The soucouyan from Marie Galante
GS - Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 at 11:00 AM
It all started couple of months before hurricane David in 1979 and Avandale was the first to see it.
Avandale always went to bed late because he ate dinner late and he would sit under the mango tree in his yard so that his “food could go dung” while he weaved straw basket to sell to passing tourists.
From the north eastern part of Dominica where Avandale lived, Marie Galante was clearly visible, lying like a huge blue whale right across the ocean. The French island was so close that on a clear day one could see white sand beaches and at night the headlamps of motor vehicles.
But that night, what Avandale saw was no motor vehicle. It looked like a boukan (bonfire) with flames leaping in all directions. He knew Marie Galante was close but not so close as to see a boukan and if it was one, it would have to be a really big one to be seen so clearly all the way in Dominica.
Puzzled Avandale dropped his basket and kept observing the boukan but then it suddenly went out and it was replaced by what looked like the blue light of a flash light and soon the blue light was replaced by a dim yellow light. That too eventually went off and was again replaced by the boukan with leaping flames. The flames were so bright that it cast an eerie reflection in the water.
Having never seen such thing before Avandale forgot his work and kept observing the strange occurrence. After maybe half an hour the boukan leapt into the air, “like a helicopter taking off” he would later say, and started heading towards Dominica.
Amazed Avandale stood transfixed as the mysterious object drew closer and closer but after a while it turned south, heading down in the direction of Grand Bay and Petite Savanne.
Suddenly he felt extraordinarily tired and Avandale stumbled to his bed and fell into deep slumber. When he woke up the next day he was even more tired. And it was then he noticed the strange bluish dark spot on his left thigh.
The area was slightly painful to the touch and Avandale tried to remember if he had knocked himself in that spot but he could not recall ever doing so. He rubbed the area with Iodex and decided to keep the previous night’s event and the strange spot in his thigh to himself.
The following night the same thing happened; the boukan appeared in Marie Galante, the blue light followed by the dim yellow light, then the boukan leapt into the air and flew towards Dominica and then the overwhelming exhaustion. The next morning Avandale discovered more strange spots on his body and more Iodex was rubbed.
A few nights later Gibbs was on the latrine paying the price of two days of heavy cask rum drinking. All of a sudden the dark night turned bright as day and he peered through the door of the outhouse to see what was going on. On the breadfruit tree he saw something he had never seen before. He later said what he saw resembled an old woman on the tree and it seems as if she was covered or surrounded by fire.
Filled with tremendous fright, Gibbs did not wait to see more but made a mad dash to his house, leaving his pants and underwear in the outhouse. He huddled in a corner for the rest of the night, to frighten to move even when his bowel freely relieved itself.
Too embarrassed to tell anyone of his experience, Gibbs kept it a secret.
But there were stranger things to occur following the night Avandale first saw the strange light in Marie Galante.
One night Ma Balcooleh could not sleep because her dog had just given birth under the house and the new born puppies kept whimpering unceasingly. After couple hours of torment she decided to move the litter to the kitchen which was some distance from the house. She grabbed a candle and went out in the pitch darkness. As she stepped outside she noticed Ma Johnson’s house up the road was alive with light as if some grand ball was being held there. She had never seen so much light at that house before but she shrugged off what she saw and proceeded to complete the task she had set out to do.
After the last puppy was moved, to Ma Balcooleh’s utter amazement Ma Johnson’s house was in complete darkness and it looked like it had been deserted for days. She suddenly felt light headed and a surge of fear swept through her body. She firmly held the candle and stumbled into her house. She grabbed her rosary and said couple decades in quick succession and then she fell into a restless sleep.
The next day Ma Balcooleh noticed the strange bluish dark spots on her body and she quickly told her neighbor about them.
And more people began seeing and hearing strange sounds at night. One person said one night he saw his neighbor’s house on fire but when he got closer to it, it was fine and there were no signs of fire. Another person said strange footsteps were heard on the roof of her house and yet another reported that she saw weird flickering light in her fowl coop late one night.
Not only that, the strange bluish dark spots began making their appearance on more people and a strange yellow fungus-like thing were seen under many houses.
The different stories all trickled down and formed one big story and it was then everyone realized that the area was being haunted at night by a soucouyan.
Panic gripped the place and everyone began to build defenses against their uninvited nightly guest. People bought horse shoes and nailed them upside down in their houses. Crucifixes were made from bwa dyab and placed over windows and doors. Others bought Jays to scrub their houses and sprinkle in their yards while some took nightly baths of garlic and zeb couwess (snake grass). Some burnt tires in their yards and many took the religious route and said novenas and offered masses in churches all over Dominica.
But the soucouyan seemed unstoppable as night after night people heard strange noises, saw bizarre lights, had more bluish dark spots over their bodies and the strange yellow fungus-like under thing their houses, which was later revealed to be the feces of the soucouyan.
But then news broke that would strike even more fear in the hearts of the people. And that was the news that a powerful hurricane called Hurricane David was coming towards Dominica.
News was sketchy because at that time only DBS radio was accessible island wide on the 595 AM band. Some people tuned in to the Voice of Barbados to get information but nothing much was coming from that station either, so most people simply tied down their galvanize roofs with rope and prayed for the best.
The night before the hurricane struck Avandale ignored the speech being given by interim Prime Minister OJ Seraphin on DBS radio and went and sat instead under the mango tree waiting for the soucouyan to make it appearance in Marie Galante.
And it did not disappoint. Like clockwork the boukan appeared and began leaping in all direction. After its display the soucouyan headed to Dominica as it usually did but the hurricane was also getting closer and closer to Dominica.
Avandale was not sure what was going on but apparently the soucouyan was unaware the hurricane was so close to Dominica and at roughly 3 a.m. the storm caught up with it as it made its way across the ocean to the island.
Avandale watched in amazement as the ball of flame, that was the soucouyan, was tossed around by the storm. Sometimes it went way up in the sky and other times it look like it would be plunged into the dark waters of the Atlantic. For about half an hour the spectacular show continued until the hurricane completely enveloped the soucouyan and the ball of flame disappeared completely.
The next day was August 29, 1979 and Hurricane David struck Dominica with all its fury. Despite the devastation many people in the area were grateful for it because they credited it for destroying the soucouyan from Marie Galante.
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48 Comments
I’ve seen a soucouyant already
Bwoy, what a Tim Tim Bois schehe story. Great imagination though. That should be published.
I only wished i was there to see that fireworks. well David did leave Dominica nealy naked, but at least he got rid of that soucouyan. 
Great story, but I have to agree that it ended too abruptly. Just out of curiousity, is this a true story?
If I was an English teacher, i would give you an AAAAAA for such writing. It flows well and there is a lesson that can be leant from this. Though matter how big and bad you may think you are, when it comes to God, I mean My God, he will do what no man can do. He eradicated that soucouyan and He will do it again. How come no one open his/her bible to psalm 23? Maybe the story would have ended too quickly. God would have taken care of that soucouyan immediately only if psalm 23 read.
grand mother used to tell me alot of dis stories wait until rain start to fall all day makes it more scarey
enjoyed it but wz hopin someone would have found the dead recked witch somewhere nice story though
I really enjoyed this story,it made my afternoon.Just felt like reading more and more.It ended a little
to abrupt.
good story… long I doh hear about “IODEX”
Nice story except that the writer should have consulted a Creole dictionary to get the spelling correct. Patois does not have a hard ‘c’.
Not everyone has access to a creole dictionary these stories are written for light and easy entertainment I will be writing my story without a creole dictionary if that’s o.k. with you “SPELL” some of you all take things too seriously just lighten up and enjoy should’nt be so hard to do
Well eat de gurl nuh ‘sweet pum pum’ ur ole piece of ZORDI!!!!
takes one to know one ti salop
sHE WAS FROM GRANDBAY. SHE WENT MISSING ON THE NIGHT THE HURRICANE HIT. BUT WAS LATER FOUND UNDER THE RUINS OF HER HOUSE. DEAD
well at least hurricane david was good for one thing!That soucouyant might still have been around today! Horse shoes, crucifixe, Jays scrub down, baths of garlic and zeb couwess, burnt tires, novenas, masses….. and ma soucouyant still coming back every night! flying all the way from marie galante? She was deadly man.
Good Story!
I must commend the writer on his/her story. I was always struck with fear when I listened to such stories and would have to drive through the villages where the supersitious acts are more predominant. I don’t know if the practise is as active as it was before but regardless of my strong faith, I believe these demonic spirits exist… I just pity them for not using it to their advantage. :-/
Excellent story! I had a good laugh especially about Avandale’s saga. Avandale should have invited someone or a few people to join him to view that scene from Marie Galante, you know, as proof.
Nevertheless they are still around and always will be until the end of time.
Seriously, those things do exist and all over the world. I heard a lot of stories about them in Dominica, men and women who indulge in this type of rituals and to harm people. They sold their souls to the devil. Many of them who predeceased us must be keeping company with Satan and his followers in Hell. Know that in Hell, Satan is laughing at them and taunting them for their unfaithfulness to God.
Hurricane David created havoc in Dominica but it appeared that it did much good to eradicate that soucouyan. It may have been a blessing from God in disguise.
What village was that? Is Avandale still alive?
I have seen them at pt. multre
long i doe hear a story so we boy..da one hold me papa
this is a cool story wow
This story was good, well written, and very interesting though! Props to the writer. You should write a book about folk tales someday! Maybe you are already an established writer..who knows!
surprise, how u mean good imagination,neh. d man telling it as he know it and your argument don’t have sense because i was in the sea bathing the same horricane morning with a set of friends,after we saw people calling us out, hours later it hit; so d man could of cause be there the night before.
Great story, only caribbean people can understand that, well……guess they have some kind of soucoyan in other parts like africa too?
I really enjoyed the story but I felt that the ending was too abrupt. Did Marie-Galante report any missing old woman on August 29 1979? An ending with that info would have made it more interesting-almost believable!
I enjoyed this story I am working on one myself hope you guys enjoy when it comes out
Admin: when it is completed send to dominicanewsonline@gmail.com
hahaha why schould a soucouyan s*&t under people houses
L.O.L
Back in the day we use to mark our favourite guava tree by poopooing all around it and even on some of the branches to keep other fellas away….de socouyan was probably ddoing the same.
Waw I enjoyed that story should continue a little more that hurricane did not do that damn soucouyan enough L.O.L
i love this stories!
It started good but it ended poorly. How could Avondale sit under a mango tree while Hurricane David was approaching Dominica. Hurricane David was one of the biggest hurricanes of the century.
I remembered clearly that on the morning of August 29, 1979 one would have sworn that the hurricane hit overnight. The weather was so bad during the night that Avondale would not fancy sitting under a mango tree to look for soucouyan from Mari Galante.
Anyway I must commend the person for some really good imagination. But tying it with a hurricane at the end made the story looked very absurd.
ya i was thinking the same thing. that part kinda contradictory
i agree with suprise, great story but he ending need to be stronger. With all said i enjoy it nevertheless.
thats it??….. nice story.
Aben look it! Great! Loved the Hurricane David effect! Good job, good job. Those stories even making my heart thump wee, lol!!!
Zor toe sort aven soucouyan. Bon dieu plea for
they should have checked amos in grandbay dey were all afraid of him! good story keep dem coming
Good job GG. It was a good read.
I need to know which village is this?
Was it La Plaine?..
.lololol!!!! Avandale used to sit under his breadfruit tree to weave his baskets…
I was liking it but I felt you ended it a bit abrupt. Real good read though. I never knew souco took shit under ppl house lol. Anyways good one.
u checking that eh… lol 1st time i hear them thing shiting under ppl house… hahaha lmfao.hahaha.
lol you are too much lmao too
@hmm make up your mind already you do not believe in these things but they are true ?
they should have checked heywood in portsmouth he was good for them
A A I know heywood, but how you know he was good for them
my best friend that was his uncle so he told me all the stories
Ay ay I know Mr Heywood too i did not know he was good for them. I must ask him to tell me some stories too man .
Dam man!
Cool story bro
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