These pages cover Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The legends are told, but some of what sits around them is documented. The duppy article describes customs that are still practiced, such as the nine-night wake. The chickcharney of Andros has a proposed origin, a 1995 forester's theory about an extinct owl, and Wikipedia says no fossil of that owl is known from Andros itself. Violet of Fisherpond is attached to a Barbados house built in 1635, yet the article found no death record or newspaper account that names her. The Vampire of Moca is the odd one out: a 1975 run of dead livestock in Puerto Rico, and a name the local press coined almost overnight. Each article below keeps the two kinds of statement apart, so you can see which sentence rests on a source and which one is only what people say.
Articles
- The Duppy: Jamaican and Caribbean Folklore’s Restless Spirit: Jamaica's restless spirit, its subtypes, and the protective customs still practiced, such as the nine-night wake. (Label: Documented.)
- Rolling Calf: Jamaica’s Fire-Breathing Ghost Bull of the Night Road: A shapeshifting ghost-beast with red eyes and a dragging chain, described as Jamaica's best-known duppy. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- River Mumma: The Golden Comb Spirit of Jamaica’s Rivers: A water spirit said to live in Jamaica's rivers and pools, pictured as half woman, half fish, combing her hair. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- Chickcharney: The Red-Eyed Owl Creature of Andros: A red-eyed, owl-like creature of Andros pine forests; a 1995 forester's theory ties it to an extinct owl. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- Violet of Fisherpond: Barbados’s Locked-Door Ghost: The ghost of a 1635 Barbados plantation house who locks doors; no death record or newspaper names her. (Label: Partially documented.)
- Papa Bois: Dominica’s Horned Guardian of the Rainforest: A forest guardian whose trails lead hunters astray in Dominica's rainforest. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- La Diablesse: The Devil Woman of Trinidad’s Backroads: A well-dressed woman in a wide-brimmed hat met on a Trinidad country road after dark. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- Soucouyant: The True Story Behind Trinidad’s Fire-Witch: The old woman at the end of the road who is said to drain her neighbors at night. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- Madre de Agua: Cuba’s Horned Serpent of the Rivers: The Mother of Water, a creature central Cuban sugar-mill workers said lives in wells and river bends that never run dry. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- La Ciguapa: The Backward-Footed Woman of the Dominican Mountains: A mountain woman recognized by footprints that point the wrong way. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- The Moca Vampire: Puerto Rico’s 1975 Livestock Panic: The documented 1975 run of dead livestock in Moca, Puerto Rico, and the press name “El Vampiro de Moca”. (Label: Documented.)