When James Irving moved to a farm on the Isle of Man alongside his wife, Margaret, and youngest daughter, Viorrey, I doubt he expected his family would become haunted by a talking mongoose.
It all began on September, 13th 1931, when James claims he saw a creature run across the yard of his farm Doarlish Cashen, known as Cashen’s Gap in Manx Gaelic. Shortly afterwards, the family started to hear something scratching against the wooden panelling, which lined the rooms of the farmhouse for insulation. Thinking they had a rat problem, the family placed traps within the gaps between the panelling and the stone walls of the house, but their prey eluded them. In a last attempt to scare away the pest, James tried growling at it, hoping the noise would be mistaken for a predator, instead the creature growled back. The Irvings quickly discovered that the creature could imitate any animal noise they made, until one day, it started talking and eventually introduced itself as Gef.
Once he had started talking, Gef wasn’t very inclined to stop, stating that, “A mongoose can speak if he is taught.” The Irvings claimed Gef spoke with a high-pitched voice, could speak multiple languages and enjoyed repeating nursery rhymes Voirrey taught him or retelling gossip he’d overheard on his jaunts around the island. Gef would often take on the role of a helpful familiar for the family; apparently bringing back small items he found and even killing over a hundred rabbits for them to sell. In return, the Irvings fed him biscuits, sweets and pieces of banana by placing them in his sanctum, which was atop a boxed-in staircase in Viorrey’s bedroom.
Despite ingraining himself within the Irving family, Gef was also a trickster. Usually his tricks were harmless, such as the time he awoke the family by moving loudly and banging on the walls. When asked why he was making the noise, Gef exclaimed, “I did it for the devilment!” Other times, however, Gef’s tricks took an aggressive turn. In December of 1931, Voirrey had to move into her parent’s bedroom, because Gef was throwing stones at her whenever she tried to sleep. Upon realising what the Irving’s had done, Gef apparently shouted, “I’ll follow her wherever you move her.” Though Viorrey did eventually return to her bedroom after Gef apologized and promised to never hurt the family, this incident does betray a darker side of Gef’s friendly demeanour.
With the rise of psychical research in Britain, Gef soon found himself an audience, becoming known as the Dalby Spook. This publicity led to Harry Price, a paranormal researcher, and Richard S. Lambert, editor of The Listener, visiting the Irvings in July 1935 to investigate Gef. The family’s desire to prove Gef’s existence was hampered, however, by the mongoose himself, who refused to appear for those he deemed “doubters” and, unsurprisingly, this included both men. Still, Price and Lambert persisted by exploring investigational avenues that didn’t require Gef’s presence.