“Who lives in a wigwam, in an illusive one”: modern children’s folklore and mechanisms of conquering fear

Abstract

As modern studies show, the need for horror folklore among children has not gone away, the change in the conditions of its existence only contributes to the constant variability of the plots. A variety of sources contributes not as much to satiety as to selectivity. Earlier a child’s re pertoire depended entirely on the available information transmission channels (pioneer camp, village, courtyard, stories told by grown-ups, magazines, fiction literature), but with the advent of the Internet all human experience is now accumulated in one place. Contemporary environment does not only affect the children’s repertoire; we also observe the transfer of old practices to new digital formats and sometimes the creation of new ones. Therefore, one of the main digital sources of horror content - kripipasta.com - contributes over time to emergence of a phenomenon that is known among the fans as “the world of creepypasta” - an imaginary reality where all the popular netlore characters live in one big house, share a life and build completely human relationships. In 2016, in the village of Dolmatovo, Arkhangelsk Region, I first recorded the practice of immaterial transition to this “world of creepypasta” among its most avid fans. The recorded practice of immaterial transition into the realm of a horror character demonstrates, on the one hand, a new format for spatial interaction with the object of fear, and on the other hand, a new mechanism for conquering fear through folklore texts and practices.