Read Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting Online
Authors: W. Scott Poole
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
Romero, George,
32
,
193–95
,
198–99
,
216
Roswell, New Mexico UFO sighting,
124
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: Creation of a Contemporary Legend
,
183
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 serpents,
14
,
18–21
,
42
,
61–64
,
88
,
133–34
,
151–52
“Sea Serpent Polka,”
64
Secret Garden
,
171
Secret of Saucers
,
130
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
“Stick in the Mud,”
145
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
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
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 History
,
31
True
,
134–35
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
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
Viet Cong,
198
Vietnam,
148
,
156–58
,
167
,
184
,
193
,
197–200
,
220
effects on American society,
197
in film,
199
Vintage Books,
161
Virginia, sterilization laws,
90
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
West Africa,
47
Westmoreland, William,
197
whale shows,
65
whaling industry,
65–66
“What is it?” exhibit,
94
Whedon, Joss,
208–9
White, John,
34
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
Wright, Richard,
81
X-Men,
118
Y2K,
201
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