Legend of the Duppy Traditional Cache

This cache is the second in a series about unusual, little known mythilogical beasts from around the world. You are looking for a micro bison tube hidden inside another container.

The cache is not located on the “berm” or on the private property!

A Duppy or Duppies are apparitional netherworld beings of the Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Barbados. Much of Caribbean folklore revolves around Duppies. Duppy is a Jamaican word of Caribbean origin that has three meanings:

            1. the soul of a dead person, manifest in human form

2. the soul of the dead manifest in a variety of fabulous beasts, as well as forms of real animals   (lizards, snakes and bulls).

3. an order of supernatural being only vaguely associated with the dead

Duppies are both good and bad spirits but they are considered malevolent because good spirits cannot be seen. Duppies have been sighted on all three islands for generations including a sighting as recent as 2015. According to legend certain precautions must be taken to avoid trouble with a duppy:

When throwing water out at night, care must be taken to warn the duppies before the water is thrown.

Stones must not be thrown at noon or night.

If you light your pipe at night, do not throw the matches on the ground.

The illustration was drawn for a contest in which Thomas Carter (then 7) of Boddentown, Grand Cayman placed second.