Harry Price Archives - Skeptic Review

“I’ll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!”—Gef, The Talking Mongoose

In 1931 news stories in and around the Isle of Man began to circulate of a fantastical talking creature. Alternately referred to as a Talking Weasel, a Talking Mongoose, and the Dalby Spook, he had apparently taken up residence in a farmhouse belonging to the Irving family in an area of the country known as Doarlish Cashen. For reference, the Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and is under the rule of Great Britain itself.

The Irving family consisted of John and Margaret Irving, two grown children who had left the house, and a young daughter named Voirrey who was about 13 years old when news of the Talking Mongoose first broke (Voirrey was born in 1918). The family also had a collie sheep dog named Mona. The Irvings had settled into their 45-acre farmstead after Mr. Irving lost his career in sales, hoping to make a go of farming, but the land was difficult and the family had fallen upon hard times. In addition, Doarlish Cashen was isolated, with the nearest neighbor being about a mile away. Daughter Voirrey had dropped out of public schooling and was a loner, preferring her dog Mona to human contact.

Eventually, Mr. Irving reported the creature progressed to making animal noises, such as the meow of a cat, and then when Mr. Irving made various animal sounds back to it, the animal would accurately imitate the sounds. This lead to Mr. Irving teaching the mongoose to repeat the name of the animal he was imitating, and from there the family began teaching the mongoose nursery rhymes and other forms of language. Before long, the mongoose was quite conversant.

The first news reports of the Talking Mongoose were printed in October of 1931. Interest began to be spread around to other tabloids in London and in areas closer geographically to the Isle of Man. In 1932, the Manchester Daily Dispatch covered the story by sending a reporter in person to investigate. The Dispatch’s unidentified reporter wrote the following:

“Had I heard a weasel speak? I do not know, but I do know that I have heard today a voice which I should never have imagined could issue from a human throat; that the people who claim it was the voice of the strange weasel seem sane, honest, and responsible folk and not likely to indulge in a difficult, long- drawn-out, and unprofitable practical joke to make themselves the talk of the world; and that others had had the same experience as myself.”

However, in a second article printed the next day, the journalist raised the possibility that the voice was actually originating from daughter Voirrey, speculating that she may have been the source of the talking weasel through the art of ventriloquism. The reporter wrote: “Yesterday I heard several spoken sentences and was told that these noises were made by the ‘man weasel’. The conversation was between the ‘weasel-voice’ and Mrs. Irving, who was unseen to me in another room, while the little girl sat motionless in a chair at the table. I could see her reflection, although not very clearly, in a mirror on the other side of the room. She had her fingers to her lips. I kept my eyes on the face in the glass. The lips did not move, so far as I could see, but they were partly hidden by her fingers. When I edged my way into the room, the voice ceased. The little girl continued to sit motionless, without taking any notice of us. She was sucking a piece of string, I now saw.”

Article appearing in Manchester Dispatch

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The Irving family found the mongoose to be a nuisance at first as he was disrupting their sleep habits. Eventually, they began to accept him as a member of the household, at first naming him Jack, and later changing his name to Gef (pronounced Jeff).

Gef frequently irritated the family with incessant laughter, and Mr. Irving described it as follows: “Sometimes it resembles the tittering laugh of a precocious or mischievous child; at other times I would say it was the chuckling laugh of an aged person, and another distinct type is one which I would say was satanic laughter, or the laughter of a maniac. We all have a most intense dislike to this last laughter, as it is very trying. But, fortunately, we do not get this kind very often.”

Harry Price, Director of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research and already a famed paranormal investigator, received a letter in 1932 from the Irving’s neighbor saying he should come to Doarish Cashen to investigate this phenomenon. Price followed up with a letter of his own written directly to Irving inquiring about the situation and Mr. Irving answered promptly.

Irving wrote: “The animal in question has been seen by myself and daughter of 14 [Voirrey], in one of the two bedrooms of my house, on several occasions in the month of October last. My daughter has on two occasions in January 1932 seen its tail only, in the small back kitchen, in a hole in the wall. My wife has seen it on one occasion only in October. The colour is yellow, not too pronounced, after the ferret. The tail is long and bushy, and tinged with brown. In size, it is about the length of a three-parts grown rat in the body, without the tail. It can, and does, pass through a hole of about 1½ inches diameter. I, personally, am strongly inclined to the view that it is a hybrid between a stoat and a ferret. The bushy tail is not that of a stoat, and the size certainly half that of the ferrets I have examined. . . . My daughter says the face is all yellow, and the shape is more that of a hedgehog, but flattened at the snout, after the fashion of the domestic pig.”

Irving continued with an account of the speaking abilities of Gef: “Now as regards its speaking ability, it did not possess this power until the first week in November last; but now converses, incredible as it is, as rationally as most human beings.” Irving added, “It announces its presence by calling either myself or my wife by our Christian names. . . . It apparently can see in the dark and describe the movements of my hand. Its hearing powers are phenomenal. It is no use whispering: it detects a whisper 15 to 20 feet away, tells you that you are whispering, and repeats exactly what one has said.”

Price’s interest was piqued, but since he was already engaged in another investigation, he decided to send a representative of the National Laboratory’s Council by the name of Captain Macdonald in February of 1932. Macdonald’s report to Price showed the evidence of supernatural events to be very slim. He noted that “talking” done by Gef only occurred when Voirrey was absent from the room and that the animal said he would only speak if Voirrey were gifted with a camera or a gramophone. There was also an occasional object thrown into the room as well as “a little stream of water running from a small hole in the wall, which Mr. Irving said was the animal performing its natural functions.”

After Macdonald’s investigation in 1932, Irving continued to write to him faithfully, carefully documenting the activities of Gef in great detail. All letters were kept at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, which was renamed the University of London Council for Psychical Investigation in 1934.

During the period between 1932 and 1935, Irving relayed the following new revelations to Macdonald.

Gef’s physical characteristics

Gef said he was an Indian mongoose born June 7, 1852 in Dehli and had been shot at by natives. (The mongoose had been introduced into the Doarlish Cashen area about 20 years prior to help control the rabbit population, so this was plausible.)

Gef started to allow the family to see him more, and “they discovered that his front feet resembled a human hand, with three or four fingers and a thumb, which gripped Mr. Irving’s fingers as in a vice. Mrs. Irving, being bolder, stroked his head and back and felt his teeth.”

Later, they examined his feet more carefully through prints he left around the house. “By Christmas 1932 Mr. Irving had discovered that the forefeet of Gef were much larger than the hind feet. Not only were they larger, but they had the appearance of human hands, with extensile fingers. He gathered these facts from impressions in the dust which the animal made during his nocturnal rambles about the house. Gef admitted that he had three long fingers and a thumb, and said they were ‘as large as a big doll’s hands’.”

The Irvings were able to make a cast of the paw prints which were presented to Price in 1935.

Gef’s special capabilities

Gef knew a few words of various languages, including Russian, Hindustani, Spanish, Welsh, Hebrew, and Flemish, but was most comfortable speaking in English or the Manx dialect. He even may have known a little sign language.

Gef only learned to speak as a result of the Irving’s lesson. “For years, I understood all that people said, but I could not speak until you taught me.”

Gef was able to read, and would comment on what the family was reading as evidence. He was also able to do simple mental math.

Gef could perform magic tricks, such as guessing whether a penny was heads up or down from a distance.

Gef could transform into a cat.

Gef’s likes and dislikes

Gef preferred human food, and especially favored chocolate, bananas, potato pie, biscuits, lean bacon and sausages.

Gef liked to hunt and kill rabbits for the family and then tell them where the rabbit was so they could go retrieve it.

Gef liked to sing and dance.

Gef would throw small objects or spit at visitors he did not like.

Gef would take little trips into town and then would come back and tell the family of his adventures.

Gef enjoyed living with the Irvings: “This is my home. It suits me,” although he did complain he had been to nicer homes.

Gef’s best quotes

To Mrs. Irving:

“Yes, Maggie the witch woman, the Zulu woman, the Honolulu woman!”

“Hey, Maggie, look at the pious old atheist reading the Bible, and he’ll be swearing in a minute!” referring to Mr. Irving reading the Bible.

When Mrs. Irving called out: “You know, Gef, you are no animal!” Gef replied, “Of course I am not! I am the Holy Ghost!”

“I did not intend you to see me. Out of friends for seeing me!”

To Mr. Irving:

“You’re looking! Stop looking! Turn your head, you bastard! I cannot stand your eyes!”

“You are as thick in the head as a lump of kauri!”

“I’m not friends with you, Jim!”

“Hey, Jim, I’ve got joint evil in my tail.”

After a screaming episode, Gef told Mr. Irving, “I did it for devilment!”

To the household in general:

“I am a ghost in the form of a weasel, and I will haunt you!”

“I am an earthbound spirit.”

“I am not a spirit. I am a little extra, extra clever mongoose.”

“If I were a spirit, I could not kill rabbits.”

“I am a ghost in the form of a weasel, and I shall haunt you with weird noises and clanking chains.”

“I know who I am but I shan’t tell you. I am a freak. I have hands and I have feet, and if you saw me you’d faint, you’d be petrified, mummified, turned into stone or a pillar of salt.”

“I’ll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!”

“I am not evil. I could be if I wanted. You don’t know what damage or harm I could do if I were roused. I could kill you all, but I won’t.”

“No damned fear; you’ll put me in a bottle!”

“He’s damned well not going to get to know my inferior complex!”

“To Hell, to the Land of Mist,” when asked where he would go when he died.

“If you are kind to me, I will bring you good luck. If you are not kind, I shall kill all your poultry. I can get them wherever you put them!”

“I have three attractions. I follow Voirrey, Mam gives me food, and Jim answers my questions.”

“If you knew what I know, you’d know a hell of a lot!”

Of Harry Price or anyone he considered to be a doubter:

“The two spook men!”

“He’s got his doubting cap on!”

“I like Captain Macdonald, but not Harry Price. He’s the man who puts the kybosh on the spirits!”

“I’ll go to his house and smash the windows with my fist, and those I cannot reach with my hands I’ll break with a picture-pole!”

“Write and tell Captain Macdonald I said so and I’ll go and haunt him.”

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The Irving Farm with Jim and Voirrey at front door

Gef’s hair samples

Price noted in his case study, “At the request of Mrs. Irving, the animal pulled some fur off his back, some off his tail, and a few dark hairs from the end of his tail. This was done during the night, and Gef placed the ‘exhibits’ in a bowl in the living-room. Then the mongoose called out: ‘Look in the ornament on the mantelshelf and you will see something frail.’

Mrs. Irving looked, and found the fur. This was sent to Captain Macdonald, who asked Mr. Price to identify it. Mr. Price sent the hair to Professor Julian Huxley, who handed it to Mr. F. Martin Duncan, F.Z.S., the authority on hair and fur, for identification.”

In a report to Price, Mr. Duncan sent the following: “I have carefully examined them microscopically and compared them with hairs of known origin in my collection. As a result, I can very definitely state that the specimen hairs never grew upon a mongoose, nor are they those of a rat, rabbit, hare, squirrel, or other rodent, or from a sheep, goat, or cow. I am inclined to think that these hairs have probably been taken from a longish-haired dog or dogs. One point that might be of interest, though trivial at first sight: I could not detect in the hand a single hair showing the root-bulb, which rather points to their having been cut off their animal owner.”

Price was sent a second hair sample: “Early in May 1935 Gef pulled some more fur out of his back, and from the tip of his tail…. Gef said he pulled it out of his eyebrow, and: ‘Oh, God! it did hurt!’ All the new specimens of fur, etc., were sent to Mr. Martin Duncan for identification. His report was that they came from a dog. He said: ‘The so-called eyebrow is obviously one of the vibrisae,’ i.e. the coarse hairs to be found about the mouth of mammals (e.g. the ‘whiskers’ of a cat or dog).’”

In the summer of 1935 Harry Price and his colleague R.S. Lambert made a personal visit to the farmstead. While there, Gef refused to appear or speak. Price did note that the heavily paneled double walls throughout the house left a three inch gap which caused sound to carry in strange ways. He was also able to take a look at what the Irvings called Gef’s Sanctum, an area in Voirrey’s room toward the ceiling where he could hang out and bounce his favorite ball. Gef immediately became active again after Price and Lambert left, and Mr. Irving sent an artist’s rendering of Gef based on descriptions the family gave him.

While Price was never able to prove that Gef didn’t exist, his accounts of the investigation are clearly in favor of Gef being a hoax by the Irving family. What was never clear to this day is the why. The Irving’s never seemed to profit financially from the Gef story, and it was never completely understood if the three worked in concert with one another, or if Jim really believed in the existence of Gef. Once Voirrey moved away from the home, the Gef visitations ceased for good.

In 1946, the new owner of the farm claimed to have trapped and killed Gef and a story ran in the paper with a photo. However, the animal appeared to have been too large to fit Gef’s carefully document description.