Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting (57 page)

Ripley, William Z.,
93

Rise of American Democracy,
10

Roe v. Wade
,
148–49
,
174
,
183
see also
abortion

Roman Catholicism,
29
,
90
in film,
167–68
,
176
attitudes toward birth control,
176
in gothic literature,
56

romanticism,
55
,
58

Romero, George,
32
,
193–95
,
198–99
,
216

Rosemary’s Baby,
77
,
175–77
,
185

Roswell, New Mexico UFO sighting,
124

Roth, Eli,
23
,
84

S&,
136
,
186

Salem witch trials,
37–41
see also
Puritans

Sanderson, Ivan,
133–35

“Sanguinaries,”
207–8

Santa Barbara Channel Islands,
132

Santa Mira, Calif.,
119

Sarah Connor Chronicles
,
226

Satan,
7–8
,
30
,
186
African Americans as accomplices of,
85
beliefs in allegiances with Native Americans,
39
communists in league with,
128
fear of in 1980s,
183
in film,
167–69
,
175–76
and witches,
39–41
,
75

Satan worshippers, fear of,
182–85

satanic panic,
182–86
,
210

Satanic Panic: Creation of a Contemporary Legend
,
183

Savini, Tom,
199
,
220

Saw
,
84

Sawyer, Tom,
157

Sawyer family,
156–58

Saxon race, as superior,
83
,
96–97
,
102
see also
white supremacy

“Scaremare,”
185

Scarlet Letter,
75

Schmid, David,
74

Schreffler, Phillip,
96

Schwartz, Anne,
154

Schweiger, Jennifer,
182

science fiction,
113–14
,
117–18
,
189
,
221–22
changes during Cold War,
121–22

science, fear of,
81–83
medical advances,
221
reaction to professionalization of,
134–35

scientific racism,
83–85
,
92–96
,
105–7

Scientific Revolution, prevalence of monster imagery,
8–9
,
61
,
82

Scopes Monkey Trial,
83
,
92
,
95–98

sea monsters,
60–65
,
88

sea serpents,
14
,
18–21
,
42
,
61–64
,
88
,
133–34
,
151–52

“Sea Serpent Polka,”
64

Secret Garden
,
171

Secret of Saucers
,
130

Semonin, Paul,
12
,
44
,
46

Senate,
146

serial killers, as celebrities,
161–62
,
164
as monsters,
16
,
73–74
,
138
,
147
,
149–51
,
156–60
sexual deviance of,
151–53

Shelley, Mary,
49
,
58–59
,
68
,
81–82
,
85
,
221

Sherwood, Grace,
41

Shining
,
77

sightings of UFOs,
123–25

Silence of the Lambs
,
147
,
153–55

Simon & Schuster,
161

Simpson, O. J.,
191

Simpsons
,
220

sin, American conception of,
37
,
42
in gothic literature,
75

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,”
183

Skal, David,
58
,
108
,
116
,
136
,
173
,
187

skin,
154–55

Skull Island,
100

skull size,
93

Skulls, as gothic imagery,
71–72
,
74
,
147

“Skynet,”
225

Skywalker, Anakin,
223

slasher films,
185
,
219
social commentary in,
155–61
,
180

Slotkin, Richard,
20

Smith, John,
35

snoligoster,
49–50

Snow White
,
136

sociology,
183

“Soldier’s Homes,”
70

“Son of Sam,”
141

sterilization,
91
,
106

“Stick in the Mud,”
145

Stiles, Ezra,
44–45
,
63

Stoker, Bram,
59–60
,
202
,
212

Stone Age cave drawings,
5

Stone, Oliver,
162

Stonehenge,
130

Stono Rebellion,
48

“Strange Story of America’s Abominable Snowman,”
134

Stranger Beside Me
,
150–51

Strode, Laurie,
158–60

Students for a Democratic Society,
143

suburbia,
158–60
,
163–65
,
177–79

succubi,
40

suffrage movement,
74

suicide,
185

summer camp,
179–81

Summers, Joyce,
210

Sumner, Charles,
68

television,
113
,
126
,
136–38
,
162–64
,
185
,
216
classis horror on,
187
war coverage on,
198–99

Texas Chainsaw Massacre
,
76
,
147
,
156–58
,
160

Topsell, Edward,
30

torture porn,
84
,
91

toys,
187–88

tranquilizers, popularity in post-war,
143

travel accounts,
28–31

Tribulation,
201

Trinity Dam,
132

Trois Freres,
5

True Blood,
214–15

true crime,
149–51
,
162
see also
serial killers

True Detective
,
137
,
150

True History
,
31

True
,
134–35

Truman, Harry,
108
,
122

Tudor, Andrew,
104–5
,
113

Tuskegee experiments,
106

Twilight,
211–13

UFOs,
123–25
,
134
religious interpretations of sightings,
129–32
see also
aliens

Uncle Forry,
189

undead,
see
zombies

Uninvited Visitors
,
134

Universal Studios,
87
,
92
,
102
,
105
,
175
,
186–88
,
194

urban legends, in film,
53
,
158–59

Vampira,
136–37
,
146
,
187

Vampire: The Masquerade
,
208

Vampirella,
136

vampires,
7–8
,
14–15
,
58–60
,
122
,
145
,
195–96
,
198–99
,
202
,
204–7
,
209–16

European folklore precedent,
58
resurgence in popularity,
195
sexuality and,
89
,
102–3
,
136–37
,
195–96
,
207
,
212–14
,
226
supernatural origin,
59
as uniquely American,
196–97
,
214
,
220–21
see also
Dracula

Victor, Jeffrey S.,
183–84

Victorian era,
72–77
,
89
,
179

Viet Cong,
198

Vietnam,
148
,
156–58
,
167
,
184
,
193
,
197–200
,
220
effects on American society,
197
in film,
199

Village Voice
,
208
,
217

Vintage Books,
161

Virginia, sterilization laws,
90

Voorhees, Jason,
165
,
181

W. C. Coup’s United Monster Show,
89

Washington, George,
12
fossil hunting,
44

Washington, Harriet A.,
106

“water test” in witch trials,
41

Watergate,
183
inspiration for
Salem’s Lot,
203

weapons, as implements of horror,
66

werewolves,
108
,
145
,
209
,
211
medieval context of,
8

Wertham, Frederick,
143
,
146

West Africa,
47

Westmoreland, William,
197

whale shows,
65

Whale, James,
81
,
87

whaling industry,
65–66

“What is it?” exhibit,
94

Whedon, Joss,
208–9

White, John,
34

white slavery,
101–2
,
104

white supremacy,
49–50
,
79
,
83
,
89–90
,
93
,
100
see also
scientific racism

White Zombie
,
194

Whitechapel killer,
73
,
149
see also “
Jack the Ripper”

Whitechapel Murders
,
73

Whitfield, Stephen,
122

Whoever Fights Monsters
,
151

Wicca,
210

wilderness, in folklore,
36–37
,
42–45
colonial fear of,
39
,
157

Wilentz, Sean,
10

Willow,
209–10

witchcraft trials, in Europe,
8–9
Salem,
37–41
as entertainment in New England,
39–41

witches,
75
,
209
,
210
African belief in,
48
in colonial New England,
37–42
medieval context of,
8
European imagery of,
32
sexual imagery,
40

Woodhull, Victoria,
77–78

World Trade Center,
191

Wray, Fay,
36
,
98–99

Wright, Richard,
81

X-Men,
118

Y2K,
201

“Yeti,”
133
,
135
,
151

Ymir,
7

yokai tradition,
115

Zacherle, John,
187

“Zacherley the Cool Ghoul,”
187

Zillman, Dolf,
17

Zip the Pinhead,
95

Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead
,
203

Zombies of Mass Destruction
,
217

zombies,
193–96
,
199
,
200–206
,
216–17
and body anxiety,
205–6
as uniquely American,
196–97
,
220–21
harbingers of apocalypse,
201–2