“The Evil Spirits Are Always Trying to Bring You Down”: Righteousness and Spirit Harassment Among Latter-day Saints in Northern Utah

Abstract

This article explores contemporary Latter-day Saint conceptions of evil in northern Utah through considering both the lived experiences of spirits and the didactic tales of spirits that are a rich part of local folklore. Latter-day Saints are visited by both benevolent and malevolent spirits. These encounters with spirits are connected with local conceptions of “righteousness,” a moral framework that is centered on positive action. Malevolent spirit visits are typically understood as the consequence of “unrighteous” actions or as impediments to exceptionally righteous activity; indeed, the most righteous actions are perhaps the most spiritually dangerous. Negative visitations reflect a cultural framework of evil as a human phenomenon that results from the temptations and distractions of an aggressive, external cosmological force—Satan. Righteous and unrighteous actions both attract the interest of Satan, and therefore invite the possibility of evil to disrupt the moral order.