Chapter 6. Poltergeist.
It was about three years ago that Lord Olivier, a former Governor of Jamaica, wrote to me: “The occasional outburst of this ‘poltergeist’ phenomenon in Jamaica is remarkable. I investigated with some care the evidence as to one case which occurred when I was in Jamaica and there have been very full reports in the local Press of another recent occurrence which seems to have been carefully investigated without detecting any possibility of corporeal agency.”
The later incident to which reference is made occurred at Roehampton, a little settlement in a remote mountain district of St James Parish. I was visiting Jamaica at the time and while I was not able to investigate the case personally for want of time, I afterwards collected from ‘The Daily Gleaner’ of Kingston, whatever had been published on the subject.
The first notice appeared in the issue of June 6, 1931, and ran as follows:
“Ghost mystery for the spiritualists. Unseen hands throw at girl all kinds of missiles from which there is no escape: she says she is controlled by spirit: Hammer tossed from her hand high in the air.
Sensation at Roehampton (From our correspondent). Mount Horeb, June 2.
Happenings of a mysterious nature are reported to be taking place in the teacher’s cottage at Roehampton, occupied by Miss Johnson, the teacher in charge of the school there. Miss Johnson lives with a girl about fourteen years old, named Muriel McDonald. About three weeks ago, it is said that some peculiar signs were seen, and heard, but after Saturday things reached a climax, so that the lady had been forced to leave the cottage and seek shelter elsewhere.
It is said, and by people of respectability whose words can be credited, and who have visited and seen for themselves, that stones are thrown into the house by unseen hands and hit the floor. In many cases a stone appears on the floor, and all of a sudden is lifted, hits the ceiling and rebounds with great force. In addition to stones, books, jars, powder-boxes, pans, and other vessels perform similar feats. Strange to say, wherever the little girl is, the stone-flinging is more prevalent, but she shows no signs of fear. At times she is hit – and hard too – but in spite of that goes around the house, and as she goes the missiles follow her. Miss Johnson is never hit although the stones and other articles drop near to her.
The girl states that she sees a ‘spirit’ and whenever she wants to make a report it waves to her to keep silent. On Sunday the girl took up a hammer to give to someone, and all of a sudden it was lifted out of her hands, and taken up a considerable height to fall near to her.
In house and kitchen there must be a number of persons surrounding her to protect her. People who have witnessed these mysterious acts, claim that they are the result of some ‘spirit’ working, as watch has been set, but no one has been seen doing these things. On Saturday and Sunday night, people kept ‘wake’ with Miss Johnson, so as to give her a chance to sleep, and the girl too, but even during sleep, sacks are lifted and stones are flung. As before stated, Miss Johnson has had to leave the cottage, and many are trying to solve this mystery.”
On June 12, we find this continuation of the story, in ‘The Daily Gleaner’.
“Mysterious happenings at Roehampton. Siege of ‘spirits’ of teacher’s cottage has become worse and no solution. Work of unseen hand. Eye-witnesses tell of alarming state of affairs. What girl victim says. (From our Correspondent) Mount Horeb, June 8.
Each day the mysterious happenings at the teacher’s cottage at Roehampton occupied by Miss C.E. Johnson, the headmistress of the school there, become more puzzling and serious. There has been no cessation of what was already reported in Saturday’s issue of ‘The Gleaner’ and up to this there seems no other solution of the mystery than that a ‘spirit’ is responsible for all that is happening. Day by day scores of people flock to this haunted house and each one who visits becomes an eye-witness of the events, and the experts no longer doubting the authenticity of the rumours but puzzled by this question: ‘What is responsible for all this?’
Saturday, Sunday and Monday were the worst days of a bad lot. People congregated in the house on Sunday in exceedingly large numbers and as many knelt on their knees to pray, stones, bottles, bricks and gravel were hurled at them, so that in this case prayer did not frighten the ‘unwelcome visitors.’ Eye-witnesses state that they have seen lamps lifted off tables and fall to the ground. On the first occasion they are uninjured but if taken up by someone and replaced, they soon fall with a greater force and shatter in a hundred pieces.
One part of the house made of Spanish wall, is now broken down by the Spirit, and the stones and marl are used to throw on the occupants of the house, whether they be Miss Johnson, Muriel McDonald or any visitor. One boy, Martel Hurlock, declared that he took up a special stone dropped in the house, wrote his name on it, and flung it away. In a comparatively short time, the same stone came back into th ehouse hitting the ceiling with lightning velocity and falling to the ground. He took up the stone, flung it away a second time and again it returned. Others present at the time confirm this declaration.
One Gerald Birch declared he got a severe blow on his hand, when he went to the house to see for himself. These are some of the happenings as told by eye-witnesses. 1. A lamp was seen to go through a very small hole, and when taken up and fitted to the hole, it could not pass through again. 2. A stone of about half a pound weight was thrown through a pane of glass and the glass was not smashed. 3. One Astley Lewis took off his shoes in the house and soon after one disappeared, was seen to ‘fly’ at a terrific speed and hit a girl at his side. 4. Stones drop into the house coming to all appearances through the roof of the house.
Muriel McDonald, the girl who is the target of the ‘sprit’ was seen and interviewed by our correspondent. She is a young girl, just left school and of a fair complexion. This is what she said: “I can see a spirit. When I was living at Maforta I saw one. I see all the time in and around the house a tall man dressed in white and wherever I go on the premises he follows me. I see no sign, but as soon as I return to Miss Johnson’s place, the stone-flinging begins. One day last week I saw him cringing at Miss Johnson’s back-door. I flung a stone at him and set the dog after him. He ran into the bushes but returned later on in the afternoon. Another day I climbed a breadfruit tree and I saw him standing at the foot of the tree. He beckoned to me to come down. When I did come down, he waved his hand as if sending me away. Another day I saw him standing at the latrine door to block my entrance inside. I have never seen him fling a stone, but I know it is he.”
Continuing, she said: “I am many times hit with all kinds of missiles. I was hit on the elbow of my right hand with a stone which inflicted a wound (wound seen). He oftentimes knocks my tea out of my hand, throws marl onto my head, pinches me and hits me otherwise. He took out of my hand a piece of breadfruit one morning. He took a pint bottle and hit me over my forehead, and took the lamp out of my hand on various occasions. At nights on entering my room I feel a bit afraid but otherwise I am all right. I love Miss Johnson and I do not mean to leave her.”
Our correspondent did not see Miss Johnson as she had left from Saturday and has not yet returned. The girl cannot be left alone when on the premises. Outside the house stones are thrown at her, inside the kitchen, bricks, and in the house, lamps, bed key [sic], socks, bottles and shoes are thrown. What will eventually happen is left to be seen, and the position of Miss Johnson is certainly not an enviable one.”
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The next report appears in ‘The Daily Gleaner’ for June 18, 1931 as follows.
“The ‘Stone-throwing Ghost’ of Mount Horeb (sic). What is the truth of the mysterious happenings in district in St James? Pictures of scene. Hunting and persecution of girl, Muriel McDonald, and Miss Johnson.
What is the truth of the ghostly happenings at the little village of Mount Horeb in St James? Is the girl, Muriel McDonald, the subject of some cunning and malicious human persecution? Or are the thrown stones, the moving objects which follow her wherever she goes, propelled by some agency beyond our ken, beyond the borderland of this world? Such questions must inevitably arise in the mind on reading the accounts we have published of the recent ghostly happenings at the house of Miss Johnson, where Muriel McDonald lives, at Mount Horeb. Today we publish photographs, specially taken for this paper, of the haunted house, and the two girls, Miss Johnson and Muriel McDonald, the subjects of the ghostly persecution.
Main happenings: Briefly, the main happenings consist in the hurling of stones on the house by unseen agency; stones and objects such as lamps, books, etc., in the house rising of their own accord and hitting the ceilings and floors of rooms, and also hitting persons in the house. The happenings centre around Muriel McDonald, a fourteen years old girl, sturdy, unimaginative, and of good and gentle disposition, who lives in the house with Miss Johnson, teacher in charge of the school in the district. The occurrences only take place when Muriel is about; she is the chief target of the missiles, and has many times been struck and hurt by them.
What Muriel says: Here is what the haunted girl herself says about it all. (Then follow verbatim the statement as it appeared in ‘The Gleaner’ of June 12th. The account continues:)
Eye witnesses’ stories: Literally hundreds of people have visited the scene and here are some eye-witnesses’ stories of what is happening, as told to our own correspondent. (And then follow further quotations from the correspondent’s report in ‘The Gleaner’ of June 12th. The account closes as follows:)
What is the truth? This is not the first time similar happenings have occurred in the island – indeed, these hauntings, of which stone-throwing is the principal feature, are fairly frequent here. What is the truth of it all? Shall we ever find out?”
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A few observations are here called for. In the first place, with the exception of the photographs, this article adds little of real value to what has already appeared in the communications from the Mount Horeb local correspondent of ‘The Daily Gleaner’. In fact in two places without reference or other credit being given, it copies verbatim from the report that had appeared in the issue of June 12th. Further it attributes the whole incident to Mount Horeb, the residence of the correspondent, in place of Roehampmton, which is located about five miles distant. Hence we may safely conclude that the article was actually drawn up in the office of ‘The Daily Gleaner’ from data already furnished by the Mount Horeb corrrespondent. Consequently it adds no new value to the evidence already given beyond the apparent acceptance of the facts as true on the part of newspaper staff.
Secondly, the general style as well as the slip regarding the locality of the happenings which is repeated, would indicate that the writer of the article was also the author of the Editorial which appeared in ‘The Gleaner’ two days later, and which will shortly be reproduced.
Thirdly, it should also be noticed that in the present incident as told, physical harm was suffered by Muriel McDonald when hit by stones, which goes counter to the general principle assumed regarding Jamaica poltergeist, that even when struck by large stones, one suffers no injury.
Fourthly, and this is of real value, we have the clear statement towards the close of the article that poltergeist phenomena in Jamaica are not infrequent, or as it is expressed, “these hauntings, of which stone-throwing is the principle feature, are fairly frequent here.”
The Editorial to which reference had already been made appeared in ‘The Gleaner’ of June 20, 1931, as follows:
“The Ghost of Mount Horeb.
The attitude of mind of the public, and we are speaking now of the educated public, towards the strange occurrences at Mount Horeb is, in general, one of amused, but, none the less, slightly uneasy scepticism. This seems to us rather a pity; it seems to us the attitude of the savage, the fool, or the child, who laughs at whatever he cannot understand. An attitude of attentive, scientific interest would be much more what we should expect from the intelligent section of this community – for it is the only attitude which can possibly result in anything helpful to the solution of the problem. For it is a problem, and a very serious one.
Either these occurrences are the result of a malicious and criminal persecution of a highly ingenious nature, or they are manifestations of forces outside our understanding and control. Either hypothesis seems to us to call for serious inquiry and attention, rather than an affected and perhaps fearful disregard. We should like to see the authorities take the matter in hand seriously and make a full and official published report on the occurrences themselves, rather than leaving what seems to us a series of most significant phenomena entirely uninvestigated.”
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I heard at the time that the writer of this Editorial had to stand the playful chaffing of his friends for having disclosed his honest opinion too freely for his own peace or comfort. Accordingly, I was not surprised to find another Editorial appearing on July 6, 1931, and almost apologising for having regarded the incident as possibly of preternatural origin. This second Editorial, in part, runs as follows:
“These strange things.
The recent extraordinary happenings at the residence of a certain teacher in the country may perhaps have caused some people to scoff, but others… would like to see these things entirely investigated, and in the meantime prudently suspend their judgement… A good deal more is known today about abnormal psychology than was the case forty years ago. Perhaps the outstanding achievement has been to demonstrate the fact that it is unwarrantable to jump to a supernatural or miraculous interpretation of something that we fail here and now to understand. Weights are lifted by unseen hands; objects rise to the ceiling, apparently of their own accord; stones mysteriously are thrown. Such things, it is alleged, have happened in Jamaica during the past few weeks, and there are other well attested cases of occult phenomena.
A Catholic priest, who died during the influenza epidemic of 1918, once told us that on a certain occasion a woman was, in his presence, apparently thrown on the ground and soundly belaboured; she bore on her body marks of the beating she had received from some agency which, though invisible, seemed well able to exercise a good deal of physical violence. This incident happened in one of the country parishes; similar things have taken place in Haiti and in other countries – in fact, according to those who claim to have witnessed them, they are taking place all the time. What is the explanation? Ghosts? ‘Duppies’? Devils? Or, in the case mentioned, was it merely an epileptic fit, the effect of the ‘blows’ being due to auto-suggestion, just as a hypnotized person can be made to get drunk on water, if told that it is rum or whiskey? We do not think that in such cases one should fly to the supernatural for an explanation; this is not to deny the existence of another world, but is really in accord with the normal scientific way of interpreting phenomena. That certain things do not appear to fit into the picture of nature that man has constructed for himself proves that the picture is either faulty or incomplete; and the only way to overcome this defect is to study the facts patiently. This of course implies that fact must be distinguished from imagination; not everything that a witness believes to have occurred, actually did occur. In other words, the ordinary laws of evidence are the only safe guide in interpreting such matters. Our personal impressions is that a good deal of the occult phenomena in Jamaica as in other lands will one day be satisfactorily explained in terms of abnormal psychology.”
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Before commenting on the editorial, let me close the case of the happenings at Roehampton from the historical standpoint. I recently wrote to the Editor of ‘The Daily Gleaner’ asking him to let me k now if any official investigation was ever held and what was the upshot of the whole incident. In the absence of the Editor, his assistant kindly answered: “With regard to the Muriel McDonald incident, I am informed that the girl was persuaded to leave her residence and on her leaving the stone throwing ceased. No official investigation was held. It seemed to have been one of the usual cases of playing on the superstitious fears of the occupants of a dwelling.”
In the investigation of phenomena of any kind, the editorial writer in ‘The Gleaner’ is correct in assuming that ordinarily supernatural agencies are not to be ascribed as long as there is any possibility of a natural explanation. Not merely the exigencies of science but common sense itself demands such a mode of procedure. On the other hand, it is equally unscientific as it is directly opposed to sound common sense to start out with the supposition that the supernatural is absolutely impossible and that therefore there must be a natural explanation for every phenomenon. For on some occasion it may be possible to prove that the effect transcends any possible natural cause and that consequently some supernatural influence must be postulated. So, too, it happens now and then that while we may not definitely say that some particular phenomenon is supernatural, on the other hand we cannot possibly say that it is purely natural.
Nevertheless, we must be slow, especially in individual cases, to invoke supernatural agencies as explanatory causes without real need and sound proof. As regards the happenings at Roehampton, for example, too much credence is not to be placed in the exactness of the newspaper correspondent, especially as the account was written five miles from the scene of the phenomena and seemingly on mere hear-say evidence. Nowhere do we find any indication of the necessary investigation and sifting of testimony, nor does the writer offer a single word of evidence based on personal observation, despite the fact that the correspondent does interview the apparent victim, Muriel McDonald. Neither does the newspaper staff give indication of being on the spot at any time, except for the photographs when both the dwelling and the two occupants in separate poses are all in a state of peace and calm, and which might easily have been acquired by mail.
That many strange things did happen at Roehampton, we may safely admit. But we are left absolutely in the dark as regards the part trickery or imagination might have played in the reports which did not suffer in the telling as they travelled the five miles from Roehampton to Mount Horeb, to say nothing of the possible finishing flourishes that might earn a few extra half-pennies for the correspondent who knew what would please the reading public. So, too, with the many other examples of poltergeist which “are fairly frequent,” in Jamaica, as ‘The Gleaner’ remarked. With the exception of the case officially investigated by Lord Olivier while he was Governor in Jamaica, I know of no instance that was authoritatively examined, nor have I at hand the particulars of the single verified incident. Usually one must rely on information on the more or less incoherent testimony of a wrought-up, hysterical group of witnesses who even in their normal state are over-inclined to see the supernatural in every event that varies ever so little from the customary norm of experience. I do not on that account ascribe all examples of poltergeist in Jamaica to hallucination or hysteria. Far from it. On more than one occasion I have had the suspicion if not the conviction, that some unnatural force was asserting itself, although I would be reluctant in any individual case to say definitely that we were dealing directly with the supernatural.
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As related in Voodoos and Obeahs, shortly before I left Jamaica in 1917, I was on the outskirts of a notorious obeah district. It was up in the mountains that are located in the corner of St Mary’s Parish near where it joins St Catherine’s. A non-Catholic came to me and asked me to go with him and bless his house. For, he said, his children were starving, as they could not eat. According to his story, someone had put obi on them and when they tried to eat, the food would fly up and hit them in the face, and they could not get it into their mouths. Naturally I gave little credence to the story but I mounted my horse and followed the poor fellow who was certainly deeply distressed. On reaching his house I found the entire village in a state of panicky hysteria. A large group was gathered about the house and men, women and children were in perfect agreement in their testimony of what had happened, and all supported what the man had told me. It all gave such a diabolic impression that I did not feel justified in provoking the Evil One to an exhibition merely to satisfy my curiosity, so I blessed the house and took my departure without actually witnessing the display myself.
The word poltergeist means, of course, a noise ghost, but I have always felt that it ismore suitably rendered as a ‘rough-house’ ghost, on account of the general disorder it usually stirs up, especially in its Jamaican manifestation. Thus many of the examples of phenomena quoted in the previous chapters strictly speaking should be classified under poltergeist manifestations.
The Ashanti commonly associated with the suman or fetish the mmoatia or little people. These strange creatures are sometimes referred to as being ‘exceeding swift and used by devils and wizards as messengers,’ or again as ‘the speedy messengers of the gods who go and come like the wind.’ They may aptly be termed imps or fairies according as they are in the service of Sasabonsam and his abayifo on the one hand, or of the abosom, or minor deities on the other.
These interesting creatures are thus described by Captain Rattray: “The most characteristic feature of these Ashanti ‘Little folk’ – the word mmoatia probably means ‘the little animals’ – is their feet, which point backwards. They are said to be about a foot in stature, and to be of three distinct varieties: black, red, and white, and they converse by means of whistling. The black fairies are more or less innocuous, but the white and the red mmoatia are up to all kinds of mischief, such as stealing housewives’ palm-wine and the food left over from the previous day. Of these same little folk, A.W.Cardinall writes: “All over the hinterland and in the forest zone the belief in the existence of dwarfs, elves, pixie-folk – call them what you will – is to be found. These are sometimes visible, but more usually not. They are shaped like human beings and have all the attributes of man. They are pre-eminently mischief-workers, and are said to ‘throw stones at one as one passes through the ‘bush’. That expression I have never fathomed. It is implicitly believed in. Moreover, these little men are blamed frequently for unexpected births; they ‘change’ children; they make them crazy or deformed. In Ashanti they are called mmoatia, in the Northern Protectorate they are chichiriga; or dialect varieties of that term.”
In Jamaica, these little folk with their stone-throwing propensity and all, are included in the generic term of duppies, but I have never heard any reference to their characteristic of having their feet pointing backwards. While stone-throwing is not an invariable element in poltergeist, it is of such common occurrence that in the Jamaica ‘bush’ it is seldom wanting. Popular opinion has come to ascribe certain general propensities to the missiles of the duppies which may be thus enunciated. The stones may come from any possible direction or from various directions at one and the same time. Or, again they may seem to come from nowhere at all – simply materialising out of nothing.
The source of supply may be a tree at some distance, where careful examination shows that there is no human being in the tree or along the line of fire. Stones may come through the roof without leaving any break or hole. They may pass through the window-pane without shattering the glass. They may come into a room and without striking any object turn at a right angle or even partially retrace their course in order to reach a particular individual who seemingly is the object of the bombardment, and who can find no nook or corner where the stones cannot reach him. In short, these duppy-flung stones are apt to do anything that a well-behaved stone is supposed not to do, and above all even when weighing several ounces and after a flight through the air of a hundred feet or more, and squarely hitting some individual about the head, absolutely no wound or mark is left in consequence.
A favourite story, met with throughout the ‘bush’, tells of the writing of one’s name upon a stone that has just forced its presence on you, then as you throw it out into the most impossible places, to test the reality of his Duppyship, it invariably comes back to you with or without the compliments of Mr Duppy. This is only one of the many ‘bush’ tales that are current about these pestiferous stone-throwers. Needless to say, there are many cases reported that are clearly the effect of a nervous imagination. The first rainy season that I was in the ‘bush,’ I was living in a substantial house with a stone foundation. Land crabs that had been flooded out of their burrows became a perfect pest. Some took refuge in the underpinning of the house and scrambled along the timbers with their heavy shells knocking in such a way that they produced as perfect an imitation of duppy-rappings on the floor as any high-strung nervous system could desire or rather dread. Then some venturesome fellow would find his way up onto the roof of corrugated zinc, with subsequent scratching of slipping claws and continuous knocking of the awkward body, so that, even when you knew the cause, there could be no rest until you dislodged the crab and brought him back to earth. To the uninitiated such sounds as these might easily give rise to gruesome stories of duppy-haunted houses.
Naturally, too, there are cases of out-and-out imposition due to malicious mischief when human hands have cast stones upon the roof or into houses. But when all has been said and every allowance made for human ingenuity, I am forced to admit that I have on occasions failed completely in my endeavour to find a natural explanation of some of these phenomena.
Psychic Phenomena of Jamaica, JJ Williams (1875 -1940), first published 1934.