White Witch of Rose Hall
The White Witch of Rose Hall
In Jamaica, long before soap operas and reality TV, people entertained themselves by telling “duppy” stories that that evolved into legends after generations of retelling. Duppy is the Jamaican word for ghost[1] and the most notorious duppy ever to haunt Montego Bay is the spirit of Annie Palmer, known as the White Witch of Rose Hall. Her legend overflows with more treachery, love triangles, violence, and scandal than the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and it’s even more dramatic when it’s told Jamaican style, mon!
Set on a great big hill overlooking MoBay, the stately mansion called Rose Hall was built in the 1700’s on one of the oldest and largest sugar plantations in Jamaica. While Great House Home & Garden tours are offered daily, by far the main attraction is the Great House Haunted Night tour that draws throngs of visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of Annie Palmer’s ghost.[2] While vacationing in Jamaica with my extended family, I took the Great House Haunted Night tour with my brother-in-law, my 18-year-old niece, and my 11-year-old son. My 14-year-old daughter and my in-laws chickened out and thank goodness they did because this tour is not for the faint of heart! I won’t spoil the surprises but you’ll learn about 1800’s Jamaican history and culture (with a Jamaican flair) and you’ll walk away scared with some unforgettable memories.
Although there are several versions of the legend of "Annee Palmer," our guide told us that she was born in Haiti to an English mother and Irish father and she spent most of her life in Haiti.[3] After her parents died of yellow fever, Annie was adopted by a nanny who taught her witchcraft and voodoo. At the age of 18, Annie moved to Jamaica in search of a rich husband and married John Palmer, owner of Rose Hall plantation. A cruel mistress, Annie ruled with an iron fist and was feared by her slaves not just because of her extensive knowledge of voodoo but also because she sadistically whipped, tortured, or put to death anyone who disobeyed her orders – it’s even been said that Annie had her basement refurbished into a dungeon where she tortured her prisoners.[4]
Brazenly unafraid of committing cold-blooded murder, Annie reportedly killed her slaves’ infants to harvest their bones for black magic. And her bloodthirstiness didn’t stop there; Annie allegedly murdered John Palmer,[5] her 2 subsequent husbands, and numerous male slaves rumored to have been her lovers. Suffice it to say, Annie was extraordinarily cunning and hid her tracks very well, often with the assistance of her slave/lover named Takoo.
Although versions of Annie’s death vary, they’re similar in that a slave (or group of slaves) murdered Annie out of revenge; many of these stories name Takoo as her killer. Annie‘s body was purportedly buried in a tomb on the Rose Hall property that you will see on the House Haunted Night tour. Legend has it that when Annie’s body was interred, a Voodoo ritual was performed to try to prevent her spirit from rising from the grave, but someone botched the procedure because her tomb has crucifixes marked on only 3 sides; whenever Annie’s ghost wants to get up and take a midnight stroll around the grounds, it can always hop right back into the grave by entering the 4th unmarked side.[6]
While considerable debate abounds on the validity of the legend of the White Witch of Rose Hall,[7] there’s no debating that the Great House Haunted Night tour is a heart-pounding adventure full of excitement and surprises that’s well worth the cost of admission.
[1] Originating in Central Africa, the duppy is part of Bantu folklore. A duppy can be either the manifestation (in human or animal form) of the soul of a dead person, or a malevolent supernatural being. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duppy
[2] The 45-minute Great House Haunted Night tour is offered nightly from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm and costs $25 USD per person. Not recommended for children under 10 years old. For more information, see https://rosehall.com/tours/rose-hall-great-house-night-tour
[3] There’s also a Parisian origin version of the legend that’s noted, among other lurid details, in this Paranormal Folklore blog at https://ghostlyaspectsfolklore.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/the-white-witch-of-rose-hall-montego-bay-jamaica/
[4] Here are some fun facts for all the music fans out there! The owner of Rose Hall estate, John Rollins, converted Annie’s old dungeon into a tavern where his good buddy Johnny Cash used to hang out with Bob Marley (our tour guide showed us a picture to prove it). In 1973, Cash wrote and recorded a song called "The Ballad of Annie Palmer" inspired by the legend of the White Witch. Enamored with Jamaica, Cash bought a home called Cinnamon Hill on the former Rose Hall plantation grounds that turned out to be haunted (you can take a separate tour of Cinnamon Hill). In his autobiography, Cash wrote candidly about his benign paranormal experiences: “We’ve never had any trouble with these souls. They mean us no harm, I believe, and we’re certainly not scared of them; they just don’t produce that kind of emotion.” http://mysteriousdestinationsmagazine.com/close-encounters-at-the-johnny-cash-house
[5] Annie allegedly murdered John Palmer by poisoning his coffee. Makes you think twice before taking that first sip of morning Joe. For a first-hand account and great pix from a visitor spooked by her tour of Rose Hall, see https://maryloudriedger2.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/a-great-house-haunts-me/
[6] Researchers doubt whether Annie’s remains were ever buried in the tomb on the Rose Hall plantation grounds. For gory details on various accounts of Annie Palmer’s death and burial, read this post on the intriguing blog That Hoodoo You Do, http://www.jesterbear.com/Hoodoo/WhiteWitch.html
[7] See paranormal blogger Stephen Barnes’s well-written post on the creation of the White Witch legend, which appears to have been partially based on H.G. de Lisser's 1928 novel The White Witch of Rose Hall, https://exemplore.com/paranormal/The-White-Witch-of-Rose-Hall-A-Jamaican-Ghost-Story
