Haunted Rodrigues island

In the olden days ghosts used to be prolific on the island of Rodrigues. Being a skeptic, I asked the older generation why is it that there aren't as many ghost sightings in modern times. The answer is, "people don't walk around at night as much now due to cars, motorcycles and buses". Here are some classic Rodriguan ghost stories, some told first hand others told second hand.



THE FLOATING GHOST: The young man was walking home from Grand Baie to L'Anse Aux Anglais one night after visiting his girlfriend. It was very late and he was alone (or so he thought). As he approached Caverne Provert he felt a presence behind him. Turning around he saw a man following him. Nothing really strange about that, apart from the fact that the man was floating off the ground. A cold chill ran down his spine and he stopped walking, the ghostly apparition also stopped. He continued walking and the apparition started following him again, floating off the ground. Every time he stopped the apparition would also stop. Terrified, the young man knocked on the door of a relative. An elderly lady answered the door. The young man asked if he could sleep at her house because a ghost was following him and there was no way he was going to make it to his house in L'Anse Aux Anglais. She agreed that he could stay overnight even though she thought, "what a strange story". A strange story indeed until she looked out of her window and spotted the ghostly apparition floating under her tamarind tree!

THE GHOST TEACHER: The young servant girl had only recently started working at this home in Creve Coeur. She had just finished washing some clothes and walked off to place them to dry on some shrubs (no dryers or clothes lines in those days). She happened to glance at the house next door and saw something strange. The lady next door, was sitting outside her home and appeared to be teaching some children. Only problem was, there were no children except she behaved in as if there was! Thinking the lady next door had gone crazy she reported it to her employee. "Have you gone mad, the lady in the house next door died overnight and is lying in state in her home", stated her employee. The employee took the servant girl to the home next door and there, lying in state, was the lady she just saw minutes ago that appeared to be teaching "invisible" children. The servant girl got the shock of her life when the employee stated that the lady that died was a school teacher!

PERE GANDY AND THE JEEP: Pere Gandy was a famous Catholic priest who ministered on Rodrigues Island years ago. The Reine de Rodrigues Virgin Mary statue was erected by Pere Gandy in the mid 1950s. He also has a road named in his honour in Port Mathurin. He was, and still is, a respected historical figure. He told the following strange story of what happened to him one night on the island. Pere Gandy was walking home one night on the island when he saw a jeep's headlights approaching in the distance. The jeep stopped and the driver offered to drive Pere Gandy home. Pere Gandy got in, said "merci" (thankyou in English) and the jeep drove off. Without warning, a few miles further down the road, Pere Gandy found himself standing on the road without ever getting out of the car. The car and driver had mysteriously disappeared! This story sounds strangely like the vanishing hitchhiker ghost story except in this instance it's the car and driver that disappears not the hitchhiker. Not sure what to make of this spooky story when one considers it was told by a priest.

THE ROAD FROM PORT MATHURIN TO L'ANSE AUX ANGLAIS: This is (maybe I should say "was") probably the most haunted road on the Island so the story goes. One spot in particular makes the hairs of people stand up. This spot is located just after the big sattelite dish and before L'Anse Aux Anglais cemetery (the spot where those black boulders lie on the beach). Apparently heaps of people have seen ghosts in this spot. My dad told me that every time he would walk past this spot the hairs on the back of his neck would stand up and he would feel this chill go down his spine. He didn't see any ghosts at this spot but there was always this "weirdness" associated with this spot. Another spot of hauntings is located near a huge tamarind tree in L'Anse Aux Anglais. Not sure if the tree is still there but I'll try and explain the exact location. Heading towards L'Anse Aux Anglais, just after passing the cemetery and just before crossing the bridge the tree is located to the right. There have been numerous sightings of ghosts at this location. A relative told me a strange story related to this tree. One night he was heading home after a day of fishing. When he reached the tree he could see the lights of his house in the distance. Now the "weirdness" starts. Every time he would head towards the light he would not get closer to this house and he always ended up standing next to the tree. I failed to ask him how he eventually got home.

Voodoo / Ancient African religions on Rodrigues island.

Currently Catholicism is the most practised religion on the island of Rodrigues. There are also a very small number of Anglicans, Muslims, Buddhists and 7th day Adventists. Voodoo / ancient African religions used to be prevalent on the Island but have since died out. The early African slaves bought their religion with them to the island and some continued to practise voodoo until the mid 1900s. Apparently all Rodriguans who practised the "black magic" part of voodoo all died horrible deaths by fire. There aren't any published documents stating voodoo used to be practised in Rodrigues but I'll share some anecdotes from some of the older inhabitants. As a skeptic I find some of these stories very hard to believe but these are eyewitness accounts from trusted people. Hallucinations? Too much drinking? You be the judge!

MINISTRE PRINCE: This creepy story was told by my Grandmother. On a moonlit night, early 1930s in L'Anse Aux Anglais, my Grandmother and her sister were sent on an errand by their father. They were walking home, using their usual path, next to the river (I don't think the river currently flows). In the distance they noticed two people dressed all in while swinging from the branch of a tree. Being nighttime they couldn't easily make out these two individuals so they decided to approach the tree. The closer they got to the tree the stranger these two appeared. As they got closer they could make out two men all dressed in white dangling / swinging on the branch of this tree. All of a sudden the hairs on the back of their necks stood up and a chill went down their spine. These two men were extremely skinny and at least 15 foot tall! The two young sisters screamed and ran home to tell their strange story to their father. Instead of getting scalded by their father he told them that these creatures were called "Ministre Prince". These "Ministre Prince" , summoned by the voodoo priests, were indeed giants and had been seen by other people in Rodrigues.

HUMAN ANIMALS: Apparently one can turn into any animal using secret voodoo rituals. Rodriguan Voodoo practitioners were able to do this so the story goes. I have heard numerous first hand stories about voodoo practitioners turning themselves into animals, here are a couple. Most of the anecdotes about humans turning themselves into animals relates to dogs. My Grandad was sitting on the beach at L'Anse Aux Anglais at night to enjoy the cool night air. Suddenly he felt somebody breathing on the back his neck. Turning around he saw a huge werewolf like dog. Apparently this animal was bigger than any dog he had ever seen. Obviously he ran like hell to his house which was nearby. On another occasion a man heard a commotion outside his house in the dead of night. He went out to investigate and came across a huge werewolf like dog. He grabbed a stick and started striking the dog. One blow landed on the dog's front leg and it ran off yelping in pain. The next day a voodoo practitioner, which people had suspected could turn herself into an animal, was spotted at the hospital with a broken arm.
The last story is actually quite hilarious. A man was walking home after visiting his girlfriend at night. He spotted a turkey walking on the path. As nobody was around he picked up the turkey, tucked it under his arm and continued on home. After a bit of walking the turkey looked at him and said, "mete mwa anba, monn arrive kot moi" (English translation "Put me down, I've arrived at my place"). He got the fright of his life, dropped the turkey and ran like hell. Pretty LoL story that is supposedly "true".

TI ALBERT: I'm not really that familiar with Ti Albert but my cousin told me a strange story when I was on holidays in Rodrigues which sounds like Ti Albert. At the time he just told me the story without mentioning Ti Albert. He reckons that people would get woken up in the middle of the night by the very loud sound of large stones raining down on their corrugated iron roof. On further investigation they would only find little pebbles on the roof and in their yard. Supposedly Ti Albert could make little pebbles sound like huge rocks. On other occasions there would be no evidence left anywhere of anything at all having rained down on the roof.

Early Rodriguan immigrant in Melbourne.

Rodriguan immigration to Australia peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This story, from the early 1970s, revolves around a newly arrived young man in Melbourne. Being new to Melbourne, the young man arranged to meet a friend of his who had been living in Melbourne for a couple of years so he could be showed the sights. The two friends didn’t own cars and lived in different suburbs so they both arranged to catch a train to the city and meet outside St Paul’s Cathedral. For those that don’t know Melbourne, St Paul’s is located right opposite the main train station (Flinders Street Station) in Melbourne.

On the appointed day the newly arrived man got off the train at Flinders St Train station and proceeded to St Paul’s Cathedral. His friend arrived a little bit late and also proceeded to St Paul’s Cathedral. As he exited the station he noticed his friend sitting on the footpath outside St Paul’s Cathedral. He found this strange as the footpath was a major thoroughfare and was crowded with pedestrians at the time. Although he was sitting on the very edge of the footpath and not in the middle he was still disrupting pedestrians because it was crowded.

The friend, a little bit embarrassed, approached and asked him, “What are you doing? You can’t sit on the footpath and disrupt all these people. Couldn’t you stand on the corner and wait for me?” His friend got up and replied, “I had no choice, I had to wait for you sitting down”. He then proceeded to show his friend the street sign that stated in bold writing “NO STANDING ANYTIME”.

This story almost sounds like a joke but it’s apparently true. Why would a sign relating to cars advise them not to stand, it should just state “NO PARKING ANYTIME”.

Touni Minuit

“Touni Minuit” (English translation – naked at midnight) isn’t a story exclusive to Rodrigues Island. Mauritius also has stories of “Touni Minuit”. The stories from Rodrigues and Mauritius are a little bit different. The stories started in Mauritius, changed a bit, and then migrated to Rodrigues.

I’ll begin with the Mauritian “Touni Minuit”.The story begun after cyclone Hollanda struck Mauritius in February 1994 when the electricity was down and hadn’t been restored to many parts of the island. Rumours swept the island that a woman was menaced by a werewolf in Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius. Yes, a werewolf! Within hours of the first report, sightings and encounters with the werewolf began to multiply. The werewolf was given the name of “Touni Minuit”. He was described as being shiny black or silver and took the form of a naked man and sometimes a dog. Mass hysteria swept the island and the story was reported in the news media. Armed vigilantes started to roam the streets in search of the so called werewolf. As the weeks passed and electricity was restored, sightings of “Touni Minuit” died down. Some people attribute the disappearance of “Touni Minuit” to the killing of black dogs in Pleine Verte by the vigilantes. Basically they assumed he was killed when in dog form.

The “Touni Minuit” story migrated to Rodrigues after the hysteria died down in Mauritius. The Rodriguan version wasn’t reported as being a werewolf. He was described as a naked man that was smeared all over with some sort of black oily substance. The story goes that people would wake up in the middle of the night and they would find “Touni Minuit” in their kitchen eating their food (I’m laughing while writing this as the find this story so hilarious). Some people tried to grab him but he slipped from their grasp due to his oily covering and magically disappeared. Like the Mauritian version, weeks passed and sightings of “Touni Minuit” died down.

Both versions of “Touni Minuit” were reported in Melbourne on the weekly ZZZ Mauritian radio program.

The schoolteacher and the Virgin Mary statue

In the olden days there was a statue of the Virgin Mary located on the hillside in the grounds of Port Mathurin Government School (It may still be there) . I actually have a very old picture of the school children helping build the statue dated from the late 1940s. Back in the days school teachers used to take their students to the statue to pray. Maybe they prayed for good grades! One of these students told me the following funny story.

On this particular day a school teacher took his students to the statue to pray. The teacher in question was Monique Plaiche (sadly no longer with us but very well known as a teacher). As he and his students knelt before the statue and started saying their prayers a man on the roadside by the school yelled out, "Monique!!!!! Arete fer to couyon!! Ca statue la, ciment ca! Levayan ki ti faire ca!".

Kreole --> English translation: Monique!!!! Stop being an idiot!! That statue is cement! Levayan made it. Basically the moral of the story is, "why the hell are you praying to a piece of cement".

The daredevil Rodriguan motorcyclist

A motorcyclist is hospitalised in Queen Elizabeth hospital at Creve Coeur nursing multiple broken bones, cuts and bruised. He is visited by his family and friends. They ask him what happened to him. He replied that he had been riding his motorcycle on a stretch of road near Mont Lubin on a pitch black moonless night. He rounded a corner and he saw the distant glare of two motorcyclist’s headlight. Having a bit of a reputation as a daredevil he accelerated his bike and decided he was going to ride between the two motorcyclists heading his way. As he thundered for the small gap between the oncoming headlights he realised, too late, that it wasn’t two motorcyclists heading his way but a jeep. This jeep was the first and only car on the island at the time. The motorcyclist had no idea and thought motorcycles were the only form of motorised transport on the island at the time.

This story comes from the 1950s and it is a fact that the first car on the island was a jeep and did arrive on the island in the 1950s. That being the case, this story still sounds suspiciously like an urban legend. A few people claim it did occur though but who knows.

Pirates and buried treasure

Rodrigues island has a rich history in regards to piracy and pirates. Laurent Lemoine, the infamous pirate, supposedly hid treasure on the island (Ile Hermitage to be specific). Other sites of supposed hidden treasure include L'Anse Aux Anglais and Caverne Provert. Many have tried to search for the hidden treasure in L'Anse Aux Anglais with no success (including Leon Le Clezio). My Grandfather used to tell the story of holes dug all over the place in L'Anse Aux Anglais when he was a child on the island. Caverne Provert also has an interesting legend regarding buried treasure. The story goes that there is a hidden chain in the "cavern like" formation at the end of the beach. It is said that the chain, if found and followed, leads to hidden treasure. I recall looking for this chain when I was last on the island but I didn't see anything. The cave was full of sand so maybe it's buried under the sand!

To this day no treasure has ever been found in Rodrigues. The closest thing found are old coins dating back 100s of years. There is an interesting story relating to coins which have been found on the island. Apparently the ghosts of pirates come to certain people in their dreams and tell them exactly where the hidden treasure is located and to go off into the night and start digging. Apparently some people claim they have followed through on the dream and they did end up finding old coins but no treasure.

Is there hidden treasure buried somewhere on the island just waiting to be found? The evidence so far suggest there isn't. On the other hand maybe there is treasure but nobody has found it yet.

Lady Broome's account of Rodrigues island

Lady Broome (1831-1911 pictured left) was an author who wrote the book Colonial Memories. Colonial Memories, her last book details her life in the British colonies in the 1800s. Her travel to Rodrigues (late 1800s) is mentioned in the book. Looking at the way she wrote, it does seem rather racist and politically incorrect. Here's a snippet from the book.

"All the men in the settlement had crowded round F. and the priests, so I found myself the centre of a large gathering of the women of Gabrielle, Children were there in numbers, but had no chance of getting near me, and there was always the difficulty of the language. What my smiling jet-black friends seemed most curious about was my "civil status," and that of the other lady. " Madame ou Ma'amzelle ?" was the incessant question to both of us. I singled out one extraordinarily ugly but beaming and big, fat girl to put the same question to, and I can never forget the' droll air of coquetry with which she laid one black finger against an equally black cheek, turned her head aside, and murmured bashfully, "Moi, je suis Modeste.""