Allamagoosalum: Real or a creation of Stephen King?
For years now, I've been trying to track down the answer to this question, and I thought I'd try here because everyone here is so helpful. ^_^
I'm trying to find out what an Allamagoosalum is. The only place I've ever seen this term is in several Stephen King stories. Characters in his books have mentioned that it is a boogeyman, present in the folklore of the Micmac Indians.
After much research, I am just about convinced that Stephen King made this thing up as some sort of in-joke of his work. I believe this because no one seems to be able to find any information on the thing (others across the internet have taken on this same search, I've come to find out), and because of a short story written by Eric Frank Russell. The story, published in 1955, is called "Allamagoosa," which is a nonsense word that one would call something when you don't know what it's actually called (like "doohicky," "thingamajig," etc.). It seems natural, then, that King could have read this story and named his boogeyman after it.
But then I started thinking, what if the slang "allamagoosa" comes from a real Micmac Indian word? Everything has its origins somewhere. So, I'm confused and unsure of my logic again.
Any light that can be shed on this subject would be appreciated.
Searched: Google and Wiki, using terms Allamagoosalum, Allamagoosa, Micmac Indian legends, and combinations of all. Also looked at numerous American Indian websites and books.
I'm trying to find out what an Allamagoosalum is. The only place I've ever seen this term is in several Stephen King stories. Characters in his books have mentioned that it is a boogeyman, present in the folklore of the Micmac Indians.
After much research, I am just about convinced that Stephen King made this thing up as some sort of in-joke of his work. I believe this because no one seems to be able to find any information on the thing (others across the internet have taken on this same search, I've come to find out), and because of a short story written by Eric Frank Russell. The story, published in 1955, is called "Allamagoosa," which is a nonsense word that one would call something when you don't know what it's actually called (like "doohicky," "thingamajig," etc.). It seems natural, then, that King could have read this story and named his boogeyman after it.
But then I started thinking, what if the slang "allamagoosa" comes from a real Micmac Indian word? Everything has its origins somewhere. So, I'm confused and unsure of my logic again.
Any light that can be shed on this subject would be appreciated.
Searched: Google and Wiki, using terms Allamagoosalum, Allamagoosa, Micmac Indian legends, and combinations of all. Also looked at numerous American Indian websites and books.