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- There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
- -- Mark Twain
- -- Mark Twain
- There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
The concept of legend tripping is at least as old as Mark Twain's 1876 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which contains several accounts of adolescents visiting allegedly haunted houses and caves said to be the lairs of criminals. Tom Sawyer is based on lore that was current in Twain's own boyhood, and by Twain's time the main features of the ritual were already in place. Much older versions of the custom may be glimpsed in traditional ballad tales such as the ballad of Tam Lin.
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 supernatural 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.
Young people make their nightly trek to the place of danger, and spend some part of the night there, perform the ritual if one is prescribed, as a means of daring and testing the evil spirit that haunts the place. As they retreat, they interpret any strange sounds, shadows, events, or dreams as evidence that the evil spirit has in fact been adequately tempted. If the experience is well done, everyone leaves both scared out of their wits, believing that something uncanny did in fact happen as a result of the nocturnal rite, and most importantly, convinced of their own courage: they have successfully invoked and defied whatever haunts that place. They now have a story to tell, and a tradition to pass on to their immediate juniors.
While the stories that attach to the sites of legend tripping vary from place to place, and sometimes contain a kernel of historical truth, there are a number of motifs and recurring themes in the legends and the sites. Abandoned buildings, remote bridges, caves, and most importantly, cemeteries are frequent sites of legend-tripping pilgrimage. Like the True Cross, the gravesite of the murderess Bloody Mary Worth is miraculously multiplied, and is said to exist in several locations in the United States, and usually is discovered wherever that story takes hold. Often there is a tale of a heinous crime that was committed at the site, and whose details are retold and multiplied in the legend that explains why the pilgrims are headed there. Legend-tripping sites typically stand in relatively isolated and rural areas that are nevertheless easily reached by automobile, outside of major population centres. It is necessary for the legend to propagate, first that the adolescent pilgrims must be able to get there; and also, that the odds are good that they will be alone when they arrive.
Legend-tripping is a mostly harmless, perhaps even beneficial, youth recreation. It allows young people to demonstrate their courage in a place where the actual physical risk is likely slight. However, the rituals enacted at the legend-tripping sites sometimes involve trespassing, animal sacrifice, vandalism, and other misdemeanors. These transgressions then sometimes lead to local moral panics that involve adults in the community, and sometimes even the mass media. These panics, of course, embellish the prestige of the legend trip to the adolescent mind, and do nothing to discourage imitation. The panic over youth Satanism in the 1980s was fuelled in part by graffiti and other ritual activities engaged in by legend-tripping youths. Places without appropriate sites may still may have rituals, often involving Ouija boards or similar divination devices, that seek to test teenage mettle by performing a dangerous magical ritual. The more excited adults become about these activities, the more mana they possess.
Legend-tripping is a motif in a number of horror films. The film The Blair Witch Project succeeded largely because of its evocation of the atmosphere of adolescent legend trips. The film Candyman is also centered around adolescent supernatural rituals undertaken on a dare.
Places associated with legend tripping
See also
