TRIPPING HAZARDS: UNDERSTANDING AND ADDRESSING RISKS TO HISTORIC PLACES POSED BY LEGEND TRIPPERS

Abstract

Historic places that serve as the setting for legends that claim the potential for extraordinary experiences can be impacted by visitors who seek to have similar experiences for themselves. This practice, known as legend tripping, is a recreational activity in which the visitors, known as legend trippers, engage in certain actions and rituals at the site in order to reenact the legend and stimulate the uncanny or supernatural events that others claim to have experienced. While the specific performances required by the legend are often benign, legend trippers sometimes engage in other activities and behaviors that may ultimately be harmful to the site. I employ a Critical Topic Approach to explore the fundamental elements of legend tripping as associated with historic places through analysis of four example locations. I explore how stories, specifically legends, can create sense of place and place attachment which, accompanied by the purported potential to experience the extraordinary, motivate some people to visit a site to see if they have a similar experience. I discuss how, once at the site, legend trippers endeavor to enter into the legend themselves by performing certain actions that are said to illicit the uncanny response and how these actions, and others in which legend trippers engage, such as “tagging,” littering, and other actions that harm site structures and buildings, have the potential for real, and in some cases lasting, damage. I examine the potential effects of legend tripping and how some sites attempt to address them. Using an interdisciplinary approach, combining folklore, historic preservation, and cultural geography theories and practices, I show in this thesis that stewards of historic places experiencing impacts from legend trippers can benefit from understanding the motivations and intentions behind the practice and use this understanding to develop a pragmatic plan for management and mitigation of such impacts. I offer analysis of common legend trip consequences and mitigation approaches, followed by suggestions and recommendations for additional potential strategies to address legend trip impacts. I also discuss how it may be possible to find ways to leverage the legend tripping in a way that may ultimately benefit the historic place.