Daniel W. VanArsdale
Domain:
carryiton.net
©1998, 2002, 2007, 2014, 2016
2.91 MB
Abstract: Apocryphal letters claiming divine
origin circulated for centuries in Europe. After 1900, shorter more
secular letters appeared in the US that promised good luck if copies
were distributed and bad luck if not. Billions of these "luck chain
letters" circulated in the the next 100 years. As they replicated
through the decades, some accumulated copying errors, offhand comments,
and calculated innovations that helped them prevail in the competition
with other chain letters. For example, complementary testimonials
developed, one exploiting perceived good luck, another exploiting
perceived bad luck. Twelve successive types of paper luck chain letters
are identified which predominated US circulation at some time in the
twentieth century. These types, and their major variations, are
described
and analyzed for their replicative advantage. In
the 1970's a luck chain letter from South America that touted a
lottery winner invaded the US and was combined on one page with an
indigenous chain letter. This combination rapidly dominated
circulation.
In 1979 a postscript concluding with "It Works" was added to one
of these combination letters, and within a few years the progeny
of this single letter had replaced all the millions of similar letters
in circulation without this postscript. These and other events
in paper chain letter history are described, and hypotheses are
offered to explain advances and declines in circulation, including
the near extinction of luck chain letters in the new
millennium.
Perhaps the most dramatic event in chain letter history was the advent of money chain letters. This was spawned by the infamous "Send-a-Dime" chain letter which flooded the world in 1935. The insight and methods of its anonymous author, likely a woman motivated by charity, are examined in detail in a separate article titled "The Origin of Money Chain Letters." This constitutes Section 4.1 below, where its link is repeated. It can be read independently from this treatise.
The online Paper Chain Letter Archive contains the text and documentation of over 900 chain letters. Most of these texts have been transcribed from collected physical letters, but many come from published sources including daily newspapers present in online searchable archives. Some unusual items in the archive are: an anonymous 1917 chain letter giving advice on obtaining conscientious objector status; a 1920 Sinn Fein revolutionary communication; rare unpublished scatological parody letters from 1935; a bizarre chain letter invitation to a suicide from 1937; and a libelous Proctor and Gamble boycott alleging satanism from 1986. An annotated index provides easy access to all chain letters in the archive. An Annotated Bibliography on Chain Letters and Pyramid Schemes contains over 425 entries. A Glossary gives precise definitions for terms used here, facilitating the independent reading of sections.2. Luck
Chain Letters
2-1 Predecessors
2-2 The
Predominant Series
2-3 Outliers
3. How
Chain Letters Work
3-1 Population
Dynamics
3-2 Distribution
Networks
3-3 Evolution
3-4 Retention
3-5 Compliance
3-6 Mainline
Testimonials
3-7 Effective
Copying
3-8 Effective
Distribution
4. Events
in Chain Letter History
4-1 The
Origin of Money Chain Letters (1933 - 1935) (Independent
Article)
4-2 Divergence
of Luck and Money Chains (1935 - 1939)
4-3 Luck
Follows Money (1949)
4-4 The
Media Chain Letter (1948
- 1995)
4-5 The
"It Works" Conquest (1979 - 1982)
4-6 The
Death-Lottery Chain Letter Since 1980
I could not have conducted this study without the assistance and friendship of Dr. Michael J. Preston, University of Colorado English Professor and folklorist. He obtained scores of letters, gave me copies of his files and put me up in his home while I worked in the CU Boulder library. The help of Dr. William F. Hansen, folklorist and Head of the Department of Classical Studies at Indiana University was also indispensable. He provided many useful chain letters and translations, and his interest and encouragement have been sustaining.
Special thanks also go to Alan E. Mays, who sent many chain letters, his bibliography on chain letters and the Himmelsbrief, and archived chain email. Paul Smith also provided scores of letters and an extensive bibliography. Anna Guigne sent a stack of chain letters and answered questions. Steve Glickman helped with microfilmed Denver Post articles at UC Boulder. Carol Petty copied local newspaper articles in Springfield, Missouri, where chain letters rampaged for a few days in 1935. John Burkhardt shared his thoughts early in the project and emailed digitized letters. James H. Patterson has provided photocopies of many rare chain letters from his collection of "unmailable" items. Sandy Hobbs sent photocopies of every chain letter that has appeared in the publications Dear Mr. Thoms and Letters to Ambrose Merton.
I have received much needed help with foreign language chain letters. Prof. Sarah E. Winter translated several chain letters and an entire article from French into English. Dr. Yana VanArsdale found several Russian chain letters and articles, and translated published letters in Polish and Russian to English. Dr. Jean-Bruno Renard has sent chain letters from France and Brazil, and a bibliography of French publications. Natalia Kasprzak sent two Polish articles on chain letters and translated a Polish letter into English. Bill Clark translated some chain letter Tagalog. Martinovich Vladimir Aleksandrovich provided Russian chain letters he collected, and has translated a Russian version of the Romance Game chain into English.
Though I am solely responsible for the approach and presentation here, this effort was sustained because a few people expressed interest. I am especially thankful for the encouragement of Richard Dawkins, who suggested I write "a book on chain letters, with all your detailed examples and analyses." This is not a book, but likely it is enough detail for most readers.
A partial list of those who
provided one or more paper chain letters appears on an information page
for the archive.
1-1 Introduction.
Seeking
paper chain letters Overview
Auxiliary
Files and Conventions
Seeking paper chain letters.
If you have any information on where I may obtain paper
chain letters please email.
Any chain letters sent should be dateable, as by a postmarked envelope.
Are there any paper luck chain letters still circulating, perhaps
distributed by hand? The last one I collected was almost ten years ago,
in 2008. Foreign examples, clippings, obscure or foreign
references, beliefs and rumors about chain letters, stories of
receiving unexpected money in the mail, or other personal experiences
with chain letters are welcome.
Overview.
Texts that appeal to superstition to encourage their copying or
publication have circulated for over a thousand years. For English
language letters, beginning around 1905, copy quotas and deadlines
appeared and claims of divine authorship and magical protection were
removed. These innovations probably began in other languages and were
translated into English. The resulting "luck chain letters" eventually
spread worldwide, and in over four thousand generations of copying
(with variation) they accumulated ways to sustain and increase
circulation that challenge our understanding.
Using a collection of over 900 dated paper chain letter texts, I have identified types and variations that appear and disappear over the years. Unexpectedly, it was discovered that, repeatedly, a single letter bearing some new innovation had propagated so abundantly and rapidly that within just a few years its descendants replaced all similarly motivated letters in circulation.
Subtle methods that increase replication include the following.
Auxiliary Files and Conventions.
Listed here are files in the directory /chain-letter/ and
sub-directories /archive/, /e-archive/ and /photo-archive/ which
support this essay and are publicly available.
The following conventions may
help the reader decide whether to pursue a link.
1-2 Motivational Categories
Protection
Charity
Religion
Luck Advocacy
Money
Parody Exchange
World
Record Chain
Email
A chain letter
explicitly asks a recipient to make or purchase copies of itself and
distribute them. It may also instruct the reader to make some
modification of the letter, such as updating a list of senders. In this
treatise I will
use the term "chain letter" exclusively to refer to paper
chain letters.
Examples reveal that the form and
content of chain letters are highly correlated with the principal
motive to distribute copies. I have classified each paper chain letter
in the archive into one of nine motivational categories which I define
here. Three of these categories (Protection, Luck, and Money) are
described in detail in following sections and hence only briefly here.
The order of the categories here is the chronological order that
English language examples first appeared.
Protection.
The Letters from Heaven (German: Himmelsbrief)
claim to have been written by God or some divine agent. They
often command Sabbath observance and promise the bearer magical
protections.
Himmelsbrief have circulated in
Europe and elsewhere for many centuries. They do not exactly fit the
above definition of a chain letter since most do not ask that copies be
made,
but instead ask the reader to "publish" the text. I discuss them
later (> Heaven).
The filenames for the Letters
from Heaven begin with the letter "h" in the Paper Chain Letter Archive.
Charity.
A charity chain letter requests money or some item
be sent to a fixed address, ostensibly for charitable, political or
memorial purposes.
Charity letters were common from
1888 up into the 1920's, and influenced early luck chain and money
chain letters. Apparently 1888 was a boom year for them, judging from
newspaper reports. There was even a parody that circulated [1888].
A June 1887 newspaper article
found by Patrick Davison describes a "remarkable scheme" for collecting
donations by personal contact which uses a pyramid of 6,144 persons to
collect $17,412. Participants were assigned one of the six letters A
through F depending on their role in the scheme. Early charity letters
may have been influenced by such schemes.
A December, 1888
letter in the archive solicits dimes for the education of "the
poor whites in the region of the Cumberlands." This letter
states it is an adaption of a previous solicitation, and asks that four
copies be sent to friends. For compliance ". . . you will
receive the blessing of Him who was ready to
die for us". Excluding the Himmelsbrief, this
may be the oldest chain letter physically collected. An older
charity chain letter from the summer of 1888 is described by Paul
Collins, and likely some others circulated previously. A
report of an 1881
charity chain letter in the Washington Post is
apparently false. In an 1892
example, an American college student solicited dimes and ten copies.
This letter, like most early charity chains, claimed to be self-terminating:
recipients were asked to increment a generation count at the top of the
letter until it reached some preset maximum at which time the donation
was to be made, but not more copies. This practice continued at least
through 1916 [Billy].
Usually, a few years after a letter was launched, only those circulated
which had inflated this maximum (NYT
1917). For example, there are two examples of a solicitation
for used postage stamps to build a children's ward in Australia (OED).
The first is from 1900
and is numbered 173 of 180 maximum. The second, highly modified, was
still
in circulation ten years later [1910]
and is numbered 375 of 480 maximum. Many chain letters exaggerate the
loss if there is a single break in transmission [1895].
Apart from intimidating recipients to comply, this may have been
influenced by certain mail frauds of the time (Thomas
1900). Chain letters that did not state a termination number
were called "endless" for a few decades, and this language still
appears in some laws.
In 1989 the Craig Shergold appeal
requested get well cards for a dying child (since recovered), intending
to break a Guinness world record that existed at the time. It was
launched by FAX, email and chain letters. By December 1990 a record
33,000,000 cards had been received (Guigne).
Despite efforts
to stop the appeal, hundreds of millions have now been sent.
Charity chain letters were an influence on early luck chain letters,
and in 1935 enabled the advent of money chain letters. They are
common on the Internet but most of these are hoaxes {Jessica
Mydek}. A revealing item in the archive is a nine page chain
solicitation for one dollar contributions to the
1950
campaign
of anti-union Ohio Senator Howard Taft. These were rescued from the
discarded files of the Atlantic Coast Line railroad police.
Archive filenames for charity
letters begin with "c".
Religion.
Religious chain letters promote religious beliefs,
causes or practices, but do not ask for money. If they do they are
classified as Charity chain letters.
In English speaking countries, religious chain letters circulated in small numbers throughout the twentieth century. Most of these have Roman Catholic themes. There is a single example in the archive of a chain letter which is titled "A Prayer to St. Joseph" which dates back to 1898. The text follows (format shortened, slightly edited):
Nellie Sullivan
A Prayer to St. Joseph.
Oh, St. Joseph
Whose protection is so great success so prompt before the throne of God. I place in you all my hopes, and confide to you all my interests. Deign Oh, St. Joseph to assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your divine foster son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
So that after having enjoyed here below your heavenly favors, I may offer you my thanksgiving and homage to the most tender and loving of all fathers.
Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you with Jesus asleep on your arms; but I dare not approach while he reposes on your heart.
Press him in my name, kiss softly his forehead for me, and ask him to return that kiss when I draw my last breath.
St. Joseph, patron of despairing souls pray for me.
- - - - -
To obtain the request granted to this prayer it must be written and given to five different persons who will give it to five others. Repeat the prayer for nine days after distributing it. It has never been known to fail in any request.
Nellie Sullivan.
Mary Hennessey. [1898]
Note that only five copies are
requested, but the prayer is to be repeated on nine successive days as
in a Novena
devotion. In the last paragraph it is revealed that the sender may have
made a personal "request" of Joseph, who is described as the "patron of
despairing souls." This and other features, including the claim that
"it has never been known to fail," suggest this letter may be a distant
source for personal appeals to St. Jude that appear in the classified
ads of present day newspapers in the U. S. (>jude)
St. Jude also appears on subsequent English language luck chain letters
beginning around 1987 (much later than some have supposed). One
appositive for St. Jude is "Saint of things almost despaired of."
Other religious chain letters that have been collected include a
solicitation for prayers [1905],
and Catholic devotional themes, one of which is called "A Little Flower
of Jesus" and claims to be approved by "the sisters of St.
Francis" [1937,
see also 1951].
Filenames for religious chain
letters begin with an "r" in the Paper Chain Letter Archive.
Advocacy.
Advocacy chain letters promote some cause other than
religion, and do not ask that money be sent. Often they involve a
petition. Also included in this category are announcements and
invitations.
A 1903
postcard, as well as asking that copies of itself be distributed, asks
that recipients send their name and address to the "U.S. Moral Society"
to be added to a petition to Congress to prohibit the sale of
cigarettes to minors. In subsequent examples the initial communication
itself could be a petition, as in an attempt to
draft Calvin Coolidge as the Republican nominee for President
[1927].
An example not involving a
petition is an August, 1940
letter advocating Republican Wendell Willkie for President and asking
that ten copies be sent. A 1917
chain letter with detailed instructions for establishing conscientious
objector status is a rare example of anonymous advocacy. Other chain letter causes include Czech
independence [1949],
nuclear disarmament [1985],
protests of apartheid [1988],
and a libelous call for a boycott of Proctor & Gamble [1986]
alleging satanism. Recipients are invited to a party, and possibly a
suicide,
in a 1937
chain letter. Advocacy chain emails are also common, such as a
perennial appeal to support National Public Radio [e1996].
Advocacy
chain letters have filenames beginning with "a" in the archive.
Luck.
Luck chain letters appeal primarily to superstition,
promising good luck if the letter is copied and distributed and bad
luck if it is not. They are often called "prayer" chains because many
prior types started with a prayer or Bible verse.
Luck chain letters may have
developed either from a requirement to distribute a prayer in a Roman
Catholic Novena devotion [1898], or as a
secularization of promises and threats in the Letters from Heaven [1906],
possibly in a preamble. The English language paper luck chain letters
of the twentieth century will be my principal topic. Most examples in
the last few decades are highly traditional, having
gradually accumulated varied devices to promote circulation. The
lists of prior senders that often accompanied luck chain letters
have at times motivated replication in order for one to display to
others that a high status person sent them the letter. Since this
motive is not catered to by any language in the host chain letter,
I have not listed it as a separate motivational category. Luck chains
have also been common on the Internet. Though originally these were
simply digitizations of paper letters, they subsequently specialized
to the email medium [e1995].
Filenames for paper luck chain letters begin with the letter "l" in the archive.
Money.
Money chain letters urge the recipient to send money
to one or more prior senders, claiming that one can likewise benefit if
sufficient copies are distributed.
The key innovation of money chain
letters was a list of names and addresses with the instructions to
remove the top entry, move the others up one slot, and add one's own
name and address at the bottom. I call any list with these instructions
a controlled
list. Money chain letters originated in the United States in
the spring of 1935 with the "Send-a-Dime"
letter, also called "Prosperity Club" [Denver].
A prior luck chain letter [1933]
was used as a model for Send-a-Dime. These and other details
of the advent of money chain letters are presented in the article The
Origin of Money Chain Letters
which can be read independently of this treatise, or read in
sequence (section 4-1).
Money chain letters have influenced the content and distribution
of luck chain letters up into the 1950's and possibly beyond (sections 4-2
and 4-3).
Also included in this category are pyramid schemes, which we define as
not using the mails to recruit (but they may, or may not, use the mails
to make payments). Money chain letters continue as an omnipresent
nuisance to this day, both in paper [2002]
and as E-mail [2001].
Money chain letters and pyramid schemes violate Federal and State (West's
CA) laws.
Filenames of items in this category begin with "m".
Parody.
Parody letters
mock the style and methods of circulating chain letters. The request
for
copies may not be serious, but parody letters have often circulated
in the mails.
There is a single example of an 1888
letter
mocking charity chain letters which had just appeared in large numbers
at that time. This letter purports to seek "brutes in
pantaloons" to wed "old maids" in
Massachusetts. It was not until the money chain letter craze of 1935
that parodies
appeared in large numbers and many varieties. These mocked both the
language and geometrical progression of the Send-a-Dime
letter, as well
as the exchange letters it had inspired. Examples mentioned in the
press include the "Liquid Assets Club" [1935]
(which may have actually been used to exchange liquor, as was possibly
the "Send-a-Pint" letter) and the "Drop
Dead Club" (shoot the first person on the list). I have
collected
several complete texts of early parodies, including some scatological
examples [1935].
The familiar "wife exchange" [1953]
was
very common in the 1950's, and I recently found a bare bones example
from [1935]
using newspapers.com. These wife exchange letters
illustrate
how punch lines can be topped successively. The early 1935 example
simply states that one may receive 15,125 women for its
humorous
effect. Then a 1939
example introduces the quip that one man broke the chain and
got his own wife back. Though illogical, this disappointing result was
the final punch line up into the early 1950's. A mimeographed 1953
letter notes in a postscript that at the funeral of a friend who
received 183 women, everyone remarked that "he had a smile on his face
for the first time in years." This in turn was topped in 1954
by an account of the difficulties that three undertakers had in
removing that smile. The "Fertilizer Club ("go to the top
address on the list and crap on the front lawn") [1971]
also very likely goes back to 1935, but it is unlikely it would have
been published in a newspaper. The
wife exchange parody was commercially produced as a postcard [1954],
and an undated matchbook advertisement suggests even earlier commercial
production of chain letter parodies [1940?].
The wife exchange parody itself fell victim to parody in
an imitative husband exchange letter [1949].
Despite commercial publication, chain letter parodies circulated in
different versions like photocopied office humor. There is no serious
request for copies, thus technically they are not chain letters.
Parodies have probably served to educate the public on the fallacies of
money chain letters, and have influenced the content of luck chain
letters. They are very common on the Internet [St.
Paul].
Paper parodies of chain letters
appear in the archive with filenames beginning with "j" (for joke).
Exchange.
The exchange chain letters ask that an item of
small value be sent to one or more prior senders, promising that if a
specified number of copies are distributed the sender will
in turn receive many such items.
Within weeks after the
proliferation of the first money chain letter, Send-a-Dime, letters
appeared which utilized its controlled list method to exchange items
other than money. [1935]
By 1937
the text in these chain letters, as well as the number of names on the
list, had been reduced. Unlike luck chain letter types, the copy quota
on exchange chain letters varies considerably, as does the number of
names present in the controlled list. In chronological order, items
exchanged on archived chain letters are: recipes, quilt patches,
handkerchiefs, stamps, tea towels, postcards,
dish towels, aprons, wash rags, Turkish towels, earrings, QSL
cards, Tshirts, new panties, paperback books, dog toys, collectibles,
grocery coupons, lottery scratchers and children's books. Exchange
chains were still circulating in paper in 1996.
Only one example in email form has been collected (a used paperback
book exchange).
Filenames for exchange chain
letters begin with an "x" in the archive
World
Record.
The
world
record chain letters motivate replication exclusively by
claiming distribution of copies will likely set a world record
and that participants will be acknowledged. They circulated primarily
among children after the new millennium, having developed from a
lineage of postcard exchange letters.
In 1976 a postcard exchange
letter claimed that it was approved by the US Postal Service as an "educational
game for children". It also claimed that it had never been
broken in over three years, and that just to delay sending copies
beyond three days constituted breaking the chain [1976].
A 1985
cognate, said to have been started by "kids in Germany",
asserted that if the letter continued unbroken for a little longer it
would be in the Guinness Book of World Records. Later other such
letters promised that each person who participated in the chain would
get their name in the Guinness record book. But should the recipient
not send copies, or even delay doing so for more than three days, the
record would be spoiled and all the children
"would have to wait another nine years to be in
the record book" [1996-08].
This descent into absurdity had become inevitable when an innovation
that promoted the total exclusion of adults replicated. On a 1999
letter the recipient
is instructed to "... send it to six kids."
Soon this
restriction to kids was strengthened ("KIDS ONLY"), and was justified
by saying it meant "kids will do the longest chain letter"
[2001-04]. Distributions to adults may not have changed the
text of the most irrational versions, but increased discard may have
curtailed their circulation.
A letter mailed in the new
millennium [2000-11]
drops all mention of postcards and declares that "it is an
attempt to get into the world records." So a new motivational
category is necessary to cover this chain since postcards are no longer
exchanged. I call this motivational category "world record".
Our earliest example also claims that "the post
office is keeping track". Further, perhaps to make this seem
more plausible, the list of names and addresses, which previously
directed the flow of postcards, had now migrated to the outside
of the envelope. This in turn nurtured a grave fear: the post
office could determine "who broke the chain" [2005-04].
This is no small matter: "it has never been broken so please
don't spoil it for every one." An additional feature of this
letter was the claim that it would be delivered without a stamp.
Cognates collected in the next few years, most of them claiming
to have started in Australia, dropped this feature but added the
instruction that one should write on the envelope: "This is
the official Guinness Book of World Records chain letter" [2001-04],
or something similar. Presumably this would allow the Post Office to "track"
the chain. This requirement of an external declaration continued on
most letters of the lineage, and on these we see again the claim that a
stamp was not required for delivery. One only had to write the
declaration where the stamp would normally be affixed [2005-09].
This curious feature also appeared on "Lottery-Death"
type luck chain letters in 1974 ( > no
stamp ), as well as in certain French
chain letters. The
list of names was soon dropped in the lineage [2001-07],
but the
claim of Post Office tracking continued without it.
The exchange of postcards is the
most logical use one can imagine for a paper chain letter. This is
because the invitation to participate can itself be a collectible
postcard. Thus it is ironic that a variety of postcard exchange letter
gave
rise to this most absurd of all chain letters. Most
of the propagative innovations on the "kids" type letters are likely
accidental or naively motivated, but many recipients must have believed
them. A letter from a mother describes her daughter's fear of being
identified as one who broke the chain [2007-01].
These "world record" paper chain letters may have been one of the most
abundant English language paper chain letters in the first decade of
the new millennium. But recently (2012) their numbers may have been
greatly reduced by computer searching on text. As for all chain letters
here, children's names and addresses have been obscured in online
transcriptions.
Filenames for the "world record" chain letters begin with a "w" in the archive.
Chain Email.
The primary focus of this treatise is on paper chain letters. But it is
sometimes useful to examine copying behavior on the internet,
particularly frequently forwarded email ("chain email"). This has a
large and growing number of motives for replication. Hoaxes, humor and
expressions of friendship are prominent. The following is an alphabetic
list of some of the many topics observed since 1993: admonitions (duty
to friends, sobriety, safe sex), anti chain letters, aphorisms, ASCII
art and scrollers, communication experiments and demonstrations,
consumer warnings, friendship, hoaxes (virus warnings, charity,
giveaways, false quotations), human rights alerts, humor (single jokes
and lists, office humor items, stories), inspiration, Internet
protection (modem tax, phone charges, anti-censorship), good luck
(often in sex or romance), missing children, money chains, number
guessing tricks, parodies, patriotism, personality tests, petitions,
photographs and videos, poems, political commentary, practical jokes
(especially April Fools Day), prayer requests, protests, rumors, school
& exams, seasonal (Christmas, St. Valentine's Day, Halloween,
Thanksgiving Day), speeches, surveys, tag (snowball fight, mooning),
urban legends (warnings, humor), voting
recommendations, and Web page
suggestions. Many of these topics appear in combination, such as a
humor item with a short luck chain attached.
Many e-mail chains began as
digitizations of paper chain letters. A very early example is an exact
transcription of a circulating paper luck chain letter [e1982
- note archaic address formats]. Paper office humor items were also put
online [e1995].
Once established, chain emails rarely surge in replication due to an
offhand change or copying error, as we will see occurs within the paper
medium. This is because an email is usually reproduced exactly, and
thus there are few if any variations. However both luck chain emails
and money schemes quickly developed
adaptions to the new medium through a series of deliberate hoaxes
or calculated modifications. A new restraining factor manifested
when email chains were posted on various lists and group venues,
provoking critical analysis and ridicule. Recipients of a chain
email (and chain letters) are now likely to search the web on
key text, particularly if money is solicited. Such a search will
discover naive postings and attempts to recruit participants in
money schemes. However, high in the list of matches, one will also
encounter critical comments and disarming analysis, such as on
some of the money chain emails in the archive associated with
this essay [me2009].
Email screening criteria by Internet Service Providers have,
in recent years, also become a significant factor in the survival of
email replicators.
< Start
of above section
< Start
of Chain Letter Evolution - Contents
1-3
SOURCES
The
collection of letters Table
1 - Contents of the Paper Chain Letter Archive
Foreign
language letters
Publications Web
Sites Interviews
The Collection of letters.
I began collecting chain letters in 1973 with the hope they would
reveal an evolutionary sequence. This effort was renewed several years
later after discovering the folklore literature, particularly Michael
Preston's 1976 article "Chain Letters" (Preston).
This documented chain letters in a state of flux and presented
variations of the same letter. Subsequently I placed ads for chain
letters
in collectibles magazines. Collecting large numbers of more
recent letters began in June 1995 when Dr. Preston solicited
chain letters for me from folklorists. In recent years I have
also purchased old chain letters on eBay, the immense on-line
auction. Sometimes copies were provided free by the seller or
buyer, or a transcript could be made from auction photographs.
I renewed collecting efforts in Dec. 2013 by subscribing to the
commercial online newspaper databases newspapers.com
and newspaperarchive.com. These have provided over
a hundred
chain letters for the archive and many entries for the
bibliography.
All of the dateable chain letters (except for some foreign examples and recent money chain letters) have now been digitized in HTML format and each is accessible on-line as a separate file in the Paper Chain Letter Archive. An index for the archive lists clickable file names of all items in the archive, each with a one-line annotation. There are now (2017) over one thousand items in the archive, the vast majority being chain letters in the English language. These are ordered by (1) motivational category, (2) language, and (3) date of circulation. This index provides an easy way to browse the archive. Transcriptions preserve the errors in the original letter unless otherwise noted.
Table 1 - Contents of the Paper Chain
Letter Archive.
English language chain letters presently (April, 2015) in the Paper
Chain Letter Archive are tabulated below by year of circulation and
motivational category. Himmelsbrief and religious chain letters are
excluded. Scores of additional published
letters, especially early luck and charity chains, can be easily
obtained from existing online newspaper archives.
Years | Luck | Charity | Advocacy |
Money | Parody |
Exchange | World
Record |
1885 - 89 | 4 |
1 |
|||||
1890 - 94 | 2 |
||||||
1895 - 99 | 6 |
1 |
|||||
1900 - 04 | 5 |
6 |
|||||
1905 - 09 | 54 |
3 |
2 | ||||
1910 - 14 | 61 |
3 |
|||||
1915 - 19 | 35 |
9 |
3 | ||||
1920 - 24 | 42 |
1 |
3 |
||||
1925 - 29 | 38 |
2 | |||||
1930 - 34 | 25 |
2 | |||||
1935 - 39 | 12 |
1 |
4 |
59 |
12 |
20 |
|
1940 - 44 | 21 |
3 |
11 |
1 |
19 |
||
1945 - 49 | 15 |
2 |
2 | 3 |
13 |
||
1950 - 54 | 15 |
2 |
2 | 8 |
7 |
||
1955 - 59 | 12 |
1 | 1 | 5 |
2 | ||
1960 - 64 | 5 |
1 | 2 |
1 | |||
1965 - 69 | 11 |
1 | 1 | 1 |
2 | ||
1970 - 74 | 16 | 1 |
3 |
||||
1975 - 79 | 28 | 6 | 2 |
6 | |||
1980 - 84 | 37 | 3 | 2 |
4 |
|||
1985 - 89 | 35 | 1 (b) | 11 | 2 | 6 |
7 | |
1990 - 94 | 53 |
1 | 1 | 3 |
1 |
4 | |
1995 - 99 | 49 |
1 | 2 | 16 | |||
2000 - 04 | 5 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
|||
2005
- 09 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
|||
TOTALS | 570 |
40 | 42 |
95 (a) | 45 |
106 |
14 |
Luck | Charity | Advocacy |
Money | Parody |
Exchange | World Record |
(a) Over 100 money chain letters
have been collected since 1975 but most have not been digitized.
(b) The Craig Shergold appeal circulated widely beginning in 1989. Many
are published (Guigne);
only
two are archived here.
The numbers in the table may not
be reliable measures of relative circulation. Newspapers were much more
likely to print the text of a chain letter prior to 1960. The large
number of Ancient Prayer examples collected is because it circulated
largely on postcards, many of which were saved and eventually
offered for sale by dealers on eBay. Recent correspondence is
rarely offered for sale. Time gaps in the number of money chain
letters in the archive reflects a lack collecting effort rather
than circulation.
Foreign Language Letters.
Presently there are over thirty English
translations of foreign language chain letters in the archive. Most of
these are also presented in their original language as well. There are
several foreign language letters that have yet to be
translated.
Because of the ease with which
letters are transmitted internationally, chain letters are, and have
always been, an international phenomenon. Only by the extensive
collection of foreign language examples can an accurate genealogy of
chain
letters be constructed. It is also revealing to see how chain
letters vary from one culture to another. Sub-directories have
been established in the archive for chain letters in French, German
and Russian.
In 2006 I was contacted by Martinovich Vladimir Aleksandrovich, head of the Center of New Religious Movements Studies in Belarus. He has collected many chain letters in the Russian and Ukrainian languages. Transcriptions of some have been entered in the sub-directory /archive/russian [content-ru].
Publications.
Of the 900+ letters in the Paper
Chain Letter Archive, 230 were found in publications. Early in the
project the New York Times Index located many
texts of chain letters, and a mention of a McKinley Memorial chain
before it was collected (NYT
1906).
As mentioned above, I have found over a hundred texts
of chain letters using newspapers.com and newspaperarchive.com,
online archives of digitized microfilm images. This has filled in many
blanks in chain letter history, particularly with the luck chain
letters of the 1920's and 30's. Newspaper transcriptions destroy
formats and rarely report lists of names adequately. Some French (Le
Quellec) and Polish (Robotycki)
publications contain many chain letters that have yet to be entered
into the archive or translated. Newspaper articles are also frequent in
the Annotated
Bibliography, which currently contains over 375 entries, most
of them from newspapers.
Web Sites.
There are many thousands of WWW sites that match a search on "chain
letter." The vast majority of these are about "email" chains, which are
not my topic here. A useful list of annotated links appears in Watrous,
and I will not duplicate this. To find the texts of luck chain letters
one can search for traditional text, such as "Dolan Fairchild"
or "Dalan Fairchild." A few transcriptions of paper
luck chain letters found this way have been entered into the Paper
Chain Letter Archive [1998].
Others are present on the WWW, but it is difficult to judge if they are
complete and unedited. An article by Charles Bennett, Ming Li and Bin
Ma, titled "Chain Letters & Evolutionary Histories" appears
in the June 2003 issue of Scientific American (Bennett).
This uses phylogenetic inference algorithms to construct a
cladogram for 33 DL
type chain chain letters. These are available on the web, and if dated
I have copied them to the archive here.
Interviews.
I have obtained some information about chain letters and people's
attitudes toward them by informal questioning of acquaintances. Several
inquiries about foreign circulation have been made on USENET
newsgroups. Much more could have been learned by systematic
interviewing. However, people who send out chain letters, for luck or
money, are often reluctant to reveal their activities and motives.
Nevertheless, some interview material in newspapers and popular
magazines has been very useful for understanding replication (Marilyn
Bender, New
York Times, 1968).
< Start
of above section
< Start
of Chain Letter Evolution - Contents
2-1
PREDECESSORS
Ancient
documents that advocate their own perpetuation The
Letters from Heaven Transitions
to chain letters
Ancient documents that advocate
their own perpetuation.
Many ancient texts survive which provide diagrams, incantations or
prayers that claim to benefit those who learn them. Some come close to
our definition of a chain letter by urging that a personal copy be
made. The Ancient Egyptian "Book of that which is in the
Underworld" states (of a picture it provides):
Another Buddhist text, the Diamond Sutra, is the oldest (868 AD) extant book printed by wood block reliefs. It promised great merit to those who "observe and study this Scripture, explain it to others and circulate it widely . . ." (Goddard, p. 96)
The Surangama Sutra states:
The Letters from Heaven.
The "Letters
from Heaven" (often called by the German "Himmelsbrief")
claim to have been written by God or some divine agent. Many authors
restrict the term to apocryphal Christian letters. These often claim
miraculous delivery to Earth, magical protection for the possessor,
blessings to those who "publish" them, and divine punishment
for disbelief of their claims. The original copies are often
claimed to have been written in gold letters, or with the blood
of Jesus. Many published versions were illuminated. An early and
frequent feature is the command for extreme Sabbath observance,
as in the Madgeburg Himmelsbrief [text].
A German authority on the Himmelsbrief, H. Stube, said the letters long predated Christianity (Oda). Examples in Greek, Arabic, Armenian, Syrian, and Ethiopic have been published with German translations. Jewish and Islamic Himmelsbrief are also reported (Hand). These may all derive from an early Greek source (Bittner). A letter which was said to have fallen from heaven existed in the third century AD (Hippolytos, Refutation of All Heresies). The oldest Letter from Heaven for which we have a full text is the Latin "Letter from Heaven on the observance of the Lord's Day," the original of which dates from the close of the sixth century (Priebsch). St. Boniface denounced this as a "bungling work of a madman or the devil himself." Eckehard (1115 AD) wrote that it had spread over the whole globe then known to man. It has circulated in English in many versions [1795 text, image].
Jacob, organizer of the Crusades of the Shepherds, claimed (ca. 1251) the Virgin Mary appeared to him and gave him a letter. While in public he always carried it in his hand. A cult of uniformed flagellants appeared in Germany in 1261 claiming to possess a heavenly letter that had descended upon the altar of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem before a multitude. The text has survived: God, angry at human sin, has decided to destroy all life, but the Virgin intercedes and God grants humanity one last chance to reform. Any priest who refused to pass on the divine message to his congregation would be eternally damned. During the Black Death (1348-9) the same letter, with a paragraph on the plague added, was used as a manifesto by a revived flagellant movement. At gatherings the manifesto was read publicly, the audience being "swept by sobbing and groaning." (Cohn)
Some Letters from Heaven specialized in protection, and accumulated long lists of weapons by which the possessor could not be harmed. The Count Philip Himmelsbrief [1895] granted protection against "spear, sword, sabre, cutlass, knife, tomahawk, rapier, helmet, burdon, . . . , and everything prohibited by holy writ, that is from all kinds of weapons, artillery, cannon, musket, rifle, gun or pistol." A preamble mentions its use in the American Revolution and claims that Count Philip of Flanders sponsored it after he was unable to execute a condemned prisoner who had secreted a copy on his person. Various Letters from Heaven in German were printed in Pennsylvania during the 19th and early 20th century (Oda), [1887 image1 & image2].
Letters claiming divine authority are also reported from India. Chain letters circulated in Shahabad in 1864 that condemned the breeding of pigs and consumption of alcohol. They were said to be from Heaven. In North Tirhut, 1872, cow protection was advocated by "strange papers" which "warned that Jaganath (Lord of the World) would curse any one who did not pay heed to this message and would burn down the house of any one who failed to pass it along to other people." Letters advocating cow protection in 1893 mandated recipients "make and then issue copies to at least five villages" - an early example of a copy quota. (Yang)
An email chain posted to an
Islamic coins mailing list [1999]
consists of: (1) an Islamic "Letter from Heaven," which likely first
circulated in paper, and (2) a reduced version (testimonials only) of a
paper luck chain letter I call the Lottery24
type. In II Chronicles 21:12 it is said that Elijah sent
a letter to King Jehoram. It has been determined by scholars that
Jehoram did not reign until 14 years after
Elijan's death and the text has been interpreted by some clergy
to mean that the letter came from Heaven. (1947)
It may be thought that the Letters from Heaven were
a phenomenon of centuries past. But searching online newspaper
databases reveals that probably hundreds of Jesus' Sabbath Letter have
been published in local newspapers in the United States in
the last two centuries, continuing up to the 1960's.
Searching on the text "fast five fridays" produced
25 matches using newspapers.com and 72 using newspaperarchive.com.
Most of these printings were responding to requests by faithful
possessors of the letter, heeding its command to "publish" it. One
columnist revealed: "It used to be sent to newspaper editors,
demanding that the passage be published in the paper and setting out
all sorts of dire consequences if the editors failed to acquiesce."
(1939)
Usually a brief succession of possessors is given, some of whom had bad
luck after they did not publish a letter in their possession. Such
claimed lineages may go back to the original legendary possessor of the
letter [1910].
The Holstein Himmelsbrief, which features protection from weapons, has
gained favorable newspaper testimonials for its use in both World War
II and the Vietnam war: "He
kept
track of those to whom he sent a copy of the letter and every
one of them returned unharmed from the war."
[1968]
Transition to chain letters.
Edwin Fogel, writing in 1908, assumed that a luck chain letter [1908]
was a new version of a Letter from Heaven (Fogel).
There is little similarity in the texts, but perhaps Fogel was familiar
with transitional
forms now lost. Speaking of the apocryphal Letter from Jesus Christ
[1915],
Edgar Goodspeed wrote "it is sometimes sent through the mail
with a request that the recipient send copies of it to three others, as
some great misfortune is likely to befall him if he does not"
(1931).
Such a practice must have long predated 1931. Thus
luck chain letters may have evolved from the preambles and postscripts
to Letters from Heaven. At some stage the divine communication
may have been replaced by a less pretentious "prayer," followed
by entreaties to copy it. This is the form of the "Ancient Prayer" type
[1905
- 1925]
discussed
in the next section. Some versions of Ancient Prayer promise
deliverance "from all calamities" and threaten "eternal
punishment" [1906]
- as do some Letters from Heaven [Madgeburg].
Folklorists
have generally followed Fogel in presuming that luck chain letters
derive from the Himmelsbrief tradition (Ellis),
though transitional examples have yet to be found.
More collecting should clarify
the transition to chain letters. The first luck chain letters may also
have been influenced by early charity chain letters [1888],
which likely introduced the idea of a copy quota.
< Start of above section < Start of Chain Letter Evolution - Contents
2-2 THE PREDOMINANT SERIES
Features of 20th century luck chain letters
The
Series of Predominant Types Statement
Types
Ancient
Prayer Good
Luck Flanders
Prosperity
Flanders-Prosperity
Blind13
The
Luck of London
Chain
of Good Luck Luck
by Mail Death20
Lottery-Death
Death-Lottery
In this section I list characteristic features of English language luck chain letters, identify certain kinds of statements that are frequently seen on them, classify most of them into 12 sequential "types", and give a complete text and further information for each of the 12 types.
Features of 20th century luck chain letters.
After 1900 chain letters were influenced by increasing literacy,
international mail and postcards, and changing attitudes about religion
and miracles. Also chain letters themselves accumulated new
technologies for increasing replication. Whereas the prior Letters
from Heaven usually urged the reader to "publish" the letter,
chain letters gained more circulation by relying on individual copying
with specific copy quotas and deadlines. The following features
characterize
luck chain letters of the 20th century.
(1) Brevity. The Letters from Heaven typically had over 500 words and were often elaborately printed. By contrast, the widespread luck chain letter from 1905-25, called "Ancient Prayer", had about 120 words and was usually distributed by handwritten postcards.(2) Secularity. Luck chains originating in the 1900's dropped claims of divine authorship, delivery from heaven to earth, granting protection from fire or weapons, divine punishment for disbelief, and miracles generally. A Saint, missionary or military officer may be attributed as the author of the letter, but never Jesus. Promises of good luck and threats of bad luck exploited vague popular superstitions rather than naive piety.
(3) Copy quota. Chain letters state a minimum number of copies that the recipient is encouraged to distribute.
(4) Deadline. This task is to be completed within a stated period.
(5) Waiting period. But according to most letters, one must wait a certain number of days before receiving good luck.
(6) Testimonials. All English language luck chain letters since the 1930's contain accounts of fortune and misfortune allegedly experienced by prior recipients of the letter. These testimonials are told in the third person, usually of a named individual.
(7) Circumnavigation. Almost all luck chains since 1910 have either (1) declared they are to go "all over" or around the world, or (2) claimed a certain number of completed circumnavigations.
(8) Lists. When someone signs their name on a chain letter, a recipient may faithfully copy this name, perhaps thinking this was the author of the original letter. Eventually another person may sign below the first name, suggesting to downline recipients that they should do the same. In this way chain letters often accumulated long lists of senders [1922], even though this behavior may not be solicited in the text of the letter. Initials, names of couples [1975], dates received [1982], and company letterheads [1990] have similarly accumulated. Lists often reached fifty or more names and became a burden to copy [1925] (Lardner). Some chain letters avoided this by instructing, for example, "Copy the above names, omitting the first, add your name last" [1933]. If this processing is always undertaken a controlled list of fixed length results. Other chain letters forbade "signing on" - notably postcard chains [1911] and Internet luck chains [e1994]. The presence of a list of senders on a luck chain letter may give it an advantage in circulation by displaying alleged celebrity participation, and also by enabling more effective distribution of copies since the list can used to avoid duplicate receipts.
No. | Type | Sample Size |
Predominance Range |
Circulation Range |
Standard | No. Words |
Copy Quota |
Deadline (days) |
Wait (days) |
List? |
1 | Ancient Prayer | 166 |
1906-21, 1924 (a) |
1906-25, 1938 | Leeds |
119 | 9/7/10 | 9/7/10 | 9/10 | None |
2 | Good Luck | 34 |
1922-23, 1925-26 (b) |
1922-26 | Sanders | 66 | 9, 4/5 | 1 | 9/4 |
Most:
X to Y |
3 |
Flanders |
28 |
1927-31 |
1927-31 |
Davenport |
114 |
4/5 |
1 |
4 |
None |
4 | Prosperity | 14 |
1932-35 |
1932-37 | Hyatt | 102 | 9/5 (c) |
1 | 9/4 | Most:
controlled |
5 |
Flanders-Prosperity |
9 |
1939-40 |
1939-40 |
Shelby |
157 |
5 (d) |
1 |
4 |
All: controlled |
6 |
Blind13 |
17 |
1941 |
1936-45 |
Kingsport |
94 |
13 |
soon |
13 |
None |
7 |
Luck of London |
9 |
1942-44 |
1942-48 |
McKnight |
119 |
5 |
1 |
4 |
None |
8 |
Chain of Good Luck |
8 |
1949 |
1949-52 |
Burma |
184 |
12 |
1 |
4 |
All: controlled |
9 |
Luck
by Mail |
31 |
1950-64 |
1948-67 |
Halpert |
132 |
5 |
1 |
4 |
Most:
controlled |
10 | Death20 | 18 |
1968-73 |
1959-77 | Bloomsbury | 193 | 20 | 4 | 4 | Most:
controlled |
11 | Lottery-Death (LD) | 13 | 1974-75 |
1974-75 | Maryland | 383 | 24 & 20 (e) | 4 | 9 & 4 | All:
controlled |
12 | Death-Lottery (DL) | 181 |
1977-2005 |
1973-05 | AFC | 351 | 20 | 4 | 4 | Early:
Some (f) |
(a) Circulation in the US in 1924
was dominated by quota ten versions of Ancient Prayer. Two items from
England, and one each from Australia and the US, had quota, deadline,
and wait all seven [1916,
1925, 1923,
1920].
(b) Augmented versions of Good Luck predominated from 1925-26.
(c) A 1937 reduced Prosperity chain on a postcard asks for ten copies [1937].
(d) "Send this copy and four others" is
on Flanders-Prosperity, Luck of London and Luck by Mail types.
(e) On early examples 24 is the quota in the Lottery block and 20 in
the Death block.
(f) Some early examples of DL had a senders' list between the
D and L blocks.
To recognize copying when there
is high variability, and to simplify descriptions of chain letter text,
it is useful to identify and name certain non-essential yet common
types
of statements that appear on various luck chain letters. I will
capitalize these names to distinguish them from conventional
uses of the same word, and allow them to be both nouns and adjectives.
Linkage. A
statement on
a chain letter which describes one or two of the latest transmissions
of the letter in hand. If
present, Linkage statements usually appear at the start of a chain
letter, and can function as a declaration that the letter is a chain
letter (Dundes).
They may also be inserted when a list is removed. Linkage statements
appear on some Ancient Prayer examples and are near universal on the
Flanders type. Examples:
Dear Friend - I am sending you a prayer that I received with the request that it be sent to nine persons. [Ancient Prayer, 1906]
This was sent to me by a friend. [Ancient Prayer, 1909]
The above letter was received be me and I am sending it on to you. [Good Luck, 1922]
The Flanders Chain of good luck has been sent to me and I am sending it on to you. [Flanders, 1929]
Circumnavigation. A request that the letter is
to go all over the world, or that it is to go around the world, perhaps
more than once. Or a claim that the letter has already gone around the
world some number of times. Examples:
This prayer ... is being sent all over the world. [1910]
It ... must go around the world three times. [1927]
It has been around the world nine times. [Death20 block, 1974]
Expectation. A suggestion that the reader should "see
what happens" after a
certain number of days, implying that some joyous event or good fortune
will happen. Examples:
... copy it and see what will happen. [1909]
See what will happen on the fourth day. [1927]
Affirmation. A statement which,
speaking as an observer, affirms the validity of the claims in the
letter. It may attempt to explain how the letter works, or restate a
claim with different words.
Affirmations are highly variable and are often corrupted, rewritten,
doubled or deleted. They are universal
on the Flanders and Prosperity type letters. Examples:
"It is positively remarkable how many times this prediction has been
fulfilled since this chain
was started." [1926]
"The theory is to set up a definite and
positive thought. [1933]
"Here is infinite proof of this
progress" [1940]
"That's proof for you." [1942]
"It works!" [1979]
Recycle. A
statement which warns the reader to get rid of the letter (often within
a certain amount of time), or to distribute it along with the copies
that are to be sent. Recycle statements first appeared on the Flanders
letters. If there is a list requiring updating, the received copy is no
longer a candidate for being sent out again and a Recycle statement
will usually not be present. A Recycle warning has become universal on
the mainline since 1940. Examples:
"Do not keep this letter in the house
more than 24 hours." [1927]
"Send
this and four others within 24 hours." [1930]
"Do not keep this letter. It must leave within 96
hours after you receive it." [1959]
1.
Ancient Prayer.
Based on what has been collected so far, the "Ancient Prayer" letter
was the first "luck" chain letter to circulate in the US, and this
started abruptly in 1906. It likely circulated in other countries many
years prior. There is a mention from France that it was denounced by
the Bayonne Diocese in 1905.
The earliest US example is a letter postmarked in Leeds, Maine on
January 6, 1906.
Note that the first sentence, a "Linkage," is probably a personal communication that has been incorporated into the text and copied. Here "He who will not say it will be afflicted . . ." implies that recitation of the prayer is sufficient to avoid punishment for noncompliance. "Bishop Lawrence" was the Episcopalian Bishop of Massachusetts and a well known author, at least among Protestants. Adaptive ambiguity was likely at work in the predominance of this attribution. Many Catholics would have presumed by his title that Lawrence shared their faith. He actively denied he had anything to do with the chain letter, but received complaints from all over the world for his alleged endorsement. (1926) Beginning around 1910 a persistent new version of Ancient Prayer developed.I received the other day a chain prayer.
Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, we implore Thee, O Eternal God, to have mercy upon mankind. Keep us from all sin and take us to be with Thee eternally. Amen
This prayer was sent by Bishop Lawrence, recommending it to be rewritten and sent to nine other persons. He who will not say it will be afflicted with some great misfortune. One person who failed to pay attention to it met with a dreadful accident. He who will rewrite it to nine other persons commencing on the day it is received - and sending only one each day will on or after the ninth day experience great joy.
Please do not break the chain. [1906]
This
prayer was sent to me. It is being sent all over the world. It
was said in Jesus time that all who would write it and pass it on would
be delivered from all calamities. Those who would not write
it on would meet with some misfortune. Those who write it before nine
days, stating the day received,
to nine of their friends will on the ninth day receive some great
joy. So do not break the chain.
Received Oct.
6. Name unsigned. [1910]
The "dreadful accident" and the false attribution to Bishop Lawrence have been dropped and will never return. The advantages to replication of "all over the world" is discussed later (> circumnavigation). The reward of "great joy" for compliance is present on nearly all examples of Ancient Prayer I have discovered (for Russia, see Viola, note 59). Around 1909 the playful suggestion to copy the letter and "see what will happen" was introduced. This "Expectation" became common (but not universal) on Ancient Prayer and persists in the mainline to the present day [2005]. Early versions of Ancient prayer reveal an influence from the Letters from Heaven. For example, a 1909 letter claims that its rewards and punishments were spoken of in "Jerusalem." This was subsequently replaced by in "Jesus' time", perhaps originating as a copying error.
An
interesting feature in the above 1910 text is the word "stating",
seen to be a copying error for "starting" by
comparison to other examples [1908,
1911].
A recipient has responded to this error by writing the date (Oct. 6).
An abundant variation was soon established which contained "stating",
and the date of the prior receipt [1912,
1914,
1915].
The advantage
to replication of this variation was probably that it reminded the
recipient of the impending deadline, whereas postcards lacking the
date of receipt notation could be more easily ignored until the
recipient realized the deadline had passed with no ill effect. The role
of copying
errors in chain letter evolution can be overestimated, as compared to
deliberate innovations. But for any copying error to
produce a successful variation is remarkable, and I will
investigate other possibilities of this below (> LD).
Some Ancient Prayer examples are self titled "The Endless Chain" [1911], or "The Endless Chain of Prayer" (Fogel, 1908) [1923, 1925]. Chain letters as we know them were originally called "Endless chain letters" (NYT, 1906) to distinguish them from the then familiar self-terminating charity chains. The title "Ancient Prayer" did not appear on American chain letters until around 1909.
With U.S. entry into World War I
in 1917, Ancient Prayer proliferated and differentiated. Some were
exclusive within various fraternal organizations; some prayed for
"peace" and others for "victory." An unmarried woman in Ohio received
at least three of the Victory postcards just in October of 1917. [1917A
, 1917B]
The chain was so numerous that the editors of the New York
Times proposed that it originated as a German plot to clog
the mails (NYT,
1917d). A wartime postage rate increase, from one to two
cents for postcards, may have cooled the chain off and foiled the Huns.
The same chain postcard with substituted titles had also served the
martial spirit of
the Central Powers. A German language version, postmarked in Austria a
year before the start of World War I, begins "We Germans fear
God, and Nothing else on Earth!" [1913].
Immediately after the war Ancient Prayer declined in the U.S. and
England. Some resented that "during the First World War they
and
many people they knew had received letters threatening death
or horrors to their loved ones in the trenches of France if
the chain was broken." (Simpson
2000). In 1924 Ancient Prayer revived in the US with a copy
quota of ten and a new prayer. One such letter has been collected
which was written in a fancy script [1924,
image].
Though Ancient Prayer continued
to circulate for many years after the end of World War I, and even had
a boomlet in 1924, the postwar worldliness was not a good fit for its
piety. The last Ancient Prayer chain letter to appear in the archive
was a much reduced version on a postcard mailed in 1938.
By 1995 the Ancient Prayer chain letter was nameless and all but forgotten. But the chain was preserved on postcards and letters, and these were old enough that they were offered for sale. Of the 165 examples of Ancient Prayer in the archive, about 50 are physical postcards or letters purchased on eBay.
According to some reports (1948, 1968) the Good Luck letter was started by an American soldier during World War I. However our earliest examples come from 1922, a boom year for the chain both in England and the U.S. Thorough searches and inquiries have failed to date the letter prior to 1921. The text was short and secular, and retained the request for nine copies as on Ancient Prayer. Many examples had long lists of paired names ("X to Y") at the top, sender to receiver [1922]. There is a physical example in the archive with 113 names [1926], and a newspaper report of 214 [1925]. Below is a prototypic example, a typed letter mailed from Birmingham, Alabama on June 8, 1922. The X to Y list had 30 entries (I have deleted 27 of them here). Though "Claude Sanders" leads the list, he was not the author of the letter, though recipients who had not seen this chain before may have presumed so.
.................................................................................................................No claim is made in the letter that it was started during World War I. "Smilin' Through" was a hit silent movie starring Norma Talmadge. It was released on Feb. 13, 1922. Many later Good Luck letters retained versions of this postscript, often simply updating the year.
Birmingham,Ala. June 8, 1922
Claude Sanders to Phil Gleischman
Phil Gleischman to M. H. Starr
...
...
...
A. A. Gambill to J. F. SuttleCopy this out and xxxxxx send to nine (9) people whom you wish good
luck. The chain was started by an American Officer and should go
three times around the world.DO NOT BREAK THE CHAIN, for whoever does will have BAD
LUCK. Do it within twenty-four hours and count nine days and you will
have some great good fortune."Let all go smiling through 1922." [1922]
..................................................................................................................
Good Luck Augmented.
The
1922 Good Luck chain letter was by far the shortest of all our
predominant types (<
Table 2). This seems to have invited the placement of
additional text both at its start [1924]
[1926]
and end [1926].
The following example was published by syndicated columnist Helen Worth
in 1925.
This good luck chain letter has been sent to me and I am asking you, as I have been asked, not to break the chain. Copy this and send it to nine persons whom you wish good luck. The chain was started by an American officer and should go around the world three times. Do not break the chain, for whoever does this will have bad luck. Write nine letters and send them within 24 hours. Count nine days and have some good luck.Here a standard Good Luck letter (in bold above) has a Linkage statement added at the start, an Affirmation at the end, and perhaps what was an incorporated personal closing after that. This letter is reported to have had a list of 115 names, probably in the X to Y format. With that many names it is safe to assume that the letter had circulated well over a year. Changes can take place in the body of a chain letter while it is accumulating names on a list. [1925]
It is positively remarkable how many times this prediction has been fulfilled since this chain was started.
Much success to you and yours. Let us go smiling and happy through 1925. [1925]
Flanders Chain of Luck.The "American officer" of the Good Luck letters has now been placed in Flanders, famous for World War I battles. Either the title on the prototype, or "Flanders Chain of Good Luck", were almost always present. Other key innovations were: (1) the reduction of the copy quota from nine to four (or five) copies, (2) a leading Linkage statement, (3) a Circumnavigation declaration, usually to "go around the world three times", (4) an Affirmation (highly variable), (5) an Expectation, usually "see what happens on the fourth day", and (6) a Recycle statement at or near the end. Lists of any type are universally absent from the Flanders type, as are testimonials.
This letter was sent to me by a friend and I am sending it to you, so as not to break the chain. Copy this off and send it to four persons, within 24 hours, in whom you wish good luck. This chain was started by an American officer in Flanders and should go round the world three times. Do not lose it as you will have BAD LUCK. It is positively remarkable how this prediction has been fulfilled since the chain started. Send this copy away as soon as possible and see what happens on the fourth day.
Pass this on and DO NOT KEEP IT IN THE HOUSE. [1927]
4. Prosperity.
Folklorist Harry M. Hyatt reported
in 1935 that "during the latter part of 1933 a 'chain letter'
fad appeared" and he gave a complete text except for two
towns and two names in the list that he withheld to protect privacy.
We trust in God. He supplies our needs.Mrs. F. Streuzel,*****........Mich.
Copy the above names, omitting the first. Add your name last. Mail it to five persons who you wish prosperity to.
Mrs. A.Ford, Chicago .........Ill.
Mrs. K.Adkins, Chicago . .....Ill.
Mrs. R.Arlington,*****........Ill.
Mrs. ********...,Quincy.......Ill.
Mrs. ********...,Quincy.......Ill.
The chain was started by an American Colonel and must be mailed 24 hours after receiving it. This will bring prosperity within 9 days after mailing it.Mrs. Sanford won $3,000.
Mrs. Andres won $1,000.
Mrs. Howe who broke the chain lost everything she possessed. The chain grows a definite power over the expected word,
DO NOT BREAK THE CHAIN
See what happens on the 9th day.
Hoping it brings you luck.
J.E.K. [1933]
There are fourteen Prosperity type chain letters in the archive, all but three from publications. Most of the standard versions have: (1) the presence of a controlled list, (2) copy quota 5, deadline 24 hours, wait 9 days, (2) a title that mentions God, (3) attribution to an American colonel, (4) win-win-lose pecuniary testimonials, and (5) an Affirmation after the testimonials. Notably absent are Circumnavigation, Expectation and Recycle statements. Nor are there any Linkage statements, as we should expect since a list of recent senders is usually present. Linkage, Circumnavigation and Recycle statements were near universal on the predecessor Flanders type.
This is a concatenation of a quota five Flanders letter on top and a Prosperity letter below it. Let me argue the case for this.The good luck of Flanders was sent to me and I am
sending it within twenty four hours. This chain was
started by an American Officer in Flanders and is
going around the world four times- and one who breaks
it will have bad luck. Copy this letter and see what
happens to you four days after mailing. It will bring
you good luck. Send this copy and four others to
people you wish good luck. Do not keep this letter.
It must be in the mail twenty four hours after receiving it.Mrs. Gay Field received $5000, five hours after mailing.
Mrs. Ambrose received $4000, four hours after mailing.
Mr. Nevin broke the chain and lost everything he had.
Here is definite proof for the good luck sent prayers.
Good luck to you and trust in God. He who suffers our
needs.This brings prosperity to you in four days after mailing.
Do not send money. Cross the top name off and put yours
at the bottom.
J.H. Mason, Petersburg, Va.
B.B. Hoag, Louisville, Ky.
C. J. Lingenfelder, Chicago, Ill.
C. A. Woerner, Indianapolis, Ind.
E. M. Cunningham, Columbus, Ohio
J. D. Moore, Osborn, Ohio
Richard M. Hubbell, Indianapolis, Ind.
M E Berkley, Shelby, Ohio [1939]
Chain of St. AnthonySeveral other examples of this "Chain of St. Anthony" have been found in newspapers dating from 1936-37. But the chain did not dominate circulation until 1940-41 and by this time the item seems to have appeared on postcards exclusively, and had dropped any mention of "St. Anthony". Apparently identifiable Catholicism limits the circulation of a chain letter in the United States. This may be caused as much by denunciation by priests as it is by Protestant rejection. Here is a standard example of the abundant postcard version from Kingsport, Tennessee:
This chain must go around the world. It has been started by a sentimental person. You send it to 13 persons and wish them joy, prosperity and good fortune.
As soon as you receive this copy make one like it and send it to a friend, even out of the city. Make one every day for 13 days and you will receive unexpected grace. Be sure you mail this, and say the Apostles' Creed for 13 days.
A woman did this and on the thirteenth day received a letter containing $26. Another woman made fun of this and her daughter went blind. Another woman did not do this and her home and family were destroyed. Pay good attention to this and you will enjoy health and prosperity. [1936]
Since the threat of blindness in the family is near universal on these, and to note the odd and unvarying copy quota, I call the type "Blind13". It may be cognate to a published quota 13 Polish chain [1984] titled "Letter to St. Anthony", in which the major threat reads: "A Pole from America tore this letter and his son vanished after 13 days". Perhaps an ancestor of this Polish letter circulated among Eastern European immigrants in the 1930's, its English translation giving rise to the "Chain of St. Anthony", and that mutating to the non-Catholic postcards. Or the influence could be from "America" to Poland instead. Judging from the archive, the peak year for Blind13 was 1941. There is a French language letter from 1955 appealing to Saint Anthony of Padua that also may be cognate to Blind13. A Spanish language source is also possible; thirteen may have been a traditional quota for Mexican letters [1936]. St. Anthony chain letters may have appeared in many countries, always demanding 13 copies and always brandishing a harsh threat to a family member.Oh Lord, be merciful upon us and all nations. This is the prayer of safety. This must go around the world. If you fail to send it a misfortune will enter your home. As soon as you get this card, copy and send it to 13 persons and on the 13th day great happiness will fall upon you and you will receive $16.
One woman made fun of this and her daughter went blind. Pay attention and the Lord will bless you. Please don't let this die in your home. Read the 18th Psalm. [1940]
"The Luck of London" chain letter was said to have originated during the blitz (1940) and continued to circulate in Europe and America even after the war. (DeLys, 1948). A letter published in the Neosho Daily News on March 16, 1942 is our earliest example. Columnist Robert McNight described it as a "new type of chain letter".
This good luck of London was sent to me and I'm sending it to you within 24 hours. This chain was started by an American Officer. It has been around the world five times. The one who breaks it will have bad luck. Copy this and see what happens 4 days later, after posting it. It will bring good luck. So don't keep it. Send this and 4 others to people whom you wish good luck. Grace Fields received $40.00 after posting it. Dr. Arcrose won $1,000 but lost it because he broke the chain. This is proof for you to post it. It will bring good luck 4 days after posting it.
Do not send money. Good Luck [1942]
Clearly this chain letter is
close to the Flanders-Prosperity type with "London" replacing
"Flanders". Both types still have the leading Linkage, the same copy
quota five, four day wait, 24 hour deadline, a Recycle command, the
pecuniary testimonials followed by an Affirmation, then the "Do not
send money" command. And the two names in the testimonials above are
cognate to the
names on the Flanders-Prosperity text we gave: Grace Fields vs.
Mrs. Gay Field and Dr. Arcrose vs. Mrs. Ambrose.
Considering these similarities one could classify the Luck of London letters as a variation of the previous Flanders-Prosperity type. But there is a fundamental difference, besides the updating from World War I to World War II. All of the Flanders-Prosperity letters have a controlled list of names and often towns also. None of the nine Luck of London letters in the archive bear a list of any kind. Also the prior type promised prosperity as well as luck. The Luck of London letters have dropped the mention of prosperity and focus solely on luck. Luck was more needed than money during the war. The new chain letter, with its tribute to a city that survived an onslaught of the German air force, must have appealed to many who had family members at risk in the armed services. I rank the Luck of London chain letters as a new type, as columnist McKnight judged them to be in 1942.
8.
Chain of
Good Luck.
The letter below was handwritten and mailed from Sandoway, Burma on
June 17, 1949 to A. Logozorie at a Roman Catholic Mission in Gold
Coast, British West Africa.
Chain of Good Luck
This chain of good luck was send to me via United Press despatch and was sent in 72 hours. It was started in Africa by a French Officer under General De Gaulls and is going round the world for the first time. The person who break this chain will surely receive bad luck. Do not keep this letter. This must be mailed within 72 hours after your receipt here of. A private in the Philipine Army won the first prize in the sweeps takes for complying with this chain. Mr. Frankling D. Roosavelt was elected for the third term as president of the United States 52 hours after he mailed this letter. Captain Remero who broke this chain died 72 hours after he received this letter. Detective Segundo B. Villanueva of the city of Baguio who laugh at this chain of good luck met instantaneous death in an accident on June 14, 1948.
Instruction Cancel the first name and add your name to the last. Make 12 copies and mail it to your friends. Do not retain this letter.
1. Alfred .T. O.koo 2. Y.T. Chaung. 3. Paul A. Chang. 4. Olive Pan
5. K.H. Chan . 6. N. Lee. 7. E. Chu. 8. Franky Monk . 9. G.T. Aung
10. M.T.O. 11. M.K.N. 12. M.T.HCopy to:- A. Logozorie for information and necessary action. [1949]
There are just eight complete
examples of the "Chain of Good Luck" (COGL) in the archive, but this
international
chain letter seems to have dominated the luck genre in the US in
the year 1949. They all attribute their origin to a French officer
serving under General DeGaulle in Africa. Other universals for the
type are: (1) the title "Chain of Good Luck", (2) a leading Linkage
statement, (3) a declaration that the letter is to go around the
world the first time, (4) two Recycle declarations, (5) testimonials
featuring a Philippine army private, President Roosevelt, and two
victims of sudden death, (6) a controlled list of varying length.
In the leading Linkage
statements, all but one COGL reads like the standard example above,
claiming the chain was sent via "United Press Dispatch", or "United
Dispatch", etc. But a 1952
example, published in Syracuse, New York, reads: "This chain
of good luck was sent to me by Ronald Service, Essex, ...".
This may tell us that "United Dispatch", and similar
business names on the other examples of COGL, may have started as
a corruption of a personal name. COGL has structural similarities to
the Flanders type described above. And on a 1928 Flanders example the
Linkage reads in part: "The Flanders Chain of Good Luck was
passed to me by A. E. Blandfield ..." . So there is a
precedent for personal names in Linkage, and the Syracuse COGL example
may derive from one. Having a senders list makes a Linkage statement
redundant, so if there ever were a personal
name in the COGL Linkage it may not have been updated, and instead
subject to many generations of unguided copying and corruption until
finally someone miscorrected it to a more familiar name - of a
business.
Note also that the 1952 example
of COGL gives the city, Exeter, that the sender once removed lived in.
None of the four newspaper examples of COGL in the archive give the
contents of the list, but here we get a hint that the deleted list on
some published COGL examples may have contained both names and towns.
If a controlled list had enough entries - twenty would be more than
enough - one could prove that a chain letter had actually gone around
the world if the locations of senders were on the list. The prototype
example above contains only names and initials, yet one might still
infer that it was going around the world in a westward
direction, perhaps from mission to mission.
If there is one prime reason why the Chain of Good Luck gained so much sudden compliance in the United States it was likely because it contained a potent death threat. "Detective Segundo B. Villanova . . . met instantaneous death in an accident of June 14, 1948." Such detail! This looks like a news item that came over the wire from "United Press Dispatch".
The Prayer. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on thy own understandance in all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct thy path.
Please copy this and see what happens in four days after receiving it. Send this copy and four to someone you wish good luck. It must leave in 24 hours. Don't send any money and don't keep this copy. Gen Patton received $1,600 after receiving it. Gen Allen received $1,600 and lost it because he broke the chain. You are to have good luck in 4 days. This is not a joke and you will receive by mail. [1952]
The Luck by Mail type also introduces "this is not a joke" and the qualification that you will receive your luck "by mail." These are now mainline universals, and I judge the latter to have been the innovation most responsible for the predominance of this type in the 1950's. This hypothesis involves a possible relationship with money chain letters (> Luck Follows Money). The declaration "this is not a joke" is discussed in section 3-4. Around 1954 the geographical attribution to "the Netherlands" first appears and became near universal in the mainline. Lists are highly variable on the Luck by Mail type - those present are often trailing controlled lists of prior senders.
Luck by Mail continued to circulate well into the 1960's, in many variations. This is surprising since a potent innovation appeared in 1959.
10. Death20.
THINK A PRAYER"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and all will acknowledge Him and He will light your way."
This prayer has been sent to you for Good Luck. The original copy came from the Netherlands. It has been around the world nine times.
The luck has been sent to you. You are to receive good luck within four days after receiving this letter. It is no joke. You will receive it in the mail. Send 20 copies of this letter to friends you think need good luck. Please do not send money. Do not keep this letter. It must leave within 96 hours after you receive it.
A U.S. officer received $7,000.00. Don Elliott received $60,000.00 but lost it because he broke the chain. While in the Philippines, General Walsh lost his life 6 days after receiving his copy. He failed to circulate the prayer. However, before he died, he received $665,000.00 he had won.
Please send 20 copies and after see what happens to you on
the fourth day. Add your name to the bottom of the list, and
leave out the first one when copying this letter.Mr. Joseph Kushner
Mr. Irwin J. Cole
Mr. Barry L. Dahne Mr. Burnard Margoles
Mr. Nicholas H. Hope, Jr. Mr. Edmond Yandow
Mr. William H. Williams, Jr Mr. Sydney E. Tindall
Mr. Charles A. Knott Mr. Clarence Lusk
Mr. Martin D. Munger Mr. Jack Lumiere
Mr. William L. Morris Mr. Murray Sobel
Mr. Richard Jacoff Mr. James E. Pierce, Jr.
Mr. W. R. Rosensteil Mr. Lamar Wheat
Mr. George B. Garvey Mr. John L. Hutcheson, III
Mr. Elliott Guzofsky Mr. Jim Reilly
Mr. Arthur A. Pomper Mr. Paul Mako
Dr. Robert B. Jeffrey
Dr. James J. Sullivan [1959]
It is reasonable to suppose that chain letter copy quotas have increased because of the availability of photocopying. But in 1959 copiers were not readily available - this is the same year that Xerox introduced its first plain paper copier (the Xerographic 914).
The Death20 chain still circulates, but an entire chain letter has been added to it.
11. Lottery-Death (LD).
Apparently in the early 1970's a quota twenty-four chain letter was translated from Spanish into English and put into circulation in the U.S. or Canada. Abundant copies of this letter exist combined with Death20, but no examples of it in English as an independent letter have been collected. There are cognate forms in other languages, such as the French 1979 with a grisly testimonial. I name this type "Lottery24" because of the original copy quota and its introduction of the "Boss Wins Lottery" testimonial:
Constantine Diso received the chain in 1953. He asked his secretary to make 24 copies and send them. A few days later, he won the lottery of 2 million dollars in his country.State lotteries were spreading in the U.S. in the 1970's and this letter must have appealed to those holding lottery tickets. Since Lottery24 by itself is an outlier that has never been collected in North America, I do not include it as a predominant type. Probably it did circulate abundantly in South America in both Spanish and Portuguese versions, and it was there that it acquired its testimonials adapted to office culture and state sponsored lotteries.
Around 1973 Lottery24 (L) letters were combined with Death20 (D) on single pages in the two orders LD and DL. This event was documented with unedited multiple examples by Michael Preston (1976). With the appearance of these two high copy quota types in the 1970's, the use of photocopying as a means of reproducing paper chain letters totally dominated. Hand copying all but disappeared. Perhaps a motive for initially combining two chain letters was to reduce photocopying costs after some one received both at about the same time. Our earliest example of the combination Lottery-Death (LD) is a letter mailed from Maryland in 1974.
Take note of
the following:
Constantine Diso received the chain in 1953.
He asked his secretary to make 24 copies and send them. A few days
later, he won the lottery of 2 million dollars in his country. Carlos
Brandt, an office employee, received the chain. He forgot it and lost
it. A few days after, he lost his job. He found the chain,
sent it out to 24 people, and nine days later, he got a better job.
Zerin Berreskelli received the chain, not believing in it he threw it
away. Nine days later he died.
For no reason
whatsoever should this chain be broken!!!!!! Make 20 copies
and send them. In nine days you will get a surprise. Write
F.E.G.E. in the right hand corner of the envelope instead of a stamp.
THINK A PRAYER
Trust in the lord with all your heart and all will acknowledge that he
will light the way. This prayer has been sent to you for good luck. The
original copy came from the Netherlands. It has been around the world
nine times. The luck has been sent to you. You are to receive the good
luck within four days after receiving this letter. It is not a joke!
You will receive it in the mail. Send 20 copies of this letter to
people you think need good luck. Please do not send money. Do not keep
this letter. It must leave within 96 hours after you receive it.
A U.S. officer received $7,000. Don Elliot received $68,000, but lost it because he broke the chain. While in the Philippines, General Walsh lost his life six days after he received this letter. He failed to circulate the prayer. However, before his death, he received $775,000, which he won.
Please send 20 copies and then see what happens the fourth day after. Add your name to the bottom of this list and leave off the top name when copying this letter.
[A four column list of 33 names follows, six struck out, several in different hands] [1974]
The
above device, "Write F.E.G.E. in the right hand
corner of the envelope instead of a stamp," appears on many
LD chain letters. Various initials were recommended (some without the
instruction to omit the stamp), and examples also come from France (Bonnet
and Delestre) and the USSR. The instruction to omit a stamp
seems severely counter-replicative. However, in the US the original
initials may have been "F.M.B.H" standing for "Free Matter for the
Blind and Handicapped." Current postal regulations allow free postage
for legitimate purposes if the quoted sentence is written where
normally a stamp would appear. Presumably the initials suffice, though
I have not verified that. Someone in the early 1970's may
have used the privilege to mail chain letters for free. Most recipients
would be baffled by the suggestion above, but if the letter they
received had no stamp many would try it since they could easily
convince themselves that all their stampless letters also got
delivered. After all, with no return address there was no way to ever
find out otherwise. Since the initials were meaningless to almost all
copiers, they would quickly be corrupted. In disbelief, some copier
dropped the instruction to omit a stamp and advised the initials be
written on the upper left hand corner of the envelope. These versions
may have benefited by being opened more often than a letter with
nothing at all where one expects a return address. Meaningless initials
("cryptoids")
often appear on grimoires and chain letters. Dr. Jean-Bruno Renard
has collected an interesting chain letter in France that revives
the use of initials as a substitute for a stamp [2000].
Posting without a stamp is also a feature of many of the recent (2006)
World Record chain letters that circulate among children. Post
Office automation, rather than deliberate indulgence, may explain
why many of these stampless envelopes were delivered. Yet such delivery
supports the absurd claims in these letters of Post Office involvement
with verifying a world record, and even with identifying a person
that broke the chain.
The LD type was prolific in 1974 - 1975, and also circulated in the U.K (Times, 1974). Some Hungarian chain letters [1983], though much reduced, reveal descent from an LD source. By 1980 the Lottery-Death letters had been completely replaced in North America by our final mainline type, the "Death-Lottery" letters.
12. Death-Lottery (DL).
The following letter
was collected by the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, in
October, 1974. It was typed, except for the last three names
in the second column.
This prayer has been sent to you for good luck. The original copy came from the Netherlands.
It has been around the world 9 times. The luck has been sent to you. You are to receive good
luck within 9 days of receiving this letter. It is no joke. You will receive it in the mail.Send 20 copies of this letter to people you think need good luck. Please do not send money.
Do not keep this letter. It must leave within 95 hours after you receive it.A B.S. Officer received $70,000. Don Elliot received $160,000, but he lost it because he
broke the chain. While in the Phillipines, General Walsh lost his life six days after
he received this letter. He failed to circulate the prayer. However, before his death,
he received $775,000 which he won.Please send 20 copies and then see what happens on the 4th day after. Add your name to the
bottom of the list and leave the top name off when copying this letter.This chain comes from Venezuela, was written by St. Aptine de Cade a missionary from South
America.Since the chain must make a tour of the world, you must make 20 copies identical to this one
and send it to your friends, parents, or acquaintances, and after a few days you will get
a surprise. This is true, even if you are not superstitious.Take note of the following: Constantine Dies received the chain in 1953. He asked his
secretary to make 20 copies and send them. A few days later he won the lottery of $2
million in his country.Carlos Brandt, an office employee, received the chain. He forgot it and lost it. A few
days later he lost his job. He found the chain and sent it out to 20 people. Nine days
later he got a better job.Zorin Barrachilli received the chain. Not believing it, he threw it away. Nine days
later he died. For no reason whatsoever should this chain be broken. In nine days
you will get a surprise.
Judy Van Aalten
E. & W. SchmalzArline Robbins
P. & H. Lic [?]M. Buynovsky
G. & D. KalmanB. Robichaud
P. & M. Edelstein A. Boudreau
H. Kirsner M. Bevis
M. Lambert S. Battaini
J. Lambert P. Battaini
P. Brown S. B [?]
C. Beasley C. Con [?]
E. Spindel E. Eff
Phyllis Proctor
John Dyer Morgan
Modesto Antonio Guerra
Carlos Guerra
C. Rosen
Susan Honig [1974]
This is a Death20 letter placed above
a version of the Lottery24 letter (without a title) - the reverse of
the LD concatenation. This
Death-Lottery
(DL) type first appears in the archive with an example [1973]
published by the well known Canadian author John Robert Colombo (1975).
However, since that example is missing a testimonial I have chosen the
above letter as a standard for the type. Like LD, the DL type was first
described by Michael Preston (1976).
One feature of the above letter is atypical - the list starts at the end of the letter. Most DL letters up to 1978 had a list of prior senders like the above, but they were "internal" in the letter, since they originated with the Death20 block and were bounded below by the added Lottery letter. Superstitious recipients may copy a list with the same diligence that they give to the text of a letter. With little room to expand, the internal lists on early DL letters may have been exactly copied for a few years. But by 1979 both these and all the LD letters stopped circulating. As photocopying had became more frequent, there was greater reluctance to comply if one thought some modification of the letter, such as updating a list, was required.
Though I make little use of
formatting to infer relatedness, the most common paragraphing of a DL
letter trespasses on the unity of the Lottery24 block, placing the last
sentence of the Death20 block ( "Please send 20 copies of the
letter and see what happens in four days") as the first
sentence in the new paragraph starting the Lottery block (right before
"The chain comes from Venezuela and was written by . . .")
[1983].
This may aide circulation by disguising the compound nature of the
letter and its resulting redundancy and contradictory claims of origin.
The early DL type was temporarily eclipsed by LD letters during 1974-75, but a hyper-competitive DL variation captured the entire luck chain letter niche before the end of the decade (the It Works postscript described in > Section 4-5). Thus all mainline luck chain letters since 1980, certainly over a billion, have been the DL type. Within this type are variations that compete with each other for the attention and resources required for replication. The advantages of some of these variations are explained in the sequel (> Section 4-6).
The DL type luck chain letter not only dominated circulation in the United States for decades, it also took hold in many foreign countries. That it originated in the US or Canada, around 1973, is fairly certain since this region nurtured the circulation of the Death20 component as an independent chain letter, and also spawned many early variations, including the unsyncretized 24 copy quota in the Lottery24 component (in LD letters only, as < above). From North America it has spread to many countries. Examples so far collected are listed below; most of the foreign language texts cited are supplied with an English translation.
< Start
of above section
< Start
of Chain Letter Evolution - Contents
2-3
OUTLIER LUCK CHAIN LETTERS
Cross
Crossings Cautiously Chain
Letters from France The
Luck of St. Thomas Sick
Girl Performs Miracles
Every
one will get thousands The
Brill Letter
Chain
Letters from Mexico The
Media Chain Letter Romance
Game
Medium
Jumpers
There are over ten "types" of
English language luck chain letters in the archive that did not
dominate circulation in the US in any year. Some of these types are
represented
by only one example. I briefly discuss these outlier types here
in their chronological order.
1.
Cross Crossings Cautiously
A
1926-01
quota nine advocacy chain letter is titled "Cross
Crossings Cautiously" (CCC) and states: "I have resolved that
from now I will practice 'safety first', preach 'safety first' and do
all in my power to save life or prevent any injury to my fellow men."
The CCC slogan and the resolve also appear above a 1926-12
Good Luck block that warns against breaking the chain.
A 1930
luck
chain letter has retained CCC but dropped all other mention of safety.
It concludes with an X to Y list of 15 names, mostly famous, beginning
with Sen. Heflin, Bernard Shaw, Henry Ford, and Colonel Lindbergh.
James Thomas Heflin was a white supremacist Senator from Alabama, 1920
- 1931.
2. Chain Letters from France.
The following handwritten letter, titled "The
Fortune Chain", was mailed in Okeechobee, Florida in 1931.
When a chain letter asks you to "continue" it, it is probably a translated French letter, for many of them ask you to "Continuez la chaine". Other text in this letter is obviously cognate to two French language letters that circulated in Geneva, Switzerland in 1928. These were published by W. Deonna in a folklore journal that same year, and both the French text and an English translation by Prof. Sarah E. Winter are provided in the archive. [1928a, 1928b]. The Swiss letters do not have a list of names, like the Fortune letter above, but this could have been edited off by Deonna. Note that all (except possibly the first) names on the above letter are of married women. The concluding testimonial, about Pola Negri, is likely an American invention and appears on all four of the Fortune chain letters in the archive. Pola Negri was a Polish born film actress well known for her liaisons with Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino, the Italian heart-throb who died young in 1926.The Fortune Chain.
Jean Fulcher to Mrs Stewart Stanley
Mrs Stewart Stanley to Mrs Wm Conley
Mrs Wm Conley to Mrs E. F. Coverly
Mrs E. J. Coverly to Mrs L. W. Estes
Mrs L. W. Estes to Mrs R. W. Howell
Mrs R. W. Howell to Mrs J. H. Estlinger
Mrs J. H. Estlinger to Mrs C. B. Flanders
Mrs C. O. Flanders to Mrs J. S. Haddock
Mrs J. S. Haddock to Mrs J. L. Hall
Mrs J. L. Hall to Mrs H. L. Hazellies
Mrs H. L. Hazellies to Mrs C. A. Hilliard
Mrs C. A. Hilliard to Mrs E. N. Hilliard
Mrs E. N. Hilliard to Mrs Walter Brantley.Good luck and good health. Continue this chain and send nine copies to nine of your intelligent friends to whom you wish happiness. This chain was started in Flanders by a General in the American artillery and must go around the world 3 times.
Forward it if possible within twenty four hours of its acceptance.Do not break this chain it might give you bad luck. During the nine following days after you have sent the copies a happy event will take place and fill you with joy. The predictions are always true. If you take this as a joke and do not send the copies correctly bad luck may befall you.
Mrs Barnes of Victoria won the big prize in lottery of 20,000 golden liars on the Ninth day.
Mr. Wilcox's home was destroyed on the eight day owing to not taking serious notice of the chain.
Mrs Hux lost her only son three days after receiving this chain without forwarding copies.
Mrs May and Sacha Genty won $250,000.
Pola Negri owes her fortune to having carried out instructions in a most conscientious way.
3.
The Luck of St. Thomas
The following luck chain letter was published in an
Iowa newspaper in 1949:
"The luck of St.
Thomas has been sent you -- it has been around the world four times.
Copy the letter and forward it to five other people. Do not keep the
letter in your possession. It must leave your home within 24 hours
after receiving it.
You will have good luck four days after receiving the letter."
4. Sick Girl
Performs Miracles
The following
luck chain letter was published in an Ottawa, Canada newspaper on Jan.
21, 1970: "This is a
chain letter from Landers. Someone sent me this and now I am
sending it to you. Do the same for people you know. This letter comes
from a little, sick girl in Landers. Whoever breaks the chain will have
neither luck nor happiness. This has already happened. The sick girl
performs miracles unexpectedly. Happiness will befall you in 48 hours.
This letter must not be destroyed or lost. Copy it seven times and send
it to seven people. Don't put a stamp on it. Observe what happens to
you in 48 hours."
[1970]
5. "Every
one will get thousands of copies."
A
composed chain letter from December, 1975 declares: "... the ironclad science of Mathematics
demonstrates conclusively that on the last Good Thursday before
Christmas 1976 ... 882,922,240,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
copies of
this letter will be in the mails. [1975].
7. Chain Letters from Mexico.
English translations of Mexican letters circulate in the U.S. in low
volume. A 1984
example from Oxnard, California has a brief Tagalog addition at the
end, and a comment on this in English. The letter has a quota
of twenty-four copies, a deadline of nine days, and a thirteen day
waiting period. A recent related letter has two blocks of
Tagalog and much transformation of the testimonials [2004].
An English only example [1995],
from North Carolina, represents a separate tradition. It states: "This
chain would be sent with five cents which will be donated to the
church." There was a nickel taped head up on the letter.
This request was also present in an untranslated Spanish language
letter mailed from Pasadena [1980].
A dime was taped on this letter. This sending forward of money seems
to be unique with Mexican luck chain letters and is a striking contrast
to U.S. mainline letters since 1939 which instruct "Do not
send money." This command functioned to differentiate luck
chain letters from the money chain letters that flooded the
mails in 1935 (> Section
4-2). Thus this forwarding of a small coin may date from the
1930's also, and may be a different solution to the same discard
problem that English language luck chain letters faced. Hopefully older
Mexican chain letters will be recovered that can explain the origin of
this feature.
8.
The
Media Chain Letter
Beginning in 1989, a quota
five luck chain letter much like the then long extinct "Luck by Mail"
type was revived by providing a pretext for a status display. I
describe this widely reported "Media Chain Letter" in Section
4-4.
9. Romance Game.
I have four English language examples of a classroom note typically
passed between young teenage girls. The following was intercepted from
a 13 year old girl by a teacher in California in 1995.
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This estimate of 2.2 billion received for 30 years (1567 weeks) implies an average of 1.3 million receipts per week. As determined above, the DL mainline luck chain letters during these years had an average generation time of one week. Assuming that all receipts occur within a week, the circulation of the DL type will be 1.3 million at any time. Presume for each letter, three days of the seven days between receipts were spent in the mail. Since 3/7 * 1,300,000 = 550,000, on a typical day during 1970-2000 there were probably over a half million luck chain letters in the mail. We have reduced this estimate some to account for many chain letters being distributed by hand.
The
Great Advantage of a Small Advantage.
The
conceptual tools introduced above are now used to demonstrate that the
appearance of a seemingly minor innovation on a predominant type chain
letter can have a significant effect. Suppose the active circulation of a mainline luck
chain letter type is stable: for every 100 received, enough of these
hosts will comply with the request for copies that about 100 copies of
these letters will in turn be sent out and received. Suppose John Doe
gets a degenerate photocopy of one of these letters and retypes it
before making copies. He happens to add the postscript
"Do not send money!" thus creating a variation V,
makes 20 copies, and distributes them.
When Jane gets a copy of a chain letter in the mail she habitually glances at it and throws it away without reading the body of text, figuring it asks the reader to send money. When she gets a copy of V she glances at the title and at the bottom of the letter where one might look to see who the sender was. There is no sender listed, but the words "Do not send money!" appear prominently. This communicates at once that this letter does not ask for money. Jane reads the full text and, since she is waiting to hear if she got a desirable job, she decides not to take a chance on bad luck and complies with the demand for 20 copies.
Others may react as Jane did: say the new postscript induces just one additional person per hundred to fully and effectively comply to the demand for 20 copies. So after one week, the circulation will increase from 100 to 120. This is a weekly growth factor of f = [120/100]1/7 = 1.0264. With this growth factor, the population will more than double every month since using equation (2b) we find t = ln[200/100] / ln(f)= 26.6 days to double. After 18 months out, equation (1b) gives V(540) = 20*(1.0264)540 = 26 million active letters. This is 15% of the adult population of the United States in 1980 (170 million), which means this off-hand variation, which started with 20 copies, could have replaced most of the previously circulating luck chain letters.
The scenario employed in this example is based on an actual event in chain letter history. The sentence "Do not send money" did appear on a Flanders-Prosperity type luck chain letter around 1939, and has remained ever since (> Section 4-2). It was repeated in a postscript in 1979 and this likely contributed significantly to the rapid predominance of the new variation that bore it, and to the demise of the prior variation. (> Section 4-5).
Immunization
In an example above we presumed a population of
chain letters was doubling every month. Obviously such growth cannot be
sustained very long. The number of possible recipients is limited, and
there is an immunization effect whereby receiving
more than one chain letter of the same motivational category makes one
less likely to comply with copy demands. If one variation of a luck
chain is abundant, another variation may be deprived of the attention
and resources required for making and distributing copies. Eventually
the abundant variation will foul its own nest by the same process. Thus
for population booms, the exponential growth model applies until a
variation has been received by a significant percentage of the subject
population. More sophisticated mathematical models of growth with
limited resources are available, but it would be difficult to verify
their applicability for chain letters. Exponential "growth" may also
apply when a variation is in terminal decline, as we discuss next.
The One-in-a-Hundred Rule.
The above calculated examples, and
tabulations using the Paper Chain Letter Archive, allow formulation of
the following rule of thumb.
Consider a stable population of quota 20 mainline luck chain letters with a generation time of one week. If a variation arises that gets just one extra person in a hundred to fully comply, the circulation of this variation will initially double every month. Within a couple or so years it will be the only mainline luck chain letter still circulating.Such captures of circulation by new variations are a common and striking feature of chain letter history. Analysis of why a new variation predominates may be difficult, especially if several innovations are present on a single letter. Because of the One-in-a-Hundred Rule, this replicative advantage could derive at least in part from infrequent or unknown factors in the recipient population, such as paranoia, minority ethnic identification, or participation in money chain letters.
3-2
Distribution Networks.
Chain
Letter Distribution Core
Networks Efficient
Flow
I will consider in Section 3.8 how certain chain letter content influences the selection of recipients (> Effective Distribution). Here I speculate about the flow of chain letters through a population, how flow patterns may persist and change, and how this may affect the circulation of variations.
Chain Letter Distribution.
The following individual behavior holds with regard
to certain social replicators, and affects their overall pattern of
distribution. This applies to photocopied office humor, jokes, rumors,
and luck chain letter variations.
(1) Single source: New items are first distributed by only one source: all subsequent receipts of this item derive from this initial source.These facts are clearly true when the replicator is photocopied office humor. These are far too complex to be invented independently; and likely just one person is the source of a new item (an exception may be "Useful phrases to know when traveling in Moslem areas" [1995], which was rumored to have been launched by the CIA while American hostages were being held in Lebanon). Almost all the photocopied office humor I received came from just one secretary, who reported that she got most of it from one other secretary. I showed these to the same friends each time; some often made copies and others never did. No one person ever gave me the exact same item twice. Likewise replicative oral jokes are extremely difficult to invent, except for substituting ethnic or national identities in an existing joke - for example, search for "it's a local call from here". And each is likely the creation of a single imagination. In the office, the same few people told me jokes, and did so over the years. One male in particular, who claimed he had been in every bar in the county, was the source of most of the jokes I heard. I either forgot his jokes or told them to certain friends and not others. No one told me the same joke twice unless they had forgotten the first telling. Upon reminding them of this they immediately stopped.
(2) Habitual transmission: If two people are exposed to the same replicator and the first person distributes it and the second does not, then the first person is more likely than the second to distribute a subsequent similarly motivated replicator.
(3) Habitual targeting: And this subsequent distribution is likely to include many of the same people to whom the prior distribution was made.
(4) Repetition taboo: But people are unlikely to distribute the exact same replicator to anyone whom they know has already received it.
For luck chain letters, "single source" is generally true for significant changes except, possibly, deletions. Evidence for "habitual transmission" can be found in some interviews (NYT, 1968). This may begin when an individual correlates some good or bad luck with receipt of "the letter." "Habitual targeting" can be a matter of convenience, and also compliance with targeting instructions in the letter, which may suggest copies be sent to "people who need good luck." In a hoard of nine linen exchange letters received by one person, the lists of senders contain 22 names and addresses but there are only 12 different ones [xe1940]. Finally, "repetition taboo" is in part a restatement of the immunization phenomenon, which explains the cessation of chain letter crazes. Immunization is understandably a refusal to expend one's own time and money on repeated demands for copies. But when transmission is not anonymous a respect for one's recipients will be a factor. This may still operate for anonymous distribution, though not as strongly. From about 1922 to 1977 the majority of luck chain letters contained lists of the most recent senders. After 1978 there is not a single mainline chain letter in the archive that bears such a list, and almost all the envelopes these chain letters were mailed in did not have a return address. So there was a dramatic shift to anonymous distribution. However most transmissions were still probably from friend to friend, with the prior "known friend to friend" networks still active.
Imagine the complete flow of a social replicator V through a population. We can represent this by a network of transmissions whose points (nodes) and directed connections (arrows) between pairs of nodes are specified as follows.
(1) Each person who sent or received V specifies one and only one node.The network of transmissions ignores variations of V, considering them all the same replicator. For a popular item, such a diagram might comprise millions of nodes and many more connections. "Habitual transmission" and "habitual targeting," particularly targeting of "friends and associates," suggest that such transmission networks have an independent existence rooted in social and work contacts, and the distribution of prior replicators. A subsequent variation will be passed along to many of the same people. Perhaps these networks have differentiated parts or "structures" that also persist and that affect the circulation of resident social replicators. An interesting possibility arises if the same "single source" of V produces another successful replicator V'. If the network of transmission is fairly constant, as suspected, then even far out in the network from the source, replicators V and V' should usually be received in that order. Recording such sequences could be used to infer encore creations and the constancy of the network of transmission.
(2) If person A transmitted V to person B then node A is connected to node B.
(3) With each such connection there is associated the time of receipt of V.
Core Networks.
The core of a chain letter network of transmission
can be roughly defined as the largest subnetwork of mutually connected
habitual senders. Several formal definitions of the core of a network
are given in Doreian and Woodward (Social
Networks, 1994), but I have so little data compared
to the number of participants that computational methods would be very
approximate. I suspect this core, as defined, is more numerous and
richly connected than would result from random linkages because:
(1) Various forms of social stratification (gender, age, race, religion, class) suggest the existence of different chain letter transmission networks, particularly when senders are identified. Some evidence of this can be found on chain letters and in newspaper accounts [gender: 1922, 1933], [race: 1935, 1936 see Rule 7] [religion: 2001]. Given that different chain letter transmission networks co-exist, the success of a chain letter variation depends not only on its text, but also on the state of the network that delivers it. These transmission networks are not static entities, but change with changing conditions such as participant age and interaction with other distribution networks. Thus competition between chain letter variations is, in part, competition between the established transmission networks that deliver them. Such competition makes a case for the existence of core networks, since the dense linkage of hundreds of people who habitually and rapidly comply would accelerate exponential growth and sustain circulation by recycling. Transmission networks with a smaller or less cohesive core would more likely disappear or be captured by a rival transmission network.
(2) For over a half century, most luck chain letters had a senders list. And money chain letters require a controlled list to function. Very early in the 1935 Send-a-Dime craze, women called friends to make sure they would re-transmit the chain letter and take the same precaution in choosing their recipients (DRMN-1). Such successful oral recruitment techniques would replicate along with the paper text. About the same time, this quest for prior consent appeared as a postscript in a Send-a-Dime letter [1935-04]. Such selection of recipients will link enthusiastic participants. And though the Send-a-Dime bubble soon burst, the transmission network that developed for money chain letters in 1935 probably partly survived for decades and influenced luck chain letter distribution as well (> Luck Follows Money).Rapid changes in the circulation of a chain letter, up or down, may relate to events in networks that are not modeled simply by exponential growth and immunization within in a large population. Two networks will share some participants. A sudden increase could follow the incorporation of a rival core network by a new letter. Rapid decline of a letter may follow if the core of its transmission network loses connectivity, as by participant aging or immunizations by a rival letter.
Efficient Flow.
The "repetition taboo" implies that there will be an avoidance of
duplicated arrows (A to B and A to B) in a chain letter transmission
network. And short cycles (such as the dyad A to B and B to A) will be
less frequent. This especially applies to letters with a senders list.
If the list contains the last n senders, all cycles of length n + 1 or
less can be avoided if one simply avoids distributing to anyone on the
received list. Possibly, competition between networks will also develop
this "efficient flow" since receipt of multiple copies by one person
within a few weeks is wasteful. Those networks with long cycles should
be favored. This could also involve a general westward movement of
letters, or a tendency to move between three major cities in the same
cyclic order. If cyclic flow is in both directions there will be more
duplicate receipts, hence more discards. A very large sample would be
needed to check for such patterns, nor should we expect that the
repetition taboo and immunization alone could bring
them about. But my guess is that more persistent structure exists
in the transmission networks of folklore than is presently observable.
Perhaps some systematized method of sampling will eventually enable
the observation of flow patterns.
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3-3 EVOLUTION
Descent
Variation
Differential
Replication Chain
Letter Evolution Linked
features Cladistics
Behavior
that Affects Circulation
Descent.
Until the 1970's most paper luck chain letters were
copied by hand or typed. When photocopiers became more common
there was some debate if one could use them for chain letters
and still receive good luck (NYT,
1968). One chain letter innovator declared "may
Xerox" in a footnote [1975].
Predictably, the mainline photocopiers won this debate [but not for one
outlier],
and almost every letter that has circulated since 1980 is a photocopy,
including originally hand written ones. But late generation photocopies
must eventually be retyped because of image degeneration. In recent
years this retyping is usually done with a word processor.
The word "copy" here allows that there may be errors, deletions, innovations, and even translation. But let us require that most of the parent letter is carried forward on the copy with matching details. On extremely rare occasions a chain letter may not have a parent, for example the founder of 1975. Or it may be the concatenation of two letter, for example the very first Death-Lottery type letter - a hybrid. It is convenient to exclude such letters in what follows, and consider only those chain letters that have exactly one parent. A first generation copy may itself be copied, producing a second generation copy, and so on. A letter M is a descendant of letter L if M is some nth generation copy of L, and then L is an ancestor of M. All descendants of chain letter L, plus L itself, constitute a descent group (or clade), with L the founder. The ancestry of a letter M within a descent group is the sequence beginning with M, then the parent of M, the parent of the parent of M, etc. until the founder of the clade is reached. Any two distinct chain letters in a descent group have a unique "most recent common ancestor." This is the first member of the ancestry of one which is in the ancestry of the other. Because of the convention that a letter begins its own ancestry, this means the unique "common ancestor" of M and its ancestor M' is M' itself.
Two chain letters are regarded as identical if they have the exact same text, character for character, as well as the same text styles and formatting. Usually when chain letter L is photocopied, and possibly when retyped, an identical copy is formed, called a clone of L. It might be possible that two letters could be identical but had different parents, but we can disregard that unlikely possibility. A replicator is not considered to be a clone of itself. For any letter L not a clone, the clone group with founder L is constituted by L and all its clones. Clone groups are the natural unit to consider when describing the descent of variations.
The Paper Chain Letter Archive provides overwhelming evidence that chain letters inherit text from their ancestors. From a "Luck of London" letter we read "It has been around the world four times" [1944]. Over 50 years later we read on an Australian letter "It has been around the world nine times" [1997]. From a letter mailed in 1959 from Bloomsbury, New Jersey we read about money won but life lost in the Philippines [1959], just as we do on the 1997 Australian letter.
Inherited details strongly suggest that the letters in the "types" I have identified are descended from a single founding letter for each type. If we start with the Good Luck letters [1922], these and all subsequent mainline letters form a single descent group that extends to the present, and whose founder may have been written in Europe soon after World War I. This descent group numbers in the billions of letters and some of its ancestries contain thousands of generations (over four thousand, if there is an average of one generation per week).
All luck chain letters since 1900 are probably influenced by the first letter with both a copy quota and a deadline. Present day familiarity with these devices masks their ingenuity: copy quota probably began with a single letter and the concept spread only with the distribution and translation of this letter. The same is likely true for deadlines, dropping claims of divine authorship, statements that the letter is to go around the world and non-miraculous testimonials. Such innovations distinguished luck chain letters from the Letters from Heaven with which early luck chain letters were once identified, though perhaps mistakenly (1908). The Letters from Heaven in turn probably have a conceptual founder, perhaps a Greek letter in the first century, and this in turn a pagan predecessor. If we presume there existed spoken rituals that demanded their own repetition, these may all have begun with a communication that claimed divine origin and contained an instruction for periodic repetition. As if echoing this primal origin, many of the Letters from Heaven emphasized rigid Sabbath observance. [1863]
Variation.
Hand written letters are often difficult to read and thus many
variations are introduced as the copier tries to guess what is written.
Many errors can also be introduced on chain letters that are typed. For
examples of the corruption of names see 1926.
With photocopying, after some 15 or so generations the text becomes
wiggly, spotted and unreadable in places. Titles and other text at the
margins may be lost because of misplacement of a sheet in a photocopier
or image expansion [1991].
Thus photocopied chains, to survive, must be retyped periodically,
which introduces errors and wrong guesses at illegible or missing words
[e.g. "faxed" for "faded" in 1997].
Lines of text are often omitted when copiers lose their place in the
source letter [compare Newark1
to the close Newark2
- the later has omitted "of receiving this letter"
and "He failed to circulate the letter"]. Or the
copier may notice the omission, and enter the missing line in a new
position in the letter. For example in 1979
"Do not keep this letter" has been transposed with "It
must leave your hands . . ." In 1985
a misplaced period has shifted an important ethnic cue (the
Philippines) from
one testimonial to another. A few changes are the result of copying
what was not intended to be copied, such as a personal comment to the
recipient [1906],
a date, a casual postscript, or signed name.
In addition to such copying errors, there are many intentional changes. The testimonial of The Unbeliever's Death is often deleted, presumably for ethical reasons [1981]. Attempts to improve the writing style are seen [1995], and reformatting is common [1991]. Often a brief salutation [1989] or postscript [1997] is added, usually never to appear on another letter in our sample. Sometimes a whole new title [1997], sentence [1991], or testimonial appears [1975]. Both with hand copied letters [1939], and photocopied letters (Preston 1976), a recipient of two chain letters may combine them on one page producing a new and subsequently abundant type.
Probably there are thousands of major innovations every year, but most do not replicate sufficiently to find their way into our sample. There are so many variations, accidental and deliberate, that most retyped letters differ from their parent. I have never collected two identical luck chain letters. Paradoxically, ancestors can still be identified after hundreds of generations, and across translations and subsequent cultural modification. Compare the ancestral 1974 to Hungary 1986, or to the second part of 1999.
There is convincing evidence in the archive that on rare occasions, in copying parent letter X to copy Y, text from a third letter (the "donor") is also placed on copy Y. This process, and the text involved, is called a transfer. Here are some examples.
Differential Replication.
Very clear evidence that chain letter content affects replication is
present in Table
4 and Table
6. These show that letters bearing certain variations have
greatly increased in frequency over a few years, and letters without
those features have totally disappeared from the dated collection. The
succession of luck chain letter types
(< Table
2) is also proof of the effect of content on circulation. The
range of years in Table 2 records the earliest and latest year of
circulation so far collected. Thus all the Good
Luck type letters in the
archive were received during the 1920's, and you are no more likely
to receive one today than to be asked to dance the Charleston at
the senior prom.
For many variations we can be fairly sure that after some initial appearance, all subsequent appearances of this variation within some group of letters under discussion are descendants of the initial example. Or if the variation re-appears as a result of a transfer or re-invention, we may always be able to verify this by analyzing other variations present. I call such a variation a feature (or character). Features are variations that can be used, at least in part, to infer that two letters bearing the variation had a common ancestor that also bore it.
Some variations are not features, or at least their use in diagnosing ancestry poses difficulties. For example, deletion of the Unbeliever's Death testimonial occurs independently in separate lineages. Certain corruptions and varying forms of numbers may also appear and re-appear, such as $755,000, $755,000.00, $755000.00 or $75,500,000. The words "Philippines," "receive" and "ignore" are frequently misspelled in the same way. "St. Jude" may be added to a letter, and also removed.
Descent groups (clades) are often considered when their presence significantly increases or decreases in our dated sample. Members of a descent group are recognized by the presence of shared features. Some of these features may have a positive effect on circulation, others neutral, and some may have a negative result. Features that are neutral or negative in an increasing clade are called riders, since they proliferate without themselves motivating replication. Usually there is one key feature judged to be primarily responsible for the increase of the group. Sometimes it may be difficult to select a key feature from two or more positive features present.
Small copying errors will generally be neutral, but some may have had a positive effect on circulation and increased in frequency as a result. Here are three candidates for this curious phenomenon:
The descendants of a single letter have repeatedly replaced all other mainline letters in our sample. I call such a descent group (or its founding letter, or the key feature) hyper-competitive. For example, all mainline letters after 1983 are the descendants of a single letter that first appeared around 1979! This descent group numbers over two billion letters. The key feature responsible for this spectacular replication was probably a new postscript (> It Works). We say this "It Works" postscript (or the first letter bearing it, or its clade) captured the mainline. Such striking examples of differential replication are surprisingly common in chain letter history.
The term "funneling event" from population genetics may be applied to captures, since they reduce the inheritable variation present in a population. These events not only establish highly replicative innovations, but also reset details of text with the features that happen to be present on the founding letter, for better or for worse. Chain letter evolution is characterized by a succession of funneling events through single letters. If a variation, a "small improvement," is merely increasing in the population of letters, it is subject to total elimination by the next hyper-competitive variation. Nevertheless, small improvements do appear to accumulate on chain letters, for example with the mix of testimonials (> Office) or with instructions on to whom the letter should be sent (> Effective Distribution). This appearance requires explanation.
(1) Small improvements may be needed to increment the effectiveness of a letter bearing a key innovation to hyper-competitive power.Explanations (1) and (2) are apparently active in the frequency shifts documented in Table 4 for the sequence of innovations leading to the full It Works postscript. Explanation (4) may apply to the many seemingly concurrent changes that appeared with two new titles in the early 1980's (> Kiss and Love).
(2) Variations that are more frequent because of small improvements are more likely to receive a hyper-competitive innovation.
(3) A universal feature that appears to be a "small" improvement may have previously been hyper-competitive, perhaps during a period of low circulation. Low circulation events are difficult to detect.
(4) The author of a key innovation may have also composed small improvements, or selected and transferred them from other letters.
Chain
Letter Evolution.
I have described the descent and variation of chain
letters, and their differential replication depending on copied
features present in the text. These processes assure that chain
letters "evolve" - that is, they accumulate inheritable features
that increase or sustain circulation. It is this evolution that
ultimately explains "how chain letters work," and why they worked even
as public attitudes and beliefs changed over generations. This success
is even more remarkable considering the universal condemnation of chain
letters from both secular and religious authorities, and the lack of
any real service they provide to their hosts apart from dealing with
the false hopes and empty threats that chain letters themselves
created.
Richard Dawkins describes the mechanics of chain letter evolution in River Out of Eden, while also emphasizing that chain letters "are originally launched by humans, and the changes in their wording arise in the heads of humans" (1995, pp 146-150). Our collection reveals that there are a great many such changes but very few that significantly increase circulation. And very few of those that do are the result of an innovation designed to work in the way it does. Indeed, some successful changes are the result of accidents in copying. As in biological evolution, successful chain letter "mutations" are rare events that can exploit an opportunity for replication in a variety of unpredictable ways. So chain letters do "evolve," and apart from computer simulations, are probably the best documented and simplest example of evolution known. Yet, unlike computer simulations, chain letters are readable documents that exploit human hopes and fears. This provides chain letter evolution an unlimited palette of invention, and makes their history intelligible in human terms.
Are the similarities between chain letter evolution and genetic evolution worth our attention? In the previously mentioned article "Chain Letters & Evolutionary Histories" (Bennett, Li, Ma), algorithms used for genetic sequences are applied to reconstruct the ancestry of 33 DL type luck chain letters. The authors state " . . . if algorithms used to infer phylogenetic trees from the genomes of existing organisms are to be trusted, they should produce good results when applied to chain letters. Indeed, their readability makes them especially suitable for classroom teaching of phylogeny (evolutionary history) free from the arcana of molecular biology."
The following biological phenomena suggested or prompted guesses about chain letter adaptions.
There are, however, significant differences between chain letter evolution and biological evolution, and how each can be examined. In addition to the presence of deliberate and calculated human innovations in chain letter texts, note:
(1) Chain letters usually replicate by the production of exact copies (photocopies) of a single parent letter. A successful new variation may begin with over a thousand such clones (>3-7).Linked Features.(2) There is no natural way to define a "species" (type) of English language luck chain letter. Incremental variations are rapidly dispersed throughout the English speaking world. By contrast, most biospecies reproduce sexually within intra-breeding groups (species) that have geographic boundaries. Biological species are "real entities of nature."
(3) At least in part because of their asexual reproduction, chain letter history is characterized by the phenomenon of hyper-competition - the quick capture of an entire niche by descendants of a single letter. Presumably this does not occur with the genomes of biospecies, where funneling is through a taxon such as a genus or species.
(4) The text of a luck chain letter is analogous to the DNA of an organism, but is orders of magnitude shorter, comparable only to the length of a single gene, and like a gene has a beginning and end. Instead of being a sequence of nucleotides, a chain letter consists of readable sentences in a natural language.
(5) Not only can we read the entire "genome" of a chain letter, we can also make reasonable estimations of the effect on replication of any component.
(6) The raw data available for chain letters are far more complete than what are available for any biospecies. We have, in essence, the complete "DNA" for hundreds of examples, including accurately dated extinct forms.
If every letter in the archive which bears feature H also bears feature G, and visa versa, this does not imply they appear together on all letters ever produced (if so we say G and H were concurrent). It is quite possible that G could have appeared first and later H was added to a letter bearing G, but no example of G without H has been collected. For chain letters there is no way to deduce concurrence of two features solely from texts, unless one had every letter ever produced. If features G and H are both present in a group of letters under discussion, the following table lists the five possible ways they may appear with relation to each other. The symbol {G, GH}, for example, means that within the group of letters: (1) G appears without H on at least one letter; (2) G appears with H, in any order, on at least one other letter, and (3) H does not appear without G, otherwise I would have written {G, H, GH}. The five possible relationships between G and H are all hypotheses, subject to revision depending on subsequent collecting or verification of certain deletions or transfers. None of these relationships depend on recorded dates of circulation for letters, though dates may be used in arguing for or against spoiling exceptions. However, the pre-linkage of feature G to feature H implies that G appeared before H.
Table
3. Feature linkage: terminology and consequences.
My terminology: G is _____ to H |
All known presences of G and H in the clade. |
Cladistic terminology: G is ____ relative to H |
If H becomes universal, G becomes _______ |
Possible Origin |
Spoilers |
1.
unlinked |
{G,H} |
absent |
H
was first added to a letter with G deleted. |
GH
exists but is uncollected. |
|
2.
pre-linked |
{G,GH} |
plesiomorphic,
or ancestral |
universal |
G
was on the letter that H was first added to. |
All
G are by deletion of H from GH. |
3.
co-linked |
{GH} |
congruent |
universal |
G
and H first appeared on the same letter. |
G
or H exist but are uncollected. |
4.
post-linked |
{H,GH} |
apomorphic, or derived |
frequent
if GH came soon after H |
H
was on the letter that G was first added to. |
H
was transferred to a letter already bearing G. |
5.
transfer-linked |
{G,H,GH} |
homoplasitc, or conflicting |
frequent
if GH came soon after H |
G was transferred to a letter bearing H. |
All
G or H are by deletion from GH. |
Example
1: The DL letters with an early It
Works postscript read "I, myself, now forward it to
you." But this never appears on a letter with a Kiss or
Love title. "I, myself, . . ." is thus unlinked
to these titles. When these Kiss and Love titles were introduced
they were first added to letters from which "I, myself, . . ."
had been deleted.
Example 2: Our earliest Death20 type letter [1959], and all thereafter, bear both the Death and Money testimonial and the demand for 20 copies. No letter has been found which bears either of these features singly. Thus we say these two features are co-linked. They would be concurrent, if, say, they were both transferred from a foreign letter at the same time. If not concurrent, then one appeared without the other. But only if such a letter is collected would we then say the first is pre-linked to the second.
Example 3: Around 1988 a new testimonial, "Car," was added to a letter bearing the title "With Love all things are possible" ("Love"). The Car testimonial proved to be hyper-competitive within the clade of Love titled letters. The earliest example of Car [1988] (and almost all thereafter) also bears a duplication of the admonition against sending money, a feature I call "send no money," which reads:
You will receive good luck in the mail. Send no money. Send copies to people you think need good luck. Don't send money, as fate has no price.
You will receive good luck in the mail. Send copies to people you think need good luck. Send no money, as faith has no price. [1996]This does not contain the duplicated admonition "send no money." However, probably this was the result of a copying error that misplaced "send no money" two sentences forward, replacing the usual "Don't send money, . . ." This letter contains details that were also present on early Love-Car letters which did have "send no money" (> Love gets a car). Thus some ancestor of this letter almost certainly had "send no money" in the usual place, and this was later deleted. We can thus say that "send no money" is universal in the Car clade, being a pre-linked rider.
While in the Philippines, Gene Welch lost his wife 51 days after receiving the letter. [1989]Here "51 days" has replaced the older version in which the wife is lost "six days" after receiving the letter. The "51 days" variation was very likely a miscopy of the word "six" from a degenerate photocopy (I have one in which the "x" is barely visible). Our earliest version of Car bears the "six days" version [1988]. There is no example in the archive of "51 days" that is not accompanied by Car. In the entire population these features appear only in the combinations {Car, (Car)(51 days)}. So "51 days" is post-linked to Car - it was first written on a letter that already bore Car. During the exponential growth of the Love-Car letters, "51 days" proliferated as a post-linked rider, possibly contributing very little to circulation, though such assessments are difficult. If it did give Car letters a boost, say by suggesting very late compliance, this was not sufficient to eliminate the (Car)(six days) letters, which survived well into the 1990's [1996, 1997].
Example 5: In the early 1980's two titles, called "Kiss" and "Love," captured the mainline (> in Section 4.7). For about 10 years a mainline letter bore either one or the other title, so during this time these features were unlinked. However around 1993 both titles began to appear together on single letters. They now formed the combinations {Kiss, Love, (Kiss)(Love)} which implies a transfer had occurred, since deletions from (Kiss)(Love) had certainly not produced all the single titled Kiss or Love letters. The Kiss title had been transferred to a Love titled letter at least two times. [1991, 1994]. There was also one case in which both the Love title and the Car testimonial were transferred to a Kiss letter. [1997] Kiss and Love were now transfer-linked.
We use the linkage of features to argue (with inherent uncertainty) for or against assertions of the following forms.
Cladistics is
a method of classification that utilizes a "sister"
relationship between two "taxa"
(named groups of organisms), this holding when the two are more closely
related to each
other (have a more recent common ancestor) than either has to
any third taxon. For cladistic analysis, a taxon must
be a clade - an ancestor and all
its descendants (a descent group). Sister relationships
between "nested" taxa (taxa contained in taxa) are expressed by a
bifurcating diagram called a cladogram. A sample
of taxa appear at the terminal nodes of a tree, and two are connected
to a hypothetical ancestor taxon if they are deemed sisters. Often
these relationships are determined using characters
(what
I have called features)
present in some but not all of the taxa in the sample. Cladograms
are chosen which account for the distribution of characters
in the "simplest" way, a principle called parsimony.
In one approach, parsimony is defined as minimizing the
number of non-inherited appearances (transfers) plus the number of
losses (deletions) of features. Instead of using characters, pairs of
items may be compared by a numerical measure of their "relatedness,"
and from these numbers a consistent cladogram is constructed. This
later method might apply when instead of taxa we are comparing genomes.
(1) Each clone group V of C specifies one and only one node.The nodes of a tree of variations are clone groups, sets of identical replicators, generally more than one letter. There are no cycles in a variational tree because a replicator can never have served as the parent of one of its ancestors. Cladistics originally considered taxa, not individuals or clone groups. So even when the member organisms reproduce sexually, taxa are assumed to have but one parent taxon. This assumption simplifies analytic methods in calculating a parsimonious cladogram. One can consider samples of chain letters all being within a clade and each (except possibly the founder) having a unique parent. With this simplification no two arrows will point to the same node (clone group). Given any sample of chain letters within a clade C, their true cladogram can be easily constructed from the tree of variations for C by deleting nodes not in the sample and connecting each letter by an arrow from its nearest ancestor in the sample.
(2) If any member of the clone group V is the parent of a founder of clone group V' of C, an arrow connects node V to node V'.
Behavior
that Affects Circulation.
In 1966 Alan Dundes described these universal components of chain
letters: (1) a proclamation that the letter is a chain letter, (2) an
injunction to send a specific number of copies, sometimes within a
definite period of time, (3) a description of desirable consequences of
compliance with the injunction, and (4) a warning of undesirable
consequences if the injunction is ignored or disobeyed (Dundes).
Mainline luck letters contain these components, though the method of
identification may not be by proclamation.
We first identify behavior of a recipient that promotes the circulation of a chain letter, isolating these six components:
3-4
RETENTION
Identification
Differentiation
Woe
to scoffers
By retention of a received letter we mean keeping it in an undamaged state, accessible for copying. The bane of chain letters is immediate discard. If the recipient just saves the letter, as time passes it may work its will by playing on circumstances such as bad luck. The importance of first impressions for chain letters is revealed by the leading sentence in a version of the classroom Romance Game: "You touched this letter so you have to keep it!" [1998].
Identification.
Retention of a chain letter may depend on its identification as a luck
chain letter, and perhaps as a certain luck chain in which the
recipient believes. Quick recognition seems largely based on what is at
the top: titles, initial text or rarely, images. Reputed authors and
places of origin may also serve to identify a letter. A Brazilian
letter is titled "Oracao De Santo Antonio" and a capitalized prayer
follows [1994].
A 1996 English language letter originally from India has Sai Baba
devotional images at the top [text,
image].
Two translated Mexican letters have the title "St. Jude Thaddeus," one
underlined, the other in a large font [1984,
1995].
Below this title, both these letters begin with about the same
sentence:
Before anything else, I would like to tell you that St. Jude Thaddaeus will help you in everything you encounter.This attempts a "locking" on the top spot of the letter by a declaration that is difficult to top without disrespecting St. Jude. Most successful new types of chain letter debut with new titles. In the transition from one type to another, apparently the ready identification of the waning type negatively impacts its replication. Perhaps periodically recipients are more likely to read the text of a letter that appears to be a novelty, or that may not be immediately identified as a chain letter.
The final words of a text likewise have added significance for quick identification, as shown by the replicative success of certain postscripts (> It Works). Placing "St. Jude" at the far bottom of a letter, a pretense of authorship, attempts to lock the conclusion [1996]. The Book of Revelations "seals" itself with: "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book" (Rev. 22:18). Some interpret this as sealing the entire Christian canon. The apocryphal Jesus' Sabbath Letter attempts to discredit any other letter claiming to have been written by Jesus by having him say: "You shall hear no more from me except through the holy scriptures until the day of judgment." However most versions of this Himmelsbrief then conclude with this addition: "All goodness and prosperity shall be in the house where a copy of this letter is found." [1926] One astute editor observed that this was likely the words of the "glib tongued rascals who sold this rubbish ..." (1884).
If identification as a particular luck letter aids replication, then we may expect a highly adapted chain letter will have multiple identities, depending on who is reading it. Several years may have passed since the recipient received a previous chain, so only one or two highlights may be recalled. These might be leading text, alleged geographical origin, or one of the numerical specifications. New types typically retain some of these, and thus may appear as the traditional letter to some and a novelty to others. Neither recipient is wrong - in recent decades successful mainline innovations are notably conservative, most adding just one or two new features to an existing letter.
A clear advantage results if a letter is identified, rightly or wrongly, by an ethnic group as the "same" letter that circulated in the old country.
A private in the Philippine Army won the first prize in the sweepstakes for complying with this chain. [1949]
Dom Dimant, das Filipinas recebeu e nao deu importancia, mandou jogar fora, 9 dias depois morreu. [Brazil, 1994].
The question of where a chain letter originally came from usually has no single answer. Though North America has been a creative source for innovations, especially since 1935, still most of the text on contemporary mainline letters is likely from various other countries. Perhaps the question of origins has an answer if we limit it in a reasonable way. Since 1970 the high copy quota letters (20 and over) have dominated international circulation. Where and when did they first appear? The first appearance of a high copy quota in our collection is on a letter mailed from Bloomsbury, New Jersey [1959]. Its demand for 20 copies is associated with, and enforced by, another innovation that first appears on this letter, the "Death and Money" testimonial. The events in this testimonial are purported to have taken place in the Philippines.
Differentiation.
I have discussed the advantage for a letter to identify itself with
multiple traditions. It may also help circulation if a chain letter
prominently distinguishes itself from another letter. The advantage of
differentiation is very clear for post 1935 luck chain letters (for
example, the Flanders-Prosperity
type). In section 4.2 I explain how the hyper-competitive innovation
"Do not send money" avoided immediate discard by
distinguishing
the luck chains from the boom/bust money chain of the day (> Divergence).
Another innovation of these post 1935 letters was movement of
the list of names from the top to the bottom of the letter, where they
remained until disappearing in the mid 1970's. This provided a quick
visual flag that the letter in hand may not be the abundant
Send-a-Dime. Money chain letters retained the list at the top for
several years (compare 1935
to 1941).
Woe to scoffers.
We see in testimonials that if one breaks the chain
because of tardiness or unspecified reasons, misfortune may
follow, but rarely death. However, all behavior that makes subsequent
replication impossible is punished by a death.
Devices may be defined with varying comprehensiveness. The three testimonials above and the statement "For any reason, do not destroy or tear" [Mexico / U.S., 1984] might be considered together as exemplifying the single device: "Warn against destruction or loss of the letter."
If the recipient takes the letter as a joke, its promises and threats have no power, and this castrating perception may itself replicate. Possibly some previous types have succumbed to changing attitudes and derision. The pious Ancient Prayer postcard chain, which circulated from 1906 up through World War I, eventually disappeared during the irreverent and fun loving 1920's. The first three text examples below discourage disbelief. The last three discourage a more serious threat to replication - the expression of disbelief.
M. Francesco Monthey, not having taken this letter seriously, saw his home ruined nine days after having received this letter. [Translation, France, 1928]
El Presidente de Brasil las recivio y no le dio importancia y a los 13 dias se le muri su hija. [Mexican / U.S. , 1980]
One woman made fun of it and on the 13th day her daughter went blind. [U.S., postcard, 1941]
Detective Segunda B. Villa now of the City of Baguie who laughed at this Chain of good luck, met instant death in accident on June 14th, 1948. [International, 1949. Baguio is a city in the Philippines]
Don't make fun or laugh at this because something bad might happen to you or your family. [Philippine / U.S., 1984].
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3-5 COMPLIANCE
Motives
Origin
of Testimonials Classification
of Testimonials
In this section I presume one has received a luck chain letter and retained it, but has yet to comply with its demands for replication. By compliance I mean that the recipient effectively distributes at least one copy of the letter (perhaps the copy received) within a month of receipt - thus contributing to its circulation. If the entire copy quota is distributed as instructed within the deadline we have full compliance. But partial compliance may be very common. In the previous section on retention I examined features of a letter that affect a recipient's immediate response to it. Here the focus is on how chain letter content may influence the recipient's deliberations on whether to comply, particularly on his or her interpretation of ensuing circumstances.
Motives.
The Letters
from Heaven motivated possession and publication by the
promise of divine blessing or magical protection from various perils,
combined with threats of divine punishment for disobedience or
disbelief. These were identifiably Christian in Europe and Hindu in
India. After 1900 divine sanctions were downplayed, and by 1922 the
mainline had only nonsectarian promises of good and bad luck.
Below are listed motives for replicating luck chain letters. These are based on statements of those who send chain letters, chain letter content, and known motives for sending certain postcards.
Some testimonials probably start as hoaxes (> "Car" below); but I suspect most started as rumors that are subsequently incorporated into the body of a chain letter. Say a chain letter has spread through a town, so much so that most people have received it. This can happen without anyone realizing it, as initially with Send-a-Dime in Denver, until Post Office officials noticed increased mail volume. In such a situation, most people have either broken the chain or complied with it. Now say John Doe is hit by a train and killed. There is a good chance he broke the chain. Suppose the letter is found among John's papers. It may then be said that "He broke the chain and was hit by a train a week later," and this may become a local rumor. The rumor may travel with the chain letter, orally or by telephone, each promoting the replication of the other. In this phase the more effective versions of the oral rumor will be favored. However, the advantage of distant transmittal applies if the rumor is written. First it may be on an attached letter. Next it may be a postscripted note below the chain letter, and finally it could be incorporated into the body of the letter. This could have been the origin of: "one person who failed to pay attention to it met with a dreadful accident" in a 1906 Ancient Prayer letter. Good luck testimonials likely spread in the same way - again, that a lottery winner also complied to a chain letter is not as improbable as it may seem.
Further, events that are not at all remarkable may be perceived by the public as prophesy fulfilled. The familiar "Unbeliever's Death" testimonial (> Woe to Scoffers) states that a person died exactly nine days after discarding the letter in disbelief. A simple estimate reveals that this is certainly true, in fact, it could have happened around 36,000 times just in English speaking countries in the last 25 years. Using the above approximations, a typical person received about 10 DL type luck chain letters in the last 25 years (4 per decade). Let us estimate, conservatively, that 6 of those receipts were discarded in disbelief. Assuming a quarter billion English speaking adults, this gives 6 x 2.5 x 108 = 1.5 x 109 disbelieving discards for the last 25 years. According to The World Almanac and Book of Facts, the U.S. death rate per 100,000 population in year 1999 was 877. This gives the probability that a person will die on a random day as .00877 / 365 = .000024. Multiplying this by the number of times a person discarded a luck chain letter in disbelief gives 36,000 estimated deaths on the ninth day following!
Once a testimonial is established on a luck chain letter, details may vary considerably over the years, such as names and amounts of money won or lost. But the basic structure of the story is surprisingly persistent, suggesting that traditional testimonials play a major role in winning compliance.
Classification of Testimonials.
To analyze how testimonials promote replication, I classify them by the
following five structures: Win, Comply-Win, Lose, Win-Lose, and
Lose-Win.
(1) Win:
person X received the letter and had good luck.
Example: General Patton received $1,600 after receiving it. [1952]
The Win testimonials are consistent with a belief that luck chain
letters are a "charm" whose mere receipt brings luck, much as
possession of a Letter from Heaven might grant a woman an easy
delivery. They suggest a recipient interpret good luck as caused by the
letter, creating an obligation to pass the charm on to others. A Win
testimonial may thus recruit a previous nonbeliever who has good luck.
Alternatively, readers may assume that a Win testimonial is about
someone who previously complied with the letter's demands, as in our
next structure.
(2) Comply-Win:
X distributed the quota of copies within the deadline and received good
luck.
Example: Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for the third
term as president of the United States 52 hours
after he mailed this letter. [1949]
Comply-Win testimonials promote the belief that dutiful replication of
a chain letter will bring good luck. This particularly appeals to those
who hope for gain from some forthcoming event, such as a lottery
drawing.
(3) Lose: X
failed to circulate the letter and after the deadline passed had bad
luck.
Example: Mr. Nevin broke the chain and lost everything he
had. [1939]
Lose testimonials promote the belief that only replication of the
received letter can save one from bad luck. They particularly exploit
those who feel that this is not a time they can risk bad luck. This
insecurity could be due to a life threatening illness in the family, a
job interview or a son in the military during war.
(4) Win-Lose:
X received the letter and had good luck. But X failed to circulate the
letter and lost what was gained, or much more.
Example: Dr. F. A. Anderson won $25,000 but lost
it because he broke the chain. [1944]
A Win-Lose story promotes the belief that receipt of the letter brings
good luck, but in return one must circulate the letter or lose what
they received, or much more. It reports two
connected events that imply the letter is a causal agent, in contrast
to Win and Lose testimonials that can much easier be dismissed as
coincidences. Win-Lose is persuasive with those who perceive themselves
to have received good luck but have yet to comply. Such good luck could
be escaping injury, recovering from sickness, success in an examination
or winning a bet (Renard,
1987).
(5) Lose-Win:
X received the letter and procrastinated or forgot to comply within the
deadline. X had bad luck. X belatedly distributed the quota and
received good luck.
Example: Mr. ASC received this letter. He forgot
to post. A few days later he lost his job. After that he
understood the significance of this letter and he sent 30 copies. He
found a new job within 3 days. [India/UK, 1996]
The Lose-Win device encourages the belief that failure to comply causes
bad luck, but this can be reversed, even after the deadline, if one
complies in full to the copy quota. Like Win-Lose,
the reversal of fortune points doubly to
the letter as a cause. Lose-Win preys on those who perceive
that they have had bad luck since failing to meet the deadline.
Such bad luck could be an accident, loss of a bet or sale, illness,
car trouble or not being hired.
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3-6
Mainline Testimonials
Early
Versions Officer
Wins Elliot
Wins and Loses Death
and Money Boss
Wins Lottery
Lost
Job - Better Job The
Unbeliever's Death Car
Early Versions.
On an early Ancient Prayer chain letter we read that "one
person who failed to pay attention to it met with a dreadful accident" [1906].
This is the only testimonial, win or lose, that I have collected on the
Ancient
Prayer type or the following Good
Luck letters of the 1920's. Testimonials reappeared in North
America during the Great Depression with brief accounts of gain
and loss of money. The Prosperity
letters usually have three, with the pattern Win / Win / Lose. Most
versions of the World War II Luck
of London type [1944]
introduces the familiar pattern Win / Win-Lose, possibly having
combined the last two testimonials from the Prosperity type. From our
earliest Luck
by Mail type:
"Gen Patton received $1,600 after receiving it. Gen Allen received $1,600 and lost it because he broke the chain" [1952].Of course Patton is the famous World War II tank commander, but "Allen" may be a corruption. Patton was soon transposed to the loser's position [1958], but was spared further indignity when his name was corrupted to Bratton [1960] and never restored.
Officer
Wins. Elliot wins and loses.
With the remarkable Bloomsbury letter of 1959, our early example of the
Death20 type, we get the canonical versions of these two testimonials.
Likely by some unknown path of corruption, the chain breaker "Gen
Allen" has been transformed to the civilian "Don Elliot".
"A U.S. officer received $7,000.00. Don Elliott received $60,000.00 but lost it because he broke the chain." [1959]Note that someone has given up on the name of the winning officer. He will eventually join the "RAF" (Royal Air Force), but apart from the expected noise of copying names and numbers, these leading Win and Win-Lose testimonials have persisted for decades.
Death and Money.
This Win-Lose testimonial first appeared in North America on the
Death20 founder around 1959 and was associated with
inflation of the copy quota from five to twenty copies. It was
the first implied death threat in the mainline.
The variant "wife" (for "life") first appeared around 1975, possibly as a corruption, though it is curious that this 1975 letter had a list of names of 17 couples. It was present on the Kiss-Love founders in the early 1980's and thus became universal. We have no examples of corruption or correction back to "life." Whether "wife" was simply a rider on the successful new titles, or instead carried some replicative advantage over "life," is a difficult question whose answer could be revealing. The "wife" version of Death and Money has been translated and transferred to a Spanish chain letter.
Win-Lose testimonials like Death and Money exploit those who perceive themselves to have received good luck since receipt of the letter. If a gambler wins big at the track after receiving the letter, he may comply to avoid being jinxed his next time out.
We now consider the three traditional testimonials that first appeared in the Lottery24 (L) block of the "DL" and "LD" compound letters of the 1970's. Like the Death and Money testimonial, we have no prior history of these invaders.
Boss Wins Lottery.
This Comply-Win testimonial provided the first mention of a lottery in
an English language letter.
Constantine Diso received the chain in 1953. He asked his secretary to make 24 copies and send them. A few days later, he won the lottery of 2 million dollars in his country. [1974]Many state sponsored lotteries began in the United States in the 1970's, the same decade in which Lottery24 became an established chain letter (in combination with Death20). In 1975 twelve states (all Eastern) had lotteries, three of them starting that year (US News). Canada already had the Quebec lottery. But in Latin America publicly sponsored lotteries had existed continuously since Spanish colonial times. Thus Boss Wins Lottery was "pre-adapted" to the new gambling environment in the United States. Gamblers are notoriously superstitious, lottery players included. A recent edition of Books in Print, under the subject "lottery," listed about 50 books on how to pick lottery numbers, none of them of any more utility than complying with a luck chain letter. The time gap between purchase of a lottery ticket and the drawing favors the replication of chain letters received during this time. A larger and less geographically biased sample of chain letters than we now possess could be used to test if luck chain letters circulated in larger numbers in lottery states.
The above phrase "in his country," apparently an early North American addition, disappeared in the 1980's, thus allowing the recipient to believe the lottery was won in his own region. However this deletion was first present with some potent innovations (It Works, Kiss, Love) and hence prevailed in part, if not entirely, as a rider. Other changes have been minor, including the more usual "Diaz" for "Diso" and the syncretization to 20 copies.
The so called "sweepstakes" promotions likely also increase chain letter circulation. These are sponsored by American Family Publishers, Publishers Clearance House and other firms. Tens of millions participate in these, hoping to win a fortune. Promotion is by television advertising in conjunction with a direct mail campaign of incredible magnitude - almost all adults in the U.S. get this pitch (1998). Recipients are led to believe that they have already won a huge prize, and that they only need send in an application to receive it. For example, I received a letter from American Family Publishers that displayed through a cellophane window a formal looking document decorated with eagles on each side. It proclaimed:
In addition to its appeal to gamblers, Boss Wins Lottery makes compliance easy for some by suggesting they have a secretary prepare and distribute copies. And it assures them that the good luck still belongs to the boss. This testimonial, and the next one I discuss, show that Lottery24 was well adapted to an office environment.
Lost
Job - Better Job.
The following Lose-Win testimonial appears after Boss Wins Lottery on
Lottery24.
From the above scenario, we see that Boss Wins Lottery and Lost Job - Better Job function together in dealing with an office environment. The concerns of both supervisors and subordinates are dealt with by example. Just as quota 20 first appeared in the U.S. in association with Death and Money, perhaps copy quota 24 first developed in Latin America in association with these complementary office testimonials.
The
Unbeliever's Death.
After the Lost Job - Better Job story we usually find the following
"Lose" testimonial:
Car.
The following Lose-Win testimonial first appeared around 1988 on DL
letters with the Love title. Thus it is not a traditional part of the
Lottery24 block, but is usually formatted continuous with it.
In 1967 the letter was received by a young woman in California; it was faded and barely legible. She put it aside to do later. She was plagued with various problems, including expensive car repairs. The letter had not left her hands within 96 hours. She finally typed the letter and, as promised, got a new car. [1988]Here "1987" ( instead of "1967") is the usual reading, and may well be the year of the first appearance of this testimonial. Within a year, all DL letters titled "With Love . . . " bore this testimonial. However the Kiss clade continued without it. Variations of the testimonial are incidental, arising mainly from botching the compound sentences. Car has appeared on over a half a billion letters since its debut.
I have mentioned the image degeneration that results from successive photocopying. In my experiments, after 15 generations (all with the same photocopier) there was significant loss of legibility. However, more recently, packets of forwarding letters with the Media chain letter are often legible after 25 or more generations (different photocopiers). In any case, contemporary chain letters are creatures of photocopying, and they must be retyped from time to time. This testimonial is the only one we have seen that explicitly encourages retyping. Evidence that it succeeds in this is present on a DL letter from 1995, which adds to the Car testimonial: "I have retyped it again today in 1995." Another letter gives 20 alleged retype dates, including ten just in the year 1992 [1995]. Presumably, the propagative success of Car is due to this more frequent retyping. Similar letters without it would more often become partially illegible, and therefore more likely to be discarded, or to be retyped with fatal mutations. With a larger sample I could test this by comparing image quality of Love titled letters with and without Car. Our present sample is inconclusive on this.
Though less appealing theoretically, the most effective feature of this testimonial may be its use of the automobile. If someone holds the letter past the deadline, there is a fair chance they too may be "plagued with various problems, including expensive car repairs." Car repairs often occur unexpectedly, always seemingly at the worst time, thus evoking the specter of bad luck. Like any Lose-Win testimonial, Car implies that no matter how late you may be, compliance will turn bad luck to good. By using car trouble as its example of bad luck, this testimonial may be particularly effective in activating late compliance.
Further, for many the desire for a new car is greater than their respect for reason. Suppose John Doe plays the lottery. Then likely he has already given careful consideration to which vehicles he will purchase after winning. The Car testimonial, in its original form, is clever in not specifying how the young woman gets a new car. She may win it, or win the money to buy it, or perhaps receive it as a gift from a man she is to meet. Thus this testimonial may activate compliance by interacting with the fantasies of lottery players and others.
Notes that one has retyped a chain letter occasionally appear as postscripts. This appears on a Brill parody letter:
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3-7 EFFECTIVE COPYING
Faithful
copying Send
out the Clones Self-correcting
text Copy
quotas Copy
First versus Copy Later
Faithful copying.
Successful replication of a chain letter requires copies be legible,
accurate and complete. I examined in the last section how the Car
testimonial suggests retyping, and thus upgrades the legibility of a
photocopied chain that contains this testimonial. The following
instructions also promote faithful copying of
text.
P = 20 + 20r1 + 20r2 + . . . + 20r13 = 20[r14- 1] / [r-1]where r is the weekly rate of growth. I have used a familiar formula to sum the powers of r. For the hyper-competitive r = 1.2 this gives P = 1,184 total letters. These constitute a clone group with founder the initial letter containing the innovation. Of course some early photocopies may have misalignment deletions, or someone may retype long before the thirteen generation. These events will lower the number of clones. But most photocopies are perfectly legible after 15 or more generations, and a retype may be a clone (this then producing hundreds of more clones). So a rough approximation of a thousand clones seems reasonable. If we lower the weekly rate of growth to r = 1.1 we still estimate 560 clones.
Names and numbers are usually highly variable on chain letters because if partly illegible there is no context for the copier to infer the correct form. But as they vary they may at some time assume a form that allows the whole to be reconstructed from a part. I call such text self-correcting. Consider:
Names may also be self-correcting, as by widespread familiarity.
Mr. Owen, from Sordt (Victoria), won the first prize of the Michigan lottery, 1,200,000 ... [Switzerland, 1928, translated French]Here the word "Victoria" is internationally well known, and likely to be recognized even if sloppy handwriting makes a few of its letters illegible. Copying errors have severely altered the first names of the lottery winner - rather amusingly when comparing the second example above to the third. Yet amid this corruption the name "Victoria" survives untouched, except for the last example where the "F" for "V" looks like a typing error, possibly even by the Berkeley Daily Gazette which published the chain letter.
Mr. DeAlverdyde Cuiba de Victoria, six days after, did obtain the first prize of 26,000 pesetas at Michaelbaum. [Indiana, 1930]
Mr. Deasespyde Gubiaco Victoria, eight day he did obtain the first prize in the National Lottery [Pennsylvania, 1930]
Mrs. Barnes of Victoria won the big prize in lottery of 20,000 golden liras on the ninth day. [Florida, 1931]
Mr. Haress of Victoria on the ninth day won the big prize of 200,000 lire. [New York, 1933]
Mr. Brown of Fictoria won $250 on the ninth day. [California, 1934]
Below is a list of variations on the name of the victim in the Unbeliever's Death testimonial.
Zarin Berrachille [1973],
Zerin Berreskilli, Zarin Rurreasville
Zorin Barrachilli, Zerij , Berreskilli Caren Wichile, Zerim Berreball
Zarin Borracbilt [1975],
Brian Barbialle, Brian Barabiaila
Dalin Nairchild [1979],
Colin Holschild, Darinn Meirchild,
Dalan Fairchild (Kiss-Love
founder) [1983],
Darin Hairchild, Dolon Fairchild
I pause here to note that the family name "Fairchild" is self-correcting since it is a compound of two familiar English words and a familiar name. Fairchild predominated from 1983 onward. I designate it by "F" below, and continue with the tortuous transformations of the first name, which never settled.
Dalon F, Delan F, Sobon
F, Dalah F, Dallan F, Davan F, Galan Pairchild
Bolan F, Blaine F, Olean Lauchild, Dales F, Dallas F, Galan Paircheild
Dian F, Dilan F, Daln F, Darlene F, David F, Delri F, Mr. Fairchild
Deian F, Delea F, Dala F, Karen F, Nolan Foarohald,
Darron F, Mellisa Horton [1994]
Carl Daddit (name from the prior testimonial, which
was deleted), Colan Fatchild [France, 1997]
Brian Fairchild [2003]
Despite the great initial variation in the family name, and continuing variation of the first name, clearly almost all copiers are trying to get it right. Some are probably working with a highly degenerate photocopy. Perhaps "Fairchild" has more going for it than just self-correction. It is an innocent and virtuous sounding name, yet this seeming virtue offers no protection if one destroys the letter. On a translated Mexican letter: "Isabel Buena lost her copy and lost her life" [1984]. Again the family name is a word in Spanish, and a virtuous one (Buena = good). Such a tactic may boost circulation slightly, but recall that chain letter evolution is characterized by the rise of new variations that eliminate their cousins and establish their incidental features on every letter. If the founder of the Kiss & Love titles [1983] had read "Zarin Rurreasville" instead of something close to "Dalan Fairchild," Zarin would have been everywhere until obliterated by copy errors. And if "Rurreasville" had ever stumbled on a self-correcting form, it would not have been "Fairchild." Self-correcting text does not increase circulation, it only preserves itself from corruption. Its only chance for predominance is to ride a successful innovation, self-correction preserving it where an unfamiliar name would soon disappear in the copying noise. This is how "Fairchild" became near universal - by riding the hyper-competitive Kiss-Love founder and, like a rainbow in a waterfall, transcending chaotic disruption.
The name "Elliot" (as in the Elliot Wins and Loses testimonial) also appears to be self-correcting. This may be due to the scarcity of common surnames that begin with the letters "Ell." Also it seems some letters remain more legible in late generation photocopies than others; upper case "E" for example.
Self-correction applies to most of the text of a chain letter, since there is inherent redundancy in language. Some words and phrases are often corrupted, others rarely. Spoken replicators transform to a more memorable form; written replicators to a more self-correcting form. However, it is difficult to formulate general principles to assess the self-correcting power of any given text. I will rarely make use of self-correction, instead focusing on text whose meaning increases circulation. If there were any analagous phenomenon in biological evolution to "self-correcting text" it would be that certain genes are chemically more durable, more immune from mutation, than others. This seems unlikely.
Copy quotas.
All known luck chain letters specify a fixed number
of copies that the recipient is directed to produce.
This prayer was sent by Bishop Lawrence, recommending it to be rewritten and sent to nine other persons. [1906]In rough chronological order, we have examples (from various countries) with copy quota: 5,7, 9, 8, 5, 4, 13, 12, 20, 24, 30, 25, 29, and 28. The higher the copy quota, the higher will be the percentage of recipients who immediately discard the letter or who simply pass on the original. But full compliance with a high quota may more than make up for this. Thus for new types, probably the copy quota has adjusted so total circulation is near a maximum. However with time the copy quota becomes a known tradition for the type which rarely changes unless other key changes are also made.
Send this one and 4 others. [U.S., 1929]
Make 12 copies and mail it to your friends. [International, 1949]
Voce deve fazer 24 copias . . . [Brazil, 1994]
Photocopiez la ou copiez en 28 fois. [France, 1995]
Do luck chain letters threaten punishment if you distribute fewer copies than the quota? I have yet to find an example. Often the only implied threat is for "breaking the chain," which could be interpreted as requiring only that one pass on the received letter to avoid bad luck. Partial compliance to the copy quota may account for many distributions. Thus it would probably reduce circulation for a chain letter to explicitly threaten this behavior, since then some may reject the letter entirely as too demanding. Yet it is essential to get recipients to produce the full quota of copies as often as possible. This dilemma has resulted in the survival of chain letters that are ambiguous on this issue. You are told "you must make twenty copies." And after his secretary made twenty copies and sent them out, Constantine Dias won a lottery. But in the same letter, bad luck comes only to those who distribute no copies at all, as in Death and Money where life is lost after one "failed to circulate the letter." An explicit statement of this option appears on a Russian chain letter [Homily, 1990], where just passing it on is considered a "neutral" act.
Copy First versus Copy Later.
So by just passing on the original letter, perhaps one may avoid bad
luck. How many copies must one distribute to get good luck? Again chain
letters are ambiguous; by one reading you need not distribute a single
copy! The contemporary mainline letter is a compound of two differing
folk beliefs or susceptibilities: Copy First views
the work of replication as bringing subsequent good luck, Copy
Later sees the letter as a charm whose mere receipt brings
luck.
COPY FIRST text requires one first distribute copies of the letter before receiving good luck, as if in compensation. "You must make twenty copies . . . and after a few days you will get a surprise." One cannot refuse to send copies just because no luck is received: "For no reason whatsoever should this chain be broken!" However, ambiguously, bad luck may be reversed by late compliance to the letter's demands, as in Lost Job - Better Job.
The Copy First orientation places the recipient subordinate to Fate. Hope for good luck and fear of bad luck are about the only motives for replication. Copy First testimonials are of the Lose, Comply-Win, and Lose-Win structure. Much of the text of Lottery24 is Copy First.
The Copy First structure also appears on other social replicators. Devotional messages have been placed in the classified advertisements of U.S. newspapers for many years. Here is an example (my italics) from the "Religious Announcements" category of The Los Angeles Times (Nov. 25, 1991):
In the Copy Later orientation, one is almost bargaining as an equal with Fate. If no good luck is received in the stated interval, the charm has failed, and perhaps no copies need be distributed. If luck is delivered, the motives for replication now include gratitude and benevolent transmission of the charm to another. Hope and fear are less active, though not absent. The great taboo is to receive luck but then neglect your side of the bargain and fail to distribute the letter. You may lose what you received: "Don Elliot received $60,000 but lost it because he broke the chain" - or you may lose much more " . . . before his death, he received $775,000 which he had won." Copy Later testimonials are of the Win and Win-Lose type. The notion of simply passing on the original letter to avoid misfortune is associated with the Copy Later belief (as expressed by Boris Pasternak in 1959, see also lr1990). The chain is a chain of benevolence, not of fear. Equity is maintained by granting it to one more person. In the Death and Money testimonial a life is lost after General Walsh "failed to circulate the prayer (letter)." But this is not punishment solely for not complying, rather it is for not complying after receiving a large sum of money. Thus the letter grants luck by mere receipt, but exacts a dreadful toll from ingrates who do not then pass it on. This view of chain letter magic is outside the mindset of some revisers. Two letters collected by folklorist Paul Smith modify Death and Money to read: "Before her death he received $7,775.00 after circulating it just prior" [England, 1992]. This attempts to cast the events in a Copy First frame, but implies the wife died despite prior circulation of the letter. A North American revision fails in the same way [1991].
Other social replicators display the Copy Later structure. The following example (my italics) was published in The Los Angeles Times classifieds (Feb. 7, 1990):
Copy First and Copy Later may not be folk beliefs, but rather susceptibilities to one or the other side in a branching that naturally develops when supernatural promises compete for replication. A currency chain is a short message on paper money that encourages the reader to copy it on other bills (Olbrys). These varied replicators have appeared on U.S. bills for several years. Here are two examples:
Anyone that receives this bill will be blessed with lots of money. Then write this on ten other bills. (U.S., $10 bill, June 1998)
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3-8 Effective Distribution
Targeted
distribution Deadlines
The manner in which chain letters are distributed may significantly affect circulation, but chain letters have little to say about it. Mainline letters have always just said to "send" the copies. In practice they are sent by mail, placed in work mail slots or left where they will be found, such as on car windshields or desks. In Brazil they may be left in elevators and on doorsteps. When a choice of recipients can be made, the persons selected obviously will affect the number of second generation copies produced. Chain letters have evolved instructions for this choice that probably work better than anything a mere mortal could devise.
Targeted
distribution.
By targeted distribution I mean any preference or
exclusion in the selection of recipients. Chain letters usually have
something to say about targeting. The most common recommendation is "send
these to your friends" [1902].
This may seem of little help to circulation, but note that at the least
it discourages sending to a celebrity - an almost sure waste
of a copy. The next major innovation in mainline letters appears on
Good Luck: "Copy this out and send to nine people whom you
wish good luck" [1922].
Though this opens the door to celebrity distributions, it may
also target people who need good luck. During the Great Depression "whom
you wish good luck" was changed to
"whom you wish prosperity to" [1933].
During the perils of World War II "prosperity" changed
back to "luck" [1944].
With the Death20 letter this was improved to read ". . . to
friends you think need good luck" [1959].
With this targeting the chain letter will seek out those in a desperate
situation and who are thus more vulnerable to its promises and threats.
But some recipients may give up on the letter if they have fewer
than twenty friends. On the It Works innovation of 1979 "friends"
has changed to "people," giving the
current and stable reading "Send copies to people you think
need luck" [1997].
The Lottery block originally stated: " . . . send it to your friends, parents or acquaintances." With new titles in 1983, "parents" was deleted, and "friends and associates" now appears (> Section 4-6). The classroom Romance Game addresses girls, so "Send this to 7 people, no boys" [1998]. There is, however, an Internet version that is genderless [e1995]. The same letter also specified "You can't send it to the original person" meaning the sender. Others chains specify the copies are to be sent to "diferentes personas" [1980]. When a list of prior senders is present this by itself aids in effective targeting since one may avoid sending a copy to any of these people. This may be explicitly instructed: "Important: Do not address your letter to persons already on the list" [International, 1949].
I should emphasize again that evidence from the dated collection shows that chain letters do NOT evolve by a series of small (secondary) improvements. Instead, a killer variation comes along every few years, swamps all its rivals, and universal details are set by what was linked to it. But small improvements can still accumulate for reasons previously discussed (< in Section 3-3).
All the above targeting instructions likely increase circulation over no suggestion at all. However, the following, which appeared on a luck chain letter, seems counter-replicative: "Limited to Masons" [1954]. A similar restriction arose in the course of the Springfield, Missouri pyramid craze (1935), and during World War I the Ancient Prayer split into specialized versions that circulated within various fraternal organizations (NYT, 1917). The Send-a-Dime craze manifested letters that were restricted to people with last name "Smith," another for "Johnson" (DP, 1935). This "over-specialization" phenomenon probably arises when there is a chain letter boom and a recipient has many versions to choose from. One which then makes a personalized appeal may be chosen over others. But this is a recipe for extinction since targeted groups will be the first to overdose on the letter. The last three examples of over-specialization were definitely during chain letter booms; perhaps "Limited to Masons" is evidence that there was a luck chain boom around 1954, soon after the innovations of the Luck by Mail type appeared.
In Section 2.2 I listed Circumnavigation as a near universal feature on luck chain letters and later gave three examples. Here are some more.
This prayer was sent to me and must be sent all over the world. [1912]What replicative advantage does this "Circumnavigation" device bestow? Is it merely a tradition whose only advantage to propagation may be that it gives the letter an appearance of respectable longevity? This does not explain the success of the early forms of Circumnavigation, beginning around 1910, though it may have some validity in recent decades. I propose that these statements influence targeting, resulting in more copies being sent to distant places. Chain letter versions that bore this device were less likely to die off in an immunized local population. They were more likely to take hold in foreign countries. This device is comparable to the hooks and parachutes present on some seeds. Awareness of this need for dispersion appears on two composed advocacy chain letters from the beginning of the 20th century.
The chain was started by an American Officer and should go three times around the world. [1922]
Prayer of Safety must go all over the world by card. [Postcard, 1941]
It has been around the world four times. [1944]
Since this chain must make a tour of the world, . . . [Lottery24 block, 1974]
This was sent by a priest from Columbia around the world . . .
This started in Malabon and spread throughout the world. [Mexico / Philippines / U.S., 1984]
Cette chaine a fait 7 fois le tour de la terre. [France, 1995]
I furthermore pledge myself to make at least two copies of this letter, and mail one copy to some sister in the State in which I reside and the other copy to some sister in some other State. [Aug. 1900]The 1905 letter had been circulating for around four years, and according to a number present, had gone through 209 generations! An early version does not have the dispersion request [Dec. 1901].
It would be advisable to send one to a nearby friend and the others to friends as far away as possible, in order to send the plan broadcast. [Oct. 1905]
Deadlines.
Chain letter events in the 20th century reveal that
for propagative success it is not enough merely to reproduce in
quantity - it must also be done quickly. Repeatedly a new variation
will flood potential senders, thus starving out competing variations
for the attention, energy and respect needed
for compliance.
The following four quotes reveal the development of deadlines on American chain letters.
(1) "If you will help, please make two copies of this letter and soon as possible ..." [1888]
(2) ". . . he who will write it for nine days, commencing the day received, . . ., and sending one each day . . ." [1908]
(3) Do it within twenty-four hours and count nine days and you will have some great good fortune. [1922]
(4) Copy this and send it within 24 hours to four persons you wish good luck. [1927]
Example (1) is from an early charity letter that solicited a dollar to help the campaign of Benjamin Harrison for President of the United States. It expresses a need for haste, but the history of chain letters reveals that specificity works best, whether it is in requesting multiple copies or rapid execution. No charity letters in the archive state a deadline. In (2), the Ancient Prayer method of a copy a day is prescribed. Most examples of this prolific type ask that this be done for nine days, as in a Roman Catholic Novena devotion. An implicit deadline is set by asking that this copying commence on the day the letter is received. On (3), a Good Luck chain letter, we find a pure deadline of 24 hours to complete nine copies. The nine day period is retained by asking it be counted out in expectation of some benefit. This could suggest to Catholic readers that the letter is still in the domain of a Novena. In example (4), from a Flanders luck chain letter, all trace of a daily duty is abandoned.
Can one still receive good luck, or escape bad luck, by distributing copies after the deadline? The answer is a clear "maybe." Considering first the "Copy Later" Death20 block, the only explicit deadline statement is "Do not keep this letter. It must leave your hands within 96 hours." As noted above, this seems like you only need to pass on the original. And there is no mention of someone suffering misfortune on the fourth day after receipt. Examining the "Copy First" Lottery24 block, there is no explicit deadline statement. Nine days seems to be the implied deadline, judging from Lost Job - Better Job and the promise of a "surprise" in nine days. Thus again, it appears ambiguity is the optimal policy. The letter needs to encourage promptness and does so with a deadline and accounts of bad luck for tardiness: at the same time it needs to encourage late compliance and does this with a Lose-Win testimonial.
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Typical Send-a-Dime money chain letter, this mailed May 8,
1935 in Beaumont, Texas. Archive item 1935.
4-1 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY CHAIN
LETTERS (1922 - 1935)
[Photo purchased on eBay. Attached text reads: "Springfield, MO. - It was a Pot of Gold for some while it lasted. Scene is in a garage in Springfield, during the height of a "get rich quick" spree where speculators bought letters for $5.00 each and sold two copies for $5.00 each, keeping one five. This craze soon failed for lack of buyers but the gains to some of the participants attracted nation-wide attention while it lasted. Those who made sure money were the notary publics, who charged from ten cents to fifty cents per letter to notarize them. Note at right center of table man with money in hand and notary public with stamp." Further text is torn away. Scheme may be described wrong on this note - probably it was the Springfield type as described above.]
Money chain letters have greatly diversified since 1935 and many billions have been mailed worldwide. I have collected examples from England that are derived from the American Send-a-Dime letter. These ask for a sixpence, bear a list of five names and addresses instead of six, and reassure the reader that there is "no further assessment or catch" to the procedure [1935e1, 1935e2]. A 1988 study describes contemporary letters and attitudes of the "players" (Boles & Myers). Money chain letters have also invaded the Internet in great numbers [2001].
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4-2 DIVERGENCE OF LUCK AND
MONEY CHAINS (1935 - 1939)
Send-a-Dime
crash Identity
crisis Identification
by command A
Demon appears
Send-a-Dime crash.
The Send-a-Dime chain letter craze of 1935 peaked in the weeks after it
received its first newspaper coverage (April 19 in Denver, April 21 in
New York). Denver restaurant owner A. McVittie received 2,363 copies in
two days (April
27). However, by May 28 the New York Times
was reporting "Chain-letter fad on wane." Hopes to make money using
Send-a-Dime quickly
collapsed and the letters became a public nuisance. Parodies
circulated that mocked the process and expressed intimidating
hostility to senders [1935].
Despite the subsequent long term survival of money chain letters,
surely there came a time in the mid 1930's when chain letters were
quickly discarded with little examination.
Identity crisis.
While money chain letters were being contemptuously
discarded by the millions, what was happening to the prevailing
Prosperity luck chain letters? Many must have suffered the same
fate since they looked so much like Send-a-Dime. After all, Send-a-Dime
was modeled on one of them, with the leading list of six names.
Here is a challenge for you: for a luck chain letter to survive
then, how could it convincingly distinguish itself from the reviled and
illegal Send-a-Dime money chain letters?
Identification by command.
You may suggest a prominent disclaimer. But money chain letters often
claim that they are not a chain letter [1978].
Probably from thousands of variations there appeared "Do not
send money" on a 1939
Flanders-Prosperity type letter. In 1952 an observant reporter, writing
about Send-a-Dime, noted that almost all luck chain letters had this
sentence (Nelson),
as all do now. It mattered little, for replication, whether a recipient
sent money or not. The replicative power of "Do not send
money"
resided in its distinguishing the letter it was on from a
money
chain. What other sentence could so decisively inform a reader
that the letter in hand did not ask for money? This use of a command
for identification is a striking example of the
creativity
of the folk process. The contents of a traditional chain letter
are not understood by their literal meaning, but by their affect
on circulation.
Once "Do not send money" predominated on luck chain letters, they could not nourish hope of bringing in money by some rational means. And the author of Send-a-Dime, the fabulous Jane Doe, had removed all mention of good luck or bad luck, and removed all testimonials. Thus luck chain letters and money chain letters parted ways, and since this splitting of the motivational stream they have radically diverged. Testimonials would re-appear on money chain letters, but instead of third person tales of good and bad luck we now see first person fictions of riches gained. No luck is involved in these stories - getting rich allegedly follows by cause and effect if you obey the instructions.
A Demon Appears.
A discovery in 2003 reveals that there was an early
experiment (1936?) in asking for money and
threatening
bad luck for noncompliance. The following "actual letter found
among some mementos" appeared in the March 1977 issue of the nostalgia
magazine Good Old Days (Esther
Norman, 1977). The initial list of five names and addresses
was not published.
THE GOOD LUCK CHAINThis is a fairly typical Send-a-Dime letter except that a good luck paragraph and a bad luck paragraph have been added (in italics above). The good luck paragraph may be an edited version of testimonials circulating at the time on a Prosperity type letter [compare to 1933]. The bad luck paragraph appears to be a composed list designed to frighten a representative variety of downline recipients into sending a dime. None of these testimonials mention a name, nor do they bear the win-lose or lose-win structure of the more memorable testimonials that first appeared during the 1940's and 50's. An undated money chain letter also received by Esther Norman [1935u] contains some similar rewrites as above. All the Send-a-Dime physical copies I have collected, over 34, were mailed between May 5, 1935 and the close of that year. None of these have any threats or negative testimonials, nor have I found any other published example, so far. This demonstrates that the Send-a-Dime letter, at least in its beginning, abandoned the appeal to good and bad luck. But it should not be too surprising that eventually money chain letters appeared, by design or by naive hybridization, that threatened bad luck for breaking the chain. There is a newspaper account from 1937 that claimed "dime chain letters ... often gave nasty warnings of disaster to anyone who might contemplate breaking the chain" (Pittsburgh).Dear Friend:
This chain was started in the hope of bringing good luck to you. WITHIN THREE DAYS, make five (5) copies of this letter, leaving off the top name and address and add your name and address at the bottom of the list. Remember, faith, hope and charity!
Mail or give these five copies to five of your friends or relatives to whom you wish good luck and prosperity to come. Be careful to choose friends who are reliable and dependable and who will be certain to keep the chain unbroken.
An Army officer received $5,000 from sending out the letters. A housewife received $3,000 and a high school student received $1,000, so you can see that it pays off.
Send 10c to the top name on the list, the one that you omitted. Wrap it carefully in paper, put it in an envelope, enclosing nothing else, as a charity donation. In turn, as your name reaches the top, you will begin receiving hundreds of dimes.
Beware! If you break the chain you will have bad luck. One woman was in a car accident when she broke the chain. Another woman was sued for divorce. A man lost his job. A high school student failed to pass in three subjects. Bad luck will follow you if you break the chain!
Send your five letters today! Pick good friends you can trust! The dimes will begin arriving if you do. [1936uu]
But could such a chain letter long survive, and if so, what might it evolve toward? Surely the most malignant combination of the many motivations for complying with a chain letter is the joining of money with fear. A grim evolutionary potential of a such a letter is extortion, real or simulated. An internet informant told me (1996) that a hundred quota money chain letter existed in India that, as they recalled, contained bad luck warnings against breaking the chain. And there is the curious suicide of Cecil Headlee, 39, who "shot and killed himself because he thought 'a mob was going to get him for breaking the chain' " (DP, 1935). This brief account does not tell us what type of chain letter was involved, but considering the early date, May 15, 1935, probably the fear came from Mr. Headlee's head, rather than through the mails. But there is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the Norman letter given above, and thus likely threatening versions did circulate. However I suspect these would have been brought to the attention of the postal inspectors. A "send money or die" letter would surely have concerned them, and thus any such demon may have been squashed as it emerged from its egg.
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4-3
LUCK FOLLOWS MONEY (1949)
Money
Influences Follow-up
letters Design
or Self-organization?
Though luck and money chain
letters diverged in content after the 1935 Send-a-Dime craze, some
features have appeared in luck chain letters that may have had special
appeal to people involved with money chain letters.
Money Influences.
Consider the following three lines of text from our
standard example of the Luck By Mail type - the 1952
chain letter published by Herbert Halpert.
(1) "Send this copy and four to someone you wish good luck."
(2) "Gen Patton received $1,600 after receiving it. Gen Allen received $1,600 ..."
(3) "... you will receive by mail."
Note the copy quota is five, which should not surprise us since this had been the quota on the vast majority of luck chain letters since before 1930. However I mention it here to point out that the Send-a-Dime money chain letter also had quota five - which is understandable since it copied key features of a luck chain letter. [1933] Next, note that the two generals each received $1,600. This is very close to the maximum amount that appears on Send-a-Dime, namely $1,562.50. But this amount appears only on this one Luck by Mail example in the archive. Almost all the other amounts are much higher, more like what the maximum would be for a "Send-a-Dollar" letter. Finally, the defining characteristic of the Luck by Mail type, including this 1952 example, is the prediction that the luck (money) will come in the mail, just as it was claimed to have come to the Generals.
Money letters setting higher
antes probably followed transmission paths of Send-a-Dime in 1935. In
1978, the $1000 ante pyramid
scheme "Circle of Abundance" followed the earlier $100 ante
"Circle of Gold" (Marks
1978). It is easy to see why this happened. Pyramid schemes
are illegal and flow along social contacts in the early going. Thus the
lower ante Circle of Gold established a tree of trusted prior
participants that was available to the same initial "circle" for the
higher ante next round. Of course this second tree was pruned
of all those who lost money in the first round. There may also have
been a documented attempt to boost the Circle of Gold scheme by
utilizing a circulating luck chain letter. On a prevalent Death-Lottery
example, this is a final postscript: "May you continue
to be encircled in gold." This is added to a published letter
which has no date, but by its content I estimate to be around
1980,
during which Circle of Gold was still active in some states.
By 1952, the paths of prior money letters had left loosely connected transmission networks totaling perhaps 10 million people, some links going back to 1935. The Halpert letter, and variants, may have surged through these networks, also spinning off letters into the general public in sufficient quantity to kill off all its luck chain letter cousins by immunization.
Symbiotic distribution occurs if for two replicators within a network of transmission, the receipt of one favors the replication of the other. Quota five (Luck by Mail) and quota twenty letters (Death20) circulated simultaneously from 1959 to 1967 (< Table 2). Perhaps this was possible because of niche differentiation. Luck by Mail (quota five) may have been a symbiotic resident within the old money chain network, while Death20 was establishing itself among office workers and professionals.Design or Self-organization?
Apart from suggestive bits of text, there is no other direct evidence
that luck chain letters ever followed money chain letters. If we had
all the chain letters received by fifty people over the years, then by
examining postmarks the phenomenon might be confirmed. Even if this
symbiotic distribution could
be proved, that does not prove someone deliberately modified a
luck chain letter to serve as a follow-up to a money letter. For
if among the thousands of variations present in the chain letter
population, some happen to appeal more to money chain letter players,
then these will proliferate in the money chain transmission networks.
Thus it is difficult to decide if some features are the product of
calculating human design, or the product of selection from a vast pool
of accidental or uncalculated variations.
< Start of above section < Start of Chain Letter Evolution - Contents
4-4 THE MEDIA CHAIN LETTER
(1948 - 1998)
(1) Luck
Chain Letter (2) Food
for Thought (3) Food
for Thought & Gene Sarazen
(4) Food
for Thought & Gene Sarazen & Luck Chain Letter
(5) Cover
Letters and Luck Chain Letter (The Media Chain
Letter)
(6) Lucky
Frog & Luck Chain Letter
In this section the origin of the
"Media Chain Letter" is described in detail. Many famous people
participated in this chain letter around 1990. Its complex history
involved hyper-competitive innovations, major deletions, and migrations
to new genres.
At one phase of its development, two traditions of text copying
were joined together: a mainline luck chain letter was placed
at the bottom of an office humor item. Since some
of the
text on the chain letter goes back to the beginning of the twentieth
century, I will start with that.
Luck Chain Letter (LCL)
The "Luck by Mail" type of chain letter developed a few years after the
end of World War II and dominated circulation on up through most of the
1960's. Toward the end of that decade someone received such a letter
and kept it for a few years. It may have read somewhat like the
following example which was received by William F. Hansen in 1967.
The original copy of this letter came from the Netherlands. The luck of it has been around the world four times (sent by U.S. Officers). The one who breaks this chain will have bad luck.
Please copy this and see what happens to you in four days after you receive it.Do not send money and do not keep this copy. Send it and four others to people whom you wish good luck.
It must leave your home twenty-four hours after you receive it. General Ashton received $6,000.00 only to lose it after breaking the chain.You are to have good luck after receiving this. This is not a joke. You will receive it by mail.
Insert your name at the bottom of this list, leaving off the top name.
[list of 24 names omitted] [1967]
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
In 1923, a group of the world's most successful financiers met at the Edgewater Beach hotel in Chicago. Present were:
The president of the largest independent steel company.
The president of the largest independent steel company.
The president of the largest utility company.
The greatest wheat speculator.
The president of the New York Stock Exchange.
A member of three President's cabinet.
The greatest "bear" in Wall Street.
The president of the International Settlements
The head of the world's greatest monopoly.
Collectively, these tycoons controlled more wealth than there was in the United Sates Treasury, and for years newspapers and magazines had been printing their success stories and urging the youth of the nation to follow their examples. Twenty-five years later, lets see what happened to these men.
The president of the largest independent steel company - Charles Schwab - lived on borrowed money the last five years of his life.
The greatest wheat speculator - Arthur Cutten - died abroad, insolvent.
The president of the New York Stock Exchange - Richard Whitney - was recently released from Sing Sing.
The member of the President's cabinet - Albert Fall - was pardoned from prison so he could die at home.
The greatest "bear" in Wall Street - Jesse Livermore - committed suicide.
The president of the Bank of International Settlement - Leon Fraser - committed suicide.
The head of the world's greatest monopoly - Ivar Kreuger - committed suicide.
All of these men had learned how to make money, but not one of them had learned how to live. [1948]
Scores of published examples of
"Food for Thought" appear when one searches newspapers.com
using "greatest wheat speculator". Many are
identical to that given above from the Billy Rose column. Other
syndicated columnists, such as Norman Vincent Peale, later gave other
versions. Some appear only locally. For example, a minister might use
"Food for Thought" in a newspaper sermon. Variations include
alternative titles, such as "Something to Think About"
or "The Deceitfulness of Riches". The number of tycoons
may be reduced, and the conclusion may be rewritten. If an
alleged source is given for FFT, it is inaccurate and usually
not dated. The publisher may have obtained FFT from other published
versions, or received it as
an undocumented clipping,
or saw it on a bulletin board.
When an anonymous piece is based on other published
versions, and when it is often changed by a publisher (e.g.
condensed, rewritten, retitled, etc.), I
will
call it a "chain publication". Most Himmelsbrief
had such a publication history well into the 20th century, though they
may not have been changed as often as FFT.
1. President of the
largest steel company?
2. President of the largest gas company?
3. President of the New York Stock Exchange?
4. The greatest wheat speculator?
5. President of the Bank of International Settlement?
6. The great Bear of Wall Street?
These men should be considered some of the world's most successful men, at least they found the secret of making money. Now more than 65 years later, do you know what became of these men?
1. The president of
the largest steel company, Schwab, died a pauper.
2. The president of the largest gas company, Howard Hopson,
is insane.
3. The president of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard
Whitney, was released from prison to die at home.
4. The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cooper, died
abroad, insolvent.
5. The president of the Bank of International Settlement
shot himself.
6. The great Bear of Wall Street, Mr. C. Riverhore,
committed suicide.
That same year, 1923, the winner of the most important golf championship, Gene Sarazen, won the U.S. open and PGA Tournament. Today he is still playing and he's solvent.
Conclusion: Stop worrying about business and play golf!!!!
This letter originated in the Netherlands, and has been passed around the world at least 20 times, bringing good luck to everyone who passed it on. The one who breaks the chain will have bad luck. Do not keep this letter. Do not send money. Just have a wonderful, efficient secretary make four additional copies and send it to five of your friends to whom you wish good luck. You will see that something good happens to you four days from now if this chain is not broken. This is not a joke. You will receive good luck in four days.Golfer Gene Sarazen died in 1999 at age 97. On this 1988 example there are now only six ill-fated tycoons, instead of eight as in the 1948 FFT. The symbiont chain letter does not have the negative testimonial and list of names that appeared in the 1972 chain letter given above. It had become a living fossil, surviving only in the mutually beneficial relationship with the FFT+GS office humor item. In 1972 the only luck chain letter independently circulating demanded 20 copies and had a death threat - clearly it was not appropriate to take the place of the symbiont LCL. Notice that the wording of the instructions to make five copies in LCL has become more flattering to the secretary: "Just have a wonderful, efficient secretary make four additional copies and send it to five of your friends to whom you wish good luck." In 1988 no one could have predicted that in just two years this obsolete chain letter would circulate by itself with a stack of cover letters from the rich and famous.
Many of the names on the cover
letters were so well known that the packet of these with the chain
letter was called: "The
Media Chain Letter" (Joseph Nocera, New
Republic, Nov. 12, 1990); "The Chain Letter of the
Rich and Famous" (Diedre Fanning, New
York Times, Oct. 7, 1990); and "The VIP Chain
Letter" (Charlie Clark, Washington
Post, Nov. 16, 1991). The oldest example of the Media Chain Letter in
the archive contains many names of celebrities and executives in the
entertainment industry [1990].
But the oldest cover letter in the stack was sent by Pierre Salinger,
former Press Secretary for President Kennedy. For narrative
convenience, I assume that the celebrity attributions are reliable.
However it should be kept in mind that the signatures present
are all corrupted photocopies and hence unverifiable. Another
Media Chain Letter bundle [1990]
circulated in American real estate and investment firms, crossed over
the
Atlantic, and returned. Many comments are musings on the utility
of good luck. "Some of us in the securities and real estate
businesses forgot that it's better to be lucky than smart."
Another theme, common in published reports on the Media Chain,
is admission of fear of bad luck. "A man will do anything out
of fear" (Newspaper editor). Most reporters accepted these
comments
at face value: "Media Barons Knuckle Under Superstition" (AP headline,
Aug. 29, 1990). But some observers noted social reasons for the
letter's success.
1. Identification with celebrity. "The real reason behind the letter's success, of course, is not fear, but the thrill of having written certification that, yes, indeed, you do belong to the inner circle" (Esquire, Dec. 1990). "It's more a kind of media status game, filled with unseemly overtones of see-how-famous-my-friends-are" (Joseph Nocera, New Republic, Nov. 12, 1990). If one receives the letter from a high status person, one can boast of this association by sending out the chain with the prior cover letter. The chain letter states "send it to five of your friends," and the forwarding letters prominently display the five recipients. Little status is gained by having sent the letter to someone of much higher status than oneself.
2. Exercise of wit. "These accompanying documents, most recipients admit, are what prompts them to play the game and write their own 'I can't believe I'm doing this' notes, as they pass the letter on" (Kathleen Hendrix, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 1991). Almost all of the comments on forwarding letters attempt humor, and the early self-deprecation theme is often carried forward. "Tell me why I am doing this" (Feb. 1991). "The name for this is idiocy. But hopefully not many will know" (May 1991). Growing lists of thematic humor also appear as graffiti, photocopied office humor, and E-mail chains [e1996].
From its initial circulation in the entertainment and publishing industries, the Media Chain Letter soon migrated to other industries and other countries. But within a packet of letterheads you see a preference to distribute locally and along lines of professional contact, for example among Canadian legislators, or London architects and surveyors. Often prestigious titles appear on the letterheads. In response are comments like: "With sponsors like this - pass it on" (Canadian Govt. official, Feb. 1991), or "Think of it this way, there could be a good new business contact amongst this lot" (UK Architect, March 1991). The display of association with high status individuals was the primary motive for replicating the Media Chain Letter. Confessions of superstitious motivation were mostly dissembled covers of this status display, disapproval of superstition being deflected by self deprecating humor. The chain letter became a mere instructional appendage to its packet of forwarding letters.
Status motives were present with other chain letters. Many copies of the Good Luck chain contained long lists of "X to Y," so that if you are Y, any downline recipient can conclude that X knows you [1922]. A striking later example has 113 different names. These start out with Japanese naval officers, phase into a European venue, and half way through shift to silent film celebrities such as Sid Graumann, Harold Lloyd and Mac Sennet [1926]. The half serious 1979 Brill chain [1979] had no real threat but many entertainment industry stars in its list of prior senders. Perhaps many of the listed celebrities never actually sent out the Good Luck or Brill letters. But forwarding letters with the Media chain were on corporate stationery and usually signed, thus providing a more convincing display for identification with celebrity.
The Media Chain Letter continued to progress through hierarchies for several years. A note in the British Medical Journal (March 25, 1995) complained of its "wad of memos." Infected organizations included the Ministry of Defence, the Metropolitan Police and the National Health Service. Like chickenpox, the Media chain letter is usually a one-time infection, leaving a trail of immunity. As the paper form of this chain letter worked out its extinction, the text crossed over into the vast new territory of the Internet.
Lucky Frog
& Luck Chain Letter
Though I have not located an example, probably sometime in the early 1990's FFT+GS+LCL was digitized and transmitted via E-mail. Many photocopied office humor items have also crossed over to the Internet. A July 1993 chain E-mail consists of a series of ironic questions, later versions of which are titled "Why ask why?" By mid 1995 this item had been pasted on the beginning of FFT+GS+LCL [e1995]. Since then the symbiont chain letter has been attached to other email jokes, including "The Gift" [e1995-12], and "The Lucky Frog":
READ THIS MESSAGE AND PASS IT
ON....
A man takes the day off work and decides to go out golfing. He is on
the second hole when he notices a frog sitting next to the green. He
thinks nothing of it and is about to shoot when he hears, "Ribbit. Nine
Iron" The man looks around and
doesn't see anyone. "Ribbit. Nine Iron." He looks at the frog
and decides to prove the frog wrong, puts his other club away,
and grabs a nine iron. Boom! he hits it ten inches from the
cup. He is shocked. He says to the frog, "Wow that's amazing. You must
be a lucky frog, eh?" The frog reply's "Ribbit. Lucky frog."
The man decides to take the frog with him to the next hole. "What do
you think frog?" the man asks. "Ribbit. Three wood." The guy takes out
a three wood and Boom! Hole in one. The man is befuddled and doesn't
know what to say. By the end of the day, the man golfed the best game
of golf in his life and asks the frog, "OK where to next?"
The frog reply, "Ribbit. Las Vegas." They go to Las Vegas and the guy
says, "OK frog, now what?" The frog says, "Ribbit Roulette." Upon
approaching the roulette table, the man asks," What do you think I
should bet?" The frog replies, "Ribbit. $3000, black 6." Now, this is a
million-to-one shot to win, but after the golf game, the Man figures
what the heck. Boom! Tons of cash comes sliding back across the table.
The man takes his winnings and buys the best room in the hotel. He sits
the frog down and
says, "Frog, I don't know how to repay you. You've won me all this
money and I am forever grateful." The frog replies, "Ribbit, Kiss
Me." He figures why not, since after all the frog did for him he
deserves it. With a kiss, the frog turns into a gorgeous 15-year-old
girl.
"And that, your honor, is how the girl ended up in my room."
The origination of this letter
is unknown, but it brings good luck to everyone who passes it on. The
one who breaks the chain will have bad luck. Do not keep this
letter. Do not send money. Just forward it to five of your friends to
whom you wish good luck. You will see that something good happens to
you four days from now if the chain is not broken. You will receive
good luck in four days. [e1997]
< Start
of above section
< Start
of Chain Letter Evolution - Contents
4-5
THE "IT WORKS" CONQUEST (1979
- 1982)
The
rise of the It Works postscript Table
4
- Occurrences of D, L, LD, DL and DL variations
Inferred
Relatedness Using Text Alternatives
Table
5 - Text Alternatives for Major DL Subtypes Why
did "It Works" work?
In 1979 a certain offhand
postscript first appears on copies of the prevailing luck chain letter.
In a few years it is on all circulating luck chain
letters, millions
of them. All the letters without it are gone. I examine this
event in detail.
The rise of the "It Works"
postscript.
In the 1970's four structurally related types of luck chain letters
circulated in the US:
The earliest IWP letter in the
archive was mailed anonymously in May 1979 to my California address. It
was a photocopy of a typed letter. Here are the exact keystrokes - the
format has been shortened.
"Trust in the Lord with all your Heart and He will acknowledge
and He will light the way."This prayer has been sent to you for good luck. The original copy is from the NETHERLANDS.It has been around the world nine times.The luck has now been brought to you.You will receive good luck within four days of receiving this letter provided you in turn send it back out. THIS IS NO JOKE... You will receive it in the mail. Send copies of this letter to people you think need good luck. DO NOT SEND MONEY, FOR THE FATE HAS NO PRICE ON IT. Do not keep this letter.... It must leave your hands within 96 hours after you receive it.
An RAF officer received $70,000. Joe Elliott received $4,000,000 and lost it because he broke the chain. While in the Phillipines, General Welch lost his life six days after he received this letter. HE failed to circulate the prayer. However,before his death he received $775,000.Please send out20 copies to see what happens to you on the fourth day. This chain comes from Venezuela and was written by Saul Anthony De Cadif,a missionary from South America. I,myself,now forward it to you.Since this chain must make a tour of the world,you must make 20 copies identical to this one and send it to your friends, parents,or associates. After a few days,you will get a surprise. THIS is true even if you are not superstitious. Take note of the following.
Constattino Dias received the chain in 1953.He asked his secretary to make 20 copies and send them.A few days later he won a lottery for $2,000,000 in his country. Carlo Raditt, an office employee, received the chain.He forgot it and a few days later lost his job.He found the chain letter and sent it to 20 people. Five days later he got an even better job. Dalin Nairchild received the chain and not believing in it threw itaway.Nine days later he died.For no reason what so ever should this chain be broken.
REMEMBER NO MONEY. PLEASE DON'T IGNORE THIS. IT DOES WORK.
MAHALO (THANK-YOU) [1979]
There is much reason to believe that the DL type compound letter was initially formed in the English language. The same is true for the initial appearance of IWP, perhaps months or even a year prior to the above letter. It is unlikely that successive translations into English could have produced the series of letters in the archive. But close translations from the English letters exist in French [1995], Spanish [1996], Polish [1992], Italian and likely many other languages. This itself is evidence that there were no indigenous predecessors in these languages. Descendants also invaded the Internet in nearly word-for-word form, at first still asking for 20 copies. But in this medium the entire postscript was soon deleted and replaced by "You may not sign on this message". [e1994]
The following archive
tabulations document changes in the population of chain letters around
this time using mostly two year intervals. The first four abbreviations
are for the chain letter types listed above. The next five are for key
textual innovations within the DL type.
Table 4. Occurrences of D, L, LD, DL and DL Variations.
D:
All Death20 type letters
L: All Lottery24 type letters
(none collected so far).
LD: All Lottery-Death type letters
DL: All Death-Lottery type letters.
DL-N: Death-Lottery (DL)
letters with a list of names and none of the key postscripts.
DL-0: DL letters with no
list of names and none of the key postscripts.
DL-1: DL letters concluding
with "Do not send money" or variants.
DL-12: DL letters concluding with
"Do not send money. Please do not ignore this" or
variants.
DL-123: DL letters concluding with "Do not
send money. Please do not ignore this. It works" or
variants.
Years | D | L | LD | DL |
DL-N | DL-0 | DL-1 | DL-12 | DL-123 | |
1959 - 1971 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1972 - 1973 | 2 |
0 | 0 | 1 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1974 - 1975 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 4 |
4 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
1976 - 1977 | 2 |
0 | 0 | 3 |
0 |
3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
1978 - 1979 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
1980 - 1981 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
|
1982 - 1983 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
0 | 0 | 0(a) | 0 | 14 | |
1984 - 2005 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 138 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (b) | 138 |
(a) One letter likely had "Please
do not ignore this - It works" deleted in its ancestry [1982-01].
It is tabulated as DL-123.
(b) Several letters likely had the two words "It works" deleted [1984-08].
They are also tabulated as DL-123.
Inferred
Relatedness Using Text Alternatives
The
above counts of occurrences in the archive establish without doubt that
chain letters bearing IWP captured the gigantic American luck chain
letter niche within a few years of their appearance. But a more
thorough understanding of what happened requires looking at details on
early IWP letters and their predecessors. For example, note (a) of
Table 4 claiming that the letter 1982-01
was likely an
IWP descendent despite its shortened postscript can be supported. It is
sufficient to show its near identity with a letter bearing IWP in full,
and its significant variation from all DL letters that never bore IWP.
Thus we seek identifying features of the IWP clade -
their presence on a chain letter being very unlikely to have come about
by any means other than copying from another member of the
clade.
The following
"text alternatives" table facilitates assessing the relatedness of
chain letters under
consideration. Six text
alternatives
(T1 to T6), listed in the column heads, can be either version A/a
or version B/b for each of 16 selected DL letters listed in the rows.
An "x" in the table means that deletions or other changes to a letter
have nullified the possibility of determining a text alternative. An
apostrophe (single quotation mark) after a text indicator, say b',
designates a variation of b that is not of significance for the
purposes of the table. The chain letters are
grouped by variation, and chronologically ordered within each
variation.
First the definitions of the six text alternatives are set.
The rows of a text alternatives table are condensed
descriptions of parts of chain letters, the alternatives and
their names being selected here to facilitate human judgments on
relatedness. But concatenated strings of these alternative
names could themselves be input to a computer program, such
as the one employed in Bennett,
that calculates a symmetric matrix giving the relatedness of all pairs
of letters in a sample. For this purpose: (1) the text alternatives
should encompass all text in the letter that has variations in the
sample, (2) names of the text alternatives should be all different, and
(3) the number of letters in these
names should correlate with the unliklihood that the alternative could
be independently invented. Then an evolutionary tree could be
constructed, by various methods, which would not exaggerate the effect
on relatedness of long innovations in a letter.
T1 = a: You will
receive good luck within 4 days of receiving this letter.
T1 = B: You will receive good luck within four days of
receiving this letter provided in turn you send it
back out.
Note: When a text alternative, such as T1 = B above, is
deemed to be a feature
(very unlikely to have
appeared more than once without having been copied from an existing
letter), it is designated by
an upper case letter.
T2 = a: Send twenty
copies of this letter to people you think need good luck.
T2 = b: Send copies
of this letter to people you think need good luck.
Note: These alternatives are not "features" since they can easily
change a to b, or b to a. But they add some weight to a conclusion
about relatedness.
T3 = a: Please do not send money.
T3 = B: Do not send money, for fate (faith)
has no price on it.
Note: Either "fate" or
"faith" may appear in the added clause.
T4 = a: It must leave you
within 96 hours.
T4 = B: It must leave your hands within
96 hours.
Note: In T4 = a, the word "you" may be
omitted.
T5 = a: This chain . . . was written by St.
Aptine de Cade . . .
T5 = B: This chain . . . was written by Saul
Anthony De Cadif . . .
T5 = b' This chain . . . was written by Sol (Soul)
Anthony De Cacief . . .
Note: Only the first name (or title) is useful here. The last
names are highly variable.
T6 = a: . . . a
missionary from South America. Since the chain must make a tour . . .
T6 = B: . . . a missionary from South America. I,
myself, now forward it to you. Since the chain must
make a tour...
Note: "I, myself, now forward it to you"
was deleted around 1984 and is absent thereafter on all DL letters.
No. | Chain Letter File Name | Type
- Variation |
T1 | T2 | T3
|
T4
|
T5
|
T6
|
1. |
le1973-11p_dl!_prvrbs_q20n21 |
DL-N |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
2. |
le1974-10_dl_n27 |
DL-N |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
3. |
le1975_dl_n23_a1 |
DL-N |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
4. |
le1977-06-08_dl_fgge_q20 |
DL-0 |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
5. |
le1978-04_dl_q20n0 |
DL-0 |
a |
b |
a |
a |
a |
a |
6. |
le1979-06-21_dl_t_q20n0 |
DL-0 |
a |
b |
a |
a |
a |
a |
7. |
lle1979-01_dl_xmoney(2)_q20 |
DL-1 |
a |
b |
a |
B |
b' |
a |
8. |
le1979-05_dl_tw! |
DL-123
It Does Work |
B |
b |
B |
B |
B |
B |
9. |
le1979-07-30p_dl_w't |
DL-123
It Does Work |
B |
b |
B |
B |
B |
B |
10. |
le1980-12-23_dl_wt_dates |
DL-123
It Works |
B |
b |
B |
B |
B |
B |
11. |
le1981-04_dl_wt |
DL-123
It Does Work |
a |
b |
B |
B |
B |
B |
12. |
le1982-01-28_dl_m_t |
DL-1
(2 & 3 deleted) |
B |
b |
B |
x |
B |
B |
13. |
le1984-08_dl_w't |
DL-12
(3 deleted) |
B |
b |
B |
B |
B |
x |
14. |
le1986-05-08_dl_w-k' |
DL-12
" |
B |
b |
B |
B |
B |
x |
15. |
le1991u_dl_w-(kc)! |
DL-12
" |
B |
b |
B |
B |
B |
x |
16. |
le2004-10_dl_wklc |
DL-123
It Works |
B |
b |
B |
B |
B |
x |
First I use information in Table
5 to justify the claims in Table 4 that deletions of postscripts have
occurred on letters #12, #13, #14, and #15 (Table 5 designations) .
Note that the earliest DL-123 type letter, #8, introduced the
diagnostic
variations T1 = B, T3 = B, and T6 = B. Thus it seems very unlikely
that letter #12 could bear these same B versions without having copied
them from some DL-123 letter. So we conclude that letter #12 had
"Please do not ignore this. It works" deleted at
some time
in its ancestry. Similar reasoning suggests that #13, #14, #15 (and
other post 1980 DL-12 letters in the archive) have had the entire
IWP deleted, perhaps because of image expansion or misaligned
photocopying.
To claim otherwise would require much independent invention, such
as the diagnostic changes T1 = B and T3 = B, and the name "Saul"
(T5 = B). Later DL-12 letters do not bear the Linkage statement (T6
= B) that the early DL-123 letters did, but as noted above, T6 =
B disappeared completely around 1984 from all DL letters.
Next I will use Tables 4
& 5 to address some questions about the IWP capture of the luck
chain letter niche.
Question 1: Did the three parts of IWP appear all at once, or
in two or three phases?
It is likely that IWP originated in two phases. First the postscript
"Do not send money" was added to a DL letter. One descendant of this
letter is present in the archive: le1979-01, chain letter #7 in Table 5. This is not a result
of deletions from a DL-123 letter for it contains the variations T1 =
a, T3 = a and T6 = a. There is not a single undeleted example of
a DL-12 letter in the archive. Thus it is very likely that IWP
originated in two phases: "Do not send money" and
then "Please do not ignore this. It works." I may
continue to use the
symbol "DL-12" to represent letters with this text, in spite
of its ancestry.
Question 2: Was IWP initially
placed on just one circulating letter, or more than one?
Probably just one, because all the many examples collected except one
have the exact same "B" options for T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 (or T6 =
X). If IWP had been placed on another circulating letter, very likely
some of the features of this letter would
differ from the "B" option. The one exception is 1981-04,
a DL-123 letter
with T1 = a. But this likely resulted from a deletion of the added
phrase "provided in turn you send it out" (T1 = B),
changing
it to T1 = a. This
deletion could have
been accidental when retyping, or perhaps was a deliberate reversion
to the more familiar "copy later" chain letter orthodoxy. In any
case, it is hard to imagine why someone would go to the trouble of
adding IWP to multiple letters. Unlike, say, a Bible verse
or "With love all things are possible",
the IWP postscripts
have the look of offhand comments to a friend rather than a cause
that merits promotional effort.
Question 3: Were there one or more other
significant innovations that were launched
in the same letter that first bore IWP?
The first DL-123 letter in Table 5, le1979-05,
introduces
not only IWP but also the diagnostic innovations I have labeled T1
= B, T3 = B and T6 = B. The other tabulated alternatives, T2 = b,
T4 = B and T5 = b', appear on prior DL-0 and DL-1 letters. It can
never be shown with certainty that any two features appeared
concurrently. Likely there was some uncollected letter which contained,
say, T1 = B, but not IWP, or visa versa. Concurrence would say
something about the motives of an innovator. But it makes little
difference to the resulting population of chain letters if two
innovations were co-linked, or if one was post-linked shortly after the
debut of the other. In any case, it appears the "It Works" innovator
may have made two or three other significant changes to the text.
Question 4: Was IWP itself the
main reason the letters bearing it proliferated so greatly, or was
there another feature on these letters that was the main
reason?
Estimating the effect of a feature on the circulation of its chain
letter host is largely a matter of informed guesswork. Unknown motives
of readers may be involved. We will attempt to answer Question 4 by
considering a broader question in the next subsection.
Why
did "It Works" Work?
The tabulated data of Table 4 suggest that each of three successive
innovations (DL-0, DL-1, and DL-123) increased circulation. Here are
likely reasons for each.
DL-0: The senders list on DL-N letters was an awkward presence, especially since photocopying was rapidly becoming the dominant method of replication. When a letter must be typed or hand copied, it is not that much additional bother to update a list of names. But if one is photocopying, instructions to revise the letter in any way may prompt discard. Further, asking for one's name is not consistent with anonymous distribution, which prevailed in subsequent years. Most of the lists on DL-N were internal, between the D and L blocks. Deleting this gives the resulting text the appearance of a single chain letter, making the contradictions between the D and L blocks less likely to be observed.
DL-1: When first taking a letter in hand, a reader often may glance at the end of the letter, looking to see who signed it. This gives postscripts special potency. The DL-1 postscript, "Do not send money", was a highly visible flag signaling that the letter was not a solicitation for money.
DL-23: "Please
do not ignore this. It works" together constitute a polite
affirmation of the power of the letter, in contrast to the previous
bossy conclusion: "For no reason whatsoever should this chain
be broken." This was retained, but now was much less
prominent. A money chain letter, attributed to "Nelson Robards",
was circulating at the time that concluded with "Do it . .
. it really does work" [1978].
Perhaps "It Works" luck chain letters "followed" this money chain
(< Section
4-3), each increasing the other's circulation. "It
does work" is a common variant of the third sentence of
IWP, and is the version on the two oldest examples in the
archive. DL-23 constituted a
revival of the "Affirmation" type statements that were common on luck
chain letters from 1927-1940. These functioned as an independent voice
affirming the claims of
the letter. Many radio and
television advertisements
use the phrase "It works."
I now consider whether the identifying features T1 = B, T3 = B or T6 =
B had a significant affect on the circulation of DL-123.
T1 = B: Could the added proviso to the promise of good
luck ("You will receive good luck within four days of receiving this
letter provided in turn you send it back out)
have been the major cause of the success of DL-123? This appears early in the letter, and
fundamentally changes its operating superstition from a lucky talisman (Copy
later) to a
fateful obligation (Copy
first). There is one, and only one, letter on which it
appears without the complete It Works postscript. [1982-01].
Whatever the genealogy of this letter, it did not replicate
sufficiently to show up again in the archive, something we should
expect
if the "provided" clause were highly effective by
itself.
However, the potency of the full postscript is itself challenged
by the rapid increase of a variation that deleted the last two
words ("It works"). This deletion, co-linked to a
transfer
of the Kiss title, appears in the "KCL" variation of the 1990's
(> S4-6_kcl).
But the KCL letters begin
with the Kiss title and conclude with the Love title, thus combining
the appeal of both. This may more than make up for the loss of
"It works." Another reason for assessing T1 = B to
be more
effective than IWP is that, as noted above, it stayed on a widespread
Internet version of the letter whereas all the postscripts were
soon deleted without consequence. [e1994]
T3 = B: This added phrase ("Do not send money, for
fate has no price on it) may
function like an Affirmation, but readers would not need to be further
convinced that money should not be sent. Perhaps some would be
impressed by this kitsch flourish, but in any case I do not see how it
could affect circulation significantly.
T6 = B. The Linkage ("I, myself, now forward it to you") is awkwardly placed in the L block of DL-123. It is not surprising that by 1984 it had been deleted, perhaps deliberately by the author of a highly replicative new title. It is always present on early DL-123 letters, but likely had no role in the replicative success of its host.
So the answer to Question 4 above
is that there was one other innovation on letters with IWP that could
have been the main reason for their success - the added proviso that
good luck requires compliance first (T1 = B). But it is near impossible
to judge if this, or the postscripts, motivated the most compliance.
< Start
of above section
< Start
of Chain Letter Evolution - Contents
4-6 The Death-Lottery Chain
Since 1981
Introduction
Trust
expires Belief
fizzles Kiss
and Love divide the territory
Kiss
gets Wife's Money Love
gets a Car Kiss
jumps on top All
fall down
Table
6 - Occurrences of Trust, Belief, Kiss, Wife's Money, Love and Car
Table
7. Text alternatives on DL title variations
Table 8. Text alternatives for the Car Testimonial
Table 9. Numbers of
English language paper luck chain letters collected per year since 1995
Introduction.
After 1981 almost all of the millions of luck chain
letters circulating in the United States were the descendants
of a single founder that had appeared a couple years before bearing the
It Works postscript (IWP) and a "copy first" proviso (< Section
4-5). In this final section seven ensuing changes in this
population are described, concluding with its near extinction at the
end of the millennium. I
give the following allegorical names to these events: (1) Trust
expires, (2) Belief fizzles, (3) Kiss and Love divide the territory,
(4) Kiss gets wife's money, (5) Love gets a car, (6) Kiss jumps on top,
and (7) All fall down. Except
for the last, each of these events involve one or more of the following
named innovations.
Trust: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and He will acknowledge and He will light the way." This is the corrupted form of Proverbs 3:5-6 that appeared as a leading "prayer" on the hyper-competitive It Works letter in 1979.The following table gives a count of these innovations, and combinations of them, in the archive over three year intervals from 1972 to 2001.Belief: "And all things whatever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." This title is the King James version of Matthew 21:22.
Kiss: The title "Kiss someone you love when you get this letter and make magic."
Love: "With love all things are possible." This title is probably a substitution in Mark 10:27: "With God all things are possible."
Wife's Money: The following modification (in italics) of the Death and Money testimonial: "While in the Philippines, Gene Welch lost his wife six days after receiving this letter. He failed to circulate the letter. However, before her death,
he received $7,755she had won $50,000. in a lottery. The money was transferred to him four days after he decided to mail out this letter."Car: The testimonial: "In 1987 the letter received by a young woman in California was faded and barely readable. She promised herself to retype the letter and send it on, but put it aside to do later. She was plagued with various problems, including expensive car repairs. The letter did not leave her hands in 96 hours. She finally retyped the letter as promised and got a new car."
Table 6. Occurrences of Trust, Belief, Kiss, Wife's Money, Love, and Car.
Years | Trust | Belief | Kiss & His Money H$ |
Kiss &
Wife's Money S$ |
Love
& No Car |
Love & Car |
Kiss transfers to Love & Car |
1972-1974 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0 |
1975-1977 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0 |
1978-1980 | 9 | 1 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 0 |
1981-1983 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
0 | 1 |
0 | 0 |
1984-1986 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
4 |
15 |
0 | 0 |
1987-1989 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
10 | 2 |
3 |
0 |
1990-1992 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
1 |
24 | 2 |
1993-1995 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
5 | 0 |
10 | 7 |
1996-1998 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
11 | 15 |
1999-2001 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1* |
0 |
* In English, but collected by J. B. Renard in Montpellier, France in 1999.
The obvious changes in frequency in Table 6, including remarkable extinctions, are the basis for characterizing the post-1981 history of the English language DL letters with the seven events named above. I now consider them one-by-one in the next seven subsections. This analysis is detailed; the reader may wish to skip this part and go directly to the final subsection of this treatise (>4-6all_fall_down).
1. Trust expires.
Proverbs 3:5-6 had appeared near the top of most mainline
letters since 1952 in countless corrupted forms until the It Works
capture in 1979 fixed its form as "Trust" given above. This header
probably had positive replicative effect at first, but by the early
1980's it seems to have become a liability. Perhaps quick recognition
of a letter as the nuisance of the prior decade was a factor.
2. Belief fizzles.
Someone replaced Trust with "Belief" in 1980, placing this New
Testament verse above the body of the letter. On our earliest version [1980]
the verse is identified correctly as Matthew 21:22. "Belief" was
immediately successful at the expense of Trust, but within two years
its circulation seems to have ended. This was probably due to the
appeal of two new secular titles I discuss below. The omission of the
Unbeliever's Death was an early post-linked feature [1981]
that
apparently captured the Belief clade. This may have also contributed
to the demise of Belief.
3. Kiss and Love divide the territory.
The earliest Kiss
title in the archive is from October 1983,
and the earliest Love
title was sent from Sweden to England in June, 1983.
Both these letters, as well as three letters from earlier in 1983 that
had no title [1983-02],
have nearly identical text details (other than the titles), yet they
differ markedly from the prior DL letters with either the Trust
or Belief
titles. The table below facilitates comparisons. Ten text alternatives
are tabulated for a selection of seventeen chain letters from the IWP
clade. Again, text alternatives considered diagnostic are designated
by upper case letters.
Table 7. Text Alternatives on
DL Title Variations
T1 = a: This prayer
has been sent to you for good luck.
T1 = b: This quote
has been sent to you for good luck.
T1 = c: This paper
has been sent to you for good luck.
T1 = d: This letter
has been sent to you for good luck.
T2 = a: The original copy is from the Netherlands.
T2 = C: The original copy is
in New England.
T3 = a: The luck has now been brought
to you.
T3 = c: The luck has now been sent
to
you.
T4 = a: .
. . provided you in turn send it back out.
T4 = c: . . . providing you, in turn, send it on.
T5 = a: . . . Welch
lost his life
six days after he received this letter.
T5 = b: . .
. Welch lost his wife
six days after receiving this letter.
T6 = a: Please send 20
copies to see what happens ...
T6 = c: Please send 20 copies of the
letter and see what happens ...
T7 = a: .
. . send it to your friends, parents,
or associates.
T7 = c: .
. . send them to friends and associates.
T8 = a: Take
note of the following:
T8 = C: Do
note the following:
T9 = a: He asked his secretary to
make 20 copies and send them.
T9 = c: He asked his secretary to make 20 copies and send them out.
T10 = a: Carlo Raditt . . . forgot it and a few days later,
lost his job.
T10 = C: Carla
Dadditt . .
. forgot it had to leave his hands within 96 hours.
He lost his job.
Variation: XU = The Unbeliever's
Death testimonial has been deleted in full.
No |
Chain
Letter File |
Type,
Variation |
T1 |
T2 |
T3
|
T4
|
T5
|
T6 |
T7
|
T8 |
T9
|
T10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
le1979-05_dl_tw! |
DL-123
Trust title |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
2 |
le1982-01-28_01_m_t |
DL-123
Trust title |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
3 |
le1982-09-20_dl_wt_dates |
DL-123
Trust title |
a |
a |
c |
a |
b |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
4 |
le1983-06-30_dl_wt' |
DL-123
Trust title |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
c |
a |
5 |
le1980_dl_wb! |
DL-123 Belief title | b |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
6 |
le1980u_dl_B-L29_wb |
DL-123
Belief title |
b |
a |
a |
a |
b |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
7 |
le1981u_dl-_wb |
DL-123
Belief title XU |
b |
a |
a |
a |
a |
c |
a' |
a |
c' |
a |
8 |
le1982_dl_wb |
DL-123
Belief title XU |
b |
a |
a |
a |
a |
c |
a' |
a |
c |
a |
9 |
le1983-02_dl_w(k) |
DL-123 Untitled | c |
C
|
c |
a |
b |
c |
c |
x |
c |
C |
10 |
le1983-04_dl_w(k) |
DL-123
Untitled |
d |
C |
c |
a |
b |
c |
c |
C |
c |
C |
11 |
le1983-05_dl_w(k) |
DL-123
Untitled |
d |
C |
c |
a |
b |
c |
c |
C |
c |
C |
12 |
le1983-10-04_d_wk! |
DL-12
Kiss title |
d |
C |
c |
a |
b |
c |
c |
C |
c |
C |
13 |
le1984-05_dl_wk |
DL-123
Kiss title |
c |
C |
c |
a |
b |
c |
x |
C |
c |
C |
14 |
le1985-06_dl_wk |
DL-123
Kiss title |
d |
C |
c |
a |
b |
c |
c |
C |
c |
C |
15 |
le1983-06-13_dl_wl!_e |
DL-123
Love title |
d |
C |
c |
c |
b |
c |
c |
C |
C |
C |
16 |
le1983_dl_wl |
DL-123
Love title |
c |
C |
c |
c |
b |
c |
c |
C |
C |
C |
17 |
le1984-05_dl_wl |
D-L123
Love title |
c |
C |
c |
c |
b |
c |
c |
C |
C |
C |
Note that the four Trust letters
(#1 to #4) have almost all the text alternatives the same, except for
three cases (for example, T3 = c for letter #3). None of these three
exceptions are diagnostic, and could easily be "pop ups". The
second two Belief letters (#7 & #8) have the Unbelievers Death
testimonial deleted (variation XU). This is two sentences long, so this
was very likely deliberate - probably for ethical reasons. The
absence of this threat was likely negative for circulation and
could explain the early disappearance of this sub-type from the
archive. These two Belief letters have another variation in common
- the innovation T6 = c ( "Please
send 20 copies
of the letter and see what
happens ..."). Since all the remaining letters in the
table (#9 to #17), including the three Untitled letters
(#9 to #11), also have T6 = c, we can suspect that all these remaining
letters have a Belief ancestor. The cladogram of Bennett, Li
and Ma (2003)
displays the same relationship. Based on the
information in the table, the following is a parsimonious hypothesis
for the origin of the five title options, and the text alternatives.
(1) In 1980 or before, someone
replaced the Trust title with Belief, and changed the self-reference
from "prayer" to "quote".
(T1 = b, see letter #5)
(2) Not long after, someone casually inserted the innovation
T6 = c ( "Please send 20 copies of the
letter and see what happens ..."). (# 7
& #8)
(3) In 1982 or early 1983, the title from one of these T6 = c letters
was deleted from the top of a photocopy. The self-reference "quote"
was retained.
(4) Soon after, a copyist decided to correct the self-reference since
there was no longer a "quote". They made the odd
choice of "paper". (#9)
(5) Around the same time the Kiss title was added to an Untitled
letter. (#12)
(6) Around the same time the Love title was added to an
Untitled letter. (#16)
(7) At various times, copyists were not satisfied with the
self-reference "paper", and changed this to "letter"
on Untitled, Kiss, and Love letters. But "paper"
remained the most common self-reference.
(#11, #12, #16)
Some other scenarios seem about
as likely. The occurrences of the self-references "paper"
versus "letter" are the greatest challenge to
parsimony. A tempting alternative phylogeny has "paper"
a miscopy of "prayer" on an uncollected Trust
letter, and this lineage losing its title, accumulating the "B"
alternatives and receiving the two new Kiss and Love titles.
Most of the ten text alternatives in the above table, though often corrupted, are identifiable on every mainline letter after 1984. For example, on 1998-07 "Gene Welch" has been corrupted to "George Welch," but we never again see "General" or "Gen." as was present in the 1970's. Even minor changes such as "copy" for "chain" have persisted. This is a remarkable demonstration of 15 years of faithful copying, and proof that the progeny of the Kiss-Love founder completely captured the mainline. This constituted a descent group of over a billion letters.
Why were the Kiss and Love titles
so successful? Did some of the above linked features also contribute
significantly to the circulation of these letters? Examining the ten
text
alternatives used in the table, few if any seem as if they could
have impacted propagation as much as the five titles (Trust,
Belief, Untitled, Kiss or Love). But we will consider three candidates.
(1) T5 = b: " ... Welch
lost his wife six days after receiving
...".
The alternative "wife" was present on the Kiss-Love
founder and thus became universal in the mainline, never reverting back
to "life". The brief success of the pre-war Blind13
type chain postcard, which threatened a family member with blindness,
suggests that threatening the reader's family gains
more compliance than threatening the reader. But "wife"
had appeared in 1975
and probably many other times uncollected, without getting
established.
(2) T7 = c: "...send it to your friends or associates."
"Parents" was dropped from the
distribution in the Kiss-Love clade. This likely could not have had a
major impact on circulation, but it could have had some indirect
positive effect.
Consider the participant age of a social activity - for chain letters the average age of those who are replicating it. Participant age may regress (marijuana smoking), remain fixed (school traditions), or advance with time (canasta), perhaps even keep pace with calendar time (class reunions). There is a postcard exchange letter (an ancestor of the kids' World Record chain letter) whose participant age regressed. You be the judge: here is some text from an example received by an eleven year old in Clarkston, WA:
It was started in 1986 if it goes through 1995 it will be in the Guiness Book of World Records (your name will be included). It has never been broken, so please don't spoil it for everyone . . . If you were to break the chain we would have to wait another nine years to be in record book. [1996]Text alternative "parents" was present as a distribution target on the Trust titled chain letters. Perhaps this statistically advanced the chain letter's participant age, especially since many senders distribute just one or a few copies. For this and reasons that follow, apparently the new titles, Kiss and Love, gained the loyalty of youth, while the core network of Trust letters aged.
While in the Philippines, Cora Welch lost his wife six days after receiving this letter. He failed to circulate the letter, however, before her death, she had won $50,000. in a lottery. The money was transferred to him four days after he decided to mail out this letter. [1986]I designate this innovation by "S$" (she ... won) and the prior version by "H$" (he received). In S$ it is the wife who first got the money, not her husband, and it is she who loses her life. The final sentence (The money was transferred ... ) reflects a reviser's puzzlement over the original Copy Later frame, in which Mr. Welch gets the money after merely receiving the talismanic letter. To force a Copy First frame, now it seems the money is at first inaccessible to Mr. Welch, until finally he complies and only after that the money is transferred to him. So in S$, Mr. Welch got nothing but misery until he mailed out the letter.
The origin of S$ may depend on a simple mistake. It would be very easy to shift the gender of the last pronoun from "he" to "she" in Death and Money:
While in the Philippines, Gene Welch lost his wife six days after receiving this letter. He failed to circulate the letter. However, before her death, she had won $750,000. in a lottery. [hypothetical]This change confuses the meaning of the testimonial since it is not clear if Mr. Welch ever got the money himself, and both good and bad luck are now going to his wife, yet he broke the chain. So this hypothetical version would have invited revision, such as adding "The money was transferred to him four days after he decided to mail out this letter." The fact that our earliest example of S$ uses "Cora Welch" instead of "Gene Welch" could only add to the gender confusion. In any case, this illustrates how a simple change, even a copying error, could provoke a lengthy addition.
Remarkably, this new version of
the Kiss letter, S$, captured the clade within a few years, as seen in
Table
6 above (< Occurrences).
From 1984 to 1998 there are 24 examples of S$ in the archive, but only
8 examples of H$. And H$ completely disappears from the archive by
1990. Careful comparison of letters bearing H$ and S$ reveals no new
variation on S$ letters, other than this modification to the Death and
Money testimonial, that could explain this. There is the usual
alternation between the self-reference "paper' and "letter", and a few
non-diagnostic additions like "The luck has now
been sent to you." So why did the S$ testimonial
get more people to copy a letter than the H$ testimonial?
We have already noted that a
threat to a family member may be more fearful than a threat to oneself.
But both H$ and S$ have that. Perhaps
the conversion to Copy First superstition in S$ made the testimonial
more effective, especially to the younger readers that may have
disproportionally circulated the Kiss title. But consider someone who
has never read the Death and Money testimonial before, or has but does
not remember it. There is a key difference between
H$
and S$ other than a gender shift. S$ mentions the winning of
a lottery - a first for the leading D block in the
ubiquitous
DL chain letter dynasty. Yes, Mrs. Welch wins and dies, but the
second fate is easily averted by distributing copies. And since
this lottery mention is much closer to the beginning of the letter
than the second in the L block (Boss
Wins Lottery),
many will read it who otherwise would have stopped reading before
even getting to the L block. Further, this winner is an Anglo woman,
instead of a Latino male, as "Constantine Diaz" is in the "L" block.
Thus with S$ there are more possibilities of a reader identifying
with the promise that the letter may help them win a lottery.
If a man is reading it, his wife may already be holding a lottery
ticket. Recall the "One
in a Hundred
Rule", all that is needed for a quota 20 chain
letter variation to become hyper-competitive is for one additional
person in a hundred to become fully compliant.
The Car
testimonial is usually self-dated 1987, and first appears in
our sample in July 1988, appended near the end of a Love titled letter [1988].
Not a single Love titled letter in the archive thereafter
fails to possess it! Despite this quick conquest of the Love
subtype, the Kiss titled letters persisted without Car. This supports
the above speculations that these two titles had a different audience,
perhaps differing by motive, age, or gender. If Kiss and Love had the
same motivational niche, Love & Car would have swamped Kiss
just like it did Love without Car ("No Car"). I discussed the
replicative advantages of Car in Section 3.6 (< Mainline
Testimonials).
For the table below I have
identified seven text alternatives which may distinguish Love-Car
examples from No Car. Thirteen chain letters which date from near the
advent of Car are checked for which alternatives are present on them.
Table
8. Text Alternatives for the Car Testimonial.
T1 = a: The luck has now
been sent to you.
T1 = b: The luck has been sent to you.
T2 = a: You will receive good
luck within four days of receiving this letter, providing you, in
turn, send it on.
T2 = b: You will receive good luck within
four days of receiving this letter, providing you send it on.
T3 = a: This is no joke. You will
receive it in the mail.
T3 = b: This is no joke. You will receive good luck
in the mail.
T4 = a: . . . in the mail. Send
copies to people you think need good luck.
T4 = B: . . . in the mail. Send no money. Send
copies to people you think need good luck.
T5 = a: While in the Philippines
Gene Welch lost his wife six
days after receiving the letter.
T5 = b: While in the Philippines, Gene Welch lost his wife 51
days after receiving the letter.
T6 = a: Since a copy must make
a tour of the world you must make twenty copies and
. . .
T6 = b: Since the copy must tour the world, you must make 20 copies,
and . . .
T7 = a: Please don't ignore this.
It works.
T7 = b: Do not ignore this. St. Jude.
It works.
Note: "St. Jude" is also added to top or
at the extreme bottom of some letters.
No. |
File
name |
Variation |
T1 |
T2 |
T3 |
T4 |
T5 |
T6 |
T7 |
1 |
le1983-06-13_dl_wl!_e |
Love -
No Car |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
2 |
le1985_dl_wl |
Love -
No Car |
a |
b |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
3 |
le1985-12_dl_wl_h2pp |
Love -
No Car |
a |
a' |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
4 |
le1986-05-08_dl_w-k' |
Love -
No Car |
b |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a' |
5 |
le1987-06_wlj! |
Love -
No Car |
a |
a |
b |
B |
a |
b |
b |
6 |
le1988_dl_wl |
Love -
No Car |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
a |
7 |
le1988-07_dl_wlc!j |
Love -
Car |
b |
b |
b |
B |
a |
b |
b |
8 |
le1988_dl_w(l)cj |
(Love)
- Car |
a |
a |
b |
B |
b |
x |
b |
9 |
le1989-03_dl_wlcj |
Love -
Car |
b |
b |
b |
b |
a |
b |
b |
10 |
le1989-07_dl_wlcj_rec-fate |
Love -
Car |
b |
a |
b |
B |
b |
b |
b |
11 |
le1989_dl_wlcj |
Love -
Car |
a |
a |
b |
B |
b |
b |
b |
12 |
le1990-01_dl_w'lcj |
Love -
Car |
a |
a |
b |
B |
b |
b |
b |
13 |
le1990-08_dl_wlcj |
Love -
Car |
a |
a' |
b |
B |
a |
b |
b |
First, note that the Car testimonial must have been added to a letter similar to #5 (le1987-06_wlj!) since this earlier letter introduces the alternatives T3=T6=T7=b and the diagnostic T4 = B seen later on the first Car in the archive, #7. T1=b and T2=b are also pre-linked to Car (on letters #2 and #4), and the earliest Car letters apparently had T5=a. So the first Car must have looked much like the No Car letter #5. This is fairly strong evidence that whoever placed the composed testimonial Car on a chain letter did not take the opportunity to make other changes in the letter. It also suggests that Car was placed on only one letter, for if it had been placed on two different circulating letters likely at least one of the text alternatives T3, T4, T6 or T7 would have had an "a" value. But there is no descendant of such a letter in the archive.
Did any of the seven text
alternatives on early Car contribute significantly to its impressive
replication? Alternatives
T1, T2, T3 and T6 are very likely neutral for propagation. Text alternative T4 = B above, the early "send
no money," is probably slightly positive for propagation
since it doubles and advances this universal
prohibition. It may have originated accidentally in re-typing,
first as an exact duplication of "Do not send money
.
. .", then edited to "Send no money" for stylistic
variety.
The text alternative T5=b, ("Gene
Welch lost his wife 51 days after receiving the
letter") was discussed previously (< 51
days). It was
not on the earliest Car letter in the archive, but appeared shortly
after (on #8) and likely became common as a post-linked rider on
the new testimonial.
The text T7=b ("St. Jude")
first appears in the archive on the No Car #5 [le1987-06_dl_wlj!].
The Car testimonial was first added on a letter close to this letter
and bearing "St. Jude". All Car letters thereafter
bore "St. Jude" except for a few deletions [1994,
1997]
and a Protestant substitution [1993].
There have also been a few
independent appearances of "St. Jude" [1991,
1992]
but none of these show up more than once in the archive. Thus by itself
Jude is unreliable to use for inferring phylogeny. It may have been
positive for propagation of the Car clade, or perhaps it was just
a pre-linked rider. On Mexican chain letters "St. Jude Thadeus"
appears to be an essential component. [1984,
1995]
But the appeal of St. Jude to Latin Americans may not be so
old. One informant called him the "Patron Saint of Anglos" in the
1950's. (Orsi)
6. Kiss jumps on top.
This examination of 1990's DL
letters has revealed at least five different transfers that both
replicated and
were collected for the archive. For the last two years of large
circulation, 1996 & 1997, the archive contains 28 DL luck
chain letters. Over half of these, 15, are descendants of one
of the above transfers. So letters with both titles present were
favored. Likely the
transfer of text from one chain letter to another was common behavior
throughout
the twentieth century, and was an important factor in chain letter
evolution. If paper luck
chain letters had sustained their circulation for another few
years, possibly the KLC transfers would have captured the entire
North American luck chain letter niche.
Despite the success of the DL type letters in the early 1990's, the circulation of all paper luck chain letters dramatically declined beginning in the late 1990's. The following table documents this with numbers from the Paper Chain Letter Archive.
Table 9. Numbers of English language paper luck
chain letters collected per year since 1995.
Year of circulation |
Mainline | Outliers |
1995 | 15 | 3 |
1996 | 20 | 0 |
1997 | 9 | 0 |
1998 | 1 | 2 |
1999 | 1 | 0 |
2000 | 0 | 1 |
2001 | 0 | 0 |
2002 | 0 | 0 |
2003 | 1 | 0 |
2004 |
3 |
1 |
2005 |
1 |
0 |
2006 |
0 |
0 |
2007 |
0 |
0 |
2008 |
1 |
0 |
2009 |
0 |
0 |
2010 |
0 |
0 |
2011 |
0 |
0 |
The last DL luck chain letter collected was titled "The
Financial Blessings Letter" [2008]. It retains all DL testimonials except the Unbeliever's
Death, deletes much other DL text (especially at the
beginning), and has rewrites to promise a divine monetary reward for
replication.
Though I reduced efforts to
collect paper chain letters after 1997, still, if their circulation had
been even at 10% of previous levels, many more would have been
collected than were. The term "chain letter" is now universally applied
to examples on the web, and authors often deem it necessary to explain
to their readers that this term once meant actual paper letters. The
primary cause for the disappearance of paper luck chain letters was the
rise of new communications technologies. Here are three suggestions on
how this operated.
(1) The flood of email
and internet luck chain letters immunized people, especially the young,
against the promises and threats of paper chain letters.
This was the basis of a 1995 prediction that "the familiar
'prayer' or 'good luck' type chain letters will totally disappear from
the US mail by the year 2000" [e1995-06].
The public is now far more skeptical about chain letters than it was
in, say, 1985.
(2) Compliant recipients
of a paper chain letter chose to fulfill its demand for copies by
sending it out in email form, or posting it on social media.
The effort and cost of complying electronically is minuscule compared
to the what is required to mail out twenty paper letters. Many chain
messages on the internet began as word for word transcriptions of paper
chain letters. A very early example is a standard DL letter with the
"Trust" title and the "It Works" postscript that appeared on the ARPA
net. [1982]
Email forwards used to list all the parties who relayed the message,
and comments by individual forwarders were preserved. On this example
we find a note stating: "This is the infamous ARPA-net chain
letter which caused much havoc a few years ago on the ARPA-net."
But it was not until the 1990's that personal computers proliferated
and numerous paper chain letters were shunted into the digital realm.
(3) Computerized search
technologies, such as Google, exposed recipients to critiques of chain
letters.
Prior to the internet, very few people were able to
access any comment at all on a chain letter they received. Not
so now. My ISP reports give
the search strings
used that led to someone accessing any of my web pages, including
the digitized texts of hundreds of chain letters. These reports confirm that receipt of a chain letter,
paper or not, often prompts people to search the Web with some
characteristic text from the letter. This was more frequent in years
past, especially for luck chain letters. Then the searcher was likely
to encounter unkind words about chain letters from a web vigilante.
Wasting "bandwidth" was the usual complaint. Both paper and cyber money
chain letters still circulate; an abundant example has the title "As
seen on Oprah and 20/20". My archive
entry for this chain letter shows up second in a Google
search using the title. After giving the text, this page presents an
analysis of the letter that discourages replication.
A century of denunciation failed
to eliminate paper luck chain letters (New York Times:
1916,
1917e,
1931,
1959b).
The Internet, email, and smart phones all but ended them in just a few
years.
< Start of above section < Start of Chain Letter Evolution - Contents
Daniel
W. VanArsdale
email: barnowl@silcom.com
Chain Letter Evolution (THIS
FILE): https://carryiton.net/chain-letter/evolution.html
The Paper Chain Letter Archive -
contents: https://caryiton.net/chain-letter/archive/!contents.html
Index page of Daniel W. VanArsdale: https://carryiton.net/index.html
Eat No Dynamite (A collection of college graffiti): https://carryiton.net/graffiti.htm
End: Chain Letter Evolution, Version 10/27/1998f
11/04/2002p
1/7/2007 12/9/2012
5/2013 6/2015
revised 3-1 10/2016. Hit counter uploaded 12/1998.