Gef the Talking Mongoose
Every once in a while one of our most requested topics makes its way to the blog before becoming an episode. This has happened a few times, even with Resurrection Mary. Over the years we’ve received many requests to delve into the strangeness of Gef the Talking Mongoose and today for blogstonishing, we’re scratching the surface of this strange tale.
I'd like to start this story with something that casual headline readers might not realize: Gef is a ghost...but also a mongoose. James Irving, his wife Margaret, and their thirteen year old daughter, Voirrey, move to this very farm on the Isle of Man. James planned to work in livestock, the island's main export, and have a quiet and enjoyable life. After a few months of peace in their new home strange things began happening. At first they heard rustling and scratching and chalked it up to a mouse infestation. But then, things got stranger. Weird yelps and even a sound like a baby's cries began to occur regularly and the problem could no longer be blamed simply on mice. Then, the rustling that became cries finally became a voice. The Irving family decided to ask what, exactly, was causing all this ruckus. The voice responded: Gef.
He described himself as an "extra, extra clever mongoose". Specifically, he was the ghost of a marsh mongoose born all the way in India in 1852. In his death, he decided to retake his animal form. Although, this doesn't exactly explain how he chose an isolated farmhouse on the Isle of Man.
Now, if you're a legender you might be thinking this sounds awfully like the Bell Witch. And, you're not too far off. Except for the fact that Gef soon became an odd, but beloved, member of the family. Despite being completely supernatural, Gef didn't seem very malicious or aggressive at all. He often held conversations with all members of the family, but especially with Voirrey, who was lonely when her parents were working during the day. Soon, other members of the town began coming around to chat with Gef and he became a notorious gossip.
If you believe any of this at all, in a letter James wrote in 1934, he claimed Gef said, “For years, I could understand all that was said. I tried to talk, but couldn’t, until you taught me.”
He wasn't always perfect, though. Sometimes he demanded the gramophone be on, or someone talk to him because he was bored, or that he be delivered his favorite snack: bacon with no fat.
As awareness of this strange Gef grew beyond the bounds of the town, his story soon began to pique the interests of all matters of researchers and especially paranormal researchers.
Beyond his voice, there wasn’t much to go on. Besides the fact that there was an inexplicable, intelligent voice coming from somewhere there were only a few paw prints and some errant fur that, on a farm, weren't exactly out of the regular.
In 1935, the infamous Harry Price paid a visit to the Irvings. He declared that the interior walls of the farmhouse were oddly hollow which would allow any noise made in the house to be carried to certain rooms. Others used this claim, and Voirrey’s closeness with Gef, as proof that the teenager had really just conducted some excellent ventriloquist work.
Some believed Gef was a tulpa. Perhaps the lonely Voirrey had conjured up a friend due to loneliness. Others thought he truly was a spirit caught, somehow, in-between the planes of life and death and somehow ended up on the Isle of Man.
In 1945, when James passed, Maragaret sold the house and moved away with Voirrey. Just a year later the new owner had claimed to have shot and kill Ged and even displayed a stuffed corpse. Upon seeing the body, though, Voirrey claimed it was not Gef and claimed he had moved on to another place as well after the Irvings had left.
Voirrey died in 2005 and stuck true to the strange tale of Gef the Talking Mongoose all her life.
Thanks to Stephen A. for this blogstonishing suggestion!
The above image depicts the psychical researcher Richard S. Lambert investigating an alleged location of Gef the talking mongoose.This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1930 and 1963, and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed. For further explanation, see Commons: Hirtle chart and the copyright renewal logs.
