JAMAICAN NEWS
Obeah wife, unwanted erection and the passing of Jungle George
I MARRIED A WITCH
An unnamed man from St Catherine, Jamaica, claimed in a court hearing that his wife had used obeah magic to keep him ‘tied’ and had drained his finances by forcing him to give her access to his bank account. He claimed he had been set free by religious leaders and was trying to reclaim his money. “When a person tie you, you are a prisoner, yuh can’t guh no where,” he said. “Mi under witchcraft. All mi go is work and mi yard, is like mi can’t go anywhere else.” Describing how the spell worked he added: “One time, every minute she used to come and play inna mi hair and a say she like it, but dem time deh a di obeah oil she a rub off in deh.”
When he was first married, he had a good relationship with his wife, but he said that he soon realised she was taking part in obeah rituals and came to fear her as she threatened to release demons on him. “A nuff time mi lay down and mi feel the side a di bed sink down and when mi look, mi nuh see nobody. Suh a duppy dat man. A nuff time it reach mi and mi can’t bawl out. Mi wife have a little black hardcover book with some verse whe mi know nuh inna di bible,” he explained. He also said his wife vowed to have a friend kill him after an argument and after that, “Mi never understand what she mean. Mi did have a friend whe drop out [died] and mi a tell you say mi lie down and mi literally see him come stand up in front of mi vex. Mi ask him whe him deh pon and him just disappear. Afterwards, she come in di room and tell mi say a lucky mi lucky.”
It seems none of this convinced the court, with the judge saying that once the husband had given his wife permission to use his bank card there was no legal way to get the money back, adding: “Obeah cannot be used as an excuse if he’d given her permission.” Weekly Gleaner, 23-29 Dec 2021.
THE HARDER THEY COME...
A 54-year-old labourer from the town of Manchester, Jamaica, was suing the Jamaican government over his impotence. The man claimed that while he was in jail in February 2006, he had a seizure and blacked out. He said that when he came to in the medical ward an orderly gave him some unfamiliar pills, after which he developed a mild erection and could not urinate. He was given more pills to deal with this problem, but they didn’t help – in fact, his erection got larger and he developed a bladder infection. It was not until his priapism had lasted for five days and he was in extreme pain that he was finally taken to hospital and was seen by a doctor. He then had to undergo surgery three times to deal with blocked veins and the persistent erection, after which he says he was left impotent due to scarring and damaged erectile tissue. He was seeking millions of dollars in compensation, in part to pay for a penile implant to restore his virility. Weekly Gleaner, 27 Jan-2 Feb 2022.
IT’S YOUR FUNERAL
On 29 April 2006, the day before his 61st birthday, George McPherson of Norris, St Thomas – known to many as ‘Jungle George’ – staged his own funeral, despite being alive and well. Having decided that he wanted to be fully prepared for his eventual death, George bought a casket, planned an elaborate service with scripture readings, a sermon and songs, and laid on food (“an entire cow, four pigs, three goats and couple hundred pounds of chicken and fish”) and entertainment for the ‘mourners’ at his ‘nine night’ or wake. The event was a success, and George decided to hold a memorial service every year from then on. By 2008, he had survived two serious car accidents, one of which saw the driver killed, but had already taken his planning to the next level by building his own tomb. Now, he will finally be placed in it. On 4 June 2022, Jungle George died after suffering a severe blood clot in his lungs, aged 77. His son, Neil McPherson, 47, explained that his father was often misunderstood: “As weh some people would a say, di man crazy. But, the man no really crazy, him just always have fi him plan dem and always have fi him thing work out fi him way… That was one of the things many people couldn’t understand, how he was so accepting of death. Is like when people come a di memorial each year dem in disbelief. But my father always a tell me say death is a must.” Jamaica Observer, 10 Jun 2013; Jamaica Star, 3 Nov 2017, 4 July 2022.