In St. Kitts, “telling jumbie story” wasn’t just entertainment—it was tradition. Raised in the Caribbean by my great-grandmother Miss Anne, known to us as Granny, I grew up on stories that blended folklore, family wisdom, and cultural memory.

One of our favorite family traditions is “telling jumbie story”. I’m born and raised in St.Kitts in the Caribbean. My primary caretaker was my great grandmother Miss Anne we called her Granny.

She was from our sister island of Nevis. Ever so often we would be in the living room, sitting at her feet and she would tell jumbie story. A jumbie is a ghost. Granny grew up at a time where there was no electricity neither in the house nor in the streets.

They lived by candle light or lamp light. She would tell us the scariest stories. These would alway end with licks (a spanking). She would say “you believe in God, just say you prayers and go in you bed”. We would be scared beyond words. lol

“A “jumbie story” comes from Caribbean folklore, featuring mischievous or malevolent spirits (jumbies) that haunt people, often as scary tales to keep children inside, though some jumbies can be protective. These stories blend African, Indigenous, and European traditions, with jumbies appearing as shape-shifters (cats, dogs, humans) or specific entities like

the Moko Jumbie (tall stilt-walker) or Soucouyant (fiery spirit). 

Modern examples include Tracey Baptiste’s book series The Jumbies, where a girl battles a powerful jumbie to save her island.”

To add to the story telling she was beyond superstitious. She had a plethora of rules for us to live by…

Granny: Don’t leave your shoes outside or someone will “tun you wutliss”

Translation: some will use your shoes and cast a spell on you and make your life worthless.

Granny: Doan walk in di house backwards, jumbie gon follow you inside.

Translation: if you walk into the door backwards a ghost will follow you inside.

Granny: doan tek up nothing off di street especially corked bottles (she said they could have trapped spirits) or jewelry boxes etc. She called that a “put me back wey you tek mi from”

Translation: you bring unusual objects in the house you are going to be haunted in the middle of the night by a jumbie to put it back EXACTLY where you found it. So you would have to get up out of your bed and go out in the pitch black night to put it back!

Don’t open an umbrella in the house because it’s bad luck.

Don’t put your purse on the floor or you will never have money.

If a jumbie is following you. Reach down pick up a handful of dirt or sand and throw it over your shoulder. The jumbie will be forced to stand there and count every grain then you can safely run home.

She always told us that some people can see jumbie plain as day. When they see one they can step on your foot and you will be able to see it too. This was never recommended as you could “fly somebody heart and mek dem dead”

Translation: stepping on someone’s foot causing them to see a jumbie could give them such a terrible fright they could have a heart attack and die.

Note: in the Caribbean we tend not to pluralize words. So we say either: jumbie= one jumbie

jumbie=more than one jumbie.

Or add the word “dem” (them) on the end. Di jumbie dem. lol.

Next time I’ll write about when Granny unwittingly took my brother and I to an exorcism. We were only 5 and 6 yrs old. Yes it’s was as scary as you think I would be.

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