In the last month, reports of supernatural entities, more popularly called ‘duppies’ or ghosts, terrorising persons in rural communities, have surfaced. Some people believe the stories while others do not. This prompted the Jamaica Observer to find out from people on the streets whether or not they believe in duppies or ghosts.

David Codner

“No, I don’t believe in duppy. It come in like luck and I don’t believe in luck; you have to earn your way. Duppy might not be d.u.p.p.y but it may be the retribution of life that comes back to haunt you. So, if you put it that way, I believe in it that way, but fi seh dat a man or a woman dead and dem come back and do harmful things, or even good things too – no”

Courtney Lewis

“Things a gwaan that we can’t really understand. Is not seh we want to believe in duppy, because the duppy thing and me not going to work. But at the same time you have some things that are very questionable, things that we can’t understand how them happen. So is not that me believe in duppy but there are questionable things that we need answers for”

Kameka Shea

“Well, you have people that died and their soul can’t rest in peace, and then you have duppy that the obeah people them use. The obeah thing I don’t really dwell in it but other people dwell in it. I think that certain things, if you put your heart and your mind to it, dem deh bout. But I don’t really follow up dem summen deh. I know that it exist but I don’t follow it up because if you should follow up everything you hear then you can’t get anywhere. There are several answers to certain things.”

Kitania Stewart

“To be honest, I don’t know what to say about duppy. I honestly don’t know if they exist. But I know that if dem exist dem can’t scare me because me eat too much pepper, me too ignorant [aggressive], and dem don’t like ignorant people. The news that we hear bout the other day I think summen bout it is not real. I think there’s a twist to it.”

Sudan Shurland

“They exist. Once I was coming from Half-Way-Tree. I came off the bus in the night, about 8:00, on Red Hills Road and I was walking up the hill to where I live. When I was going through the gate I saw a woman going down into my yard and when I walked to catch up with the woman she was gone. To this day I have not met up with the woman, and I asked the rest of the people if they saw the woman and they said ‘no, there was no woman’. So I believe that duppy exist. But I think they operate different from humans, they don’t have any power for themselves. They are just spirit form, they can’t make anything happen. I don’t believe they can burn down houses and stuff like that.

Versel Thompson

“They are for real, but why you not going to see them so prevalent now is that after a man dead and him spend so much time on the ice, it take a while for them to appear. But first time, after them dead three days after you see them. So is not believe, I know that dem exist. And dem don’t walk pon grung; dem walk at the same height that dem [pall bearers] walk with the coffin. I remember one Sunday night a man died in my house and the Tuesday morning, about 4:00 am, him come into the house fi come sleep. Him actually pull the door but the door never really pull, and when him go outside him mash up every plate, and when me go out there no plate nuh mash up. And the dog dem teck him and him walk weh. So dem deh bout.”

Kerry Brown

“It’s not duppy is just demons. Demons take the form of people we know and I guess us Jamaicans we have this thing about duppy business. But I think that from the person is dead the person is dead; they can’t do no form of harm to nobody at all. I can’t really tell you that what some people experience is false or if it is true. They must know what they experienced.”

(PHOTOS: COREY ROBINSON)