Item Detail
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27518
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1
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0
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English
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A Mormon Bigfoot : David Patten's Cain and the Conception of Evil in LDS Folklore
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Between Pulpit and Pew : The Supernatural World in Mormon History and Folklore
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Logan, UT
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Utah State University Press
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17-39
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Bowman's essay puts a face on Mormon notions of evil. In 1835, early Mormon apostle David W. Patten reported an encounter with the biblical Cain in Tennessee. As punishment for the murder of his brother Abel, God turned Cain into a large hairy beast who wandered the byways of the American frontier. Cain stories persisted well into the twentieth century, providing reinforcement to legend tellers and receivers alike of the divinity of the Mormon cause in the face of such supernatural opposition. Over time, Cain tales evolved into more typical "Bigfoot" stories being told outside the Mormon cultural region, an intriguing transition that Bowman locates within broader historical sources.