From: raystwo@webtv.net (Raymond Speer)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 22:12:12 -0500 (CDT)
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: Gef, the Talking Mongoose
I recommend this source for information on Gef, the talking Mongoose of the Isle of Man.
HARRIS, Melvin. "The Mongoose That Talked & Lost For Words" In Peter Brookesmith (ed) _Open Files_. London: Orbis Publishing 1983, pp. 19-27.
Voirrey Irving was twelve and thirteen years old at the time of the notoriety. Characterized by outside observers as a bright and imaginative girl, she must have felt some gloom at her family's fortunes. Her 60 year old father, James, was retired, her mother was nearly as old, and all three of them were barely surviving on a income of 15 shillings a week (Harris 1983, p. 19). To supplement the family larder, Voirrey would hunt, kill and bring home rabbits with the aid of her dog, Mona (p. 20).
Voirrey began attributing the dead rabbits she brought home to Gef, a sentient mongoose, and before long she had her parents believing the tale and spreading it to their neighbors. As Melvin Harris put it (pp. 26-27):
"Gef never had a personality or existence independent of Voirrey. He brought home rabbits, as did Voirrey. His favorite foods were also Voirrey's favorites. He shared her strong interests in mechanical things. Moreover, Gef was never heard unless Voirrey was out of the room or so placed that her mouth could not be watched. The voice itself was described by one observer who believed in Gef as 'like a girl's voice of 15 or 16 -- a striking penetrating voice.' In other words, just the sort of voice that Voirrey could easily assume. [..]
"It is not unreasonable to assume that [Voirrey's] parents were caught up in the masquerade and became accomplices. Indeed, Jim Irving became so involved that he 'became obsessed with the thing.' He would speak for hours, telling and retelling the saga to anyone who would listen. [..]
"Perhaps [the mongoose] was even the high point of [Jim Irving's] whole life. The publicity, the collecting of anecdotes, the storytelling -- all these were Irving's responsibility and his pride."
All in all, a talking mongoose which drew ghost hunter Harry Price and various journalists and tourists to a hardscrabble hilltop farm in the back of beyond was a nice way to break the monotony of poverty -- and even a few shillings in tips or payments might have seemed substantial to the Irvings. Too bad the bubble burst in October 1935 when samples of Gef's hair proved to be "absolutely identical" to hair from Voirrey's dog, Mona (p. 24).
As an aside, please consider how closely parallel are many of the reported phenomena of the Talking Mongoose and the Bell Witch. Easily feigned poltergeist activity, a mysterious entity that talked a lot (at least to some people), girls of the same age, and deep involvement by the father of the girl. True, Gef was light-hearted and kind, and the Bell Witch was vindictive and mean -- but at this remove, who can say that the nature of the entities did not derive from the personalities of the pranksters?
If you have an account of a famous haunting you'd like to share, or more information to add to a haunting already listed, please feel free to email me.
This page (http://www.ghosts.org/moremongoose.html) last updated April 16, 2005.