Although, my description says that I’m a blogger of mystery, along with history and art – I’ve covered most of the areas of my blogging interest here on Steemit, except for the ‘mystery’. The unexplainable and unsolved mysteries fascinates me big time, and it’s a shame that I’ve not written a single article regarding this highly favorable subject of mine.  

source

Well, that stops today, because today I’m publishing my first blog about mystery, and for my mystery article #1, I’ve decided to write about a fascinating character Annie Palmer, aka, ‘The White Witch of Rose Hall’.  

If you’ve ever had spent a vacation in Jamaica and didn’t visit the Rose Hall, then your vacation was incomplete! It is one of the most popular and famous historic sites of the country. And, in the beautiful and historic house, resides a fascinating and terrible mystery: Annie Palmer; otherwise known as the ‘White Witch’!!  

The ghost story:  

Many people say that the spirit of Annie still haunts the house. Many claim that they’ve seen the ghost of Annie Palmer riding a horse about the plantation. Some also say that they’ve seen her on the balcony.  The white witch is supposedly entombed in a grave on the grounds which were supposed to have been sealed with a magical ritual to keep her evil spirit locked for eternity. However, legend has it, the ritual has never been performed, and therefore, the evil spirit of Annie roams at the Rose Hall.   

the alleged tomb of the White Witch source

The Real Dark History:  

Back then, the Rose Hall Great House of today were known as Rose Hall Plantation, located in Montego Bay. The house is considered one of the most enigmatic and scary houses in the region. The infamous reputation of the house is so much that a world-famous singer like Johnny Cash has written a song about the legend. The song has much credit to popularize the legend, however, it wasn’t Mr. Cash who immortalized the ‘White Witch’. It was a famous Jamaican writer named Herbert de Lisser who wrote a book in 1929 – titled “White Witch of Rose Hall”, which immortalized Annie Palmer in the first place.   

Annie Palmer's portrait source

Born in the late 1700s in Haiti, Annie Palmer’s birth name was Annie Parker. When she was a girl of only 6 years, she lost her parents to yellow fever. After her parent’s death, her caretaker started to raise her. According to the legend, the woman who raised her was a witch and she was the one to taught Annie the ‘art’ of voodoo and witchcraft. At that time, there was a revolution going on by the enslaved population of Haiti, and it was not safe for a white person to stay there during that time. Annie became eager to leave the country, and guess what, her path crossed with the Jamaican landlord John Palmer! According to many, it was the then-18-year-old Annie’s Voodoo and witchcraft that made John to fall in love and marry and take her to Jamaica with him. Some other evidences say that John was actually very abusive to annie, and their married life was a very unhappy one.  

Annie, on the other hand, was an unfaithful wife, as she had taken a number of male saves to satisfy her physical needs. Although, it’s still unclear that whether john was abusive because of her unfaithfulness or she became unfaithful because of john’s unkindly behavior towards her.   

Rose Hall, Jamaica: present day source

The mysterious death of three husbands:   

John and Annie’s married life went on as a disgusting one for some more days until john caught her involved in a sexual intercourse with one of the male servants. She received a hard beating from her husband. Shortly after that, john died allegedly due to poisoning by her ‘beloved’ wife. However, Annie was never charged with the murder, instead, she inherited the fortune of her late husband and continued with her sexual quests with the slave-lovers.   

At one point, rumors began to emerge, and she had to remarry. She did that twice, and both of her husbands, like John Palmer, died under very mysterious contexts. Just like the first one, she was never accused for the next two murders.  

The rumor has it; she buried her dead husbands under the three palm trees standing in front of the luxurious condominium hotels close to the Rose Hall.   

Death of Annie:   

Knowing of her involvement in the mysterious killings of three of her husbands, and for the mean and poor treatment they received from her, the servants hated Annie. Also, after having physical relationships with certain male servants, she often cursed them with black magic, or sometimes even killed them once she grew tired of a slave-lover.    

Takoo was one of Annie’s slave-lovers. He was an ‘obi’, and according to the stories, he also had some knowledge of Voodoo and witchcraft, and, as the legend goes, he used black magic to get rid of the ‘white witch’ before she got the chance to do the same to him.   

There’s another version though, which says that Takoo wasn’t, in fact, Annie’s lover. Instead, a close relative of Takoo was Annie’s slave lover who she killed with black magic once she got tired of him. Takoo avenged his relative by weakening Annie Palmer through his own black magic and strangled her to death in a bedchamber of Rose Hall. Legend also has it that after killing her, Takoo had put the dead body in a concrete coffin marking it with crosses in order to make sure that the evil spirit of Annie Palmer remains locked and kept from haunting the territory. However, it looks like Takoo hadn’t succeeded on that mission completely.   

The Legend Lives: 

The murder of Annie Palmer co-occurred with a slave revolution in Jamaica that erupted in 1831. After that, the Rose Hall had gone abandoned and fallen into disrepair for more than a century until Michele Rollins, the former Miss USA, along with her husband purchased the mansion and the lands in 1960. They freshened up the house into its former beauty.   

Rose Hall Before the Reconstruction in 1960 source

It’s the claim of the local people, that they see the ghost of the White Witch even today. Whether it’s true or not, it’s a matter of argument. Maybe it’s just a trick to attract tourists. However, If you ever visit Jamaica and decide do visit the Rose Hall, the guide will definitely warn you about the ghost. And whether you see her or not, you’ll surely be thrilled and have a good time.

Here's the johnny cash song about Annie Palmer:  

 If you’ve enjoyed my article, please let me know through Upvote and Comment.

For more informative and entertaining contents about history, culture, art, nature, humor, and more   -

            Follow me here : @tamurah 

  Keep Living---keep Loving---Keep steeming 

                                              Have a nice day  

courtesy: wikipedia / ancient-origins / theculturetrip