Would you ever have imagined that a mongoose would learn to communicate with human beings.
Well stranger than fiction this little creature is claimed to have once remarked "If you knew what I know, you'd know a hell of a lot,"
Well the story of Gef goes like this
The Story of Gef
The strange saga of Gef the talking mongoose began in Autumn 1931 in an isolated farmstead on the Isle of Man known as Doarlish Carshen. The farm was home to 60-yr-old Jim Irving, his wife Margaret, and their 13-yr old daughter Voirrey.
Jim had been a commercial traveller before taking up farming in his retirement. The farm was not a success. Productivity was dropping, and the family struggled to make ends meet. They had no electricity, no phone and no radio. Their nearest neighbours lived over a mile away.
The Thing in the Walls
One dull September evening, the family heard inexplicable scratching and spitting sounds coming from behind the wooden panels lining the walls of the farmhouse. Jim thought a rat was to blame, and tried in vain to drive it from its lair.
The strange noises persisted over the following days. Jim set traps and laid down poison, but to no avail. In desperation, he even tried to flush the intruder out by growling like a dog. To his surprise, it growled right back at him!
The elusive creature proved to be a talented mimic. It ingratiated itself with Jim by dutifully repeating his imitations of various animals and birds. Soon, he had only to name an animal and it would promptly respond with the appropriate imitation. At other times it made a gurgling sound rather like a baby attempting to form words. Then it began to talk...
Gef Introduces Himself
By way of experiment, Voirrey asked the creature to repeat some nursery rhymes. It obliged in a clear, if very squeaky, voice. Soon it was speaking freely. It introduced itself as Gef and claimed to be "an extra clever mongoose" from Delhi, India. (A neighbouring farmer had imported Mongeese to the island 20 years earlier to curb the local rabbit population.)
Gef was soon holding regular conversations with both Voirrey and her father. (He seemed rather less friendly towards Voirrey's mother, Margaret.) He began nesting in a boxed partition in Voirrey's room, which the family dubbed "Gef's sanctum".
Although Jim and Margaret both caught brief glimpses of Gef, only Voirrey was allowed to look at him directly. She described him as being the size of a small rat, with yellowish fur and a long bushy tail.
Gef's HabitsGef soon became part of the family. During the day he would roam the island, riding on the back axles of buses and cars. In the evening he would return home and share the news and gossip he had picked up on his travels. Sometimes he would also read out items from the local newspapers.
"It announces its presence by calling either myself or my wife by our Christian names," Jim Irving wrote. "It's hearing powers are phenomenal. It is no use whispering. It detects the whisper 15-20 feet away, tells you that you are whispering, and repeats exactly what one has said."
Gef would often bring rabbits home for Margaret to cook. In return, he was given titbits such as biscuits, sweets and chocolate. He was also fond of bacon and sausages. The food would be left out for him on the crossbeams near the ceiling, and he would sneak out and snatch it when no-one was looking.
Singalong with Gef
Gef enjoyed singing as much as talking. His favourite tune was Baba Black Sheep, which he would sing along to the gramophone. (Sometimes, he would bounce a rubber ball up and down in time to the music instead.)
On one occasion, he rather offended Voirrey's mother by singing a lewd parody of Home on the Range he had picked up from some bus drivers. "You know Gef, you are no animal!" scolded Margaret. "Of course I am not," retorted Gef. "I am the Holy Ghost!"
Gef's Temper
Like many a poltergeist (or adolescent girl) Gef had a rather short fuse. For example, he once flew into a rage when Jim was taking his time in opening the morning post. "Read it out, you fat-headed gnome!" he squeaked furiously.
He also seemed to enjoy deliberately provoking Voirrey's parents. One night, he made a nuisance of himself by sighing and groaning for 30 minutes without pause, before confessing, "I did it for devilment!"
On another occasion, Margaret found herself being pelted with stones as she walked home. "Is that you, Gef?" she called out. "Yes, Maggie the witch woman, the Zulu Woman, the Honolulu woman!" taunted the impertinent mongoose.
Gef's FameThe Manx papers ran a series of gently mocking articles about the 'Dalby Spook' (as they dubbed Gef) which led to Voirrey being teased mercilessly at school. Gef's fame spread to the mainland after Jim Irving persuaded the psychic researcher (and inveterate self-publicist)
Harry Price to take an interest in the case.
Even as Gef's notoriety grew, his visits to the Irvings became fewer and farther between. When Price eventually showed up to investigate in person, the marvellous mongoose was conspicuous only by his absence.
In 1936, Price published the results of his investigation in a book co-authored with journalist Richard Lambert called The Haunting of Cashen's Gap: A Modern "Miracle" Investigated. (Lambert's role in the case indirectly precipitated a well-publicised libel action involving the BBC.) Although Price did not explicitly accuse the Irvings of perpetrating a hoax, neither did he validate their claims.
Farewell to Gef
Soon after Price's book was published, the Irvings left Cashen's Gap for the mainland. Gef did not follow them, nor did he make himself known to the new owner, a Mr Graham.
In 1947, Graham trapped and killed a strange looking animal that seemed to be neither ferret, stoat nor weasel. "It answers to all descriptions," the puzzled farmer told the local press. Eventually Graham too left Cashen's Gap, and the farmhouse was demolished.
In 1970, a reporter from FATE magazine tracked down Voirrey and attempted to interview her. She proved reluctant to discuss her former life with Gef. "Yes, there was a little animal who talked and did all those other things," she admitted. "He said he was a mongoose and we should call him Gef... But I do wish he had let us alone."
