Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2008 Track 3 - Cower In Fear When You Hear The Duppy Bawl

The third song up in our mix is "Duppy Bawl" by the man called Flip Kay and it was pressed on the UK based Doctor label in 1976. The content of the song, describing the strange duppy (or ghost) funeral taking place along the riverside and witnessed by an innocent bystander just looking to cool off in the water. "Duppy Bawl" is a pretty nice cover of Levi Williams' "Duppy Jamboree" originally recorded and released on the Mighty Cloud label sometime earlier in the decade. Unfortunately, I can't tell you any more about Flip Kay because I came up empty on any background information in any of my books or online ... all I discovered was that he released two other tunes in 1975; "Jane, Ann" and "Back In My Arms," both on the UK based Grounation record label.

Well... since we don't have any more musical ground to cover today I figured I could give you something really useful! Something that you can stow away in the recesses of you mind and pull back out when its needed. Just think about it... when the time comes and you need to use the information I'm about to share with you, you'll feel a lot less guilty for the time spent here, probably while on the company's clock, reading my usual nonsensical ramblings.

Are you ready? Get a pen and paper ready in case you need to take notes! Here are 6 simple things to remember when dealing with duppies according to Jamaican superstition... and to an excellent Pieces Of The Past - Deadly Superstitions article appearing on the Jamaica Gleaner's web page that you can read in its entirety here.

If you are followed by a duppy, stop and mark an X on the ground and since they can only count to nine they will spend the night trying to count to X

Do not speak to a duppy immediately or it will hurt you. If he is wearing black, he is harmless. But if he is wearing white, he is dangerous

Use your left hand to strike a duppy

Do not kill any green lizards in a graveyard as they are believed to be duppies

If you are in the bushes and hear a stick break, it is a warning from a dead relative that the area is unsafe

If you feel a sudden gust of warm air, it means that a duppy is present

Now if you just commit those six important tips to memory you should be fine! If you can't remember them then write 'em down and put them in a safe place so you can reference them the next time you should encounter a duppy! Have a great weekend... see you on Monday! Oh... by the way, the image above of the duppies at night was borrowed from one of my favorite books of Jamaican ghost stories, Duppy Stories - Jamaica's Ghosts, Gremlins and Rolling Calves by David Brailsford. Check it out here!

Track 3