Gef was famous about 100 years ago. A Net Inceptions project. Georgia Guidestones: Who Paid for It and Why? Accept Read More, http://gefmongoose.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-story-of-gef.html, Lake Avernus Mythology, Oracles, and the Underworld, Indrid Cold: Grinning Man of 1960s American Folklore, Stingy Jack and the History of the Jack-o’-Lantern, Dark Legend of the Celle Neues Rathaus, Germany. Gef on Gef "I am an earthbound spirit." On an American farm, there was Mike the headless chicken. The Irving family themselves appear in these photographs, neatly dressed and apparently sane, posed in front of their remote home. Gef the Talking Monster, also known as the Dalby Spook or simply Gef, was an extremely bizarre and amazing animal-like spirit which was claimed to inhabit a farmhouse owned by the Irving family known as Cashen's Gap near the hamlet of Dalby on the Isle of Man. : The Strange Tale of an Extra-special Talking Mongoose (courtesy Strange Attractor), “This admittedly crude sketch, allegedly Gef’s attempt at a self-portrait, supposedly demonstrated his ability to grasp a pencil,” from Gef! That in itself is quite the testament to willpower and determination to survive anything. Josiffe concludes that when he started to research the case, he was “confident that a close reading of the primary sources,” combined with the recollections of the Isle of Man inhabitants, “would be sufficient to establish whether it had been a hoax, or a genuine paranormal phenomenon.” Instead, the deeper he looked, “the evidence became more conflicting, pointing on the one hand to fraud, and — at the same time — to something inexplicable.”, Examining Gef’s prints, from Gef! When Price concluded his investigation and left the island, Gef reappeared, claiming that he had taken a few days holiday. Manx born and bred, self-confessed cooking addict and food snob. Nowadays this story falls between the cracks of historical significance, much like reports of Rat-Kings, the Alpine Tatzelwurm, and the native American Thunderbird. Price arrived on the island in the summer of 1935. Gef! If Voirrey knew who or what Gef was, she took that knowledge to the grave in 2005 and left the world with one of the most bizarre and perplexing mysteries of any generation. He was a talking mongoose who lived on the Island of Man. It was not a successful farm; James “Jim” Irving, an educated man, had previously been a traveling salesman, and although the farm was his retirement project, it was proving insufficient to support his wife, Margaret, and their daughter, Voirrey. Maybe the legend of Gef the Talking Mongoose was a collective fantasy, the product of a basic human desire for other-wordly wonder and magic. While he’s frequently referred to as a “mongoose,” he was initially called the “Dalby Spook” (referring to his geographic location on the Isle of Man). A convenient excuse as in the build-up Price’s arrival, Gef let his feelings be known. Was it somehow real?! HARRIS, Melvin. It’s highly likely that what would happen now, happened then. But then again, maybe Gef … : The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose", Christopher Josiffe investigates a 1930s mystery on the Isle of Man. The Irvings lived on a farmstead on top of a hill in Dalby. You guessed it, he was a talking mongoose who got up to all kinds of hijinks. Yet to a reporter in 1932, James assured: “There are no spooks here.” The journalist with the Daily Dispatch in Manchester, which was Gef’s first appearance in the mainland press, wrote: Had I heard a weasel speak? : The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose (courtesy Strange Attractor). "I am not a spirit. : The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose by Christopher Josiffe is out now from Strange Attractor. Les currently resides in London and is a freelance writer with a long standing passion for the unexplained and paranormal. A wonder of the 1940s where an ordinary chicken survived for 18 months with no head after being cut off with an axe. London: Orbis Publishing 1983, pp. Gef! Gef was famous about 100 years ago. Although now a largely forgotten tale, the sensational Gef (pronounced Jeff), the ‘talking mongoose’ of the Isle of Man, or as he is sometimes known, the Dalby Spook, caused an international media stir during the 1930s.. Historic Mysteries provides captivating articles on archaeology, history, and unexplained mysteries. : The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose, out now from Strange Attractor, is Christopher Josiffe’s sweeping investigation into Gef (pronounced like “Jeff”). Links:Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GefGef: The 8th wonder of the world – http://gefmongoose.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-story-of-gef.html. Isle of Man News article heralding Chistopher Josiffe's imminent book on Gef (Christopher wrote the FT Gef cover story of a few years ago.) Gef the Talking Mongoose) can now be told. 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