TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FOLKLORE CHARACTERS AND TALES

[mitsuboi]

story from mih dadz...........one night b4 dey went hunting one of d neighbor tell dem if dey see a manicou behind a certain man house doh shoot it or run it dwn.........so 2 o'clock in d mornin dey forget wa d neighbor say and see d manicou and shoot at it and run it dwn....sure enough d manicou run inside d man backyard.....as soon as dey reach up to d man property d man come outside asking wa dey doing here....but mih fadda dem find it strange d man house close up and all d light off ...like wtf he doing outside da hr ...

nex day d man telling d neighbor ....boi dem fellas almost shoot me last night

morale of d story .....man was a lugarhoo (laga-who)

[ironman2012]

A neighbour told me some years ago that a cat always used to come in his kitchen and thief meat and things to eat,1 day he set ah trap and caught d cat and started to beat it merciless,he say d cat start to bawl like a child and and start to talk and apologize and say he wouldn't do it again,he say from dat day he started to fraid cats.

I didnt doubt it cause south had level obeah longtime.

[meccalli]

Well that exact laughing/gold teeth manicou story ..grandmother tell me that all the time. My grandfather went to fish in teh swamp and raise a patch of bush while he was in the water and saw eyes and end in the hospital. At one time he was under a sort of routine of going downstairs in teh middle of the night and throwing water for a spirit.

My grandmother had a wierd one where she said her mother(thas rell years) saw a child wrapped up at the side of the road and they took it home and began to feed it but it wouldn't stop crying and as they kept feeding it , it began to grow until it stood up and told them to take it right back where they found him. weird sht yes..my dad also tell me he used to see a lone douen by hot and cold river mouth while growing up.

[K74T]

lots of cool stories in here, bros

[trini mk5]

Its amazing what a lil whiteoak and puncheon will do

[nos_specialist]

An owner of a big stationary company in south...he has 3 sons and a daughter,
one of the son went to venezuela and end up bringing back a spanish ting to live with him, She didnt like the daughter very much..

the daughter get, reaaaaaaaaalllllllllll sick....local doctors cudnt find the problem and they fly shy out,
foreign doctors cudnt find d problem..so the father, owner of the business, hindu btw, brought the girl to the church up on my side..

the Pastor, puh d girl to sit down, and start to talk to she.....she start to talk to the pastor, in a different voice IN FLUENT spanish...d man pray for d girl and ting, and budow..chile good, Pastor say somebody work ah ting on she...d son suspect its the spanish girl so he ship she back to venezuela

[trini mk5]

^^ah hope he eat ah food before he send she back

[d spike]

I know this will sound a bit silly, but I have always resented the inclusion of foreign folklore into our own folklore. This is silly, for our own folklore was constructed and coloured by foreigners bringing their own stories and adding to the glorious mix that the OP is (quite rightly) afraid is being lost...
For starters, "duppies" and "bucks"... dem eh from here... (and the older word for "buck" is "bacco-man" - pronounced "back-oo", as in "hoot" - and is Guyanese folklore.) The "Duppy" originated wherever the Dutch settled - clearly not in Trinidad... but Tobago had Dutch Courlanders - Tobago culture is different to Trinidad culture, and their folklore is different as well. Mermaids, for example... clearly the old English influence - but Tobago mermaids are all men, eh...

Another grouse I have, is the assumed need to further colour our folklore (as though our original stuff isn't fantastic enough) by self-aggrandized writers who think that in order to perpetuate our glorious stories, they are justified to add imaginary crap (remember, in their stuffy minds our folklore is imaginary crap anyway, so adding more can't hurt)... It would serve us and our future generations better if these "arm-chair guardians" would just do a little more research, and record rather than create our people's stories.

The "lagahoo" does not "turn from the waist down" - he turns completely. The choice of beastie seems to be quite optional, but some have favourite animals. One old boy in Matelot preferred the manicou, and I could never figure out why, as this animal was a common target for all would-be hunters (and that's everybody, where I come from). He stopped using this form in '92 as another old lad (who recognized him, and wasn't a fan of his) waited for him one night with a "mounted" stick. The cut-arse had the ex-manicou limping for days.

The La Dialesse is a beautiful woman - the source that a tuner quoted which said she isn't is one of those "arm-chair guardians" referred to earlier. The only clue to what she really is, apart from her fantastic allure, is "she cow-foot" - which somehow is NEVER spotted in the presence of other people...
After the fool is lured away, then the foot might be spotted - which is awkward, as she dresses in the full costume of the "belle" (the "Martiniquian" style which all coloured women adopted as their own, whether they were selling in the market, or strolling in the evening - which just goes to show you the mix our culture is made up of...)
...but one could be saved by making the sign of the cross, or by simply lighting a flame (thank God for cigarettes) which would also cause her face to appear as an old hag...
If one should meet a La Diablesse on the road, then as long as you don't talk to her, she will have no power over you.

Someone mentioned "turning gumbo"... A "ghombey", or rather, a "ghombey-igleisi" (my guess at the spelling - I suspect it is Spanish in origin) is a person who has the ability to enter people's houses without opening doors, normally to have his way with a desired female (there is no enjoyment or awareness on her part)... "Turning" is the old phrase attributed to the "Lagahoo"...

[d spike]

These original folklore characters were taught to us by the older folks... did they have a reason for these stories? Was it to keep the younger, wilder ones in check? I think so...

Consider the life in those days... and think about it. Information was only acquired by listening to your elders and betters...

The only real entertainment was when a fete or party was held (not the kind of thing allyuh call fete, eh... a fete was a dance held in the open... in the road or a savannah) and young men walked for miles from other villages to get a chance to catch the eye of some maiden.
Afterwards a logistical problem always occurred. How to get all these young people home in the dark without any unfortunate occurrences due to raging hormones? The luckier ones would either have family to stay by, or a relative with a cart as transport... but walking along the darkened roadway was the norm for many.
What better way to protect a young man (and his reputation) from misadventure by filling his head with stories about fellows led astray to their deaths by talking to strange, pretty ladies at night on the road? Bet your bottom dollar he hauling his arse straight home... faster still if he thought he saw a La Diablesse along the way...
Think how the figures of molestation, harassment and rape would decrease drastically if young men nowadays still believed in the existence of La Diablesse...

The frequent visiting of other villages on evenings, as pleasant as this could be for a young man, would cause his family a certain degree of concern. The telling of the stories about the road-straddling "Phantom" (the tall moko-jumbie spirit, who stood with one foot on either side of the road, waiting to merrily squash an unwary traveler) would likely curtail the fervour of making late-night trips...

For little children who were fond of playing outside, the regular telling of stories about douens would keep their tails close to home... better still if granny would recall from time to time, the little child she knew well, who ("just like YOU" -with a pointed finger and a sad shaking of the head) liked to stray, and one day never came back, lost forever in the bush...

For young lads who enjoyed going to the river and playing perilously close to bodies of water (causing parents to panic) the stories of water-spirits played a worthy role... I wonder how many young ladies were spared of being aware of the ignoble situation of being discovered bathing in a more private (a rather naive thought on their part) part of a river by a young fellow, who upon spotting the female form, was filled with silent dread of being seen in turn by the unaware creature, and quietly crept away...
Certainly the stories of a malevolent Mama d' L'eau curtailed a good few river adventures and crayfish hunts...

Speaking of hunting... the young man who loved this sport would be under undue pressure to lessen this activity. I will just mention the name Papa Bois, or Daddy Buchon, and that will suffice...
The knowledge of having to sleep outside if it is suspected that a jumbie followed you home from the forest (opening the door in this situation was an action known - and often proclaimed - by all old women, especially one's mother, to doom all the household instantly) would keep plans for venturing late deep into the forest in check.

And the Lagahoo... who would walk through the village, dragging chains, buck-naked, with a coffin on his head... and if you should spy him, you would instantly be placed under his spell for the rest of your life...
What better way to ensure the safe transportation of boxes of bottled bush-rum through the village? Strip naked, put the box on your head (standard method of carrying it anyway) and walk. The clinking of the bottles (chains???) will make sure whoever hears you will not dare attempt to see you, and whoever might glimpse you will dare not attempt to see any more of the affair... and their description of the matter will certainly be most distant to what they actually saw...

Stories of Mama Malady kept maccosious young people's eyes indoors when bawling was heard outside. This was the spirit of the woman who died in childbirth, and searches for her baby. If you make the mistake of peering outside when she is heard crying, she would snatch you and go 'way wit' yuh... (Of course, older heads could look outside to view the source of the commotion, as they were able to "protect" themselves, but you kept your arse inside. Imagine how much "people business" was protected from the wagging tongues of the younger generation...)

[qwerty]

interesting topic...
i remembered several years ago , i went to a wake in St Helena and was driving home alone passing through the whole south bank road (Kelly Vlg etc). i remembered that on approaching the Caroni Cremation site about 100m or so, some of the street lamps along that strip were out..,,
anyways, i was driving about 40mph or so when from a distance, i saw a white glare at the right side of the road..
on approaching about 30m before the actual cremation grounds, i distinguished that it was in fact a woman of east indian decent, probably no more that 35yrs, clad in a white dress flagging me down.

my body got the immediate jitters and fright stepped in...because it was horribly dark and there was no nearby housing along that strip of road...,anyway as i passed the said "woman," i
looked in the right wing view mirror and saw no one.
i looked in the left wing view mirror to see if she had crossed the road and again i saw no one, then i looked in the inside rear view mirror and saw her in the fcuking back seat..
i almost sh!t my pants...,
(doh worry didn't drink in d wake)
i just chant my prayers aloud (being afraid to look again in the rear mirror..,but i did) and d jumbie was gone.

i never forget that jumbific experience

[Mercenary]

good stories .....but pictures would be great.

[rfari]

:shock: interesting topic...
i remembered several years ago , i went to a wake in St Helena and was driving home alone passing through the whole south bank road (Kelly Vlg etc). i remembered that on approaching the Caroni Cremation site about 100m or so, some of the street lamps along that strip were out..,,
anyways, i was driving about 40mph or so when from a distance, i saw a white glare at the right side of the road..
on approaching about 30m before the actual cremation grounds, i distinguished that it was in fact a woman of east indian decent, probably no more that 35yrs, clad in a white dress flagging me down.

my body got the immediate jitters and fright stepped in...because it was horribly dark and there was no nearby housing along that strip of road...,anyway as i passed the said "woman," i
looked in the right wing view mirror and saw no one.
i looked in the left wing view mirror to see if she had crossed the road and again i saw no one, then i looked in the inside rear view mirror and saw her in the fcuking back seat..
i almost sh!t my pants...,
(doh worry didn't drink in d wake)
i just chant my prayers aloud (being afraid to look again in the rear mirror..,but i did) and d jumbie was gone.

i never forget that jumbific experience

That scare me hoss. Wasn't expecting that nah.

Nice Dougla Boi.... lets make this even better by getting some drawings.... and if we can get some that are unique to Tobago..

f*q dat. I wha see rell pics.

[K74T]

[De Dragon]

She turns up at village dances, where she is immediately disliked by the women present, but she utterly charms the men and then asks one of them to take her home. He follows her, totally under her spell. She leads him deep into the woods.........
Baddist and certain feuners?

[Ronaldo95163]

Allyuh men nuh ah lil to big for these things steupz -.-

[ilove3]

why bring your negativity here?

Allyuh men nuh ah lil to big for these things steupz -.-

[rfari]

Cat fight! Oaaarrr!

[dougla_boy]

i live la horquetta, and one night, i was sleeping and heard my mother calling me, i woke up and said to myself, eff dat....moms sickening yes, i tired.....next morning i ask her why d ass she calling me late in the night? she eh kno me sleeping awa? she say she wasnt calling me, she knock out whole night.......

[Chimera]

spikes post is very interesting and makes realll sense.

but i've seen ghosts so...I believe.

[Greypatch]

interesting spin dey spike

[Trini Hookah]

i live la horquetta, and one night, i was sleeping and heard my mother calling me, i woke up and said to myself, eff dat....moms sickening yes, i tired.....next morning i ask her why d ass she calling me late in the night? she eh kno me sleeping awa? she say she wasnt calling me, she knock out whole night.......

My cousin came home one night, sober, before went to bed he wanted to smoke a cig. He said his brother lit the cig for him. When he woke up in the morn, his brother was even home that night.

Ghosts/spirits be usin' yo lighters

and ABA care to share your experiences? Most I ever had was waking up and feeling a huge weight over me, like someone was holding me down...and no, was not sleep paralysis -_-

[neals]

I once had a soucouyant GF and I work with a La Diablesse.
No lie.

so tell meh, how that relationship went? how uh find out

[Kinday]

Good thread....keep the local folklore alive. Honestly, just as someone pointed out I do believe these things started at stories. However I believe that the firm, convicted belief of people can make what is not as real as everything else....or at least appear to be.

I often heard such stories from my late grandparents and they made my cousins and I scared as they probably set out to achieve. I have also heard friends tell of similar stories but then my own experience is:

FACT: At 19, I saw my father being held down firmly on his bed by some unseen force. He was very much awake, struggling to get out of bed and struggling to find his voice to shout.

FACT: At 15, I heard the distinct voice of a man call out my name 3 times at home one night. It was around 12:30am and at home there was no one but my mother, my younger sis and younger bro.

FACT: At 24, I sat with a buddy on my back steps late one night and we literally witnessed a ball of fire fly onto a branch of a mango tree in my yard. After a couple seconds it leaped off and flew towards the darker areas over on Malick side (yeah I am San Juan born and bred).

FACT: As a child I have heard my wonderful but very weird neighbour (now deceased) making the exact noises that certain animals make. It sounded genuine. I often heard that she "shifted shape" but I never saw. Just heard the weird sounds coming from her yard on occasion.

FACT: I saw a dark figure hovering near my sleeping nephew in the darkness of AM hours one night. As I moved closer to see exactly what it was, I felt a chill and the dark figure raced off. One of my nephew's toys placed near the edge of the dresser was even knocked over in the rush. I wasn't even close to the dresser. Now that was a truly WEIRD night. I slept with the night on after that.

I tend to live with an open mind and realize that things are often not the way they seem but all in all I am thankful I had these experiences regardless of their true nature because they made for an interesting life and a greater quest for truth {insert Xfiles theme here}

[meccalli]

That making of animal sounds you're referring to, i've seen that before in a live exorcism. I mean exactly i could hear pigs, a Rooster crowing and a deep animal rumble like a buffalo or horse. Real shocker to me, that was before i believed in any supernatural phenomena.that was when my cousin invited to come lime with him in church.

[lostboys crew]

Well these are some of my experiences with the Supernatural.
First experience with a spiritual entity was in my teens. Was asleep one night in a bunk bed i shared with my brother. I being the eldest, had the top bunk. So one night i was awakened by the sound of someone calling my name so i opened my eyes and was like who they hell calling me. I was just staring up on the ceiling and my eyes became fixated to a shadow on the corner of the ceiling to my right. I thought nothing of it cause its normal to see strange shadows in the darkness especially when now opening your eye's.
What drew my attention was when it began to move and came right over me and mind you i was about 6 feet off the floor so it could in no way be caused by someone standing over me cause they would have had to be about 11 feet tall to stand over someone on the top of a bunk bed. This entity was actually hovering about 1 feet from my face, i was like
WTF. It had no face, it was like a black cloud and moved like one. It was just like the scene from The Grudge, when it came from the ceiling, when that movie came out i was like, yeah i can relate to that, happened to me too.The good part started when i was going to get the f*@k up and off the bed and i realised i could not move then when i tried calling my brother i could not talk. So this thing just hovered over me for about a couple of minutes all the while i struggling all how to move and trying to scream out my lungs and then it just flew into me like a vortex of wind. It was like i was in a hurricane getting blown away by gale force winds except i was flat on a bed so i was not moving but my clothes and hair were ruffling like crazy. I won't lie it felt a little awesome, giving the circumstance, was like if i was in a wind tunnel.This lasted about a minute or so, all the while i was chanting every prayer known to man. Then like that it was over and i wasted no time running into my parents bedroom and between my mom and dad.
After that night i moved to the bottom bunk for a couple of weeks..

The second time was more recently...While walking home around 2am one night. Was almost to my front gate when i noticed a figure all in white in the roadway about 100 feet from me i did not really take it on but when it floated up in to the air like a puff of smoke, i literally froze in my tracks and i swore my heart popped out my facking chest.I literally stood there for about 10 seconds frozen solid trying to rationalise what i just saw. It looked like a figure of a women or what ever the hell it was. It made me remember my first encounter. The pundit told me the first one was the spirit of a woman who followed me home. So i was like i wonder if thats her. I seriously surprised i did not drop down dead that night that was the most frightening experience i ever had.

[07baracuda]

Hear this one meh padna said one night he and ah next friend went to check ah gul to go ah party buh when they reach the gul say she cyah go so they left and walking out the road to get ah taxi buh while walking one was in front and the next was ah little way back the one in front say while walking down the road he saw someone dressed in women's clothes walking towards him so on reaching the person he said good night but when he looked the person had no face ,the man say yuh talk bout speed he run and leave he padna which also saw the same thing.

[shogun]

Good thread here.

[dougla_boy]

my moms does prayer work in the Catholic Church in Arima and she had a case once with a guy who lives in his grandparents house....... apparently the grandfather "sealed" the grandmother's room before she died.... and after the grandfather died the guy was in the house by himself and one night he heard noises but didnt pay attention to it and when he woke up he was covered in blood with a bloodied knife in his hand. and he heard his grandfather walking up and down the corridor outside the bedroom.....


another time a family friend went to the church for a healing mass, her grandmother used to dabble in the occult. a sprititually strong priest came to the church for a little healing mass and upon approaching him for blessing, she fell to the ground and spoke in a heavier and courser voice and said that she not coming close to him.... then after the mass ended the priest and others closed the church door and prayed on her and she started to speak in tongues and then she vomited balata seeds........and she never had balata in months!!!

[ilove3]

This thread is growing more and more interesting. Thanks folks... What I find really surprising is the amount of encounters with non traditional folklore characters by persons. As I read, my mind ran across a story of this young woman from the Arouca area. She was growing up to be one of the prettiest girls around and she started a relationship with a man who was involved with someone else. As time passed, the young girl belly rose as if pregnant and when she wen to the doctors, they found no sign of pregnancy. Months passed and the tummy rose to the point of appearing to be a full term pregnancy. Eventually, her family took her to a pundit who was able to assist. When he did what he had to do, she started vomiting... and the vomit was not green and liquid like; it was dry dirt and when it was examined, the pundit told the family that it was dirt from a grave... then she started going off (excreting) but instead of stools, she passed raw shrimps!! This is not a made up story as if anyone wants, I can have them meet the individual but was so mentally traumitized by the experiences that she eventually turned towards cocaine for comfort and so today, she is a known drug addict living the life of a piper. That made me realize that not pipers are how they are because of their own choices. Sometimes, as I have been told, 'people put dem so'.

[Chimera]

why d firetruck i get some serious goosebumps reading that ^^^ lemme go take off this fuggin ac yes