Folklore Detective
May 5th, 2007 by Glenn
Whenever I tell people that I studied Mormon folklore for about ten years in graduate school, they almost always respond with a curious “folklore?” then a polite “huh – that’s interesting” and then they tell me some story they have heard and ask me if it’s true. It has made me think that what people really want is a folklore detective – but that is not generally what folklorists do. We (they — I’m not exactly in this business anymore) are usually more concerned about “why” a story is told (how it functions) or “how” a story is told (performance theory) than whether or not it is true.
Over the years I have collected a lot of traditional stories. I have no idea how many of them are “true” but they are all very interesting to me, and I think the fact that they continue to be told indicates that they have value, whether they are true or not.
Here’s one of my all time favorite stories. Is it true? I doubt it (although the teller was fairly convinced). But what is more important is the message the story conveys:
This one I have some faith in, seeing that it was told to us by our Mission President over the pulpit at a zone conference, and it was told to him by the mission president that actually experienced it. It starts with a companionship that decides to take a weekend excursion from their mission in the southern part of the country (USA) to some other part of the country. They had been gone only half a day when they had to stop to get gas (Outside of the mission boundaries) They pulled up to the gas station, one jumped out to pump the gas as the other went in to pay. As the Elder walked in towards the convenience store he noticed the pay phone outside the store was ringing. Thinking he would have a little fun with the person on the other end of the line answered in a rough voice only to hear his Mission President calling him by name, telling him to return with his Companion to the mission at once. They did, and from what I remember they were not sent home, but I am sure learned a great lesson. (Josh Haycock — Alabama Birmingham Mission 1994-96 — collected July 10, 1999)
I’m curious if anyone has heard this story or another one like it. I’m also curious to see if there is more than one interpretation. Of course, if there are any folklore detectives out there, maybe you can tell us for sure whether or not it is true.
*If you would like to look at similar stories I collected over the years, you can click here.
Enjoyed reading the missionary stories. I was struck by how many of them were caught because their mission presidents saw them on tv. Seems like the MP spend an awful lot of time watching television…
Either that, or they are just so in tune that they can turn it on at the very minute they need to and not have to sit through any offensive commercials (unless, of course, at that very moment the tv turns on all by itself…)
Hi Glenn,
Greetings from another IU Folklorist. Although you will know this, I thought I would chime in here that despite the claims of the teller, we really have a FOAF formulation here (or maybe a MPoaMP), which immediately leads one to suspect a faith-promoting rumor. Part of what makes this story effective is its inherent implausibility: it’s highly unlikely to be true, but it has just enough ring of plausibility to it that it might have happened. That uncertainty is what makes it work: if it is true, then the panopticon of the Mission Prez may be on me at this very point, peering into my soul and discerning my secret pecadillos… It’s not too hard to see a Foucaldian mechanism of social control here, although I think that is an overly crass formulation of the matter since the relationship between missionary and MP is not (or at least should not be) an antagonistic one.
I think there are two messages that come out: 1. the mission president may just have oracular powers and a red telephone to the celestial kingdom – so straighten up and fly right; 2. no matter how far afield you go, the mission president still has your well being in mind. I think it is significant that the offending missionaries weren’t sent home, because the message then is that you can confess your sins to the MP (who knows them anyway) and stay out. If the elders were sent packing on the next plane, the effect would have been very different, for it would have said that your going afield would get you sent home too…
One additional comment. In general in verifiable cases of missionaries getting caught going off the plantation, it seems to be mundane things that get them caught: other missionaries telling, rumors floating and getting passed on to the MP, or even things like entry and exit stamps in passports getting noticed in passports. These stories don’t get passed on though (at least not in the same contexts), because they don’t serve the same meaning-making purpose. In some cases they counter it: if a mission president was in the dark about missionaries leaving the mission until six months after the fact, what does that say?
Fenevad,
How “beastly” of you to be so cynical about the inspiration of mission presidents.
Fenevad,
Excellent points, although I must add that I am pretty sure it was words like “panopticon” that pushed me out of academia (either that, or lack of decent funding and/or motivation). The supernormal (as opposed to supernatural) elements you highlight certainly give it that “I can’t believe it’s not a legend” legend status. Not to mention the liminality of it all. To me, one of the main points is that no matter what you think you can get away with, someone is always watching. And I think it would be interesting to explore the possibilities of an antagonistic relationship between missionary and MP. There may be more to that than initially meets the eye. Thanks for the comment. You gotta love the FOAF (that means “Friend of a Friend” for those without at least a Master’s degree in Folkloristics).
Babelodion must have a Hungarian connection. Fenevad is an archaic Hungarian word for “beast.”