ABSTRACT
This essay brings together two aspects of contemporary legend research which have recently become important. The first is folklorists’ growing involvement in the defusing of “satanic panics”; the second is the concept of “ostension.” Introduced into folklorists’ vocabulary by Linda Degh and Andrew Vázsonyi in an essay first published in Italian in 1981 and later in English as “Does the Word ‘Dog’ Bite? Ostensive Action: A Means of Legend Telling.” (Journal of Folklore Research 20 [1983]:5–34), “ostension” is the adaptation of a term used by William James. Folklorists use it to suggest that legends may be enacted as well as told. In this essay, Ellis uses the concept to argue that much of the police “evidence “for satanic crime is in reality ostensive behavior and should be interpreted as the remains of adolescents’ communal visits ( “legend trips “) to scary sites. Earlier work by Ellis which considers teenagers’ legend-tripping behavior includes: “Legend-Tripping in Ohio: A Behavioral Survey.” In Papers in Comparative Studies 2, eds. Daniel R. Barnes, Rosemary O. Joyce and Steven Swann Jones. 61–73. Columbus, Ohio: Center for Comparative Studies in the Humanities, Ohio State University, 1982–1983. A version of the essay below was first published in James T. Richardson, Joel Best and David G. Bromley, eds. The Satanism Scare. 279–95. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991.
