WHAT is considered the paranormal? Do ‘jumbies’ really exist? This is a question that occupies the thoughts of many on a daily basis.
The following story was related to the author by a chance acquaintance.

Angela, the only name given, had an encounter with the paranormal at the tender age of 13. She was living with her parents and siblings at the time, and her father, being a very compassionate man, often assisted the less fortunate within his community at Enmore.
Every Sunday in particular, her father would provide breakfast and lunch for two elderly people, one of whom was a woman of African descent who used a cane to assist her with walking.
This woman, Angela recalled, went by the name ‘Alga’. The other person was a man of Indian descent, who was known by many as ‘Dato’. Both individuals turned up religiously each Sunday for their meals.
Angela and her siblings were normally not allowed to go downstairs when Dato and Alga were having breakfast, but, as children, they were very curious, and stood at the top of the stairs to watch them eat.
Angela recalls Dato’s numerous jokes, as he was a very jovial man.
One Sunday morning back in 1979, while Dato was on his way to have breakfast, he was struck by a speeding car in the vicinity of the Enmore Estate Road, and died on the spot.
According to Angela, the evening after his burial, she and her family retired to bed at around 7:45 pm; but at about 9:00pm, she was awoken by the continuous kicking of her other siblings, who were by then sound asleep.
In the midst of wondering what was ailing them, she suddenly felt some sharp fingernails scraping the bottoms of her feet. Anglea recalled being very scared and screaming for her mother, who rushed to her children’s room and asked, “What’s the matter?”
After Angela explained that she felt someone scraping the bottoms of her feet, her mother said aloud, “Gwan, yuh rotten navel bitch!” and her siblings immediately stopped kicking.
Angela, nevertheless, took hours to go back to sleep.
The following morning, Angela’s mom told her dad to stop feeling sorry for people, because when they die, they would come to haunt the children. She also said that most of those less fortunate folks were paying for their deeds.
Alga died shortly after Dato, and this came as a surprise to many. The night after Alga was buried, Angela explained, she retired to bed at the usual time; but, sometime during the night, Alga’s ‘jumbie’ repeatedly pulled her pillow from under her head and exchanged it with her brother’s.
Angela recounted that the constant banging of her and her sibling’s head was terrifying, until she managed to muster the courage to scream out to her mom.
Her mother came running to her rescue, and again asked what the matter was. After Angela had explained the strange occurrence, her mother again shouted, “Gwan, yuh rotten navel bitch!”
The next morning, Angela came to realize that ‘jumbies’ really do exist, based on the strange occurrences that she and her family had experienced.
Readers, what do you think of Angela’s story?
If you have had any experience or encounter with the paranormal, and are inclined to share them, I invite you to contact me at the Guyana Chronicle on telephone numbers 227-5204, 227-5216, or the switchboard numbers 226-3243/9.
I await your call, so we can discuss your experiences with a view to having them published.