Students who shopped the class yesterday wereinitially encouraged by the course's lack of amidterm and final exam.
The number of people who stayed dwindled from60 to about 25, however, when students realizedthat the class required a 30- page research paper.
Those who remained were required to fill out anapplication which included a project proposal.
Applicants had a wide variety of reasons forwanting to take the class, ranging from thesensible to the mysterious.
Douglas M. DeMay '94 said that his home town inupstate New York has a large satanic cult. Hisinterest in the course stemmed from a "curiosityabout the sensationalism that surrounds thesethings, and how people are influenced by it."
One applicant even described close personalties to the supernatural.
"I've always been into this stuff," saidBrindisi M. Chan '97. "I used to read theEncyclopedia of Ghosts, and I have a couplevolumes of home witchcraft."
Chan shies away from Ouija boards, however. "Ithink they're dangerous," she said. "You let aspirit come into contact with you, and it couldget inside and mess you up." Chan, who is Chinese,added, "My culture is filled with ghost stories.