Valley Versus Vector: Folk Horror of the Willamette Valley

Jahan Brian Ihsan presents a psychoanalytic folk horror novel that examines abjection and bodily transgression through the lens of ecological mysticism. The narrative follows Ellis Horning, a nurse at Christ Hospital in Oregon, whose psyche fractures after a necrophilic rupture with a deceased patient. This event opens a conduit to a sentient bacterial intelligence called the Christ Contagion. The story traces Ellis’s descent into a hallucinatory communion with the river's divine ecology, driven by childhood guilt and a metaphysical infection that reconfigures identity. The text builds on Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection within a folk horror setting. It moves between the landscapes of Corvallis, Oregon, and Greenville, South Carolina, exploring the limits of the human condition. The work is organized as a descent into the horror of becoming, blending psychological breakdown with supernatural elements rooted in specific geographic locations. This book suits readers interested in psychoanalytic theory applied to folk horror and ecological themes. It may not appeal to those seeking traditional jump scares or straightforward plot resolutions without philosophical underpinnings. The narrative demands attention to its exploration of bodily transgression and the intersection of mental health with supernatural forces.