The rumours were started, as is common, by one person reporting what “they” had said, heard and/or seen. “They”, was a mysterious group of people who seemed to know everything but was never available to provide the necessary details thereby maintaining a convenient anonymity. So “they” started reporting sightings of a mysterious lady prowling the streets and beaches of Goderich. “They” said that the “Yellow Woman” was a Spirit of the sea, who would come to land to, amongst other things, prey on men. She was described as incredibly beautiful, with long flowing hair and a light complexion. She was also supposedly an expert at luring men into her trap and sometimes killing them....
As the rumours spread, the neighbourhood became more on edge...people walking around in groups if they absolutely had to go outside at night. She dominated most conversations but in typical Sierra Leonean way, most people would make light of the terror they felt. They often cracked jokes about it and young men in particular would be told to “cam bak quick o, u know say Yellow Woman dae around”[Don’t be late, the Yellow Woman is around] as they ventured out at night. Since Yellow Woman’s victims were all men, the women were spared the terror and I believe they must’ve secretly enjoyed the hysteria that had spread amongst the men. Wives with wayward husbands would be sure that their men would be good as long as you-know-who was on the prowl...
The increased anxiety in the neighbourhood started getting to me after a man I knew reported an encounter with the spirit. Pa Lansana, a middle aged man with a slight build and a fondness for sleeveless white vests, had worked on some small repair jobs at our house. He led a small group of builders and did everything from repairing our roof to rebuilding our exterior fencing after a storm had knocked it down. He was always a chatty type, engaging in friendly banter with his crew and those of us just hanging around the compound...
I came home from school one day and was surprised to hear that our “Yellow Woman” problem had been discussed on local radio. I was even more taken aback to hear that Pa Lansana had been interviewed as a “witness” and had described a quite terrifying encounter with the spirit. Apparently, he had woken up just before dawn to say his prayers at the local mosque and had met the spirit on the way. He allegedly had a duel of some sort with the creature...he recited verses from the Koran and the creature initially resisted, assuming weird shapes but eventually gave up and ran away. As my cousins related all this information to me, I naturally laughed myself to tears....This man had a unique way of expressing his stories and I really wished I’d heard the interview first hand.....
The whole thing was so fantastic and barely believable but yet came from a man that I knew was neither insane nor a liar...this troubled me somewhat. As the days went by, more encounters were reported and I gradually avoided walking outside alone... Darkness almost always meant I’d be home and not hanging out a friend’s place or with the neighbours or just chilling outside the compound on the side of the road...The Yellow Woman worried me in a way that the super natural had never before. I became genuinely terrified of walking down the poorly lit, dusty roads that made their way from our house all the way down the hills, to the shops on the edge of the ocean. This walk usually took around 10-15 minutes....
One night, in this climate of fear, i decided to take the “risk” of an encounter and go down to the stores to buy some food. The N.P.A (National Power Authority to some, No Power Available to most) had plunged the whole neighbourhood into darkness as was normal back then. A full moon was up though, bathing the houses and trees in a magnificent, ghostly grey light. On nights like these, you could pretty much see everything in what would otherwise be absolute darkness. This extraordinary lighting did create some unnerving shadows though, especially from trees. The gently swaying branches and leaves cast shadows that looked like monsters crawling on the dirt....
I took a few steps out of the safety of the compound...it must’ve been sometime after 8 p.m. but I’m sure it wasn’t very late at night. I took a left turn, getting on the street, which was deserted as expected. Our fence cast an ominous shadow on the left side of the road, and a long stretch of tall grass lined the other side for at least a hundred metres. The gentle breeze that was blowing moved the grass slowly...left, then right...as if someone was cutting a path through it. The road itself was pretty narrow and the usually reddish-brown dust had a beautiful grey glow. I did a quick mental check to ensure I could call upon my spiritual protection should the need arise...I took a deep breath and started walking... [To be continued]
No comments:
Post a Comment