The Queen St Mystery
Sensational activity of a “jumbie” in a boarding house.
Furniture and crockery locomotes, and potatoes jump.
Mesmerist called in to lay the spook.
Port-of-Spain in general, and Queen street in particular, was muchly perturbed yesterday on account of the doings of an alleged “Jumbie” in a boarding house kept by Mrs Lorelhei in Queen street, between St Vincent street and Abercromby street.
The first intimation of abnormalities came about a week ago, when mysterious assailants started pelting the house with stones. This commenced last Sunday week. After this had gone on for two nights, the house was shut to the street from six o’clock onwards every evening – but still they came. Where from, nobody seemed to know exactly – they just arrived; they dropped on people in bed, and they disturbed the social circle after dinner. What was worse, the missiles increased in size daily. But this has paled into insignificance before the amazing happenings of yesterday.
Matters started to get lively at an early hour. At about seven o’clock in the morning, there was a sound as of smashing glass from one of the rooms. A young man who lives there got up to see what was the matter, and as he moved an ink well rose up from the table and whizzed past his face. He turned around to see who threw it, and a bird cage straightway detached itself from the wall and just dropped – that was all. The former was a bit mysterious, but the latter was easily explainable, and the young man made a mental note as he picked it up, that a fresh nail was desirable. Having formulated this opinion, he proceeded to find who had dropped the dishes which he heard smashed. He got to the sitting room just in time to see a chair heel over and fall. There was no one else in the room, and he was nowhere near it. The consequence wwas that he began to get rattled; this is not particularly surprising, for it is not the custom for respectable drawing-room furniture to locomote without visible agency of propulsion. That was all just then.
A well-known city doctor was in the house tending an invalid, and the affair was mentioned to him. He expressed amazement, and inwardly made extremely sceptical remarks concerning superstition, etc., etc. Then he turned to go. He got half way downstairs when there was a crash which brought him up with the proverbial round turn. He fetched round, went up again three at a time, and enquired what was happening. The lady of the house explained that just as she was about to drink her cafe au lait, the cup had risen up from the saucer, lit out for the ceiling and hit it in the far corner – witness, the cup and coffee both spilled over the floor. No sooner had the cup dropped, than a pan of milk, which was warming over the fire, made tracks across the floor, finished up by falling over itself, and wasting the milk. The doctor didn’t quite know what to do; but it was soon settled for him. As they spoke, there was another bang, this time from the front gallery; a big flower pot, containing a plant, and weighing about 20 pounds, had moved off the edge of the balustrading, and distributed itself over the floor. Now, in the first place it would take a tolerably good shot to hit it with a stone from the street, and in the second place, it’s pretty certain that no one shied at it, for they would have been seen. Furthermore, nothing short of a sixteen-pound shot would have moved it.
So the doctor simply marvelled – which was about the only thing to be done under the circumstances. Then he looked around the room. Two minutes elapsed. Then matters started humming again. A chair pirouetted around on one leg, and finished up by prostrating itself. Now, the doctor says he is prepared to swear that no one was in the room, and no one was in the gallery near the chair; there was no thread tied on to it, there were no electric wires, neither were there any pully blocks visible. He was trying very hard to digest that (the occurrence, not the chair), when a flower pot, standing on a table, gave a spasmodic heave, shook, progressed hurriedly for about two yards in a horizontal direction, and then it, too, lay down. The doctor marvelled some more, and came to the conclusion that this sort of entertainment was most engrossingly interesting, but just a wee bit beyond his ken. Professional duties prevented his staying there the whole morning, but before he went a decanter of water found time to roll off a shelf.
By this time the residents of the place felt scared, and somebody had hysterics. The news of the affair had spread, and a crowd, filled to the brim with curiosity and fearsome apprehension, but with a balance in favour of the former, had gathered outside. They talked in awesome stage whispers, huddled together, and listened for more music. Someone mentioned that there was a piano inside, and they seemed to expect that to walk over the gallery. It didn’t; but that is by the way. In the course of the morning, someone came round, said they knew all about that sort of thing, and would lay it. All that was necessary was for a pen, ink, and paper, to be laid on the table, when the jumbie would write its autograph. It didn’t; instead, the table started to cake walk, failed, fell, and the ink pot rolled around in a lovely circle, the inky track of which is still visible.
Two or three people had by this time gone upstairs to see what was the matter. One of them, a well-known and respected gentleman of the community, was standing in the room; two yards from him, in the middle of the apartment, was a rocking chair; three yards on the far side of it stood a girl. No one was near to it, and no one was moving. Suddenly that chair, without any preliminary warning, fetched a double somersault, backwards; it was going in the direction of the gentleman referred to, and as he did not feel at all certain as to the limits of its acrobatic propensities, he started to hurry, and kept on hurrying until he got clear of the house. All this was happening in the drawing room; but meantime a large mirror had marched across one ofthe bedrooms, and finished up its procession by dissecting itself into several pieces. In the kitchen was a basket of potatoes, and these, too, caught the infection. It was the same style of thing – inexplicable, unreasonable, and amazing locomotion. They suddenly started to hit upwards. One after another they hit the ceiling, and kept it up till the basket was empty. Then they were content to remain on the floor.
During the whole day large crowds stood outside and speculated, and inside vases dropped off tables at intervals of about half an hour. But in the evening a tonsorial artist from Frederick street announced his ability, and intention, of laying the spook. He talked learnedly of severing the connection between the dead and the living, of the possibility of the existence of a spiritualistic medium who was materialising the dead of magic circles, and magnetism, and other weird and uncanny things galore. He went, he saw, and – he did not exactly conquer. He formed a magic circle of about a dozen people, singled out a young man, mesmerised him, got him to sleep, and then awaited developments – but they did not develop. The sleeping man spoke not, and the mystery remained unsolved. Up to a late hour last night, things seemed to have quieted down somewhat; whether things have been happening overnight this morning will tell.
Jumbieism is the sort of thing which rational people feel themselves called upon to ridicule; the writer has heard of similar cases before, and he too, has ridiculed them. He had never come into actual contact with a case before, and when he heard of yesterday’s affair he laughed. But, although many people pooh pooh the thing from start to finish, although at least one local police officer has traced more than one similar case to very mundane sources – once it was a small boy with a pocket full of stones, and a habit of throwing dishes about when no one was looking – yet, in the light of what was stated by the medical man who actually saw these things happen yesterday, one is puzzled to decide how to deal with the case. To express the opinion that it is due to some supernatural agency, seems ridiculous, especially in this eminently materialistic age; and yet, we have the statement, made seriously and emphatically, by an educated, level-headed gentleman, that he actually saw these things happen as described, with no visible power of propulsion. He saw it closely, he examined it dispassionately, and he can sum up his feelings with no more lucidity than is contained in the remark “Well, it beats me.”
Col. Swain, Inspectors May and Greig, and Sub-Inspectors Thorn and Wilson visited the house in Queen Street yesterday morning, and a strong force of plain clothes men were stationed in and around the house. Col. Swain, who has deals with similar cases before, firmly believes that the whole affair is simply due to some trickery; his opinion is based upon experience, and will carry weight, but, all the same, the matter is, apparently, inexplicable – for the present, any way.
There is at present another case, though of milder calibre, at Belmont, where, in the middle of the night doors are unlocked, chairs start rocking, and there are mysterious noises. Yesterday pictures started coming down from the walls. This, however, is a much milder case than that in Queen street.
Mirror (Trinidad and Tobago), 21st November 1905.
The Queen Street Jumbie.
Cessation of hostilities.
Some past cases.
The inhabitants of No. 103, Queen street, had a respite yesterday from the excitement of the previous day, when an athletic jumbie amused itself by playing pitch and toss with furniture and crockery. The matter is still as far from solution as ever; it has been stated that another mesmerist had a go at it on Monday night, and contended that he had traced the trouble to the spirit of one of the two departed coolies who were recently hanged at the gaol.
Pending the potential resumption of hostilities in Queen street, it may not prove entirely uninteresting to recall one or two of the well authenticated cases which have occurred in Trinidad. Naturally, the present affair has produced unnumbered reminiscences, but, unfortunately, the majority of them, to put it in a mild way, are not to be relied upon.
Doubtless, the Dundonald street case of some 16 years ago will be plainly remembered by many of our readers. In that case, as in the present, furniture moved around without any apparent motive power, but on a very large scale. One of our representatives was yesterday in conversation with a man who was at the time a servant in the house, and he speaks with absolute positiveness of sideboards being tillted over bodily. This is corroborated by several people. In the same case, also, a sideboard was heard plainly to fall over in the middle of the night, and there was the resounding crash of the glass ware as it smashed. This was not heard by only one member of the household, but it woke up everybody sleeping there. Ultimately the persons residing in the house moved into Oxford street, but they were followed by the phenomena. As a result of the consequent fright, the daughter of the house was siezed with serious fits, and in the end the whole family left the colony.
Another case, similar in that it was utterly inexplicable, but differing in detail, is absolutely authentic. A lady, residing in Port-of-Spain, suddenly complained that some unknown and invisible person was inflicting blows on her. Her parents, with whom she resided, placed no credence in such a grossly improbable story, and put it down to delusions. But it was a serious matter for the victim, who became seriously ill as a result of the state of terror in which she lived. A medical practitioner – he is still practising in Port-of-Spain – attended her, but he was baffled. One afternoon he was at the house with the lady and her mother, talking over the mysterious occurence. Suddenly, without a word of warning, the young lady gave a shriek, and nearly fell from her chair. The next second she declared that she had been struck. They assured her that nothing had happened, and that no one had been. But, to their utter bewilderment and horror, within a few minutes, marks developed, and her face presented all the appearances usually connected with a blow from the open hand – there were four distinct weals, the marks of four fingers, and they did not disappear for two days.
It is but a few years ago that a case occurred in San Fernando – the same thing – furniture moving. But it was said that the house was haunted, and it remained untenanted until it crumbled away to ruins; no one would take it over.
Not so very many years ago things started happening in a house in Henry street, close to the rear of what is known as the Scotch Church. Stones came hurtling in through windows, and a priest was called in to exorcise the suspected evil spirit. No sooner had the priest entered than a particularly big stone hit him in the face, cutting him. That shook the belief of the residents in the efficacy of the priests, and they called in the police. That proved more effective, and three small boys were hauled up before the Magistrate for throwing stones from an adjacent roof.
Police were stationed in and around No. 103 Queen street on Monday, but they have been withdrawn, and the mystery is no nearer solution.
We might mention that the house in Belmont, referred to in yesterday’s edition of “The Mirror” as being the scene of unaccountable happenings, is built over a disused graveyard. An old Antiguan discussed the matter with one of our representatives yesterday. He was a bit sceptical and said that he had not been in the house. “No, suh,” he continued, “we doesn’t have anything of de sort in Antigua. A’ see some amazing t’ings in Antigua, but dey arl relijus dere; no jumbies, no obeah, nuttin’ supernatural, so to speak. But a lot o’ relijun yes. But since a’ come to Trinidad a’ hear ov nuttin’ but obeah and jumbies. A, suh, dat not at all wholesome; dis heah place a second Sodom and Gomorrah, suh!!”
Mirror (Trinidad and Tobago), 22nd November 1905.
The Queen Street Mystery.
The Grenada “Chronicle” on the subject.
The account of the weird, uncanny and mysterious things that have been coming to pass lately in a dwelling house in Port-of-Spain, which we reproduce will cause the nervous reader’s “Knotted and combined locks to part, And each particu’ar hair to stand on end.”
And when we give expression to the belief that the whole occurrence is due to supernatural agency, our sceptical and incredulous readers will no doubt stand amazed, and wonder how in an age like this we can believe such a thing! We think we behold them with up-turned lip sneeringly referring to us as superstitious and deluded. But be that as it may, until the causes of these extraordinary phenomena can be satisfactorily proved to be due to human agency we shall continue to regard them as attributable to causes beyond our ken. In the personal experience of the writer of these lines unexplainable manifestations similar to those reported from Trinidad have occurred in this island. In one instance, about thirty years ago, in his own house, bottles and glasses were hurled about by invisible hands, articles of furniture were turned topsy-turvy, and large stones were lodged in a third storey, approachable only by a narrow staircase, which was guarded at the time. This continued for some nights, and although every possible means was taken to discover the cause it has remained a mystery to this day.
We shall await with anxious interest the result of the investigation into the Trinidad mystery, and shall be surprised if the disturbances are traced to mundane influence.
Some years ago the Rev. F.G. Lee, D.C.L., published a work entitled “The Other World, or Glimpses of the Supernatural.” If any of our readers desire to have well authentical instances, both ancient and modern, of marvellous supernatural manifestations, we refer them to this work. – Grenada “Chronicle”.
Mirror (Trinidad and Tobago), 23rd December 1905.