Robert Lalah, Assistant Editor-Features

Now I was warned long before I ever showed up there, that there was a duppy on the loose in Panton Town, St. Catherine. And one cantankerous duppy he is indeed!

Derrick the duppy showed up about a week ago and has been going around picking fights with residents and throwing sand into people's eyes. I was warned that the duppy didn't like nosy outsiders asking questions about him and was urged to be prepared for the worst.

Fully prepared

Residents of Panton Town discuss the recent haunting of their community.

So when photographer Ian Allen and I turned up in the modest fishing village recently, I felt that I was fully prepared, come what may. Now, I would be telling a lie if I said that at the first sign of a tree branch swaying in the wind I didn't feel my knees about to give in. Luckily for me, however, I managed to stay upright long enough for the chubby woman with an impeccable weave standing in front of me to explain what was taking place in Panton Town.

"Mi friend, mi a tell you dat is pure tings a gwaan. Dem say is two duppy around here. From dem come around here dem nuh stop cause trouble," the woman said, her eyes wide. She said her name was Milly and explained that she hadn't seen any of the duppies herself, having taken great care to avoid them.

"Mi nuh ramp fi chuck off under di bed when night come! Me fi go make duppy hold me? You mad?" she said.

As residents tell it, there are two duppies in Panton Town. One is Derrick, who is the ghost of a man who lived in nearby McCooks Pen a few years ago. Now, back when he was living, Derrick had a friend named Dread who lived in Panton Town.

"Di two of dem would come here and burn chalice more time. Dread dead di other day so fi him duppy come back to where him live, but it look like Derrick duppy lost and just follow Dread own," one woman said.

Milly explained what Derrick's first appearance in the community was like. "One man go home and see di duppy take seat pon him verandah. Yes man, di duppy sit down a cut him ten! When di man shout and tell di duppy fi move, di duppy shout afta him and run him weh!" Milly said, looking astonished.

"Him go inna people house and mash up dem furniture and him throw sand inna one old woman eye. Anybody him see, him cuss dem off," the woman continued.

So with two rogue duppies on the loose, wreaking havoc in the community, the residents turned to their last hope, the local madda woman.

"We call har in and she set fi dem last night. She come wid har fire and har holy water and ketch one of di duppy and put it inna one bottle," Milly said.

One piece a sinting

A young boy stands in front of a burnt-out heap used the previous night by a spiritual healer to rid the community of a dreaded duppy. - Photos by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

She explained that the madda woman came fully prepared with incense and myrrh and set small fires around the houses in the community. "It was one piece a sinting in yah di other day. People come down here like seh is a stage show a keep. Big crowd, everybody want to see di duppy," she said.

Eventually, after chanting a few Psalms and sprinkling the contents of a few bottles, the madda woman managed to capture one of the duppies and took it away in a tiny bottle.

"She never tell us is which one of the duppy dem she ketch. From she do it we nuh see back nuh duppy so we a hope seh it done now," Milly said.

So the residents of Panton Town, that once-quiet fishing village just outside of Old Harbour Bay, now rest a bit easier at night, but are always on the lookout for the return of duppy Derrick or his good friend Dread.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com