DOREEN was in hospital; she was admitted after a brief illness at home. The doctors had run tests, checked her all over, and came up with zero; they couldn’t find anything wrong with her. The family asked for her discharge, and took her home. But she got worse. There was now some amount of panic. Auntie Bibi suggested they get ‘outside help’. They eventually took her to an Obeah Man.‘Gramps’ was famous for curing people with all sorts of complaints. He grew rich because of his lucrative practice. He examined Doreen and then took her family aside.

“She has a curse on her. I’ll protect her, so she’ll be okay after now, but your family has to maintain a two-year sacrifice. If not, the curse will remain, and affect your family.”
They all agreed. So, every two years, the first Saturday of the first month, they must sacrifice a sheep and a black fowl, and offer four different kinds of fruits. All this at 3:00am at the Seawall. This was to appease the spirit. The first ritual was done the day after leaving the Obeah Man. By the time the next two years came around, half of the family was living in Canada, and the others had completely forgotten about it.
It was Auntie Bibi who reminded them all by e-mail.
“Please remember the ritual; two years will be up next month. Need details on how we’ll do it.”
Nobody replied. She called her four sisters and three brothers, but they all bluntly refused to have anything to do with it. They all went back to their regular lives. So did Bibi.
A week after the two years had expired, David died suddenly. The postmortem examination was inconclusive: Cause of death unknown. After the funeral, Bibi again tried to warn them, but they would have none of it. Overseas members returned home.
Next two years came, and with it the death of Pansy. She died on the same day as David. Still, the family was not moved. Two years later, Stella died under mysterious circumstances. This time, there were signs of panic.They tried discussing how to deal with the situation. Bibi wanted to keep up the ritual; the others were still skeptical.They would have nothing to do with any Obeah business. Bibi reminded them of how it all began.
“Remember what ‘Gramps’ warned us? Now, we paying for it.”
“Well, we not doing that again!”
And that was that.
Ram, the youngest brother, still lived in the family house. Suddenly, he began talking to himself, and answering himself.He then graduated to walking in his sleep, and topped it off by dancing on his head.But that was not all he was capable of. For a man who left school before ‘Second Standard’; who could neither read nor write, he would unexpectedly launch some foreign tongue or the other, none of which he was capable of speaking under normal circumstances. Two of these tongues were later identified as Dutch and French; the other was of unknown origin.
The family encouraged him to sell the property and move. He did this.
Unfortunately, he did not tell the new owners about the history of the property. Soon, the new owners came to realize that the house was haunted. Voices and footsteps were heard at night; lights flicked on and off; doors slammed; chilly breezes caused discomfort; and to crown it all, there were regular episodes of sighting of strange beings. They hurriedly sold out and moved.The new owner had the same experience.This time, they could not get the house sold.
One brave man bought it after a while. He raised pigs, cows, sheep and goats.Every two years, three of his animals — a cow, a goat and a sheep — would die mysteriously. Then his wife got very ill in January. He took her to the doctor and they could not find anything wrong with her. Someone advised him to see a priest. He did. After strong spiritual intervention and the relocation of his family, all was well. His wife recovered, and the livestock stopped dying.
As for the property, it has since been abandoned. No one can live there. Even vagrants have to run out of there, screaming and bawling. It remains empty to this day.
Written By Neil Primus