Category Books

Out of the Ordinary: Folklore and the Supernatural »

Authors: Barbara Walker
ISBN-13: 9780874211962, ISBN-10: 0874211964
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Utah State University Press
Date Published: July 1996
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Barbara Walker

Book Synopsis

The contributors explore the functions of belief and supernatural experience within an array of cultures, as well as the stance of academe toward the study of belief and the supernatural. The essays in this volume explore and challenge the idea that supernatural experience is extraordinary.

	Preface
	Introduction	1
1	Beings Without Bodies: An Experience-Centered Theory of the Belief in Spirits	11
2	The Moccasin Telegraph and Other Improbabilities: A Personal Essay	46
3	Folklore, Foodways, and the Supernatural	59
4	Ghosts, Spirits, and Scholars: The Origins of Modern Spiritualism	75
5	Aftermath of a Failed Seance: The Functions of Skepticism in a Traditional Society	90
6	Supernatural Experience, Folk Belief, and Spiritual Healing	107
7	"If I Knew You Were Coming, I'd Have Baked a Cake": The Folklore of Foreknowledge in a Neighborhood Group	122
8	Bad Scares and Joyful Hauntings: "Priesting" the Supernatural Predicament	145
9	The Tourist Folklore of Pele: Encounters with the Other	159
10	Terror in Transition: Hmong Folk Belief in America	180
	Selected Bibliography	203
	Editor	212
	Contributors	213
	Index	215