Left: A few of the tiny brutes who decided to hang around a bit longer than the rest.
Right: Young crabs on an inner wall of Dawn's house in the fishing community of Beach Front at Nine Miles, Bull Bay on Saturday, May 13. Early Saturday morning millions of young crabs emerged from the sea and swarmed houses over a distance of half a mile along the beach up to half a mile inland from the shore. - PHOTOS BY ANDREW SMITH/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
"MI SEH a God a come! Is only that it coulda mean! And if is not that, then a tsunami ago lick Jamaica fi sure!" The woman with the bushy eyebrows waved her hands in front of her as she spoke.
Her rantings made me a bit hot under the collar, especially because we were standing at the very spot that the disaster was supposed to take place. We were right on the beach and when she said these words my eyes widened and I took a nervous glance at the incoming waves. I gulped and took a step back.
SIGN FROM GOD
You see, Dawn, the woman with the peculiar eyebrows, was talking about the apparent signs from God that have been occurring in that part of Nine Miles, St. Andrew for a few months now. Yes, signs from God which apparently signal the end of the world. Creepy stuff. And I do mean creepy!
Believe it or not, what the traumatised residents of the area describe as millions of rambunctious, ugly little crabs, appeared out of nowhere in the wee hours of last Saturday morning, and turned the place upside down. The eerie critters completely overtook the community and now the dazed residents are just waiting on the trumpet to sound and the dead in Christ to rise.
This is the story as told to photographer Ricardo Makyn and myself when we paid a nervous visit to the community earlier this week.
It was late Friday night in the tiny community called Beach Road, which, you guessed it, is right along the beach. Only about 20 persons live there. The night started like any other. A dance was taking place at one section of the beach. The bars were full of customers and children were fast asleep. Dawn put her three-week-old baby to bed and decided to retire for the night. All was well with the world for several hours. Little did the residents know that the mood in the community was about to get real crabby.
"Mi a sleep and mi only feel something a crawl pon mi leg. Mi brush it off and then mi hear boop, boop, boop and something drop from the ceiling right pon mi face!" a terrified Dawn recalled.
"Mi seh Pupa Jesus! When mi jump up, mi see about a million a dem inna di room, mi scream out and grab di baby and run outside!"
Meanwhile about a hundred feet away at the seaside dance, the patrons started feeling the little brutes crawling up their legs. In between bubbling and sipping the bubbly, the residents started cursing what they believed were ants. In no time though, the tiny crabs had overtaken the entire beach and the party-goers were forced to flee the area, even leaving beer bottles behind! But even as they ran, they could not hide, as the crabs marched together all the way up to the entrance of the community.
"Blacka say him inna him house and feel dem a drop pon him face! Him say him think is outa di sky dem a drop so him frighten and gallop weh!" said Bobbette, Dawn's neighbour who had joined us.
In no time the entire community was awake and had gathered under a tree to watch their homes being overtaken by the tiny crabs.
"Dem jus a march like soldier right up inna everybody house. I never frighten so inna mi life!" said Bobbette with a worried look on her face.
WHEN THE SUN SHINED
It wasn't until the sun came out that the problem eased a bit.
"When the sun come out and lick dem, dem start dead off," .
By midday, while the residents were still watching the eerie events from the safety of the spot beneath the tree, most of the crabs had died.
"Mi still never want to go back in the house. All now mi fraid. Mi just feel like something bad ago happen," Dawn interjected.
The woman's comments seemed to strike a chord with her portly friend Bobbette, who started speaking quite suddenly.
"Oh yes. It means God is coming. Mi know seh a dat it mean. Mi did baptise and backslide, but mi a go back go serve God. Mi even stop play cash pot!" she emphasised her last remark to underline the seriousness of the situation.
Dawn joined in. "Yeah mi ago serve God too. Cause everybody who live here say a di first time dem ever see anything like this. Even the old people dem,"
To add fuel to the fire, a couple months ago, there was a major uproar when thousands of tiny fish started turning up near the Yallahs Ford, just a few miles from Beach Road.
PASTORS SERMON
"From that time the pastor dem a preach seh God a come and a tell di people dem fi repent. Nuh fish never deh there yet. And all of a sudden. Heh Hey! A wah dis pon wi though God?" a worried Dawn said.
"Well di Bible tell dem seh God ago send a plague upon di earth. So a it dis," Bobbette said, her face in her hands.
Scientists have visited the area since then and have collected samples of the creatures. But to hear the residents tell it, the results of the tests the scientists run will be of no consequence.
"We already know what it mean. It mean we fi go back inna di church. You nuh hear mi seh mi stop play cash pot?" Bobbette concluded.
Note: The sale of cash pot skyrocketed in the area the next week, with a flood of residents eager to place their money on the number 2 (for crab). It didn't play.
Please send comments to robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com
