Politician thinks child ‘duppies’ are haunting him

Despite insisting that he does not believe in duppies, councillor for the Morant Bay Division of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation Rohan Bryan is convinced that he is being haunted by the ghosts of three children.

Bryan said that his nightmare started on Sunday night, several hours after he recorded and released a video of the demolition exercise being done at the Loyal James Lodge premises in the parish. Bryan told THE STAR that he believes the mysterious events are related to the discovery of skeletal remains inside the building.

"Mi come home and mi hear mi pit bull dem kick off ... dem no bark fi joke, enuh. Mi hear dem a run up and dung inna di yard so mi a say a could a wah dat. It never sound like a play dem a play, so smoothly I came outside and when mi look pon mi lawn, mi no know if a mi mind a fool me, cause mi no grow fi believe inna none a dem crap deh, but when mi look mi see swear mi see three young children on mi lawn," said Bryan, who indicated that the 'ghosts' seemed to be playing a game of merry-go-round. He said they may even have called him by his nickname.

"Mi sure mi hear dem say sumn like 'Thank yuh Mr Washy'. So mi say 'Wah?'!" he said. Bryan stated that he became even more superstitious on Monday when an unusually large amount of bats began to swarm his home. Initially he thought they were attracted to the ripe mangoes.

"Mi house mesh up and sometimes mi open di window dem fi fresh air come inside. But all pon the mesh dem mi see rat bat now. It just unusual right now," he remarked. Bryan said people have been giving him strategies to get rid of the ghosts.

"Mi no really inna dem duppy stories deh, enuh. People a say mi fi carry people up a mi house come wash it out and pray and dash white rum, but right now mi deh pon pause a look out if me see dem again," he said. The demolition exercise is being carried out by the municipal corporation and according to Bryan, it was the mayor, Michael Hue, who had informed him of the mystery discovery in the building.

"[Yesterday] when mi call the mayor and say 'Mayor, yuh know say three duppy follow mi come up?' him buss out a laugh. But on a serious note, mi go back to the parish council dis morning and tell him say a him 'cause it and me a left di duppy dem back dung yah," he said.