You’re travelling down a dark road in the mountains and hear the faint sound of clattering chains. Imagine that you are lost in the jungle and notice far-off whistling. Or, one night under the light of the full moon, a beautiful woman in a white dress stops you at a cross-road.

If a chill ran down your spine at the thought of these scenarios, you may be familiar with some of the Caribbean’s ‘duppy’ (or ‘jumbee’) stories. With Halloween around the corner, here are 10 of the region’s creepy characters or locations to get you in the spirit for spooky-season, including:

• Shapeshifter, Ole Higue/Soucouyant
• Forest Dweller, Tata Duende
• Devil Worshipper, The Heartman

Read on for more!

La Diablesse (Eastern Caribbean)

Image by Kong via Pinterest

Taking the form of an attractive woman, La Diablesse (Devil-woman) wears a long white dress to hide her cloven foot and a wide-brimmed hat to shade her deformed face. On full moon nights, she wanders the roads, seducing men to follow her onto hidden paths where they fall into a gully, or are drowned in a river.

Ole Higue/Soucouyant (Regional)

Image via Exemplore; artist unknown

This creature goes by many names across the Caribbean. Ole Higue, Hag, or the Soucouyant is a shapeshifter who appears as an old woman during the day. At night, she sheds her skin and places it in a calabash or mortar, then wanders in the form of a fireball looking for victims (usually children or babies) to feast on their blood. To expose Ol’ Higue, you must pour rice on your doorstep; she will be compelled to count every grain before morning, and will often start over for accuracy. You should also place burning agents in her mortar to damage her skin, such as salt or hot peppers.

Douen (Trinidad and Tobago)

Image by Kong via Cryptidz Wiki

Douen are the malevolent spirits of un-baptised children. They have no faces, which they hide with conical caps, and their feet are turned backward to avoid being followed. They call living children out to play, and lure them into the forest where they are lost or killed.

Tata Duende (Belize)

Image from Characters &
Caricatures in Belizean Folklore via Ambergris Caye

Like Douen, Belize’s Tata Duende is also a forest-dweller with backward feet. This short, bearded man wears a pointy red hat and has no thumbs. If you encounter him in the forest, you must hide your thumbs or he will slice them off and claim them as his own. Despite this, he is generally a benevolent protector of the forest – he is a friend to the animals and will even assist people who are lost. You will know Tata’s whereabouts by his whistling. But be careful, he is a trickster, and these whistles can be deceptive. If they sound close, he is far away; if they sound distant, he is nearby.

Frenchman’s Pass (Aruba)

Image via Colors of Aruba

Frenchman’s Pass is a narrow passage above Aruba’s Spanish Lagoon that is said to be the haunt of indigenous spirits.  Supposedly, would-be French settlers in the 17^th Century engaged a group of indigenous people in a battle. When the fight turned in favour of the French, the indigenes fled into nearby caves to hide. And, when the French tried to smoke them out of the caves, they choked and died. Some who live near the pass say that they can hear the cries of the dead at night. Others warn that those who travel on this road after midnight might see a spirit wandering the area.

Bacoo (Guyana and Barbados)

Image by Harold A. Bascom via Exemplore

Similar to the Arabic genie or Irish leprechaun, the Bacoo is a small and mischievous spirit who is compelled to do the bidding of the person who captures him in a bottle. The Bacoo should be fed with bananas and milk, and is generally ordered to do tasks that his owner is not willing to do. These tasks range from small pranks to more aggravated violence against enemies. He may also supply his capturer with wealth.

Rolling Calf (Jamaica)

Image by HasaniClaxton via Deviant Art

The sound of rattling chains is a tell-tale warning of the rolling calf. This duppy, a bull with fiery red eyes that trails clanking chains behind it. The rolling calf is said to be the spirit of a deceased person who was wicked or dishonest in their lifetime, particularly butchers and murderers. They appear on dark, moonless nights, blocking the road or chasing unlucky travellers. The Rolling Calf can be repelled by sticking an open knife into the ground, or threatening it with a tarred whip (of which they are said to be terrified).

Duppy Turn (The Cayman Islands)

Image via Uncommon Caribbean

In the Hutland area of North Side, Grand Cayman is a bend in the road known as Duppy Turn. Legend has it that Pirates once buried their treasure here, killing local Caymanians and burying them to guard the gold. In the years before electricity, many North Side residents reported seeing ghostly apparitions near the turn after sunset.

The Heartman (Barbados)

Image by k9kennel via Deviant Art

Barbados’ the Heartman is particularly gruesome. He carves out the hearts of his unfortunate victims, particularly those of disobedient children, and offers them to the Devil in worship. In some iterations of the story, he waits in the tall sugar-cane, in others he drives a black hearse and does not have a heart of his own.

The Eden Brown Estate (Nevis)

Image via Ancient Origins

In the 18^th century, Julia Huggins was happily set to marry at the Eden Brown Estate in Nevis. But the night before the wedding, her groom and brother got into a heated argument that ended in bloody death. Today, those who visit the derelict building just outside of Charlestown, say they can hear the bride’s cries.

So, be careful where you walk at night in the islands. If you suddenly feel hot, or your head feels like it’s growing, you may be in the presence of a duppy. To get home safely, turn your clothes inside out and walk home backwards so they can’t follow you.

Happy Halloween!

Sources: Origins of the Universe, Visit Aruba, A Book of Creatures, Cayman Islands National Trust (Facebook), My Beautiful Belize, Lower Dover Field Journal, Things Guyana, Exemplore, Loop Barbados, Caribbean Journal, Uncommon Caribbean