TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FOLKLORE CHARACTERS AND TALES

[ilove3]

yo!! which had this effect on you?

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

[nervewrecker]

Well I already posted my experiences in other threads but I had another one a few weks back.

Coming to work a morning (usual after 4 am) while derving on the by pass I saw a dead dog almost in the center of the right lane by the second traffic light after the road to enter by the gas station / M. rampersad there.
I swing out a bit (doing over 100km/h) to avoid hitting the carcass. Approaching the next light now I sa what appeared to be a strange animal in the road halfway in the center of the right lane as well. Animal was grey & white like those house cats, flat flace like an owl, tail, big yellow eyes, what looks like a pair of pointy ears pointing upwards & a litte smaller than the traditional pot-hound dog in size. Thats all I could have gotten at the speed I was going & in the fog of the morning. I avoided hitting it but by the time I catch myself & glimpse in my door mirror there was nothing there.
donno wtf that was nah.

[Chimera]

yo!! which had this effect on you?

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

your story, the one with the vomiting dirt lol

[ilove3]

Yo Nervewrecker, why not copy and paste them here? I am sure that we all would love to read about them

[Sabot]

Had quite a few experiences myself, enough to make me a believer in this type of thing.

[nervewrecker]

ilove3, tuner search function kinda screwing up so I will re-type them when I get home.

[DFC]

one time me and pooran drink babash by cane patch behind d latrine ..... around 6pm...

and i see pooran turn into ah crapo and start to hop around d place.

so i wanted to throw salt on he back but i didnt have any..so i pee on him..and pooran change back and he cuff meh in meh belly ...

[ilove3]

cool man... we look forward to it

ilove3, tuner search function kinda screwing up so I will re-type them when I get home.

[nervewrecker]

posting.php?mode=quote&f=4&p=2188047

I've had experiences that I cant explain too so I jus eh kno wat tuh say nah.

I'm a difficult person to make believe in those things still.

a friend of mine fadda was working on building a boat down forest reserve.
one night while passin through the forest reserve roads (place real cold & foggy) in a cleariong side the road - ther is a fig patch, a man came out with his hand raised & thumb pointing downwards like if he hitching a ride, me an three other fellaz outa de 5 in the car see him. feeling sorry for the man 'stranded' there dat hour the nite (bout 10:00pm ish) i ask dem if they eh wha give the man a ride, so we stop bout 30-40 feet after passing the fig patch, reverse & lo & behold no on there & there was nowhere he could go to without us seeing cuz rite round the fig patch clear for bout 30feet. we were all like wtf - so we drag out de blade from de trunk and cutdown dat fig patch
one homeless jumbie - probably saved a lot ah me from jumbie related accidents

another nite (none ah we had no pool pass back then & we went down for a bath after it closed ) commin back before first gate (place extremely foggy) we on wildness, doin some numbers one de road. a car came up behind keeping pace with us and eh looking tuh overtake, all yuh seeing is like the shape of a whiteish probably greyish unidenitfyable vehicle, bright dazzling head & fog lights. all who sitting near a window started hanging out and showing middle finger and cuzzing & thing (ah set ah punks getting some jones) zig zagging & thing tuh make sure he cant overtake.
nehow is a long stretch tuh the guard gate so we pull back in the window bout 100ft b4 the guarded gate (car still behind bumpering us so we kinda bummy if he is some kinda high ranking perosn now that goin and get the guard tuh firetruck us up wen we stop by the gate with him behind us) the car was there rite through behind us, d guard start tuh get on like an arsehole bout us speeding & driving like jackass so we jump one he case now, "wha bout de nex arsehole who bumpering we, dat eh dangerous too?" man say wha car? watching we like if all ah we mad, it had no car behind us, he could only see one set ah head & fog lights through the fog (ours) wen we turn around it eh hav no car behind us. it had no where where it coulda pull over and stop or turn off, was a nice stretch.
yuh wouldnt believe how fass we fly outa there and each man gone in he house.

it hav a sopt called phantom gate in the field roads too.

all this & im still not a believer, jas some1 who was a lil bit frightened at the moment by something I cant explain..........

leme translate one time:

My friends dad was working on a boat in the forest reserve area. We went to visit a night & on our way back we decided to pass through a back road where not much people live. Straight road & the bush cut low except for one fig patch near the side of the road. Driving slow as we approached the fig patch a human-like figure stepped out as if to flag us down for a ride (hand outstretched with thumb facing down). out of the 5 people in the car 3 of us saw the 'person' attempting to stop the car & after a quick discussion we came to the consensus that we should give the 'person' a ride seeing as though it is an area hard to get transport out of & we were safe because we had no valuables to be relieved of & 5 guys wouldnt be easily overpowered by one.
The car had just passed the patch (bout 30 feet because we were proceeding at approx 10 - 15 km/h) & we stopped, came out &....nobody there. Where did that person disappear to? well we not sure so blade come out & fig patch get leveled!

Another night we pulled a smart shot to go take a small bath in the swimming pool (after hours). On our way back towards first gate in the fog another 'vehicle' began following. Out of wildness we started taunting this driver (man hanging out window & thing) because when given the opportunity to overtake the driver was not taking it. Eventually we were both going at a considerable speed in the stretch approaching first gate so we try to look like we wasnt doing any dotishness to avoid getting rack up from the guard on duty.
WE get rough up for speeding & place was very foggy & when we began to explain to the guard the situation with the other car that it was following & refused to overtake he simply pointed out that there was no car behind us at all!
Yes it was foggy & visibility was low but one could differentiate how much headlights were approaching. Where did this car go?

That area is known for all kind of happenings btw & there is a spot called phantom gate by the junction to turn santa flora (left), point fortin (right) or grand ravine (straight across).

[dougla_boy]

once i woke up in the middle of the night and saw a shadow watching me whilst i slept. i immediately put on a light and it jus disappeared....... the reason it happened apparently is cuz my grandmother dabbles in that kinda stuff and they did sum stuff opposite my room before it was built...... i had to bless my room bout twice before i can sleep in it..

once we heard someone or spmething walking in the backyard and the dog stopped barking then we heard it jump on the roof, we had a ball that ended up on the roof previously and it couldnt come down because it was behind a huge concrete slab, bout 2ft x 2ft and 2 inches thick, and the ball was soft.... next morning we got up we saw the same ball in our garage in a corner........

[nervewrecker]

another recent one:

I think I work in a haunted building. I went to the washroom a few weeks back, there are 2 toilets, I was urinating in one......the next one flushed. I stop what I doing & vacate brisk! left with my dik half way out my pants too

[meccalli]

them touch flush toilets kinda iffy if its those tho.

[nervewrecker]

we dont have those fancy stuff here, toilet older than me.
handle kind of rusty too.

[ilove3]

so no one ever get sucked by a socouyant?

[meccalli]

Well i saw some someone with the supposed bite, didn't know what to make of it ..really weird looking tho ..odd colors on the skin.(edit) That go be rell firetruck scary tho LOL..imagine you get up and see a jumbie woman latch on your foot.my ka-bar stuck behind my bedhead for a reason yes...

Kill a Bear by meccalli, on Flickr

[Chimera]

so no one ever get sucked by a socouyant?

have a few relatives who say they did, and i've seen the marks the day after.

and every night before it happens its the same stories, children/babies crying uncontrollably and more than ever, dogs barking for no reason,

one or two fresh drops of blood near the bed or outside the bedroom door the morning of seeing the marks.

[ilove3]

Personally, I have seen blue/ black marks on someone close to me, on mornings after we woke up. She would always show them to me and I know for a fact that they were not there before.

[Mercenary]

Is it possible for video cameras to record the socouyant?.....

[speedbird777]

i know people saw the ball of fire flying across already so i dont see why video will not be able to record it

[d spike]

i know people saw the ball of fire flying across already so i dont see why video will not be able to record it

I know fellahs who have seen little green men too

But seriously...
The mark of the bite of the soucouyant was an easy way of explaining suspicious marks left by another type of secret visitor - whose visits, if known, could put both in a more physical danger than the loss of one's soul
One wonders how many old women who managed to survive the inflictions of poverty and widowhood were further traumatised needlessly (due to the combination of some young people's raging hormones, fear of a good cut-arse, and their parents' easily baited superstitions)...

If you think you were bitten by such a beastie (the soucouyant, not the young person with the raging hormones - I trust you know already what to do in that case) then the first person to ask you for a drink of water is the soucouyant. Sprinkle rice in the verandah (or in the road, if you want people to know yuh business) as the soucouyant will have to pick up each grain one by one before she passes by... Nail up an open scissors over the doorway... or better yet, lock your window and hide your father's cutlass (freshly sharpened, no doubt - as he can still vaguely remember his errant youth, and has probably noticed the thirsty look in the eyes of the neighbourhood's lads)...

[Conrad]

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...)

These are the ONLY folklore I know of as being told by my family from Moruga and father from Tobago.

Wasn't there stories of a La Diablesse in San Juan that carried men "behind by the river"?

[DevilZ]

i know people saw the ball of fire flying across already so i dont see why video will not be able to record it

paranormal actvity 3 right thur

[d spike]

...La Diablesse...
...the road-straddling "Phantom"...
...stories about douens...
...Certainly the stories of a malevolent Mama d' L'eau...
...Papa Bois, or Daddy Buchon, and that will suffice...
...And the Lagahoo...
...Stories of Mama Malady...

These are the ONLY folklore I know of as being told by my family from Moruga and father from Tobago.

Apart from the "Soucouyant", I suppose? The "Loupgarou" (said like "lougaroo") is the male version of the soucouyant, but most likely originated in the French islands.
But what about "Spanish jumbie"? You would hear a whip cracking in the forest (more likely a branch cracking, perhaps)... you just make the sign of the cross and get away quietly... hunters back home have told me of feeling a hand touching them as they sat on a "scaffold" while "sentrying" - they leave that area quickly and go elsewhere... the more chicken-hearted ones go straight home. A brave old one told me of a Spanish phrase he used once to scare the "chile" (his words) away successfully - he referred to it as a Spanish prayer, but all I can remember now was it ending with the word 'muchacho', and at the time it seemed to roughly translate into "Move away/Leave me alone, boy."
Anywhere that seemed to be too disquieting was considered "ah old Amerindian burial-ground" - although I doubt there would be any new ones

[meccalli]

If anyone recalls on ghi, they captured a ball of light on infrared cameras.

[mitsuboi]

Ok to d non believers.....how is it back in d day without telephone, tv, and without easy means of communication ppl from all different parts of tnt does have d same setta "stories"????

[meccalli]

Word of mouth, in trinidad everybody does macco..lol but really its queer, my grandpops don't joke about that stuff..he doesn't even talk openly about his experiences, kinda keeps it as something happened that he won't like to experience again..he just says..back then there was a lot of evil...i'm guessing these things still reside in heavy forest..my cousins seen some weird sh^t up there in santa cruz.

[Trini Hookah]

i know people saw the ball of fire flying across already so i dont see why video will not be able to record it

paranormal actvity 4 right thur

3 = Bloody Mary, coming to MT soon

[lostboys crew]

So fella's this evening i was by my girlfriend house, was in the kitchen area which is next to her parents bedroom. They were not home at the time, but i saw what appeared to be a figure walk past the room from the reflection of their tv. So i said to myself but wait a minute i ain't see anyone enter the room cause i right outside the door way. Then i tried walking past the doorway to see if it was my own reflection i saw on the tv screen but from where i was, i could not cast any reflections on the tv screen so it was not me and i was the only person in that area.

The thing is my girlfriend grandmother is dabble in obeah and my girlfriend mother told me that she does try all how to cast demons and spells on her. For years she begging she husband to move out from that house. As for me i does refuse anything she grandmother does offer me...not even a glass of water i could be dying of thirst.... hell no.

[ilove3]

Yo! I am from Santa Cruz and the stories that I have heard...
Where in Santa Cruz are they from?
Personally, I say a whole family behaving as if they were demon possessed. The story made news back in the day as one of the children had died

Word of mouth, in trinidad everybody does macco..lol but really its queer, my grandpops don't joke about that stuff..he doesn't even talk openly about his experiences, kinda keeps it as something happened that he won't like to experience again..he just says..back then there was a lot of evil...i'm guessing these things still reside in heavy forest..my cousins seen some weird sh^t up there in santa cruz.

[Kish]

rough draft in memory of my late Dad. Started typing out as the pages they were written on is deteriorating but no time to finish the compilation as yet.

From The World Beyond