Controversial 'Literature of the Supernatural' Course Offered at Warde 40 Years Ago This Spring

Parents and clergy objected to a controversial course about the occult which was taught at Andrew Warde High School in the mid 1970s. That's according to a newspaper story which appeared 40 years ago this week.

The purpose of The Literature of the Supernatural, according to the school curriculum, was to consider how the occult in various forms served the writer's purpose as he or she probed into the nature of human beings, the nature of the universe, and the interrelationship between the two.

The Rev. W. Roy Bulkley, former pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Bridgeport, objected to the teaching of the course in May of 1974. Rev. Bulkley, a self-proclaimed born-again Christian, backed a protest against the course brought by a Fairfield mother on the grounds that it would be a violation of the constitutional doctrine of separation of church and state.

The Fairfield school board ultimately rejected the protest, and the course, which was an elective open to juniors and seniors, was taught. The course was offered to increase understanding of how language, creatively used, helped to put one's world in order and enable him or her to make a significant decision about it.

The course included literature ranging from Greek mythology to science fiction, from Frankenstein to Lord of the Rings, and from Sleepy Hollow to Space Odyssey 2001.

The curriculum states that, "We will concern ourselves with stories of the spirits within and the spirits without. Students will organize into several groups according to common interests, map out their agenda, and work for their edification and the pleasure of all."

The late Kenneth Peterson, headmaster of Andrew Warde High School at the time, said a total of 25 students were enrolled in the first semester in early 1974. He said the same number of students were taking the course in the second semester, although many more wanted to enroll.

"We received no complaints at all about the course during its first semester," said Petersen, who added that the only opposition to the teaching of the course came from the Rev. Bulkley, who was not a resident of Fairfield, and from the mother of a Warde student. Another minister inquired about the course, but he did not oppose it after he obtained more information about it, according to Petersen.

Petersen said the course, which included traditional literature such as Shakespeare and Poe, dealt with topis of broad interest in the world, and there was no reason why the topics couldn't be discussed in class.

Rev. Bulkley, meanwhile, said he felt justified in protesting against the course because he thought that students would be influenced by it to involve themselves in occult practices. The minister issued a statement which was distributed at a school board meeting nearly a year earlier:

"If you will not heed this warning and put away those plans and this course, which will lead many into darkness, then I will pour out on this school a spirit of confusion as has not occurred in all its past," he said. "Among the student body --- disturbances and drugs. Among the faculty --- animosities. Among the hired help --- labor unrest."

Obviously, Rev. Bulkley's dire predictions never materialized. However, taken at face value, a spirit of confusion, disturbances, drugs, and animosities were part of the high school experience anyway.

Paul