Satanic Tourism: Adolescent Dabblers and Identity Work

Author(s): Gary Alan Fine and Jeffrey Victor

Source: The Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 76, No. 1 (Sep., 1994), pp. 70-72
Published by: Phi Delta Kappa International
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20405258 .
Accessed: 28/06/2014 17:17

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Phi Delta Kappa International is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Phi
Delta Kappan.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 92.63.104.30 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 17:17:09 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Adolescent Dabblers and Identity Work

Focusing concern on the trappings of teenage pseudo-Satanism is both

misleading and counterproductive, Messrs. Fine and Victor maintain. In
stead of allowing the faddish symbols of teenage rebellion to distract us,
we should focus our concern on the root causes of teenage crime.
By Gary Alan Fine and Jeffrey Victor
N OO CONCERN so fuels the fears of our uncertain identities at will. A contemporary recreation, especially for
age as does the worry that we may be overtaken teenagers, is to embrace and try out numerous roles, each with
by a horde of Satanists, rejecting all the moral its own temporary identity. Indeed, pseudo-Satanic actions and
verities that supposedly undergird our society. rituals i.e., activities that are accompanied by Satanic sym
Schools, families, and churches have all become bolism but are lacking in any elaborate belief structure or last
subject to attacks from the alleged Satanists in theirmidst. What
David Bromley has called the "anti-Satanist movement" re
mains powerful making dramatic claims and relying on the
uncovering of repressed memories of ritual abuse and the
rumored existence of a national conspiracy of devil wor
shipers.' While to most dispassionate observers these claims
seem to be greatly overblown and possibly evidence of para
noia, they still strike a chord in a society troubled by its lack
of consensus on values.
Even though most Americans concede that it strains reason
to believe in a broadly based, effective conspiracy of adult
Satanists, trading in human sacrifice and blood ritual, the pro
ponents of this conspiracy theory point to acts that superficially
seem to reflect the existence of Satanic activity. Police find
graffiti thatmimic purported Satanic symbols. Gravestones are
overturned. Small animals are sacrificed. Are there Satanists
afoot? How else can we explain these very real acts?
Those concerned about the rise of a network of criminal Sa \~~~~~~. ~ ~ ~ ~~AM
tanists have operated from the assumption that individuals who
engage in criminal acts accompanied by Satanic symbolism
must be "true believers." We deny this. Ours is a society in
which many people, like proto-Madonnas, slip in and out of

GARYALAN FINE is a professor of sociology at theUniversity of

Georgia, Athens, and the author of Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing
Games and Social Worlds (University of Chicago Press, 1983). JEF
FREY VICTOR is a professor of sociology at the State University of
New York, Jamestown Community College, Jamestown, N. Y., and the
author of Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend
(Open Court Press, 1993).

70 PHI DELTA KAPPAN IllustrationbyMario Noche

This content downloaded from 92.63.104.30 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 17:17:09 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 -
ing personal identification seem to be classic instancesof
this formof transitoryadolescent role-playing.Playing at be
ing a Satanist can be entertaining, both in its own right and be
cause of the reaction that it provokes from others.
Adolescentmales are responsibleformuch pseudo-Satan
ic activity. They take it up at precisely the moment at which
adolescents are confronting theboundariesof adultbehavior
- when they are intoxicated with rebellion against societal
norms and values and hopeful of creating a subculture that dif
ferentiates them from outsiders.From this perspective, Sa
tanism serves as a perfect means for engaging in what David
Snow and Leon Anderson speak of as "identity work."2
Documentedevidencedemonstratesthatadolescentsacross
the nation do engage in "Satanic behavior." However, they do
so as ameans of collective entertainment - an activity thatwe
call "Satanic tourism." Such behavior is ameans of killing time
and has no connection with the few "committed" religious
Satanists. In other words, Satanic tourists, despite their desire
to anger their parents and other adults, do not see their actions
as related to their core identity. The reality is that the Satanic
rituals that amuse adolescents on a Saturday night do not pre
clude their worshiping at church on Sunday morning or taking
amathematics test on Monday.
No hard evidence can be found that teenage pseudo-Satan
ic activity causes any long-term, harmful effects - any more
thandid old-fashioned teenagepranksandpetty delinquency.
Yet, despite the absence of evidence, local police continue to
spread alarmist claims about ritualistic teenage crime. These
dramatic claims make teenage Satanism seem a good deal more
dangerous in the mind's eye of family members, school ad
ministrators, and the clergy than it is inmundane reality.
The alarmists allege that teenagers are hooked gradually
but steadily into an occult netherworld. Their introduction may
come through a seemingly innocuous game of Dungeons and
Dragons or through the lyrics to the songs of certain heavy
metal musicians, who themselves may play with Satanic im
agery to attract attention and a teen audience. Despite the claims
of moral arbiters desirous of protecting society from a dark
conspiracy, secretive adult practitioners of the black arts are
rare.
Although those who engage in Satanic tourism are particu
larly likely to indulge in drug use, the causal link between em
bracing Satanic symbols and subsequent involvement in a drug
subculture is weak. If anything, drug use precedes Satanic ac
tivity. The moral arbiters make the common mistake of con
fusing correlation with causation.
We should also be skeptical of "slippery slope" theories,
such as those put forth by Pat Pulling, the founder of Bothered
About Dungeons and Dragons (BADD), in her book The Dev
il's Web. Pulling, the grieving mother of a child who played
Dungeons and Dragons and who subsequently committed sui
cide, contends:
Law enforcement officials andmental health professionals
now recognize the fact that adolescent occult involvement is
progressive.The childwho isobsessedwith occultentertain
mentmaynot stopthere,buthe oftenmoves on tosatanicgraf
fitiandcemeteryvandalism.Fromthatpoint,he easilymoves
intograverobbingfor itemsneededforoccultrituals,andhe
isjusta stepawayfromblood-letting.
Blood-letting
beginswith
This content downloaded from 92.63.104.30 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 17:17:09 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
animal killings andmutilations and progresses tomurder if in
tervention does not take place.3
What has been labeled Satanism is actually a diverse col
lectionof behaviors, includingadolescent legend trips, teen
age fad behavior, malicious teenage delinquency, and imita
tiveSatanicbehavior.Young peoplemay acquire information
about these activities from themass media or, ironically, from
those who wish to warn us of the dangers of Satanism.
Legend Trips
Sometimes adolescentswho areSatanic touristsbehave just
as that descriptive phrase suggests. The site that attracts their
interest might be linked to a local legend about ghosts and oc
cult activity, but that connection in no way diminishes the fact
that they are attracted to the location because it is a place to be
experienced, much as their parents might visit Devil's Tower
or theGrandCanyon. Like other tourists,adolescent tourists
wish to leave amark to show that they've been there. It's their
version of writing, "Kilroy was here." In the case of adolescent
legend trips, this mark often takes the form of graffiti, ceme
tery vandalism, or the remains of campfires or parties.
Because these locationsare frequentlynamed in local leg
ends, ghost stories, and horror tales, folklorists refer to these
excursionsas "legendtrips."An adolescentlegendtripinvolves
testing a local legend about a frightening site or locale of oc
cult interest, such as a cemetery or haunted house. Indeed, on
someof theseadventures,adolescentsact out the legend, rely
ing on an implicit script. In the course of acting out the legend,
the teens might attempt to call up a ghost, exorcise a demon,
or intone a witch' s spell.
Adolescent legend trips are a form of recreation. Even when
teens recite spells or perform rituals, their actions do not re
flect a commitment to the supernatural or the occult. Adoles
cents rarely see these activities as a form of religious practice.
Rather, they view them as a way of spending a Saturday night.
The participants do not believe that what they do has any last
ing significance. Instead, they are suspending theirdisbelief.
Just as those who watch a horror movie do not believe that they
are viewing a documentary, so those involved in legend trips
keep their distance and refrain from genuinely embracing an
occultworld.
On occasion adolescent legend trips involve such crimes as
trespassing, vandalism, defacing buildings or public spaces
with graffiti, underage drinking, and the use of illicit drugs.
Sexual activity may also occur. However, despite the range of
illegal actions, all evidence suggests that the large majority of
participants in legend trips are not habitual delinquents.
Local clergy members, newspaper reporters, and police "ex
perts" on ritualistic crime frequently mistake the remnants of
adolescent legend trips as indications of teenage Satanism or
Satanic cult activity. What is defined as an "altar" for a Satan
ic sacrifice may actually have been the site of a campfire for a
legend trip. Satanic graffiti, spray-painted on the walls of an
abandonedhouse or on trees in awooded area,may have been
theersatz inscriptionsnecessary tomake anexciting andmem
orable evening.
Even more serious evidence of adolescent activity-in
cludingmutilated animals and vandalized cemeteries- may
SEPTEMBER
1994 71
be only the remnants of a legend trip. Aside from the thrills of
engaging in such deviance, leaving remnants of it has the sub
sidiary benefit of shocking adults, often a sufficient justifica
tion for the activities
in the first place. When the media publi
cize these minor entertainments as evidence of a serious prob
lem threatening the community, the youths have achieved their
goal.
It is true that in their legend trips adolescents temporarily
place themselves outside the boundaries of adult society. They
break the rules and laws of their elders, often with the goals of
shocking adult sensibilities and testing adolescent anxieties
about challenging adult authority. These activities have much
to do with the process of growing up, but little to do with dev
ilworship.
JuvenileDelinquency and Pseudo-Satanism
Some adults see Satanism as more serious than an occa
sional adolescent legend trip. But, once again, there is precious
little evidence that a genuinely criminogenic ideology is pres
ent. Satanism is merely a cover for a variety of illicit teenage
activities. As in legend trips, adolescents journey into the oc
cult as an experience, rather than from ideological commit
ment. Even those few teens who profess to be Satanists lack an
elaborate belief system that would justify calling their "devil
worship" a religion. They have fabricated a deviant perspec
tive to justify their decision to rebel against adult social re
strictions and to obtain some measure of public notoriety.
Makeshift black magic rituals offer the excitement of get
ting away with socially deviant behavior, of assaulting the
moral order of conventional society, and of bonding with peers
in a secret, forbidden society. These forbidden activities pro
vide teens who suffer from feelings of powerlessness with a
temporary sense of efficacy. Feelings of empowerment are
heightened when teenagers take their rituals seriously, as if
these rituals could provide them with the power so lacking in
their lives. If disapproving adults also take the magic serious
ly and respond with fear or anger, these adults merely reinforce
the teenagers' attraction to black magic and, ironically, attribute
to them the power they seek.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
One reason that adults devote so much attention to appar
ently Satanic beliefs and activities in the adolescent subculture
is that these activities strike a cultural nerve, which can be ex
ploited by the mass media or by agents of social control. The
more that we define Satanism as an important youth problem,
themore likely it is that curious or trouble-prone teens will seek
out Satanic themes and the more likely it is that some of them
will dabble in ersatz "black magic."
This situation is uncomfortably similar to the attention giv
en to the "hippie" subculture in the 1960s. A small number of
unusual young people were transformed into symbols of a
counterculture, emblems of a fragmenting society. Their ac
tivities were spread nationwide by the unskeptical media. As
a result of all the misguided attention to the symbolism of the
small hippie subculture, thousands of hippie wannabes mate
rializedacross thecountry.
Although themass media did not create teenagepseudo-Sa
tanism,media sensationalismclearly contributedto thewide
72 PHI
DELTA
KAPPAN
This content downloaded from 92.63.104.30 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 17:17:09 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
public awareness of its "dangers." It is ironic that most of the
vigorous spreaders of Satanic beliefs and rituals are not the tiny
band of religious Satanists themselves, but the tireless local po
lice, social workers, school administrators, and members of the
clergy, all of whom ostensibly desire the elimination of any
vestiges of criminal Satanism. Only a cynic would note that, if
these opponents succeeded, they themselves would be out of
the public spotlight. In a form of self-fulfilling prophecy,
though, a society often creates its own "folk devils," thereby
managing to find the kinds of deviants that it fears and con
demnsmost.
The attraction of some teenagers to Satanic symbolism is a
genuine matter of deep concern for society. In contrast with the
symbolism of the hippies, which communicated an optimistic
and hopeful zest for life, Satanic symbolism communicates ex
treme pessimism, nihilism, and hopelessness. We need to ask
whether such symbolism has a special appeal to young people
who see little hope of finding regular employment, stable mar
riages, and a satisfying life. If so, our efforts ought to be di
rected toward restoring hope, rather than toward launching a
witch hunt.
W
T TITHIN THE scope of "teenage Satanism" one finds
two patterns - related, but by no means identical.
Some teenagers are drawn to Satanic activity as a
lark. They are fundamentally normal, moral ado
lescents who are looking for something to juice up their rou
tine existence. Satanic ritual- never taken seriously and per
haps engaged in with a certain nervousness and distance -
promotes their need for thrill-seeking. That it upsets and ag
gravates adults only makes the adventures more delicious to
experience and retell and suggests that the participants have
achieved some measure of social control. Whatever deviance
is associated with these activities isminor and transitory.
Falling into the second category of Satanic tourists are
teenagers who regularly engage in delinquent behavior. Ad
mittedly, a thin line separates the delinquent from the lawful,
but for neither group is a genuine Satanic ideology present. Al
though delinquents may embrace Satanic symbols and behav
iors with a greater fervor, one can hardly claim that their dev
il worship constitutes a "religion." They are Satanic tourists
whose haunts are more regular than those of the day-trippers
who dabble in occasional legend trips or demonic symbolism.
Our findings indicate that focusing concern on the trappings
of teenage pseudo-Satanism is both misleading and counter
productive. We should focus our concern on the root causes of
teenage crime - low self-esteem and poor social conditions
- and not get distracted by faddish symbols of teenage rebel
lion. The alarmists and sensationalists, who call our attention
to an imaginary criminal underground of Satanists, are doing
society and young people a disservice. There are more than
enough real problems toworry about in the twilight. We ought
to refrain from being frightened by the bogeys of the night.
1. David G. Bromley, "The Satanic Cult Scare," Society/Transaction,
May/June 1991, pp. 55-66.
2. David Snow and Leon Anderson, Down on Their Luck: A Study of Home
less People (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992).
3. Pat Pulling, The Devil's Web (Lafayette, La.: Huntington House, 1989), pp.
41-42. K