Death Lore: Texas Rituals, Superstitions, and Legends of the Hereafter (review)

In his preface and introduction to the 65th annual publication of the Texas Folklore Society, Secretary-Editor Kenneth Untiedt identifies a series of both unique and fundamental aspects of death, dying, and the folk traditions that surround them. Death lore, he notes, is both shrouded in mystery and universally familiar. Stories, activities, objects, and beliefs surrounding death are commonly and frequently experienced, yet also remain inseparable from the uncertainty and anxiety about death's implications and the nature of an afterlife. Death is oftentimes tabooed, making it at once a topic of conversation to avoid and a topic of fascination for all. While much has been written on the subject of death, a great deal remains unknown. Untiedt, asserting that this mix of familiarity, fear, fascination, and mystery has made death "the focus of more folklore than anything else" (p. 1) and recognizing that folklorists have yet to address a countless number of death lore traditions, provides a cogent justification for the Society's choice of death lore as a topic and introduces a set of themes that reappear several times in the articles and other, less formal contributions that follow.

Death Lore engages these themes while remaining true to the goals and values of the Texas Folklore Society—a group which exists, in part, to record and preserve the folk traditions of Texas but, through its publications, also seeks to inspire folkloristic understanding, appreciation, and discourse elsewhere in the world. Its focus upon the diverse traditions and approaches to discussing them within a single geographical region illustrates for readers the many avenues open to the individual interested in the study of local folklore, whether from a scholarly or leisurely perspective. The Society's website quotes Untiedt's predecessor, Francis Edward Abernethy, in his mission statement that its "main purpose is to search for ways to preserve folklore without embalming it, and to present a fairly well-educated public with the treasures of their culture's folk life," not to "proliferate esoterica and pedantry among a small, specially educated clique" or "hide the light of the lore under a bushel of academic guidelines and definitions and scholarly verbiage" (http://www.texasfolkloresociety.org/AboutTFS.htm). Death Lore holds true to this mission, containing a wide variety of pieces from a wide variety of contributors, including research-based, field-based, and journalistic articles, alongside personal anecdotes, speculations, and recollections all linked through the topics of death, dying, and the people of Texas.

The book's first section stresses the importance of death lore while briefly establishing a historical context. Following this introduction, Untiedt presents four more distinct yet essentially interrelated sections, each containing several individual pieces by contributing authors. The second section, "‘Final' Resting Places," explores the nature of cemeteries and other places of burial in both practice and folk narrative. Readers gain snapshot views of various Texas cemeteries alongside personal anecdotes from Society members about individual experiences in and around burial sites. L. Patrick Hughes, Henry Wolff, Jr., and Charles B. Martin each contribute particularly interesting pieces, presenting a comparative glimpse at two Austin cemeteries, a collection of anecdotes about unusual burial requests, and the complex process of cemetery relocation, respectively. The third section, "Getting There: Rituals, Ceremonies, and the Process of Dying," addresses the manner in which people die across Texas, often through humorous secondhand accounts or personal experience narratives. Mildred Boren Sentell's short piece, "Most People in Texas Don't Die," presents a wonderful and increasingly complex set of examples of euphemisms that Texans use to avoid speaking the word "death." Ruth Massingill's "Death Behind the Walls: Rituals, Folktales, and True Stories," examines the process of execution at Huntsville State Penitentiary. While not purely folkloristic in nature, her study allows for a fascinating and well-researched glimpse into death practices in the most unusual of environments. The book's fourth section, "Superstitions, Strange Stories, and Voices from the ‘Other Side,'" ventures further...