Jamaica Travel: A Spooky Place to Visit in Montego Bay

I tend to think of the places I've been to that had a strange, spooky history or feel to it, if there were "true" legends all the better. One such place that I visited fills that criteria to the max and I shall try to tell the tale of this most spooky grand old house in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and the evil, wicked woman who lived there.

On a hill overlooking the sun kissed waters of the Caribbean is a strange mansion, now a museum.....Rose Hall is a legend and has quite a story to tell of the White Witch who roams the great hall as well as grounds of the property...Now it's a tale told by the natives, but back in the 1700's she was as real as could be and as cruel and wicked a woman you could ever hope not to meet

This is one of the spookiest places I had ever been and I was fascinated with the story and history of this very bizarre woman.

Her name was Anne, when she first arrived from France she didn't really know what to expect except that she was there to marry a very wealthy man named John Palmer who was the owner of huge sugar fields along with many slaves who were there to do the work and take care of all they needed to be done to run the big house and the successful business of this plantation.

It wasn't long before Anne got restless with this laid back life, she missed the bright lights of Paris, the excitement of that most glorious city and all that went with it...This island living was way to quiet for her...it wasn't long before her moods swings got the better of her and she became nasty and mean spirited, especially to the slaves that worked for her...John Palmer was often off on business and not around the plantation too much so didn't really notice the changes taking place in his Anne, or, he might have just looked away, nobody really knows for sure.

What is known is that she started to have her slaves whipped without reason, most of the time in public to demonstrate what could happen to the onlookers if they dared disobey her orders....Soon she had a dungeon built and tortures would take place, all sorts of nasty and despicable punishments were given out to those unfortunate enough to make her angry for one reason or another....then she went even further and had some slaves executed if the "crimes" if she thought were committed warranted death. After all, she was the judge and the jury. It is said she would stand out on her balcony in the mornings and give out her orders for the day to those assembled below....and, they had better be done to her liking or watch out!

What her husband said about all is this not known, was he brow beaten? Or did he just not know or care?

But soon she must have become bored and the beatings just weren't enough....apparently neither was her husband...she started taking some of the better looking slaves to her bed.... they didn't please her she would have them put to death. Talk about pressure! Anyway, then she would have them buried in unmarked graves on the grounds. There were rumors that eventually poor John Palmer did find out and that she murdered him in cold blood while he was in sleeping then had him buried as well. He just disappeared and there was never an investigation by the authorities, though apparently Jamaica was pretty lawless at the time...in any event with his disappearance she became the owner and mistress the whole shebang...

What is known is that years later many unmarked graves were found all over the property and it is said the spirits of those graves roam the estate even now.

But back to the story....out of curiosity she decided to study Voodoo, a practice that had been established on the islands way before she even arrived on the scene. There were a few noted practitioners of this form of witchcraft and it wasn't long before she learned the magic she sought .She was a quick learner and used what she learned in evil, despicable ways. She wanted to make her powers strong so she had babies sacrificed and buried in more unmarked graves...any slave she had who know anything about Voodoo taught her all they knew in hopes that she would spare them their lives, that she would favor them instead of being sacrificed.

She remarried twice, but those husbands didn't fare any better then the first and they eventually disappeared also leaving behind their fortunes in her hands. How she got anyone else to marry her in another unanswered question.

Her reputation spread in that mountainous region and she was called the "White Witch of Jamaica" known far and wide as evil and ruthless. Even the pirates who came ashore to pillage and plunder in Montego Bay stayed far away from her.

One day, Anne spotted a very handsome young man and decided he would be her slave for that evenings romp in bed. And though she usually kept her conquests alive for a short while, this poor guy was murdered that night, once again buried in an unmarked grave. But this time, it turned out she made a big mistake...he had been in love with a pretty young girl, the daughter of the man who ran the estate. The girl was heartbroken when he disappeared...when her father found out, he was not a very happy man to see his daughter in the state she was in....it turned out that this overseer of the estate was a high Priest of Voodoo though Anne was unaware of his powers...he was furious, deciding to fight fire with fire, or in this case, Voodoo against Voodoo...he was going to do away with her using his strong magic against hers

His plan of action was to make a special grave for Anne with specific markings and designed it so that she would be unable to rise from the dead. He went to Rose Hall to engage in a battle with her, to the death, both in the physical realm and with all he could do with his most prolific magic, magic he had learned from the masters of this weird religion...The battle was fierce but eventually he won out and then put her body in the specially prepared grave....It was over, the wicked witch was dead!

But, was it really over? Rumors abound that the rituals and spells preformed over the grave-site were incorrectly done and that she is able to rise from the dead and was able to haunt the great halls of the mansion...That she is still doing so today. Many sightings have been noted by paranormals who went to record her ghostly images with special cameras and equipment with success...some tourists have even claimed to have seen or heard ghostly goings on, some even recording them on their cameras...

On my visit I was on high alert, turning quickly with each sound I heard. At one point I did hear something very strange while I was reloading my camera in the bedroom, the site of so many murders, quickly I turned but saw nothing, at least to my naked eye, but I did get a blurred image in a mirror...could have been me I suppose, but I was glad to get out of there.

Outside, when you go to the grave-site it is really very eerie...a medium sized cross is engraved on a large stone, nothing fancy at all, rather plain looking and not what I had expected, but I certainly would not want to be there by myself, at night!

The Great house of Rose Hall and the White Witch who lived there is certainly a frightening place and an evil figure...a strange place since it's located on such a lovely setting, overlooking Montego Bay's unsurpassed natural beauty...but not inside, the soul of this house is certainly not a beauty...beware, this is not the place to be after the sun sets over the beautiful blue Caribbean sea.

Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!