Newspaper clipping from The Louisville Times, courtesy of Ron Schildknecht
Newspaper clipping from The Courier-Journal, courtesy of Ron Schildknecht
As I have already mentioned, the legend of the Pope Lick Monster has caused real harm. Richard Stottman’s “Legends of the deadly Pope Lick Trestle” states, “The trestle has been responsible for dozens of deaths and countless injuries, and has been a source of trauma for many victims, families, and railroad employees” (Stottman, 2019). Stottman compiled a list of these traumas that were verifiable through official news sources, but he also explained that there are many more stories out there not covered by the news. The most recent tragedy at the trestle was a fatality that occurred in 2019, but injuries and fatalities date back at least 40 years.
Schildknecht’s film was produced in 1988 but took two years to film and edit. Just in the years leading up to the release, there were recorded accidents every year from 1984 to 1987. While Schildknecht said he did not have any connection to people who suffered in those years, in the years after he released his film, he has been contacted regularly whenever accidents occur. His film came under heavy fire from grieving families and the media, as many people believed that the story would only draw more reckless teenagers and thrill-seekers of all ages to a place already home to countless tragedies.
Two newspaper clippings: the first an article regarding Schildknecht’s film, and the second a letter to the editor from Schildknecht regarding the first article; courtesy of Ron Schildknecht
Below is a clip of the interview, in which Schildknecht tells me about his experiences with the negative attention and even an experience with one of the families.
In his letter to the editor, shown above, Schildknecht points out that “Little has been accomplished to date in discouraging such activity, which has existed for over three generations” (1988). He does this not to shift blame but to highlight the fact that teenagers will engage in this behavior regardless, and it is the responsibility of those in authority to keep them from harm when possible. “We should recognize that it is the responsibility not only of the railroad company and the police to protect the lives of our young people, but of parents and teachers as well,” he writes (1988). However, people are always looking for someone to blame, and the railroad company’s lengthy history of lawsuits indicates that the victims’ families usually view the company as being at fault.
The company that owns and operates on the railroad that includes the Pope Lick trestle is Norfolk Southern Railway. With a history that littered with bad publicity, one might assume Norfolk Southern would have, by now, taken certain precautions to ensure that safety measures exist to keep people away from the particularly dangerous spots. However, when I brought up this concern with Schildknecht, he told me that the company has not done much.
It would seem like, for a company as large as Norfolk Southern, the public outcry is not loud enough to warrant too much change. Additionally, based on how they handled similar situations in the past, publicity would be the only way to cause any helpful changes: they did not even bother to put up a fence until after Schildknecht’s film came out and gathered local attention. While their decision to put up a fence is an interesting example of material intervention due to folklore, they still followed a disappointing precedent that corporations often would rather save money than spend it for the good of a community.
In the abstract for the article “Satanic Ritual Abuse and Legend Ostension,” folklorist Bill Ellis writes, “Folklorists have proposed the term ostension to describe real-life actions that are guided by a pre-existing legend” (Ellis, 1992). Norfolk Southern’s fence is, therefore, this idea in practice. I would argue, however, that “ostension” would be better applied to situations where the material intervention, or real-life action, lives up to the real-life danger that is fed by the folklore. In other words: a fence easily walked around or through can hardly be considered a helpful action. Whether or not one believes the legend to be real, the evidence that the danger is real is present throughout this page. Real danger requires real solutions.