Supernatural Jersey: “Thy Charms Are So Many and Rare”

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Channel Island of Jersey has an abundance of supernatural folklore, which can help foster a sense of understanding and care toward the island environment. These legends are tied deeply to the landscape in landmarks, rock formations, and placenames. Les Petits Faîtchieaux haunt the dolmens, carry round menhirs, and even relocate churches. Michel Foucault outlined the principle of heterotopias, counter-spaces which are separated, both open and closed, and create a break from everyday time. The supernatural folklore of Jersey helps generate a heterotopia, with the promise of an eerie supernatural threat that is always lurking. An ecoGothic lens can add further dark clarity to heterotopic approaches to the landscape, highlighting the vulnerable island landscape in relation to human activities. This article applies these two lenses to the supernatural folklore of Jersey, viewing the island as a heterotopia, a container for a landscape of folkloric imagination.