1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: Hello, It's Richard mclin smith here. Before we begin this 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: week's episode, I just wanted to tell you about a 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,039 Speaker 1: new podcast of mine. The show is called Rescue and 4 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: is hosted by survival expert Donnie Dust. With each episode, 5 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: Rescue takes you deep into the heart of the world's 6 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:19,600 Speaker 1: most astonishing rescue stories told by the people who were there. 7 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: It's a little different to Unexplained, but I hope that 8 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: you will enjoy it. Nonetheless, Rescue is out now listen 9 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts now. Continuing with Unexplained, please 10 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,879 Speaker 1: be advised that this episode contains themes of slavery and 11 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: torture that some may find disturbing. It's nineteen oh five. 12 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: A small party of maids are sent from England to 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: the Caribbean to cast their eyes over the crumbling great 14 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: house that their employers have recently he purchased. Located roughly 15 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: ten miles from Montego Bay, the Jamaican Georgian House Rose Hall, 16 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: overlooks the north coast of the island. The view is 17 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: panoramic spectacular, but the wide blue sky and golden sun 18 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: cannot compete with the heaviness that lurks in the air. 19 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:26,039 Speaker 1: In the seventy years prior to the maid's arrival at 20 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: rose Hall, the house has fallen into disrepair after the 21 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: abrupt exit of its former owners. The once impressive mahogany 22 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 1: gateway is nothing but crumbling stone, defaced by those who 23 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: fear and abhor the place. The ornaments that once decorated 24 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:49,279 Speaker 1: the tops of the pillars have been stolen. Now rust 25 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: and decay are its only adornments. Once a grand avenue 26 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: of trees of infinite variety lined the half mile up 27 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:02,639 Speaker 1: to the property, far reaching part giant mahogany, the sweet 28 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: smelling tang of orange trees. Now, though, the maid's horses 29 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: shy away from the foreboding place, and the carriage is 30 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: unable to proceed along the old road, so covered is 31 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: it by weeds and bushes, and so they continue on foot. 32 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: The mansion emerges, pulled into their view through a dense thicket, 33 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 1: as if by some invisible hand. The first thing that 34 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: surely strikes them is how huge the places. The flight 35 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: of steps up to the vast front door are over 36 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: fifteen feet high. The landing place at the top is 37 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: a portico about twenty feet high. The dark mahogany doors 38 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: or at least four inches thick, with huge hinges shaped 39 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: like sea monsters that appear to be in an endless 40 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: effort to bite themselves free of their posts, the maids 41 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,359 Speaker 1: enter and walk through into the main hall, the echoes 42 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: of their footsteps muffled by dust as they make their 43 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: way over the once lustrous, dark wooden floors. Despite the 44 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 1: daylight playing through the hall, the atmosphere is unquestionably dark 45 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: and oppressive. The hall, like everything else, is also vast, 46 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:30,920 Speaker 1: at forty feet long and lined with brooding portraits. The 47 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: carved gilded frames are stained and dull, but the paint 48 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: has maintained its lustra and the faces are still fresh 49 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: and alive, the hall's sole occupants, keeping watch over their 50 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: former abode as it crumbles around them. One portrait is 51 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: of a striking woman dressed all in white with jet 52 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: black hair, crowned in an orange floral wreath. Though she 53 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: looks to the maids as though she is dressed as 54 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: a new bride, there is nothing of the honeymoon happiness 55 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: in her expression. Her mouth is set, but her eyes 56 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: seem to follow the maids as they crossed the hall. 57 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:26,599 Speaker 1: You're listening to unexplained and I'm Richard McLean Smith. As 58 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,359 Speaker 1: the maids continue through the mansion, they move first past 59 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: the downstairs bedrooms. All are equipped lavishly, though their furnishings 60 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: are dusty and coated in cobwebs and eaten away in 61 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:45,160 Speaker 1: patches by many legged things. Moving on through the many 62 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: other rooms and halls, the maids scratch notes in their 63 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: small books, recording all the things they need to relay 64 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: to their employers, the work that will be required, the 65 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 1: staff needed, and the furniture that must be bought in 66 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: order to turn this strange place into a home. When 67 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,839 Speaker 1: they examined the far wall of a dressing room, the 68 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:12,920 Speaker 1: maids notice an entrance to an underground passage. They've heard 69 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,919 Speaker 1: about this passageway, heard rumors about the dark deeds that 70 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: happened along it. There are other doors, other halls, banqueting rooms, 71 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,359 Speaker 1: and a grand staircase that twists up to the second floor. 72 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,159 Speaker 1: Though the wood is worn and damp, it retains its 73 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: former splendor. It is said that it was so beautiful 74 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: that the English Governor General offered five hundred pounds about 75 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: seventy thousand pounds to day to be taken down and 76 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: sent to London. As they go, The maids don't leave 77 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,840 Speaker 1: each other's sight, an instinct perhaps telling them that they're 78 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: better off sticking together. After all, they've heard all the 79 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: stories about Rose Hall. Couldn't help, but no notice the 80 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:04,280 Speaker 1: way faces darkened on their journey toward it. Whenever they 81 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: spoke the name of the place, the whispers of murder, torture, 82 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: and other vile deeds said to have been committed there, 83 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:18,360 Speaker 1: and something else too, The so called White Witch, who 84 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: is said to haunt the property, often supposedly seen galloping 85 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: across the grounds on a ghostly horse before vanishing into 86 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: mist and shadow, or appearing at the top of the 87 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:37,919 Speaker 1: staircase with a sickening aura of malice. Nonetheless on the 88 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: maid's continue. The second floor is comprised of eight smaller 89 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: rooms and suites that sweep across the back length of 90 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: the house, with a balcony overlooking another portico, and it 91 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:55,360 Speaker 1: is to this balcony that one made drifts to take 92 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: in the stunning view from the back of the house, 93 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:09,040 Speaker 1: the favorite view apparently of one of the mansions former residents. 94 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: The maid is careful where she steps. The balustrades are 95 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: crumbling like everything else in the house, and the jutting 96 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:23,559 Speaker 1: platform beneath her creeks ominously. Perhaps she thinks she'll only 97 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: stay for a moment, that she'll take in the sight 98 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: of the estates, now wildly overgrown land, and imagine what 99 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: it had once been like, when the lawns were trimmed 100 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: and the trees filled with fruit, and the view to Palmyra, 101 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: the neighboring plantation that had once been joined with this one. 102 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: She is indeed only there for a moment. Those that 103 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: bore witness to the moment the maid tumbled over the 104 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: balcony to her death spoke of her lurching suddenly, as 105 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: though she were thrown by an invisible set of hands. 106 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: There are others who say this story never happened, that 107 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: the maid and the supposedly haunted house that chiefly concerned 108 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: today's episode are nothing but legends spun out of Jamaica's 109 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: violent and brutal colonial history. Perhaps ghost is just the 110 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: name we give to a lingering horror, the suspicion or 111 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: dread that is affiliated with a place, a way of 112 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: articulating the almost tangible manner in which terrible events can 113 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: linger on in the locusts of where they were perpetrated 114 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 1: In a time when record keeping was inaccurate and oral 115 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: storytelling the main mode of communication. This blending of real 116 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: happenings with supernatural consequences is what makes the story of 117 00:08:55,320 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: the White Witch of Rose Hall so fascinating. Begins with 118 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: a young girl. Annie Patterson, was ten years old when 119 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: she moved with her family from England to the land 120 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: known to some as Sandmang on the western side of 121 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: the island known today as Haiti. She was born in 122 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: England in eighteen o two to an English mother and 123 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: an Irish father, but was almost immediately orphaned in the 124 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 1: Caribbean when her parents died from yellow fever. It is 125 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 1: said that she was then raised by her nanny, a 126 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: local Haitian woman who was well practiced in voodoo. It 127 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: is said that she taught Annie to be skilled in 128 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:53,320 Speaker 1: black magic. Two after the death of her nanny, in 129 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: about eighteen twenty, a seventeen or eighteen year old Annie 130 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: moved from San Domang to Jamaica in search of a 131 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: wealthy husband, one of the few routes to a comfortable 132 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: life that was afforded to women at the time. The 133 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 1: search didn't last long, and the following year she supposedly 134 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: married one John Palmer, owner of Rose Hall. They managed 135 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:22,839 Speaker 1: the property together, as well as the connecting power mirror, 136 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: creating a joined estate that constituted seven thousand acres of 137 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: sugar plantation land and anywhere between three hundred and two 138 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:37,680 Speaker 1: thousand enslaved people. The house and land were worth well 139 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 1: over thirty thousand pounds roughly three and a half million 140 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: in today's purchasing power. Annie was said to often be 141 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: seen standing on her favorite balcony, overseeing the operations of 142 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: the plantation, or riding around the estate in what some 143 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 1: might call men's clothes. Her legs confidently astride her horn. 144 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,880 Speaker 1: But monitoring the mechanations of her new home did not 145 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 1: amuse her for long, and after some time she began 146 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: ordering enslaved men into her bed, her abuses growing to 147 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:16,760 Speaker 1: such an extent that they could no longer be concealed 148 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: from her husband. After catching her in the act, he 149 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 1: whipped her mercilessly. Now consumed by rage and humiliation, Annie 150 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 1: was said to have bowed revenge, and not long after, 151 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: John Palmer died suddenly and mysteriously. In those days of 152 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: unidentified fevers and cholera, and very few were diligent in 153 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: recording the causes of death. Perhaps it was the case 154 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:50,720 Speaker 1: that most deaths were sudden and mysterious, but the rumors 155 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: spread anyway and consumed Rose Hall faster than any disease. 156 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: Whispers of poison slipped into a mug of coffee, of 157 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: fatal drugs, rubbed on meat, of unearthly powers sucking the 158 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:10,240 Speaker 1: life force from his body. And whispers of a grand 159 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:13,920 Speaker 1: inheritance for a young widow who had not born John 160 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: Palmer a child. And then once Annie became the sole 161 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: mistress of Rose Hall, her reign of terror truly began. 162 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: Some say it was her skill in voodoo that incited 163 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: such dread, but she was fearsome enough without it. She 164 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: is said to have whipped her enslaved for the slightest misdemeanor, 165 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: tortured those who disobeyed her, and killed anyone who dared 166 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: utter the name John Palmer. It was also said that 167 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: she killed those poor men that she'd forced into her 168 00:12:55,800 --> 00:13:01,280 Speaker 1: bed in an effort to preserve her virtuous reputation. Stories 169 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: of her malice and barbarism knew no bounds, and raged 170 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: from tales of babies born to enslaved women being killed, 171 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:14,080 Speaker 1: their bones harvested for dark magic to murmurs of a 172 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: torture chamber in the basement of the house. It is 173 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:22,880 Speaker 1: around this time, according to legend, that Annie Palmer received 174 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,400 Speaker 1: the sobriquet of the White Witch of rose Hall. Not 175 00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: long after the death of her first husband, Annie is 176 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: said to have married again. This supposed second husband, according 177 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: to some, was also an English planter. He too was 178 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 1: outraged by Annie's so called adultery. It was said that 179 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: after an especially heated argument, he was promptly stabbed to death. 180 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: Those that claimed to have witnessed the dying man's final 181 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:56,680 Speaker 1: struggle described the pooling of blood on his shirt, the 182 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: gurgling sound he made as he scrabbled at his chest, 183 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: and his frenzied attempts to reach Annie and drag her 184 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: to the afterworld with him, as he weltered and died 185 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: at her feet. It is said that Annie then began 186 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:16,319 Speaker 1: locking the rooms where her husbands died, hiding the stains 187 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: of her murders. She was apparently married again relatively soon after, 188 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: to a man who was described as rude and unlettered, 189 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 1: who married her solely for her wealth. He was strangled 190 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: by one of Annie's enslaved male victims. On Annie's orders, 191 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: his body, like her previous husband's, was feried through the 192 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 1: house to the passageway in the downstairs bedroom, which led 193 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:47,720 Speaker 1: out to the sea. Annie's own end was said to 194 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: have come only a few years later. Her life after 195 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 1: her final marriage was described in a pamphlet published in 196 00:14:55,760 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight as knights spent amid drunken all scenes 197 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:06,359 Speaker 1: too disgusting to describe, while her days were spent inflicting 198 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: the most tyrannical cruelties and dreadful tortures upon her slaves. 199 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: There were several versions of this part of the story, 200 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: but they all agree on a few key details. Annie 201 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,760 Speaker 1: fell in love with a man who was in love 202 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: with the granddaughter of an Obearman, an enslaved practitioner of 203 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:32,120 Speaker 1: Jamaican spirituality. In a jealous rage, Annie killed the obearman's 204 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: granddaughter in revenge. The o bear Man, with the help 205 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: of those fellow enslaved who'd suffered so long under Annie's tyranny, 206 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: entered the Great House one night, Then, moving silently through it, 207 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: he crept into Annie's chamber and strangled her to death. 208 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: Annie Palmer's supposed death did not free those she'd terrorized 209 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 1: from fear of retribution. Their belief in Annie's voodoo continued 210 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: to haunt them, as they wondered if she'd use her 211 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: powers from beyond the grave to exact revenge. So when 212 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: they buried her, a voodoo ritual was allegedly performed to 213 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 1: keep her locked in her tomb, But this ritual was 214 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: of course not completed, and Annie's wrathful spirit has been 215 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:32,960 Speaker 1: free to roam the estate ever since. The earliest record 216 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,880 Speaker 1: of Annie's story is thought to come from around eighteen thirty. 217 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 1: Then Reverend Hope Masterton is thought to have told his 218 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: parishioners in Montego Bay about a Missus Palmer who was 219 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: hanged by those enslaved and her plantation. In eighteen sixty eight, 220 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 1: the story appeared in print in a pamphlet written by 221 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: John Costello, which was called Legend of Rosehall Estate in 222 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: the Parish of Saint James. Here the murders take place 223 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:08,159 Speaker 1: in the seventeen hundreds, and Costello's black widow like villain 224 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:13,080 Speaker 1: is in fact named Rosa Palmer, not Annie. This was 225 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: then seemingly corrected by a series of letters published in 226 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety five. Of particular note was a letter from 227 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 1: John W. Broderick, who claimed to have been Annie Palmer's 228 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:29,679 Speaker 1: overseer as well as the source for Costello's story. He 229 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: reiterated that it was in fact Annie who was the murderer. However, 230 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: there was a Rosa Palmer married to a Henry Fanning 231 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 1: who bought the estate in seventeen forty two, which at 232 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:46,479 Speaker 1: the time was known as true friendship. He married Rosa, 233 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: then named Kelly, in seventeen forty six, but, much like 234 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,879 Speaker 1: an hour story, died soon after, leaving the estate to her, 235 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 1: which by then he'd renamed rose Hall in honor of 236 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: his wife. Rosa, too is said to have married many times, 237 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:09,399 Speaker 1: culminating in a marriage to one John Palmer, possibly the 238 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:13,360 Speaker 1: great uncle of the John Palmer from our story, who 239 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,160 Speaker 1: at that time was the owner of Palmira, rose Hall's 240 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 1: neighboring estate. Rosa's marriage to the senior John brought the 241 00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:27,119 Speaker 1: two estates together. When Rosa then died in seventeen ninety, 242 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:41,399 Speaker 1: John Palmer became the joint owner of both estates. After 243 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: the older John Palmer's death in seventeen ninety seven, his 244 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,440 Speaker 1: two estates were eventually passed down to his great nephew, 245 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:53,880 Speaker 1: also named John Palmer. In eighteen eighteen, John duly traveled 246 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:57,040 Speaker 1: to Jamaica from England to claim the estate, and on 247 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:00,800 Speaker 1: the twenty eighth of March eighteen twenty married a woman 248 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: named Anne Mary Patterson. Are Annie perhaps or perhaps not. 249 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:12,679 Speaker 1: Some say Annie Palmer or Annie Patterson was never a 250 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 1: real person. Some say she never married again, and at 251 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:20,639 Speaker 1: that part of the story is just a repurposing of 252 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:25,920 Speaker 1: Rosa Palmer's numerous marriages. Some say she was Jamaican born, 253 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 1: some that she came to Jamaica from Sandermang, and some 254 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:35,159 Speaker 1: that she came straight from England. There is supposedly a 255 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:39,200 Speaker 1: record of a Missus Palmer selling whatever rights you may 256 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: have had to rose Hall and Palmera dying in eighteen 257 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:47,399 Speaker 1: forty six at Bonavista. Bona Vista was owned by the 258 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:52,560 Speaker 1: Bernard family, who she'd purportedly sold Rose Hall to. She 259 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 1: was allegedly buried in the churchyard at Montego Bay on 260 00:19:56,359 --> 00:20:03,640 Speaker 1: July ninth. However, there is no tombstone to mark the spot. Skeptics, historians, 261 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: and believers who argued for centuries about the story of 262 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:11,199 Speaker 1: Annie Palmer and the White Witch of rose Hall. In 263 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:15,919 Speaker 1: nineteen eleven, the author Joseph Shaw, published his book The 264 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: True Tale of Rose Hall, telling the story You've just heard, 265 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:25,000 Speaker 1: a dreadful tale of voodoo and murder, confirming Annie Palmer 266 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: as the White Witch. The story gained notoriety in nineteen 267 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:33,879 Speaker 1: twenty nine when The White Witch of Rose Hall, a 268 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 1: historical fiction novel by writer Herbert Delissa, was published. This 269 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: book further entwines facts and fiction, claiming that the ob 270 00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 1: a man who apparently finished her off, was named Takou, 271 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: his granddaughter was Millicent, and the man after whom Annie 272 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: lost it was a bookkeeper called Robert Rutherford. Over the years, 273 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:01,679 Speaker 1: the story has taken on a life of its shifting 274 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: and evolving into something beyond the binaries of fact and fiction. 275 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,639 Speaker 1: What remains most curious is that with each attempt to 276 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: poke holes in the tale seems to come a tighter 277 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:18,200 Speaker 1: clinging to the legend as a history. There are many 278 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:22,199 Speaker 1: reasons that this might be the case, multitudes that contribute 279 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 1: to The White Witch of Rose Hall being heralded today 280 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:30,760 Speaker 1: as Jamaica's most famous and lasting ghost story. This story 281 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: climbed to its current popularity in the wake of the 282 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: abolishment of slavery in the Caribbean in eighteen o eight 283 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:42,639 Speaker 1: and emancipation in eighteen thirty eight. It's been speculated that 284 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:47,440 Speaker 1: it was freely perpetuated by the white postcolonial settler society 285 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,719 Speaker 1: in an effort to maintain a facade of civility, enabling 286 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,640 Speaker 1: them to obscure their own links to the past under 287 00:21:54,680 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: the supposedly devilish and demonic deeds of one most likely fictitious. 288 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:06,400 Speaker 1: The misogynistic fear of a female plantation owner and female 289 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: sexuality are also clearly evident, disregarding the biases of whoever 290 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 1: tells the story. Regardless of whether or not a barbaric 291 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 1: Anni Palmer ever truly existed, there are many similar real 292 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:34,280 Speaker 1: tales scattered throughout the violent pages of colonial history. It 293 00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:37,880 Speaker 1: must be noted that it doesn't require an explicitly violent 294 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 1: or brutal act to be perpetrated against an enslaved individual 295 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: to constitute an act of barbarity. In that context, owning 296 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: an individual is a barbaric act in itself. There is 297 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:56,639 Speaker 1: no such thing as a benign slave owner, but there 298 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: are certainly those who are more barbaric than others. For 299 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: possible inspiration of Annie Palmer's story, we need look no 300 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:10,679 Speaker 1: further than Delphine Lelori, who lived in New Orleans in 301 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:16,440 Speaker 1: the early eighteen hundreds. Like the supposed Palmer, Delphine Lelori 302 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:21,560 Speaker 1: was also married numerous times. Though never implicated in the 303 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: deaths of her husband's she was said to have maintained 304 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: an outward appearance of dutiful care towards her enslaved in public. 305 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:37,919 Speaker 1: Behind closed doors, however, lurked unimaginable horrors. Four years of 306 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: funeral registers from eighteen thirty to eighteen thirty four showed 307 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: that at least twelve enslaved people died at her mansion 308 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:51,159 Speaker 1: on Royal Street in New Orleans. There is no cause 309 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:54,760 Speaker 1: of death listed, and so diseases cannot be ruled out, 310 00:23:55,400 --> 00:24:02,000 Speaker 1: but the benefit of hindsight suggests otherwise. Twelve deaths include Bond, 311 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 1: a cook and laundress, and her four children, Juliette aged thirteen, 312 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:15,399 Speaker 1: Florence aged ten, Duels aged six, and Leontine aged four. 313 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:21,119 Speaker 1: One eight year old girl named Lea, enslaved by Delphine, 314 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:24,359 Speaker 1: was witnessed falling to her death from the roof of 315 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:29,239 Speaker 1: Delphine's mansion while trying to avoid being whipped. Then, on 316 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: April tenth, eighteen thirty four, a fire broke out. The 317 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: fire was started by the seventy year old cook, who, 318 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,320 Speaker 1: having been chained to the stove, had attempted to take 319 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: her own life. After being resisted by Lelori and her 320 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,760 Speaker 1: then husband, doctor Leonard Louis Nicholas, a group of local 321 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:54,120 Speaker 1: residents finally succeeded in breaking down the doors of their mansion. 322 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: Inside they found at least seven people black men and women, 323 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:04,199 Speaker 1: who had been tortured and horribly mutilated, having been imprisoned 324 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 1: in iron collars and suspended from the ceiling. They'd been 325 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: kept in there for many months. Two died not long 326 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: after their rescue. The house was later destroyed by another 327 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 1: group of residents, but has since been rebuilt. Thet Lorry 328 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: Mansion is known today as one of the most haunted 329 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 1: houses in New Orleans. For almost two centuries, locals have 330 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,680 Speaker 1: spoken of paranormal activity at the Lo Lorri Mansion, tales 331 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:46,560 Speaker 1: of moans from the room where enslaved people were often kept, 332 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 1: tour guides feeling tugs on their bags and taps on 333 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:55,040 Speaker 1: their shoulders. It's even been speculated that the brutal murder 334 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:57,919 Speaker 1: of a tenant who lived there in the eighteen nineties 335 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:02,679 Speaker 1: was in fact caused by demonic spirit trapped in the house. 336 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:08,680 Speaker 1: Similar stories also plague Rose Hall. There have been numerous 337 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: apparent sightings of Annie Palmer stridently riding her horse around 338 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,679 Speaker 1: the grounds. Some say they have seen her on the 339 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: balcony gazing imperiously out over her former home. Others tell 340 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: of pictures inside with moving eyes, disembodied voices drifting down corridors, 341 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,479 Speaker 1: the crying of babies, and strange activity around a mirror 342 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: in what was once Annie's bedroom, a ghostly reflection or smudges, 343 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:46,119 Speaker 1: and photographs taken nearby. During renovations in the nineteen sixties, 344 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 1: it is said that builders and laborers reputedly had such 345 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: a disquieting time that many of the local workforce subsconded, 346 00:26:55,680 --> 00:27:00,719 Speaker 1: tools went missing, voices called their names, and one account 347 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 1: tells of old bloodstains discovered on a newly finished floor. 348 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:11,160 Speaker 1: The truth of it all is a murky matter. Perhaps 349 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:15,639 Speaker 1: Annie never existed, Perhaps she did but led a relatively 350 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:20,880 Speaker 1: blameless life, retiring somewhere obscure after the heartbreak of being 351 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: widowed so many times. Or perhaps she really was the murderous, 352 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 1: sadistic white witch of local legend. The facts, in some 353 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:37,399 Speaker 1: ways are unimportant. What she symbolizes, the most atrocious aspects 354 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: of colonial history and slave ownership cannot be erased. For 355 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,240 Speaker 1: although there are some who prefer not to dig up 356 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: the past or to dwell on the wrongdoings of those 357 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,640 Speaker 1: who have come before us, there are some events so 358 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:59,879 Speaker 1: horrifying that they will never be silenced. Whether Annie part 359 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: is real or not, the horrors of which he is 360 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:09,399 Speaker 1: accused speak to a brutal and violent reality, and so 361 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: in the memory held by Jamaican Land, whether we like 362 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,920 Speaker 1: it or not, the White Witch of Rose Hall will 363 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:25,920 Speaker 1: continue to ride on. This episode was written by Ella 364 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:31,359 Speaker 1: McLoud and produced by Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained is an 365 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:36,440 Speaker 1: Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard mclin Smith. All 366 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,840 Speaker 1: other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also 367 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:45,040 Speaker 1: produced by me Richard mclin Smith. Unexplained. The book and audiobook, 368 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: with stories never before featured on the show, is now 369 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes 370 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 1: and Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores. Please subscribe to and 371 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 1: rate the show wherever you get your podcast, and feel 372 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas 373 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. 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