Holy Ghost People

YEARS ago on the internet archive, there were quite a number of videos (not film) set in the Appalachian mountains about religion, music and just general townspeople, but mostly it was about religion, and I found that INCREDIBLY fascinating, full of speaking in tongues, faith healing, baptisms, and other fun stuff (and a few boring things). They've disappeared (maybe because I gave some damning reviews to some of them), but they've always stuck out in my mind as some of the most unique vids ever on the archive. The Holy Ghost People is similar to these, maybe a wee bit more talky, grainy and non-structured then I would like, but there's still some stuff that got my attention. The interviews are interesting, and the actual speaking in tongues-hallelujah thing is really strangely bizarre. Would have liked to have known what happened to the preacher in the end.

This little film is a first rate documentation of a snake handling worship service in southern appalachia shot in the early sixties. The filmakers journey to a small town in West Virginia and interview several of the people involved who havebeen saved. This simple film is respectfully done and the testimonies of these people alone might make a believer of you. If you can find it, rent it and be amazed by the power of the Spirit at work in these lives!

This is a great ethnographic film that lets its subjects speak for themselves. Instead of depicting pentecostal Christians as outside "normal" Christianity, it portrays their humanity in their care for one another, their egalitarian organization, the sensory/emotional depth of their experience, and the beauty of their music, dance and testimony. My students (anthropology of religion) immediately saw connections to Durkheim (collective effervescence), Carnival (permission to break from everyday norms), the sensibilities of Burning Man (spontaneity, no spectators, self-reliance, personalization of religious/spiritual experience) Marcel Mauss (reciprocity), and Max Weber (the Protestant work ethic: "the sin of idleness"). I strongly disagree with the professed anthropologist above who characterized the subjects as "deviant." This plays into normative/dominant notions of "good" religion as emotionally controlled, non-spontaneous, and yoked to norms of middle class citizenship. Anthropologists should know that religious experience is infinitely varied and no single variation is "normal."

In the current political environment, religion has become a political football that's been kicked around by zealots who claim that government is anti-religion and antagonistic to God.

Although this enlightening film was made about 40 years ago, it clearly demonstrates that the freedom to worship as one pleases is as solid as the bedrock under the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

It's up to the viewer to decide whether the members of the Holiness Church in Scrabble Creek, West Virginia, are filled with the spirit of the Holy Ghost, mad or engaging in an uninhibited (and healthy)form of emotional release.

Nevertheless, the people at the service appear to be down-to-earth and brimming over with faith. The music and dancing are exuberant. They speak in tongues, handle snakes, drink poison and give testimony.

It all may seem bizarre, but their freedom to worship the way they do demonstrates that the First Amendment of our Constitution can withstand anything -- even the pronouncements of nutty politicians who want to turn the United States into an officially Christian country.

A superb film. Let freedom ring!

I was the sound recordist for Peter Adair's film "The Holy Ghost People" and we spent one Summer and Fall filming their services each weekend. There is no question in my mind that most of the worshipers were completely genuine in their beliefs and actions. The few who weren't so sure of their faith were fairly obvious.

It was a powerful experience I will never forget it. I'm not about to become a Pentecostal Christian nor practice my belief the way they did, but I was was deeply affected by their sincerity and spirituality.

I have shot film all over the world and I have never experienced more friendliness and hospitality than we did on location in Scrabble Creek and Gauley Bridge, WVA in 1966.