The last street in Stewartville

Aug 09, 2009 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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– Savitri Persaud swears that unseen beings chased her family from their home

By Michael Jordan

When Savitri Persaud heard that a baby had died in the house at Back Street, Stewartville, in September 2006, she wasn’t very surprised. Shocked, yes, but not surprised.
Because Mrs. Singh had lived in that very house, and she still swears that something unseen and malevolent lurked there. And it didn’t like children.
That something, she says, literally chased her from that house eight years ago.
Now, before I go on, let’s clear up two things. First, I’m no expert on the paranormal, and I wasn’t there, so I can’t say for sure that an evil force hounded the Singh family.
The second thing is that Savitri Singh is not her real name; I‘m using this alias to protect the family. But the events I’m writing about are real.
It was in 2005 that Savitri Singh and her three daughters, aged, 15, eleven, and eight, became tenants of the house on Back Street, Stewartville, West Coast Demerara.
According to Mrs. Singh, the property belonged to a Christian family, and, at first, the Singhs saw no sign of the torment to come.
All that changed on Sunday, when the family was attending church, and a relative contacted them to say that a huge golden apple tree on the property had come crashing down.
Mrs. Singh swears that there was no heavy wind that day…the tree just fell.
And she observed something rather disturbing. Now that the roots were visible, they discovered that someone had stuck a cutlass into its base.
Now, Savitri Singh was pregnant at the time. A few days after this episode, Singh was at home when she began to hemorrhage.

According to her, when relatives were preparing to take her to hospital, she was seized by a bout of hiccups.
When an aunt commented that this was a sign of death, Mrs. Singh began to pray and she eventually reached the hospital, where she was informed that her blood count was low. She had also suffered a miscarriage.
Mrs. Singh says that when she eventually arrived home, two of her normally quiet and well-behaved daughters began to act strangely. During a quarrel, Singh’s eleven-year-old daughter punched her eight-year-old sibling in the stomach. The injured girl complained that she had difficulty breathing and she was taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital.
According to Mrs. Singh, the doctors found nothing amiss with the child, and she was sent home.
But from then, Singh’s daughter began to complain of pains in her stomach. She would also claim that ‘something’ was squeezing her tummy and expressed fear of staying in the house.
Shortly after this, Singh’s daughter again began to complain of having difficulty breathing. The child’s limbs also suddenly became rigid as she sat on a bench.
Suspecting that she was dealing with supernatural forces, the worried woman contacted a ‘maji’ (priest) in the hope that he would heal her daughter.
But the maji complained that ‘something’ was ‘locking’ him off and preventing him from praying.
And now the child began to claim that she was seeing a woman with long hair, and that the woman, who only she could see, was calling her.
Again, her limbs became rigid.
In desperation, the mother took her child to a female ‘spiritualist’ at Industry, East Coast Demerara.
The ‘spiritualist’ informed Savitri Singh that ten ‘spirits’ were on the Stewartville property, and occupied the last room in the house.
The ‘spirits’, the woman claimed, had become active after the persons who had controlled them had left the premises.
The ‘spiritualist’ also claimed that the entities were attacking the Singh household because there was no male occupant in the house.
Mrs. Singh said the ‘spiritualist’ then sprinkled ‘something’ on the property to rid the family of the ‘entities’. But by then, the family had had enough. They packed their things and moved immediately.
But Mrs. Singh says that this incident has a strange sequel. It happened a year after the Singhs hurried departure.
In September 2006, a baby girl was left unattended in a room in that same house.
According to reports, the baby was left in the care of her aunt and a 15-year-old sister after the mother left for Essequibo.
The baby was reportedly placed on a bed in the upper flat to sleep by the aunt and sister who were cooking in the bottom flat.
When the aunt and sister checked subsequently, they could not find the baby.
But after a frantic search, the little child’s lifeless body was found stuck between the bed and the wall.

If you have information about any unusual case, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown offices.
You can also reach us on telephone numbers 22-58465, 22-58458, or 22-58473, or contact Michael Jordan at [email protected].

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