This is such a weird story. I just heard of it tonight and I've been reading about it. I wonder if there's any chance she was just like a schizophrenic or something. I don't think that stuff was really understood back then. I don't think she's lying, just maybe her vision of reality is different from most of the world.
@xeasternxz Well, what I do is open two windows of YouTube, and play an audio clip I like, watch this one w/ sound off. A little Don Cab to this is nice.
A very interesting story which no one could find any proper evidence to say Gef is fictional. To me I just don't believe this, simply because I personally believe strongly in laws of physics.
The music is too epic for what the supposed creature actually was, a glorified rat. I live on the Isle of Man, have done for 9 years and I have to say of all our stupid manx fairy tales this takes the biscuit. Of course this isnt real, it never happened. This Voirrey bird was quite obviously mental and so was her family. It is an interesting story, but then that is all it is, a story... a fictional story at that! The idea that a Mongoose from India would come to the isle of man! UTTER DRIVEL!
It's an interesting story and one propagated by Harry Price which I cover in my biography about him. I understand Voirrey was alive up to a few years ago but I could never trace her
If you have Viorrey's address you should talk to her neighbors to get a sense of what she was like! What did she talk about? Did they have any idea who she really was?
Pleasre,stop adding that stupid shitty music,or scratched from playing music that i can hear anywhere played million times a second.Or better,dont add music at all,im pissed off already.Listen to something original, i got a feeling that this generation completely lost taste,and can listen to anything which everyone claims to be cool.
I chose this song because of the lyrics. You can always hit mute. Especially the lines about being brought to life; this to me seemed sympathetic to both Voirrey's feelings of having a life half-lived, Gef needing human animus to gain strength, and the mysterious nexus between the two.
@candyheavenly You took that berating well. I'm a Texan who has read the story probably 50 times since childhood. Can't say why, but I utterly believe this account. Thank you for posting it. As for the music, I'll take your word on the lyrical affinity for Voirrey, poor girl. Not sure what music would serve here, but I feel power lies in that name, Doarlish Cashen, and I would whisper it to myself often. Enya could fit, or even Jerry Goldsmith's work for The 13th Warrior. Anyway, cheers.
And also the line 'Don't let me die here....'; she must have felt quite hopelessly trapped at Doarlish Cashen, uneducated, impoverished, completely controlled by her parents - placing myself in her shoes I can imagine that I would be terrified at the thought of never getting out of there.
However it is interesting to note that Graham claimed to have experienced nothing supernatural while living on the farm, unlike those who had lived there prior to the Irvings and of course the Irvings themselves. Perhaps if he did he was ashamed to admit it, because of the persecution and infamy experienced by the Irvings. But perhaps Gef was far too dynamically involved with the Irvings to manifest after their departure.
A farmer called Leslie Graham who purchased the farm from the Irvings, shot a large black and white animal in 1947, it was photographed and an article and picture appeared in the IOM Examiner. This was not Gef - it was black and white whereas Gef was yellowish, it was over 3ft long whereas Gef was around 6" plus tail. It had a thick pelt, whereas Gef was quite fluffy, and was bothering Graham's livestock - Gef refused to eat other animals, he only killed rabbits for the Irvings to eat.
People just recycle that old report to make an end for the story. I wish books and articles would just drop it altogether as it is misleading and meaningless in context.
Perhaps it was some sort of polecat? Or a deformed badger?!
I think the house was knocked down simply because it and its 3 outbuildings took up space which was needed for farming; pictures taken on the site in the early 1970s show cows grazing, and there is still a very large cowshed to the west of the site.
Or it could have been considered an embarrassing relic by the Manx authorities.
It IS weird tho - it is so rare for tholtans - tumbledown, uninhabited Manx dwellings - to be pulled down.
I first heard of this story back in high school. I've always been facinated by strange, otherworldly creatures, and would relish the chance to visit Doarlish to satisfy my own curiousities - and if I just so happen to cross paths with Gef it would just be icing on the cake! :)
this has always been a great little story,i saw a short film version on tv years ago,tom baker voiced gef,it was very creepy,this is a nice vid,but please loose the music as it ruins the viewing in my opinion:)
I so want to see the Baker documentary. You can always hit mute re: music! I think teh lyrics quite fit; their lonely desperate insolation is not out of keeping!
You are right, it was "Vanished", which was more an arty-farty project than a psychical investigation.
Caitlin & Grisoni were lucky Voirrey didn't sue their miserable butts off for what they insinuated about the Irvings in 'Vanished' (you will notice they changed the names), but that's another story. They played it in Dalby and got strips torn off them by those that remembered Voirrey and the Irving family.
Mark I am very interested in your experience of 'Vanished!'s screening on the IOM. I haven't seen it myself, but am guessing there was a strongly hinted at abuse angle? Please elaborate (or contact me offlist).
Yes, those evil creeps hinted heavily her dad had unsavoury relations with her - child abuse being of course a morbid British obsession.
The paradox of the affair was the quiet Voirrey didn't like Gef, but she was afraid of & also felt sorry for him. Gef quarrelled with her parents because they wanted him to make them rich, but he feared they'd leave if they did. It was a 3 way stand off sure to end in tears all round - & duly did.
i saw a fantastic program about this once that used real actors on UK TV, i wish i knew what program that was. do you know? Also what did happen to the old house?
I have never seen that program and can't seem to find anything about it. I would love to see it though!
The house was pulled down in the 1960s or 1970s, which was very unusual as usually houses on the IOM are left to decay. All that is left is some of the concrete from the foundations, the outline of the house and the well. Caitlin and Grisoni, who made a short arthouse film about the case, found a stake up there, with large cruel nails driven into it. Very sinister!
I really hoped you would have known about the program, i think it was a feature on a program about the paranormal that used reconstructions. there is one show on atm on the Paranormal Channel called Strange But True with Michael Aspel. it may be the same program i will keep recording it incase it was the same program. What was the general idea behind Gef. was he an animal spirit..maybe a person's ghost that posessed a creature? it really is fascinating isnt it.
It could have been that...its going back some years now. Thanks for looking into this. You really have to see it if thats definitely the program im not sure. If they show it again you must record it. it was the only and the best reconstructed story about it ive ever seen.
The "stake" is really a long pole with some nails in it at the top, and it is far away from where the house was, nearer to the well site. Those two chancers deliberately made much play about the "stake" - insinuating it was to 'lay' Gef but chances are it was simply used to keep up either a telephone wire or as a gibbet.
Having visited the site myself (& had a rather unnerving experience), I have to say Cashen's Gap's one weird but wonderful part of the world!
I really want to go there! Mark, I'd be curious to hear more about your experience if you're willing to share it.
I have always found Voirrey as fascinating as Gef. I have sources that claim she married and went to Leeds, then I have the Fate Magazine article where she states she never married. One thing is for sure-- she never denied Gef was real and she never tried to cash in on him. If anything, she did everything in her power to drop off of the face of the earth.
I have too been up to Doarlish Cashen. I never saw the 'stake'. But I was privy to a weird experience, when my companion did not hear a (to me) very loud, obvious and shrill voice from behind the sod ridge on the route away from Doarlish screech 'Ooo OOOOOO HOOOooooo'. What happened to you?
I heard something between a hiss & a hoarse voice saying "Gee ach" (the g being soft). Looked everywhere, but there was nothing at all around, & there was no cover for anything to make such a noise & then remained undetected.
At the Ballacallin House Hotel in Dalby later (where Gef's been on its sign for decades) & told them I'd come down from Cashen's Gap (but nothing else!), they said loads of folk have weird experiences there - & one of the locals looked daggers at me until I'd left!
I am absolutely fascinated by the whole story, and I'm just amazed that this series of incidents is not more widely known about. This may be a "we'll never know for sure" sort of happening, but at least it's fun to speculate about!
Yes it is a photo of Gef taken by Voirrey; Gef agreed to pose for her on the 5 bar gate near the house. He has his tail over his back like a squirrel. I have loads of photos of the family and house etc which I have put up on a facebook group - do a search for Gef the Talking Mongoose and you will find it.
I wish there had been better photographic technology back in those days. If it is indeed Gef, he's sitting hunched in such a way that it almost gives him a cat-like outline.
If you compare this pic to the one of Gef on the sod ridge, they do appear to be the same animal, and the latter does NOT look like a cat.The ears seem to have light tufts around them.
The Irvings did not own a cat, and the nearest one would have had to have lived a mile away.
And that IS a 5 bar gate, not a fence, which would make for one tiny cat, and I don't think a kitten would have the grace or agility to sit in that pose or get up there in the first place.
And bear in mind that in this pic, Gef has his tail curled up over his back in the manner of a squirrel. There was a suggestion that Voirrey photographed an old fur piece, but Nandor Fodor searched the whole house secretly and found no fur. Also, if it was a cat, it would have to be a kitten as I say, and there is no way a domestic kitten from a mile away would be sitting on that gate, ditto a feral cat's kitten which would be shy of humans.
I think I first read about him in an Usbourne book, there was a tiny article about him. I always wondered about him, and at some stage about 5 years ago I started to read more about him but to be honest I can't remember - he kind of creeps up on you!
The book you are referring to is great as it contains the only interview ever published with Voirrey Irving.
Mysterious Universe Podcast did a special about Gef last year, reading from the "Darby Spook" webpage. Up until then, I had NEVER heard of Gef, and I thought I was a paranormal enthusiast!
I never cease to be amazed at how the facts of this case remain distorted, as though the public is willing, even eager, to be deceived. A mongoose on the Isle of Man? Hardly. Gef was a self-admitted compulsive liar. He was a talking capybara, and his name was actually Ambrose. Also he could not talk, of course, but he DID possess a tricorder with speech synthesis capability. Admittedly, he was on very good terms with the colony of talking mongooses that inhabited the island in the Thirties.
They were actually released in 1912 by a neighbouring farmer called Irvine, were Indian mongooses and therefore had a lifespan of 8 - 13 years. So unless they bred in the unconducive environment of the South Barrule they were unlikely to have been roaming in the Thirties. I do not dispute the rest of your keenly researched remarks however. It is v frustrating when people get the facts of this case wrong and keep repeating the same old rubbish garnered from 6th hand data raping websites.
Seems like releasing a bunch of alien mammals into an island ecosystem is the zoological equivalent of WMDs. I'm guessing Irvine was hoping to wipe out some other pest. Ah, ingenuity.
Remember The T.V. Show And Movie Barnyard, You Know That Yellowish Mongoose That Talked? This Reminds Me Of Him...Thumbs Up If You Think So Too.
Bieberslayer 2 weeks ago
What a crazy tale (no pun) I hope we can investigate :D
citymetrofear21 8 months ago
This is such a weird story. I just heard of it tonight and I've been reading about it. I wonder if there's any chance she was just like a schizophrenic or something. I don't think that stuff was really understood back then. I don't think she's lying, just maybe her vision of reality is different from most of the world.
MckyMseNTarotCrds 10 months ago
@xeasternxz Well, what I do is open two windows of YouTube, and play an audio clip I like, watch this one w/ sound off. A little Don Cab to this is nice.
MckyMseNTarotCrds 10 months ago
Who would win in a fight between Gef and Jody the pig from the Amityville house ?
doobiesmoke15 1 year ago
Gef is cool
SharkKid42 1 year ago
eelmine kommentaar on aserbaidžaani keeles
113Juve 1 year ago
men de Ceffle danisiram
113Juve 1 year ago
я тоже общаюсь с Джефом
SardaukarBashar 1 year ago
so, i dont get it....it was just a chipmunk or a chipmunk ghost with powers, or just a talking animal....
KenFan4life 1 year ago
A very interesting story which no one could find any proper evidence to say Gef is fictional. To me I just don't believe this, simply because I personally believe strongly in laws of physics.
SniperRuleZ 1 year ago
pretty cool story, but is there any picture evidence of Geff??
24fRaMeSps001 1 year ago
i love this myth, Gef is the eight wonder of the world.
pampamproductions 1 year ago
The music is too epic for what the supposed creature actually was, a glorified rat. I live on the Isle of Man, have done for 9 years and I have to say of all our stupid manx fairy tales this takes the biscuit. Of course this isnt real, it never happened. This Voirrey bird was quite obviously mental and so was her family. It is an interesting story, but then that is all it is, a story... a fictional story at that! The idea that a Mongoose from India would come to the isle of man! UTTER DRIVEL!
Jonnyreb1988 2 years ago
You're kind of a killjoy. o_O
Preevyew 2 years ago
It's an interesting story and one propagated by Harry Price which I cover in my biography about him. I understand Voirrey was alive up to a few years ago but I could never trace her
westrichard 2 years ago
If you have Viorrey's address you should talk to her neighbors to get a sense of what she was like! What did she talk about? Did they have any idea who she really was?
CoyKiyote 2 years ago
Pleasre,stop adding that stupid shitty music,or scratched from playing music that i can hear anywhere played million times a second.Or better,dont add music at all,im pissed off already.Listen to something original, i got a feeling that this generation completely lost taste,and can listen to anything which everyone claims to be cool.
Carthsting 2 years ago 11
I chose this song because of the lyrics. You can always hit mute. Especially the lines about being brought to life; this to me seemed sympathetic to both Voirrey's feelings of having a life half-lived, Gef needing human animus to gain strength, and the mysterious nexus between the two.
candyheavenly 2 years ago
@candyheavenly You took that berating well. I'm a Texan who has read the story probably 50 times since childhood. Can't say why, but I utterly believe this account. Thank you for posting it. As for the music, I'll take your word on the lyrical affinity for Voirrey, poor girl. Not sure what music would serve here, but I feel power lies in that name, Doarlish Cashen, and I would whisper it to myself often. Enya could fit, or even Jerry Goldsmith's work for The 13th Warrior. Anyway, cheers.
cvisenti 1 year ago
And also the line 'Don't let me die here....'; she must have felt quite hopelessly trapped at Doarlish Cashen, uneducated, impoverished, completely controlled by her parents - placing myself in her shoes I can imagine that I would be terrified at the thought of never getting out of there.
candyheavenly 2 years ago
We need to bring a lady mongoose to the area to lure Gef out of hiding.
jamesjeffreypaul 2 years ago 5
However it is interesting to note that Graham claimed to have experienced nothing supernatural while living on the farm, unlike those who had lived there prior to the Irvings and of course the Irvings themselves. Perhaps if he did he was ashamed to admit it, because of the persecution and infamy experienced by the Irvings. But perhaps Gef was far too dynamically involved with the Irvings to manifest after their departure.
candyheavenly 2 years ago
A farmer called Leslie Graham who purchased the farm from the Irvings, shot a large black and white animal in 1947, it was photographed and an article and picture appeared in the IOM Examiner. This was not Gef - it was black and white whereas Gef was yellowish, it was over 3ft long whereas Gef was around 6" plus tail. It had a thick pelt, whereas Gef was quite fluffy, and was bothering Graham's livestock - Gef refused to eat other animals, he only killed rabbits for the Irvings to eat.
candyheavenly 2 years ago
People just recycle that old report to make an end for the story. I wish books and articles would just drop it altogether as it is misleading and meaningless in context.
candyheavenly 2 years ago
What do you think Graham shot, then? And, most fascinating as well, why was the house knocked down?
BSLYES 2 years ago
Perhaps it was some sort of polecat? Or a deformed badger?!
I think the house was knocked down simply because it and its 3 outbuildings took up space which was needed for farming; pictures taken on the site in the early 1970s show cows grazing, and there is still a very large cowshed to the west of the site.
Or it could have been considered an embarrassing relic by the Manx authorities.
It IS weird tho - it is so rare for tholtans - tumbledown, uninhabited Manx dwellings - to be pulled down.
candyheavenly 2 years ago
If Gef is still around, do you think he'd let someone adopt him?
:-)
jamesjeffreypaul 2 years ago
I first heard of this story back in high school. I've always been facinated by strange, otherworldly creatures, and would relish the chance to visit Doarlish to satisfy my own curiousities - and if I just so happen to cross paths with Gef it would just be icing on the cake! :)
McKaysSlave 2 years ago
Excellent video! Do you think that Gef was real?
jamesjeffreypaul 2 years ago
Gef *IS* real!
CoyKiyote 2 years ago
this has always been a great little story,i saw a short film version on tv years ago,tom baker voiced gef,it was very creepy,this is a nice vid,but please loose the music as it ruins the viewing in my opinion:)
seesnap 3 years ago
I so want to see the Baker documentary. You can always hit mute re: music! I think teh lyrics quite fit; their lonely desperate insolation is not out of keeping!
candyheavenly 3 years ago
Luckystar, I think it was called "Vanished".
CoyKiyote 3 years ago
You are right, it was "Vanished", which was more an arty-farty project than a psychical investigation.
Caitlin & Grisoni were lucky Voirrey didn't sue their miserable butts off for what they insinuated about the Irvings in 'Vanished' (you will notice they changed the names), but that's another story. They played it in Dalby and got strips torn off them by those that remembered Voirrey and the Irving family.
markboylepotb 3 years ago
Mark I am very interested in your experience of 'Vanished!'s screening on the IOM. I haven't seen it myself, but am guessing there was a strongly hinted at abuse angle? Please elaborate (or contact me offlist).
candyheavenly 3 years ago
Yes, those evil creeps hinted heavily her dad had unsavoury relations with her - child abuse being of course a morbid British obsession.
The paradox of the affair was the quiet Voirrey didn't like Gef, but she was afraid of & also felt sorry for him. Gef quarrelled with her parents because they wanted him to make them rich, but he feared they'd leave if they did. It was a 3 way stand off sure to end in tears all round - & duly did.
BTW, avoid Richard Felix's DVD, it's cack!
markboylepotb 3 years ago
i saw a fantastic program about this once that used real actors on UK TV, i wish i knew what program that was. do you know? Also what did happen to the old house?
LuckystarCountry 3 years ago
I have never seen that program and can't seem to find anything about it. I would love to see it though!
The house was pulled down in the 1960s or 1970s, which was very unusual as usually houses on the IOM are left to decay. All that is left is some of the concrete from the foundations, the outline of the house and the well. Caitlin and Grisoni, who made a short arthouse film about the case, found a stake up there, with large cruel nails driven into it. Very sinister!
candyheavenly 3 years ago
I really hoped you would have known about the program, i think it was a feature on a program about the paranormal that used reconstructions. there is one show on atm on the Paranormal Channel called Strange But True with Michael Aspel. it may be the same program i will keep recording it incase it was the same program. What was the general idea behind Gef. was he an animal spirit..maybe a person's ghost that posessed a creature? it really is fascinating isnt it.
LuckystarCountry 3 years ago
Could it have been this:
Harry Price Ghost Hunter - Sky One - 9th January 2005
narrated by Tom Baker?
candyheavenly 3 years ago
It could have been that...its going back some years now. Thanks for looking into this. You really have to see it if thats definitely the program im not sure. If they show it again you must record it. it was the only and the best reconstructed story about it ive ever seen.
LuckystarCountry 3 years ago
The "stake" is really a long pole with some nails in it at the top, and it is far away from where the house was, nearer to the well site. Those two chancers deliberately made much play about the "stake" - insinuating it was to 'lay' Gef but chances are it was simply used to keep up either a telephone wire or as a gibbet.
Having visited the site myself (& had a rather unnerving experience), I have to say Cashen's Gap's one weird but wonderful part of the world!
markboylepotb 3 years ago
I really want to go there! Mark, I'd be curious to hear more about your experience if you're willing to share it.
I have always found Voirrey as fascinating as Gef. I have sources that claim she married and went to Leeds, then I have the Fate Magazine article where she states she never married. One thing is for sure-- she never denied Gef was real and she never tried to cash in on him. If anything, she did everything in her power to drop off of the face of the earth.
CoyKiyote 3 years ago
I have too been up to Doarlish Cashen. I never saw the 'stake'. But I was privy to a weird experience, when my companion did not hear a (to me) very loud, obvious and shrill voice from behind the sod ridge on the route away from Doarlish screech 'Ooo OOOOOO HOOOooooo'. What happened to you?
candyheavenly 3 years ago
I heard something between a hiss & a hoarse voice saying "Gee ach" (the g being soft). Looked everywhere, but there was nothing at all around, & there was no cover for anything to make such a noise & then remained undetected.
At the Ballacallin House Hotel in Dalby later (where Gef's been on its sign for decades) & told them I'd come down from Cashen's Gap (but nothing else!), they said loads of folk have weird experiences there - & one of the locals looked daggers at me until I'd left!
markboylepotb 3 years ago
I am absolutely fascinated by the whole story, and I'm just amazed that this series of incidents is not more widely known about. This may be a "we'll never know for sure" sort of happening, but at least it's fun to speculate about!
rammgrrl 3 years ago
At 2:06---- I have NEVER seen that photo before! Is that Gef?
CoyKiyote 3 years ago
Yes it is a photo of Gef taken by Voirrey; Gef agreed to pose for her on the 5 bar gate near the house. He has his tail over his back like a squirrel. I have loads of photos of the family and house etc which I have put up on a facebook group - do a search for Gef the Talking Mongoose and you will find it.
candyheavenly 3 years ago
I wish there had been better photographic technology back in those days. If it is indeed Gef, he's sitting hunched in such a way that it almost gives him a cat-like outline.
rammgrrl 3 years ago
If you compare this pic to the one of Gef on the sod ridge, they do appear to be the same animal, and the latter does NOT look like a cat.The ears seem to have light tufts around them.
The Irvings did not own a cat, and the nearest one would have had to have lived a mile away.
And that IS a 5 bar gate, not a fence, which would make for one tiny cat, and I don't think a kitten would have the grace or agility to sit in that pose or get up there in the first place.
candyheavenly 3 years ago
And bear in mind that in this pic, Gef has his tail curled up over his back in the manner of a squirrel. There was a suggestion that Voirrey photographed an old fur piece, but Nandor Fodor searched the whole house secretly and found no fur. Also, if it was a cat, it would have to be a kitten as I say, and there is no way a domestic kitten from a mile away would be sitting on that gate, ditto a feral cat's kitten which would be shy of humans.
candyheavenly 3 years ago
How did you find about Gef, BTW? A few years ago, I purchased a book about "physic pets and spirit animals" and this case was included.
rammgrrl 3 years ago
I think I first read about him in an Usbourne book, there was a tiny article about him. I always wondered about him, and at some stage about 5 years ago I started to read more about him but to be honest I can't remember - he kind of creeps up on you!
The book you are referring to is great as it contains the only interview ever published with Voirrey Irving.
candyheavenly 3 years ago
Mysterious Universe Podcast did a special about Gef last year, reading from the "Darby Spook" webpage. Up until then, I had NEVER heard of Gef, and I thought I was a paranormal enthusiast!
CoyKiyote 3 years ago
The world has sadly forgotten about Gef. If you do some research into Gef and his family, it's absolutely fascinating. Even if you DON'T believe. :)
CoyKiyote 3 years ago
And what has your research dug up?
candyheavenly 3 years ago
WMD of rabbits, nothing more sinister.
Gef did kill hundreds of rabbits for the Irvings.
Irvines' mongooses were your regular variety, not the kind that took Fallon away in Dynasy.
candyheavenly 3 years ago
I never cease to be amazed at how the facts of this case remain distorted, as though the public is willing, even eager, to be deceived. A mongoose on the Isle of Man? Hardly. Gef was a self-admitted compulsive liar. He was a talking capybara, and his name was actually Ambrose. Also he could not talk, of course, but he DID possess a tricorder with speech synthesis capability. Admittedly, he was on very good terms with the colony of talking mongooses that inhabited the island in the Thirties.
steveasat2 3 years ago
They were actually released in 1912 by a neighbouring farmer called Irvine, were Indian mongooses and therefore had a lifespan of 8 - 13 years. So unless they bred in the unconducive environment of the South Barrule they were unlikely to have been roaming in the Thirties. I do not dispute the rest of your keenly researched remarks however. It is v frustrating when people get the facts of this case wrong and keep repeating the same old rubbish garnered from 6th hand data raping websites.
candyheavenly 3 years ago
Seems like releasing a bunch of alien mammals into an island ecosystem is the zoological equivalent of WMDs. I'm guessing Irvine was hoping to wipe out some other pest. Ah, ingenuity.
steveasat2 3 years ago