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Stories of anomalous experiences, such as strange objects in the skies or goliath bipedal monsters, comprise what is known as supernatural legendry. From chain letters promising either blessings or curses, to rumors about vast satanic conspiracies, reports of alien beings and unidentified craft, and testimonies to the healing power of sacred sites, supernatural legends are transmitted in a variety of modes. They are recounted in face-to-face situations, on radio, on television, in print media, and on the Internet. Computer-mediated environments are an ideal venue for legends, providing opportunities to utilize textual, visual, and aural evidence. The Internet is a particularly ideal province for mysteries and the supernatural. Unlike rites of passage reenacting myths, the ostensive play involved in reenacting legends centers on ambiguity. Through legends and myths, however, it is possible to conciliate diametrically opposite ideas the likes of which come into focus when talking about the nature of the supernatural. One form of ostension arises from legends that inspire quests to test their veracity: a ritual performance known as legend-tripping.

In 2005, the author of this book attended the Mid-South Paranormal Convention at the Waverly Hills Sanitarium in Kentucky, which culminated in an all-night ghost-hunting tour of the premises. The event drew ghost hunters and spirit photographers, all wanting to see with their own eyes the ghosts residing at the sanitarium, where 63,000 tuberculosis patients were said to have died. Strange stories and many other legends surrounding Waverly Hills have solidified its reputation as a mid-South epicenter for paranormal activity. In this chapter, the author recounts his experience at Waverly Hills and the guests’ supposed encounter with the supernatural, including ghosts and spirits. He describes his ordeal at Waverly Hills as an example of what folklorists call legend-tripping. He also looks at early legend-trips in Europe and the Ouija board’s connection to many popular supernatural legends and legend-trips. Finally, the chapter discusses the reality TV series Ghost Hunters Live 2007 Halloween Special, which tackled the supernatural events surrounding Waverly Hills.

A legend-trip culminates in contact with the supernatural. In the case of the Incunabula Papers, this contact occurs when participants perform the belief, or literally believe, that the documents have some supernatural or initiatory quality and when they start to interpret events or perceptions as supranormal. Personal experience reports offer a glimpse into what happens during this stage. This chapter examines supernatural experiences that reportedly arise from legend-tripping by locating personal experiences within the domain of the creative imagination. It also considers how dreams and dreaming are linked to supernatural experiences and how experiences occurring within the province of sleep are tied to supernatural legends.

The term magic refers to a complex process of imaginatively affecting perceptions of reality using distinctive and persistent rhetorical strategies and ritual performances. Both magic and legend-tripping make use of the imagination to conjure events described by supernatural legends or occult texts for particular effects. Technology has long been used to realign the boundaries between the possible and impossible, the known and unknown, the natural and supernatural. According to Erik Davis, powerful new technologies are magical because they function as magic. This is evident in the movement known as Spiritualism and its practice of spirit photography. New technologies, such as the Internet and digital cameras, have revived interest in spirit photography, especially within the context of legend-tripping. The connection between magic and technology is also at work in occult software and the virtual space called noosphere.

This chapter focuses on the Incunabula Papers and the legend-tripping performance that arose from their online circulation. It examines the two documents that comprise the Incunabula Papers as well as their exploration of supernatural legends and the mysticism of the mail art movement: Ong’s Hat: Gateway to the Dimensions! A Full Color Brochure for the Institute of Chaos Studies and the Moorish Science Ashram in Ong’s Hat, New Jersey, allegedly written by members of the Institute for Chaos Studies, and Incunabula: A Catalogue of Rare Books, Manuscripts & Curiosa—Conspiracy Theory, Frontier Science & Alternative Worlds, presumably written by Emory Cranston. Together, these two documents chronicle the conspiracy among several groups and organizations to either liberate or enslave man through the distribution or repression of technologies that enable travel to parallel worlds. The chapter also looks at three individuals who have significantly influenced the Incunabula Papers: Joseph Matheny, Peter Lamborn Wilson, and Nick Herbert.