Left: They look odd, but they're all used for good. Right: The spooky flags give people the wrong impression.
THERE'S A spooky old house on a lonely corner in Sandy Bay, Clarendon, where mystery and tales of horror are the order of the day. Stories of ritual sacrifices and animal beheadings leave many with sweaty palms and sleepless nights. There's even one famous fable of an unfortunate preacher who paid a visit to the house to find out exactly what was going on there. As the story goes, he went in, but never came back out.
There are many who dare not tempt fate and walk on the opposite side of the road when going by the house. Now none of these stories have ever been confirmed, so to get to the bottom of the mystery, photographer Norman Grindley and I said goodbye to our families, whispered a prayer and headed off to the enigmatic edifice.
PUT ON A BRAVE FACE
As luck would have it, it was an overcast, wet and dreary day. This didn't do much to calm my fears, but I put on a brave face as we approached Sandy Bay. We got wind of exactly where the house was, so as we got closer, my stomach started to churn. We heard that in the yard, there were about 15 large flags, all of different colours and as we turned a corner after crossing a train line, there it was.
The very sight of the place gave me the heebie jeebies. Sure enough, the flags, which were attached to large bamboo poles, were fluttering menacingly in the wind. Large trees and other shrubbery blocked our view of the house. We could only get a glimpse of the building in the background. It was blue and seemed rather large. To be safe, we drove by slowly and went down the road without stopping. Instead, we went about a half mile away and stopped at a small shop to find out more about the place.
We met Suzette, who works at the shop, and asked her to tell us what she knew of the strange place. "Mi hear all kinda sinting. Dem seh a obeah woman live over there. Other people say is a poco church. Mi nuh know a wah over there massa, but mi nah go over there fi ask," the woman said with a vigorous shake of the head. "You know dem poco church people deal inna all sort a something. If mi go over there dem probably go wuk science pon mi!"
Now these were by no means reassuring words, but the time had come to bite the bullet and put the mystery to rest.
We hopped in the van and went cautiously back up to the house. This time the gate was open so we parked outside and walked slowly up to the house.
The sound the flags were making as they fluttered made me even more uncomfortable. I realised that there were crosses printed on them. There were writings on the ground, but none of it made any sense to me. There was a white container filled with water on a table under a tree. About a dozen drinking glasses were placed around the yard. They too were filled with water.
"Er ... Ah hello," my voice had a nervous squeak to it as I called. A middle-aged woman wearing a hat poked her head through a window. She soon disappeared. I got nervous and was ready to leave, but stopped in my tracks as I saw the woman coming towards us. She didn't look like an obeah woman to me. "Hello," she said rather bluntly. She wasn't smiling and she looked at us quite quizzically. As a trickle of sweat ran down my forehead, I explained to her the tales we had heard of the place and told her we had come to find out the truth. I was sure this would have upset her, so I braced myself to be zapped into a frog. To my surprise, the woman started to chuckle hysterically.
"Hee hee. That is what people always believe. Some say is an obeah woman live over here and that we even take money to have people killed. Hee Hee. Don't worry, none of it is true," she said, sensing my unease. I was much relieved by this and started to ask more questions.
A REVIVAL CHURCH
Madda checks out her powerful healing tools. - PHOTOS BY NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
As it turns out, the building is the home of the 'Resurrected Church of God, Mount Zion', which is a Revival church. "It is different from a poco church. We worship the same way, but it's different," the woman explained.
"So why all the mix up?" I asked. "Well many people think my mother is an obeah woman because of her powers," said she. My discomfort returned. "But she only uses her powers to serve the Lord. She heals people, she doesn't hurt them. She gets visions from God and uses them to help other people," the woman, who gave her name as Sister Smith explained.
" Everybody calls my mother 'Madda'. She is the pastor for the church. She is powerful and can heal people. In fact, if she wasn't anointed by God, her powers could do great evil and bring tribulations upon the earth. But she is a good woman," Sister Smith said.
We asked if we could meet Madda. Sister Smith looked us up and down as if assessing our worth. "She might not talk to you but I'll ask her. If her spirit don't tek to you, she not going to talk to you," she said and went inside to Madda.
Soon the elderly woman appeared. Surprisingly, she had a pleasant face and was smiling. "How do you do?" she asked.
Madda explained that she knew of the stories people told of her.
"But I am here doing the Lord's work. People even afraid to walk near here. But there are those who also think we work obeah and come here for all manner of evil. Some big society people come and asking for demonic assistance. But I not into that," she said.
"Just last week a man knock on the gate and when I answer, him seh 'You kill people?'. When I seh no, him just walk off," Madda chuckled as she recalled. "I get visions about people who I don't even know and I travel across the country to help them. It's what I do. But we Revivalists are peculiar you know. If I wasn't one, I would be scared too. So I don't blame people," Madda explained.
I asked her what was the significance of the flags and the containers filled with water. "Water is our calling. It's purity. The flags represent different nations. You wouldn't understand unless you're a Revivalist". She took us into the church. There was a small pool of water and a table with bottles of cream soda, dried coconuts and grapefruits. A single red candle was placed at the entrance. There were some plants near the water and I asked what they were. "That's leaf of life. We use it in healing. The cream soda and coconuts use with calanga water for the same thing. We break them to get rid of evil spirits. But you have to believe or it not going to work for you," she said. Madda took us to the prayer room where there was another pool and even more bushes. There were even more soda bottles placed neatly in a row. "This is where the healing take place. God is in this room, so it's a powerful place. Is because people don't know, that's why them tell so much lies on us," said she.
Soon we went back outside. Madda was pensive as she spoke. "People need to know that is not just about cream soda and calanga water. We are Christian soldiers, so there's no need to fear us. Anybody who want evil works to be done, go somewhere else. We are friendly people and only want to help."
