Greetings!
Just been perusing your listings, and am wondering if you have any information about the case of a creature that appeared on the Isle of Man in 1931, called "Jeff".
I am a writer, working currently within HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, and there is some conjecture that HPL may have based his character "Brown Jenkin" on this creature. The only mention I have been able to find, through quite a bit of exploration, is in a book published in 1976, New Worlds of the Unexplained, by Allen Spraggett. The text of the article follows:
Excerpted from "New Worlds of the Unexplained", compiled by Allen Spraggett, Signet Books, 1976.
"Who or what was Jeff?"
"There are some things so strange that they don't fit into any known category-neither fish nor fowl, human nor nonhuman.
One such thing was Jeff.
The story of this creature is so bizarre that many people will find it impossible to credit. Nevertheless it is abundantly documented. It was investigated by numerous reporters and psychical researchers, including Dr. Nandor Fodor, a noted psychoanalyst, RS Lambert of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and famed ghost-hunter Harry Price.
The story began in the fall of 1931 on the Isle of Man. James T Irving and his family caught glimpses of a strange animal skulking around their yard. It was described as about the size of a full-grown rat with a flat snout and a small yellow face.
Soon, the Irvings became aware that the creature had moved into the house with them. They heard its furtive, rustling movements and found traces of half-eaten food that the intruder had pilfered.
Then-and this is a very queer development-the family heard the creature apparently mimicking them in a peculiar imitation of human speech. Over a period of months it acquired the ability to talk in an odd, high-pitched voice. Before long, the family swore, the thing was carrying on conversations with them.
Yes, the story takes some believing thus far. But it gets worse.
The animal, or whatever it was-it never showed itself but lurked in hiding places in the walls from which it conversed with the family-called itself Jeff. It addressed each member of the family by his or her first name. Mr Irving was "Jim", his wife "Maggie", and their teen-aged daughter "Voirrey".
Jeff, according to the Irvings, did extraordinary besides talking. They began finding freshly-killed rabbits on their kitchen floor-gifts from their mysterious guest. But the rabbits had been strangled, not killed by teeth as a mongoose or weasel (as some thought Jeff to be) would have done. More than 50 rabbits were left in this way.
If the Irvings alone had vouched for Jeff's existence, one might say it was all a practical joke-or that the whole family was mad. But others encountered Jeff too.
Jeff hated strangers, and when they came to the house to try to make his acquaintance, as many did, he often threw things at them-crockery, or on one occasion a large iron bolt.
As time passed, Jeff branched out linguistically and was heard to be uttering phrases in what appeared to be German and Russian.
RS Lambert, a BBC producer , spent a week with the Irvings. He went back to London and wrote a book about his experiences with the talking mongoose, or whatever it was. When the book appeared, Lambert's superior publicly branded him either a liar or a madman. Lambert sued in court. The court believed his story and awarded him damages equal to 35,000-a very substantial sum in those days.
Other experienced investigators also probed the mystery of Jeff and came away persuaded that he or it represented an insoluble riddle.
Once, on demand, Jeff left his footprints, or pawprints in several pieces of soft wax, and these were pronounced unidentifiable by a zoologist. In other words, they belonged to no known animal.
Jeff stayed with the Irvings four years. Then he vanished-as mysteriously as he had come.
On one occasion, when James Irving demanded to know who or what Jeff really was, the creature, speaking from his usual habitat in the shadows, replied: "I know what I am but I won't tell you. I'm a freak. I've hands and feet. If you saw me you would be petrified."
And then Jeff added these tantalizing words: "I'm a ghost in the form of a weasel..."
If you hadn't previously heard of this creature, glad to add something to the archives. Would appreciate any help in this matter-have already searched for the book by RS Lambert in public library systems, Amazon, and Alibris, to no avail, and net searches haven't helped either.
Regards,
moderan |
