I’m trying to keep this lighthearted here. However, quite a few of these special interests got me in trouble with my conservative Protestant Christian family. Some of them because they were weird, and some of them because I was apparently the wrong gender to have the interest and some of them because my family thought they were out and out Satanic. (I grew up during the Satanic Panic in a demographic where the hysteria was particularly strong.)
- Mythology: I read a lot of mythology as a kid and later as an adult. My preferred mythoi were Norse and Greek. I also tended to read compendiums and encyclopedias of other mythoi.
- Mythical/Legendary animals: I like various kinds of mythical animals/fantastical beasts. This includes everything from dragons to unicorns to amphisbaena and leucrotta. I also like the kind of really weird “animal lore” like the belief that bear cubs are licked into shape by their mothers and the thing beavers supposedly do to escape their hunters. (Not so much cryptids which are kind of their own distinct thing for me.)
- Proto-sciences. Alchemy, humors, spontaneous generation (ex: people thought flies were generated by rotting meat.) <== Just all of the weird conclusions people came to pre- any concept of the scientific method. Where are you getting this stuff Pliny? Also included in this category: Hoaxes related to any of the above.
- Lands and Peoples that do not/who do not actually exist, either because they were made up by travellers, misunderstood by same or the result of wildly inaccurate second and third hand accounts. (Or any combination of the three.)
- Science fiction and Fantasy. Not only reading it, but reading about it. That is, analysis of the themes, history and other underpinnings of the genre. (I really want to get some good guidebooks/encyclopedias.)
- The Salem Witchcraft Trials. (Not so much now, though I still have Strong Feelings about the way they’re portrayed in various forms of media. Especially when it’s inaccurate. ESPECIALLY when there’s any implication that any of the victims were actually witches or that the panic was in any way justified.)
- Faerie folk lore: Mostly of the British Isles, though I have also done some reading concerning other continents/cultures/regions.
- Magic–various kinds of magic beliefs from various cultures around the world. (Because it was interesting to see how people think the world works on a supernatural level.)
- World religions–Again, an interest in how people think the world works on a cosmological/spiritual level.
- Various Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health Conditions/Illnesses. Also: History related to mental illness, disability, and abuse/domestic violence. Some of it was special interest but a lot of it was “how/why does this happen/why is some of this familiar?”
Most of these were apparently alarming in one sense or another. I would occasionally get in trouble for whatever it was I was reading. I had to be generally very careful about what books I was seen reading since subject matter, cover, a title or a summary could set my parents off. (For a lot of my interests reading could only be done in the library, and sometimes I had to be careful even there.) You could make the argument that my parents were only concerned for my well being, however I don’t think I deserved the screaming, lack of privacy (because they searched my things), physical punishment, groundings and sheer continuous batshit I had to put up with because my parents were in the throes of various religious hysterias. (Despite only occasionally going through phases of going to church.)
This was occasionally somewhat ironic in that my parents had what could be called “weird special interests” as well! Mom watched/watches shows about the supernatural/paranormal and also about UFOS (I hate UFOs and Ancient Astronaut stuff, but that’s me). Mom and Dad both watched fantasy and science fiction movies and tv programs. (Though a lot of the time they seemed to be hate-watching which is not fun when you’re trying to watch a show that you might actually like if only your parents/family members would just shut up.) Their interests were however apparently normal, but I was the weird goblin child.
(I was in fact a weird goblin child. I was bullied a lot because I was weird, and my siblings were also bullied because I was weird. It was kind of crappy all around! But this is another story.)
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