious services.  The repetition and homage of events from the narratives in a space that is dedicated to the spiritual force with the purpose of gaining a new connection or strengthening a preexisting one between individuals and the greater power is the basis for the Jewish celebrations of Passover and Hanukkah, the Christian Sacraments of Baptism and Communion, and the Muslin Hajj.  Lastly, individual reflection in an effort to gain deep understanding on the greater power, the world, and their connections to them is a major aspect of the major world religions in one form or another.

Bill Ellis studies some of the traditions and trends of legend-tripping in Chapter 6:”Visits to Forbidden Graveyards” of his book Lucifer Ascending.  Ellis (2004) discusses some of the major traditions within legend-tripping.  First and second of which is visiting these sites with a group that has at least one member who has already been to the site (Ellis 2004).  This is what maintains the hand-me-down nature of these legends (Ellis 2004).  This also helps with another important aspect of legend-tripping a single storyteller utilizes the atmosphere and settle to tell the best possible version of the legend (Ellis 2004).  Ellis (2004) emphasizes that legend trip’s need for a resolution, whether this be disappointment of a lack of evidence or proof of the supernatural.  Ellis (2004) describes the dependence of the legend trip on the power of the experienced as this is who has rule over authenticity of events.  Ellis (2004) tells a handful of stories about legend-tripping at different graveyard sites, and through these examples, the effects of setting can be seen on legend-tripping.  In one case, the challenge is break a small piece from a “Self-Healing” gravestone that is located by itself in the middle of a forest and many legend-trippers follow through (Ellis 2004).  In another example however, the challenge to jump and curse over the graveyard plot of a local witch (Ellis 2004). Space and the use of it are the biggest factor in legend-tripping.

Michael Kinsella focuses on the progression of legend-tripping in Chapter Two: “The Performance of Legend Tripping of his book, Legend-Tripping Online: Supernatural Folklore and the Search for Ong’s Hat (2011).  In this chapter, Kinsella (2011) discusses how as legend-tripping has evolved over the years from local urban legends to well-known haunted building and sites.  Kinsella (2011) acknowledges the impact the internet and other technological advances has had on legend-tripping, but he does not believe they will replace legend-tripping.  Upon reading Kinsella (2011), this sentiment can easily be taken a step further.  As advances in technology and communication are made, the legends could be shared much easier along with stories of experiences had while legend-tripping at these sites. This would likely have the impart of an increase in interest for these legends and sites which would in turn raise the number of legend trips to these sites.  Thus, creating a feedback loop that would continue to generate interest.

A greatly important area that provides great insight into the motivations behind legend-tripping is the treatment to the sites by those on legend trips.  Donald Holly and Casey Cordy wrote the article, “What’s In a Coin? Reading the Material Culture of Legend Tripping and Other Activities” (2007), on what legend trippers left at their sites.  Holly and Cordy (2007) did a case study on two graves in separate southern Rhode Island cemeteries that belong to two young women who, according to local legends, were vampires.  For one year, Holly and Cordy (2007) kept track of what was left behind at each grave.  Holly and Cordy (2007) do recount a few instances of vandalism and even a grave desecration that occurred in years prior.  Holly’s and Cordy’s (2007) evidence on these transgressions support their theory that these acts were not committed by legend-trippers but by local kids who had come to the cemeteries with the sole purpose of committing these crimes. Holly’s and Cordy’s (2007) list of items includes: candles; pennies and other coins; jewelry; a guitar pick; beer; flowers; an apple; a pumpkin; a crayon; pieces of the gravestone that had broken off; plastic charms and gems; a hairpin; a plastic apple; a plastic bird; a paper angel; plastic beads; and a bundle of herbs.  There are two theories about these items left behind (Holly and Cordy 2007).  The first of these is that the items are left for the two girls as offerings (Holly and Cordy 2007).  Holly and Cordy (2007) draw allusions to items left at the Vietnam Memorial.  Holly’s and Cordy’s (2007) other theory is that legend-trippers leave the items to mark their visit.  The idea behind this is that instead of taking a piece of the grave or something else like this, the legend-trippers leave a small item, mostly coins, as a memento (Holly and Cordy 2007).

Bill Ellis’s article “Death by Folklore: Ostension, Contemporary Legend, and Murder” (1989) looks at the extreme end of ostention.  Ellis (1989) starts by discussing the unsolved 1982 Halloween murders of Annette Cooper and Todd Schultz.  Ellis (1989) uses their deaths to examine the cyclical nature of legend and ostention. Cooper’s and Schultz’s torsos were found cut up in Hocking River, outside of Columbus, Ohio (Ellis 1989).  While their murders did not follow any specific local legend at the time, the circumstances correlate to any number of urban legends (Ellis 1989).  Now, their murders have become a local legend themselves (Ellis 1989).  Ellis (1989) discusses how as society changes overtime, legends grow and adapt and gives examples of modification of urban legends.  Ellis (1989) also discusses in great detail how space plays an even larger role in legends.  Any changes that occur with a site causes changes in the legends (Ellis 1989).  Ellis (1989) concludes that this need of correspond is because the sites are the physical manifestations of the legends.

Legend-tripping is a highly complex subject that is surrounded by debate.  However, based on the research gathered here, it is my conclusion that when practiced seriously legend-tripping is a spiritual pilgrimage that use sacred sites to attempt to develop a strong connection with spiritual powers and forces.

Works Cited

Ellis, Bill. 1989. “Death by Folklore: Ostension, Contemporary Legend, and Murder.” Western Folklore Vol. 48, issue 3. pp.201-20. 1989

Ellis, Bill. 1996. “Legend Trip.” American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, edited by Jan Harold Brunvand. pp. 439-40. New York: Garland Publishing. 1996.

Ellis, Bill. 2004. “Visits to Forbidden Graveyards.” In Lucifer Ascending, 112-41. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2004.

Finlayson, Caitlin Cihak. 2012. “Spaces of Faith: Incorporating Emotion and Spirituality in Geographic Studies”. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. Vol 44. Issue 7. pp. 1763 – 1778. January 1, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1068/a44580

Holloway, Julian. 2010. “Legend-Tripping in Spooky Spaces: Ghost Tourism and Infrastructures of Enchantment”. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. Vol 28. Issue 4. pp. 618 – 637. January 1, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1068/d9909

Holly, Donald H. and Cordy, Casey E. 2007 “What’s In a Coin? Reading the Material Culture of Legend Tripping and Other Activities”. Journal of American Folklore. Vol. 120. Issue 477. pp. 335-354. Summer 2007. https://doi.org/10.1353/jaf.2007.0050

Kinsella, Michael. 2011. “The Performance of Legend-Tripping.” In Legend-Tripping Online: Supernatural Folklore and the Search for Ong’s Hat.: University Press of Mississippi, 2011.

Mazumdar, Shampa and Mazumdar, Sanjoy. 1993. “Sacred Space and Place Attachment”. Journal of Environmental Psychology. Vol 13. Issue 3. pp. 231-242. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7gq687dr

Tucker, Libby. 2006. “Legend Quests”. Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore. Vol. 32. Spring-Summer 2006. http://www.nyfolklore.org/pubs/voic32-1-2/legend.html

Wikipedia contributors, 2018 “Legend tripping,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. March 23, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Legend_tripping&oldid=832044057

Roman Catholic Religious Experiences

By Brandan Herlinger

Whether you see religion as a sacred tradition or one that can be openly practiced throughout the day, there is no mistake that religion exerts sacred feelings onto the participant.  Deciding whether a place is sacred or profane is one question, but, “Religious Experiences: Roman Catholic” will focus solely only the religious feelings and emotions that are felt by practicing Roman Catholics.  The goal of this paper is to see if Roman Catholics’ religious feelings are the same among other religions or show an opposing perception. To accomplish this, the paper will include personal experiences of the Roman Catholic author, dive into religious emotions, but also look to connect the results of external practices.

Life as a whole can be complicated, at some points very stressful and hard, others can be happy and fun.  Emotions are used to help covey these feelings that we have.  These emotions are especially important as they give a texture to experiences. However, these emotions can lead to biased thoughts and actions that are implicitly carried out. According to McLeod (2015), St. Thomas recognized this early on:

There are two kinds of response patterns, those based on innate pathways, which I would call triggers, and those based on higher cognitive powers, which I would call intelligent appraisals. Human beings are marked by their ability to form highly articulated appraisals of objects and situations; lower animals are not.

Triggers are based off previous assumptions, whereas appraisals are thought out feeling that involve multiple-complex layers. Being brought up in a Catholic family, and being an actively practicing Catholic, church has a strong presence on my life.  Therefore, it is a trigger response to me, but to someone who isn’t actively practicing the response would be more of an appraisal.  This is due to them not immediately having a feeling of sacredness around a church.  They don’t feel the immersion into the space, ultimately making the space into something more than just a building. This however can be changed over time.  Having the ability to form highly articulated appraisals of objects and situations allows the space for evolution to occur.  Being able to make complex and abstract thoughts about the environment helps heighten your feelings of the space.  Having a sense of otherness, a feeling greater than you, allows for you to take a different approach at life that you previously hadn’t thought of.

For many people, religion is a safe zone that gives them a reason for the madness. Religion gives them rules to live by, and guidance to lead them to an ultimate goal.  Many people who are religious are introduced to it at an early age by their parents, but for those whose parents weren’t religious either go on life normally.  This is because where religion would provide social support, rituals and rites of passage, a sense of tradition, and a sense of purpose and meaning. Non-religious people find these things outside of religion, because none of those things are specific to religion, but are all made easier. Those who lack a religious view are called apatheists, they simply aren’t interested in the idea of religion.  Apatheists are unique in the fact that they don’t have places of sacredness.  They may have high praise for objects or ideas, but they don’t perform a religious practice towards it.

My emotions towards the Catholic church are strong, but not all of my emotions are developed from my experiences.  My parents, education, and the Bible have all played a part in developing who I am today.  One of the strongest points I have to prove this is when I had a field trip to The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.. When I was walking up to the enormous building I felt myself being flooded with all sorts of emotions.  My stomach was being twisted and turned, all while my mouth was open to the floor.  There were grand doors that were easy to push open that made me feel invited to the church.  Once in the church there was a marble foyer that led into the pews.  There were no corners in the Basilica which gave people an incentive to come to the center of the Trinity Dome. Every inch of the Basilica is doused in detail, catholic symbolism, and spirituality. The mosaics, stained glass, and marble really enforce an intense Catholic vibe.  The alter, chapels, and even the walls are also doused with Catholic scriptures, crosses, and doves; never letting you forget that this is a Basilica. While I was under a nostalgic spell, I noticed that a few of people that were not religious were acting differently than me.  While they were obviously impressed with the magnificent architecture of the Basilica, that was all they could feel in the building.  It was harder for them to notice the obvious Roman Catholic objects, which are almost “ignorantly” placed in Catholic churches.  This obliviousness takes away from the sacred nature of the Basilica, ultimately making it just another building to them.  Without this sense of spirituality flooding your mind with emotions you miss out on a piece of the experience.

Comparing Roman Catholics to other religions to see similarities is almost an impossible task.  The religion that is almost a polar opposite is Hinduism, which Sidie (2014) explains:

In a matter of fact, Hinduism is unlike other religions in the World, the Hindu religion does not claim any one Prophet, it does not worship any one God, it does not believe in any one philosophic concept, it does not follow any one act of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not satisfy the traditional features of a religion or creed. It is a way of life and nothing more.

Hindus’ practice openly throughout their days, finding sacredness all around them in their daily lives.  This is criminal to Catholics where their only places of worship are churches, chapels, cathedrals, and basilicas.  By only having certain things considered sacred, it helps enhance Catholic’s love for their places of worship.  But, the similarity here is that both religions have places of worship, and places that are defined as more sacred than others.  Both parties also have a group of emotions that come out when practicing, more so Catholics than Hindus.  Catholics have a feeling that there is something that is bigger than them, and endless love towards God.  Hindus don’t have that feeling of something bigger, because they don’t have a god, but they do work towards an end goal of enlightment, much like Catholics and Heaven.  Also, both religions revolve around the meaningful practices that people participate in strengthen the bond within their respectful practice.

Religion provides guidance in my everyday life. It has taught me where things have come from, and why they are there.  Bartunek (2015) does a great job of explaining the gift of emotions:

Emotions come from God. God created human nature, and emotions are part of human nature. When we come into contact with external realities, we often perceive that those realities can help or harm us. That perception produces a reaction in our soul, a feeling that moves us toward action. We were created to function that way. We have this internal dynamism that attracts us toward what seems good for us and repels us from what seems bad for us. This is our capacity for feelings or emotions (sometimes called passions). Their complexity and intensity contribute to making human experience as rich and wonderful as it is.

Bartunek then goes on to describe that through the ages philosophers have identified basic emotions, and modern psychologists have offered other classifications. But, neither side has been able to come up with a perfect conclusion that has the wisdom of a philosopher, and the science of the psychologists.  So, we use both sides to understand emotions (Bartunek 2015). As Bartunek describes, this is a healthy approach to life because for what God does describe, do that, but if not, you have to rely on the life lessons that you have learned throughout your life to make your own decisions.  If you are an apatheists this approach also makes sense, because since you don’t have a religious approach to life you would simply just make choices based off of your own experiences.

The commonalities between Roman Catholics and other religions aren’t obvious at first, but both parties evoke similar emotions during religious practices. These practices help connect to a higher power or push them forward toward their ultimate goals.  The emotions felt while practicing help enhance the connection and develop new understanding and experiences to see spaces/life in a new way.

Works Cited

“Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.” Wikipedia. May 03, 2018. Accessed May 04, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_the_National_Shrine_of_the_Immaculate_Conception.

“Catechesis on Emotions.” Catholic Stand. April 16, 2015. Accessed May 04, 2018. http://www.catholicstand.com/a-catechesis-on-emotions/.

“Catholicism vs Christianity.” Lion vs Tiger – Difference and Comparison | Diffen. Accessed May 04, 2018. https://www.diffen.com/difference/Catholicism_vs_Christianity.

Cunningham, Lawrence, and Francis Christopher Oakley. “Roman Catholicism.” Encyclopædia Britannica. March 21, 2018. Accessed May 04, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism/Beliefs-and-practices.

“Emotions and Religion.” Site Header. Accessed May 04, 2018. http://www.historyofemotions.org.au/research/research-clusters/emotions-and-religion/.

“Faith, Rationality, and the Passions.” Faith, Rationality, and the Passions, 2012. doi:10.1002/9781118321997.

“Hinduism.” Feelings. October 23, 2014. Accessed May 04, 2018. https://sidie09.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/hinduism/.

Łowicki, Paweł, and Marcin Zajenkowski. “Divine Emotions: On the Link Between Emotional Intelligence and Religious Belief.” Advances in Pediatrics. 2017. Accessed May 04, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5653720/.

“Understanding Emotions (Part I of II).” SpiritualDirection.com / Catholic Spiritual Direction. June 28, 2017. Accessed May 04, 2018. https://www.spiritualdirection.com/2015/03/09/understanding-emotions-part-i-of-ii.

“What Is Religion?” What Is Religion? Definition of Religion – Etymology of Religion – Sacred – Faith. Accessed May 04, 2018. http://atheisme.free.fr/Religion/What-is-religion-1.htm.