Gef the Talking Mongoose
22/4/19
In 1932 reports appeared in the British press about a strange creature reported living with a young girl and her parents in a remote farmhouse on the Isle of Man. Initially called the Dalby Spook, it came to be known as Gef the talking Mongoose. The family claimed it has appeared in 1931 and had since became part of family life. It lived in the walls of the building and regularly spoke to them, giving them gossip and secret knowledge. It claimed to have god-like powers and frequently followed the teen girl, Voirrey Irving, around the island. It was described as squirrel or cat like but later he told the family he was an Indian born Mongoose.
Her father Jim Irving, wrote to English ghost-hunter Harry Price to come and investigate. In July 1935, Price finally came to the Isle of Man, with Richard Lambert, the editor of BBC magazine The Listener. Unfortunately, Gef did not make himself known to either man, only reappearing after their departure, though they took casts of footprints and hair samples which turned out to be likely from the family dog.
The house itself was a stone-built farmhouse with wood panelled walls and the most likely theory is that the spaces between acted as a sounding board and allowed Voirrey to 'throw' her voice to make it seem it was coming from elsewhere in the building. The family eventually left in 1937 and the house was later abandoned and subsequently demolished in 1970. Voirrey died in 2005 but in an interview late in life she denied that it had been a hoax.