December 27, 2024 • 36 mins
Rianne Sharp shares her haunting childhood experiences from Trinidad, exploring the rich tapestry of local folklore and the supernatural. Together, we delve into stories of duppies, ghostly encounters, and cultural beliefs, while pondering the mysteries of the mind and spirit.
• Rianne Sharp's introduction and background
• Discussion on Trinidad's complex history and culture
• Insights into the legend of duppies and their folklore
• Rianne's personal encounter with shadowy figures
• The cultural significance of paranormal experiences
• Folklore and supernatural beliefs in Trinidad
• Exploration of voodoo and shango practices
• Conversations on the nature of speaking in tongues
• Insights into premonitions and their connections to the supernatural
• Closing thoughts on the profound mysteries of life and death
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following podcast was recorded in two separate
secret locations, so sometimesthe audio's in, sometimes the
audio's out.
Sometimes it's good, sometimesit's bad, but trust me, folks,
it's well worth the wait.
Just turn it up, Mr Announcerman.
Take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to the Sonic Hitchhiker Podcast dedicated to
all things strange, mysterious.
The Iconic Hitchhiker PodcastDedicated to all things strange,
mysterious and just plain outof the ordinary.
Your guide on this audioodyssey is Billy Shadow.
Billy has led a life full ofexperiences that have put him on
his current path, from hishumble beginnings in the ghettos
of southwest Georgia to theGreat Plains of Oklahoma.
(00:39):
Billy has led a life full ofexperiences.
As a youth, billy traveled withhis family on a bus while his
father preached in churchesacross the country.
As a young man, billy spenttime in the military, became an
entrepreneur, met and workedwith multiple celebrities,
became a singer-songwriter.
Billy's travels and experienceshave led him to witness
(01:00):
exorcisms, cult mind controlevents, ghosts and other
supernatural phenomena.
It is because of his interestin these experiences that this
podcast was created and now yourhost, billy.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Shadow.
Welcome again to the SonicHitchhiker Podcast everyone.
Today we have a very specialguest, and our story today takes
us all the way to the Caribbean, to a little island, Trinidad,
and I believe it is off thecoast of Venezuela, am I correct
(01:41):
?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yep, it's the most southerly island in the
Caribbean, so it's right off thecoast of Venezuela, just across
from Caracas.
So if you wanted to go toCaracas, Venezuela, the flight's
like I don't know, maybe 15, 20minutes.
You go up and then you're down.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
You're there and I don't know if I I don't think
I've done this yet, but let meintroduce our guest, Rianne
Sharp.
I hope I'm saying that right.
I keep asking you, but RianneSharp and I have not heard these
stories yet, so I'm asintrigued as everyone listening
is to what she's going to talkabout.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Rianne, if you don't mind.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
tell us a little bit about yourself, how long you
grew up in, or did you grow up,were you born and raised in
Trinidad, when you came to theUnited States, and a little bit
about yourself, so the audiencewill know something about you.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Well, I'm so happy to be here.
Thanks for inviting me, bill.
This is really fun.
I love this kind of stuff.
So, yeah, so, trinidad, I grewup there, I was born and raised
there.
I lived there until I was 21.
Then my mom was recruited she'sin healthcare, was recruited to
come to the US working inhealth, and that was gosh,
(02:51):
almost like 31 years ago now.
So I'm dating myself right.
So I'm going to be 54.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
That's okay, I'm right there with you.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yeah, I've been in Atlanta.
I've worked in many differenttypes of healthcare
organizations.
You know I have my own companyworking in healthcare and I've
been doing.
I've been in healthcare forabout 20 years and on my own for
about 10 years and I'm alwaysvery when I go back to Trinidad.
I try to go every year and it'salways such an interesting
(03:22):
place to me.
I mean it's beautiful, yes, thepeople are interesting, the
scenery is interesting, thehistory is interesting, which
kind of adds to all of theundertone right, I always feel
like there's an undertone.
It's beautiful and safe andlovely and everything else.
But when you go to certainplaces you have a feeling about
(03:43):
certain places a lot of oldbuildings, a lot of colonial
style buildings and differentcolonial lords throughout the
history of the island.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
So I'll start with that, and what is the primary
language in Trinidad?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
So the primary language is English.
It was originally a Spanishcolony was on the same voyage
Christopher Columbus did in 1492, looking for India, and ended
up going to the West Indies,which he called the West Indies.
Trinidad is named after theTrinity.
So when he came across the eastside of the island he saw those
(04:21):
three mountain peaks, if youwill, kind of hills those are
the three sisters is what wecall them and he saw the three
sisters and said La Trinidad,like the Trinity.
So the island is named afterthe Trinity, which is the
Trinity, you know, the crucifixTrinity, as well as the three
sisters that he saw.
Then the French had the islandfor a little while, so my
(04:43):
grandparents and they some ofthem spoke broken French.
And then the French had theisland for a little while.
So my grandparents and theysome of them spoke broken French
.
And then the English were thelast colonials that had the
island until 1956 or so 65, inthe 60s is when it became an
independent twin island republic.
So it's Trinidad and Tobago,and so that's why we end up
(05:06):
speaking English, but it's akind of broken English with
other languages kind of filteredin there.
So because of that, othercultural influences- I find that
interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I like history anyway , so we could probably talk
about the history of Trinidadfor a long time.
There's a rich history of thesupernatural in that area and I
did a little research to seewhat was one of the primary
folklores of that area and itwas something called.
(05:39):
Is it the Duppies or theDoopies?
It's almost like gremlins.
Now, this is all topic of whatwe're going to be talking about.
But, every country seems tohave their own folklore, like
stories that kids are told.
You know that either scare them,keep them in line, or to
entertain them one way or theother.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Stories for the children.
You know, get them in the houseearly.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
But I, as everyone knows thatlistens to this podcast, am
interested in the true stories,people that experience actual
phenomenon, and I know you saidyou have had some of these
experiences and I'm excited tohear about them.
Experiences and I'm excited tohear about them.
(06:27):
So if you would like to tell meabout some of those, and I'll,
but I'll ask you questions aboutthem as we go along and let us
hear what your stories are andyour experiences are in trinidad
yeah, what ages you?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
experienced them to, to me very important yeah, yeah,
so, um, so, in terms of like,we do have a rich history of
folklore and it is verythroughout the islands.
So, yes, we do have Duppies,which are these for us, it's the
babies who died prior to beingbaptized.
(06:55):
So their spirits are kind ofwandering and a lot of these
stories are like from Africanfolklore, as well as some Indian
folklore and native Caribbeanindigenous folklore.
So there are a couple of reallybig ones.
The other one is this womancalled Vilaja Bless.
Who is this beautiful woman?
She's wearing this huge hat.
(07:16):
She presents as beautiful,great figure, but when you get
close to her she has a demonface and she has a hoof foot.
So you know, we had all thosekinds of stories growing up, so
mine is a little bit kind ofunusual, right.
So I I think I shared with you.
I couldn't remember exactly howold I was when I had the
(07:36):
experience of this, so I what Iremember is I believe it was
maybe a weeknight, maybe like aFriday, going into bed, probably
.
My bedtime was like aroundeight o'clock.
It gets kind of dark prettyearly, it gets light very early
and it gets darker pretty earlythere.
So it could have been aboutseven or eight and not really
(07:58):
being able to go to sleepproperly, not, you know, not
ready to fall asleep Maybe.
I was excited, wanted to stayawake, and just being in the bed
and then, looking over, I sawwhat looked like figures walking
through the room.
So they looked like they wereshadowy figures, one was behind
the other, connected by what Ithought was a chain this is my
(08:21):
memory, my recollection of itand I thought maybe about four
of them, four or five of them,and they they didn't seem aware
of me in in the room, like theydidn't look at me or try to
engage with me at all.
They just kind of walkedthrough like the room, so the,
from the the base of my bed,just through the, through the
(08:43):
room and then out the door.
I remember just kind of beingreally scared, not wanting to
see them, I just kind ofcovering my head not to see them
and I kind of peeked out andthey were still there and then I
looked again and they were gone.
Where we lived at the time isthis area called gopal lands and
it was purchased by mr gopalwho um was of east indian
descent and old.
(09:03):
All of the land through there,but that land also belonged to.
They were like plantation landsand everything else that was
sold off.
I think that the US probablydoes a better job of keeping
account of what was there priorto the purchase.
So I'm not quite sure what wasthere prior to the purchase of
these residential properties.
(09:25):
But I even remember being littleriding my bike, and there was a
house on the hill, very oldhouse that nobody lived in,
nobody owned, and it just itfelt very unusual, very kind of
creepy.
I remember it being a wooden,very large structure, wooden
structure, white paint that waskind of really ripped off.
(09:45):
It looked like in its day itcould have been a really grand
house.
Riding my bike I'd always rideby really, really quickly
because I just felt veryuncomfortable, just kind of
unnerved, just riding by thereand I remember some friends we
wanted to go.
They were like, oh, let's go upand see, and I just never
wanted to go up there, right,you know.
So we have all of those littlekind of homes and that you know,
(10:09):
nobody kind of maybe somepeople, the older people, really
remember what was there butthat house was just never on
touch.
A lot of property around it butno one ever lived there did
everyone get a sense of anegative vibe around that house.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Was it a negative or sad vibe?
What would you call it?
I know as a child.
People tell stories when you'reafraid, but what would you say?
The energy around that housewas Negative.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
I would say kind of sad and negative.
Yeah yeah, it didn't feelcomfortable for me, right?
And I didn't want to be aroundit, I don't want to be close to
it or any of that stuff.
So, even riding my bike whichwas, you know, the hill was
going up this way my bike was onthe road, like I'm riding, I
would do my best just to kind ofride back very, very quickly.
(10:57):
And I spent a lot of time, likeyou know, like most kids did,
back then.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
We were out of the house a lot, riding around the
neighborhoods a lot, and thatone, specifically, was one I
just wanted to avoid at all cost.
Yeah, I want to get back toyour story, um, because there's
some things that you said thatare familiar to me, uh, as a
seven and eight year old thatyou were at the time when you
saw these shadowy figures goingthrough your room.
Did they seem to just appearthrough the wall or just out of
the blue?
How did you first notice them?
You were awake and you wereasleep.
(11:31):
Then you woke up.
When I hear a similar storythat I've experienced, I always
like to get details, because tothis day.
I'm still trying to explain itto myself.
So when I hear other stories,I'm like maybe they can help me
explain what I went through byhearing their story and their
experience.
I know, when you have anexperience and you see a spirit,
(11:55):
a ghost, whatever you want tocall them, whatever they are, I
know that when you're,especially when you're a child,
as an adult I would still be thesame, but as a child, if you
see that time is kind ofmeaningless at the moment, when
you think about it could be twoseconds, it could be five
minutes, it could be 30.
You know your mind doesn'tthink that way.
(12:17):
You're just suddenly you seesomething out of nowhere that
shouldn't be there.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
And you're, you're, you're frozen in time, so you're
just waiting for it todissipate.
Yes, so you saw that.
So you know for sure that youwere awake.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
There's no doubt I was awake.
I don't think that.
I think I was maybe like tryingto drift off asleep, but I was
not asleep.
I was kind of you know, Iremember like just going to bed,
being in the bed, not beingasleep, and then looking over
and then, for from what I recall, it looked like they were
(12:53):
coming through the wall.
So I had the.
Where the bed was facing therewas a window and a wall and the
window was against the you knowlike out of that wall.
So, looking over, they lookedlike they were coming through
the wall and then through theroom and then out the door, out
the door so like they weremaking a passage and it just
happened to go through it,happened to come through my.
(13:17):
that's what, that's what itlooked like to me and again, no,
none of them looked in mydirection.
Yeah, they just kind of youknow, kind of like heads down,
keep, you know, going throughthe room.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
They were on a path and they just happened to go
through that.
See, that's a little differentthan my experience where, um,
mine, I always tried to rememberif I was.
I know I was nine or 10.
I think nine for sure, prettysure.
So I was kind of in that sameage.
In that same age as you were.
The difference was with me, asI've told in an earlier episode
(13:53):
and I've revisited in the lastepisode, mine looked at me like
they were there.
It seemed for me or for someone, but I just happened to be
there, maybe.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Now for me.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I don't know if you had a chance to listen to any
episodes, but the episode I talkabout.
The difference is they didn'tlook at you.
They happened for you.
It sounds like they were justpassing through.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
You just happened to see these spirits that were
passing through.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Yeah, but for me.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
they looked at me and , like you, you said that you
covered up your head orsomething.
And then you looked again.
Yes, what made you look again?
I know what made me look again.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
I don't want to see this.
But you know, then still partof you is like are they still
there, kind of thing.
So I'm like OK, so let me kindof peek out to see.
And they were still there whenI looked out and I was like, oh
my gosh, this, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So they were moving slowly then.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
It wasn't.
It wasn't like some kind oflike running through.
You know, it was a slow walkthrough.
Yeah, a lot of, a lot of Iwatch, I get off on a tangent on
YouTube.
Sometimes I start watchingthese supposedly videos taken of
spirits, and in the videos theyalways move.
It seems like they dart past.
They're very fast, almost ablur.
A lot of the videos are thatway, but I certainly didn't
experience it that way and youcertainly didn't experience that
.
To you they were just slowly,like they had all day to go
(15:22):
through, and for me they hadhands outstretched and yours
they were a shadowy figure.
You said.
For mine they were bright, white, they were like glowing in the
dark, and it was dark, very dark, and so there was no doubt that
they were glowing, and I don'tknow to this day of my
(15:45):
experience if the spirits thatvisited me or that were in the
room with me were male or female.
What do you think about you?
Would you say you couldn't tell, or you?
Speaker 4 (15:55):
any gender like it it was.
It was just shadows, likeshadowing, I you know.
I think maybe they were like Ikind of thought, well, maybe
they were just kind of like likeslaves or something you know,
because they were just kind oftrudging down and just kind of
moving through right and I don'tremember any gender terms of
height or anything.
(16:16):
They, you know, they seem likeadult, regular adult height.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I didn't think they were super tall or super short,
um, but they were just shadowskind of move, just moving
through yeah, that's interestingbecause I I'm telling you my
experience and, as I talk tomore people, I I want to know
this from other people.
So far, the people I've talkedto, there's no real gender known
(16:39):
yeah, I don't know if that'sbecause of the fear that you
have without, you don't want toget, you don't want to look too
deep, you don't want to get toomany, too many details, because
that means you have to looklonger or really study what's in
front of you.
That's that's making you afraid, or it's just how it is in the
afterlife.
Maybe it just that way, butmine I don't know to this day,
(17:03):
and I've tried to think back inmy head I've never went under
hypnosis to see if I can figurethat out one day I may try that.
The problem with hypnosis is I'mafraid that they may mess
something else up.
Yeah, turn me into a chicken orsomething I I don't know, but
because once they, have youunder who?
Knows?
Yeah, but they definitely.
I saw no gender, but theyseemed older.
(17:26):
I do remember that and they allhad their hands outstretched
and they were at the door and Ifelt really cold.
Did you feel really cold, orany certain environmental change
that you felt, or just or no?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I don't remember feeling any environmental change
.
Okay, I'm just my own fear yeah, well, maybe that's maybe
that's what happened to me?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
maybe fear, just you know.
They say you, you know you stopcold in your tracks, maybe it's
something like that, but I feltreally cold and that's kind of
there was something thatprompted me to sit up on the
couch and look over the couchtoward the door.
There's something that promptedme.
I can't even explain it, but Ido know there they were.
I covered my head up, I pinchedmyself a lot because I thought
(18:12):
I've got to be dreaming.
Yeah, even as a kid, this can'tbe real.
And, like you, I had to lookagain because I had to know
either it was my imagination orthey were actually there.
My problem was when I did comeup, they were right there.
they had moved from the door tothe couch oh my grandmother ran
into the room and turned thelights on, that they disappear
(18:34):
and, as I say in the episode, umI, I couldn't sleep in that
house anymore with the lights on.
I just couldn't do it because Iknew that something was there,
or at least had been there.
So when you saw these beingscome through, appear through the
wall and just keep walking,what do you, as an adult,
(18:57):
looking?
Back, I'm sure you're like me,like you wonder sometimes was it
my imagination?
Was it real?
What was it?
There are too many stories likethat from people that let me
that make that I tend to believethem based on my experience.
There are a lot of people thathave a hard time believing
(19:19):
things they've never seen.
I understand that.
So the fact that you and I hadsimilar experiences, what do you
think about that experience asan adult?
How do you see it now?
Speaker 4 (19:34):
So you know, for the longest time as a child I
remembered it right Ever.
So I mean, like ever so often II kind of have some memory of
it right.
So, like your um with yourpodcast, kind of said, oh my
gosh, I remember I, I did havelike an experience like this.
Yeah, as an adult, you know,you hear about all kinds of
(19:54):
stuff, right.
So, um, what is the the sleepparalysis and all of these
things that you hear about?
And then I think, well, maybe Ihad some kind of sleep
paralysis, or maybe what is theCharles Dickens thing about?
Maybe it was some undigestedfood or something.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yeah.
So I tried to think in my mindwell you know, if that happened,
like what could it, what couldit have been rationally right?
Like what's the the reasonbehind it?
There are a lot ofunexplainable things in this
world.
Like I have a lot ofpremonitions in a way, like I
think about stuff and like I hada thought in my mind about a
(20:35):
friend of mine who was.
I kind of visioned him on a bednot doing well, and then I
found out he had a stroke right.
So I think that there is aconnectedness between people
maybe, and sometimes they arelike you have a connection to
people who aren't here still.
You know in some way, and youknow again the people who are
(20:59):
moving through.
They weren't engaging with mebut for whatever reason I was in
their path, you know so.
So I think that there's a lotthat we cannot explain.
We won't ever probably be ableto explain, and I think that
that's okay.
You know, when I was younger Iwould like, really like, dig
hard to try to explaineverything, but and I think I
won't be able to explaineverything, and that's fine you
(21:21):
know, the problem is, I want toknow, so I, yeah, so I I think
about it too much now.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Do you have any other stories from Trinidad that
you've experienced, or knowsomeone who had like?
Speaker 4 (21:34):
you have family members, maybe what.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
What else do you have for us?
Speaker 4 (21:37):
yeah, so I mean, we have so many stories, so I told
you about.
They're all about differentbeings, right, and I always look
at some correlations between,like, european stories, some
Indian stories and then ourCaribbean stories.
So I told you about theLajabless, right, the beautiful
woman.
The other one is the Sukunya,another woman.
(21:58):
She sucks the blood of um, menand babies apparently is her,
her, that's the her diet withthe babies they always say that
you should wear your baby,should wear blue, and that you
should rub the baby with salt sothat the sukuya does not get
your baby, and she likesnewborns, apparently, and she
(22:18):
likes men.
So I don't know if men aresupposed to wear blue, but um,
there's also that is thatsomething that people actually
do?
so my grandmother's family.
They're from maruga, which isuh east of the island, further
out in the, in the woods, if youwill, and um.
So there were a lot of beliefsaround that in the country areas
(22:40):
especially.
Maybe now with technologypeople aren't doing a lot of
those things, but there are alot of those kind of beliefs.
And the other one is Papa Bois,who is the keeper of the forest
, so he protects the animals, heprotects the forest.
He's half man, half um, someother kind of creature, um.
(23:03):
So that was another one thatthat kids would hear a lot about
.
And then you know we have um.
You know, in Haiti they have uhvoodoo.
In Trinidad and a lot of theother parts of the Caribbean we
have opia, which is similar tovoodoo, so and that's also
practiced in a lot of thecountry areas.
That and shango baptist, whichwere kind of like a mixture of
(23:27):
like orisha and someun-catholicism and everything
else in there as well.
So with all of those kinds ofinfluences, there's a high
degree of spiritual connection,if that makes sense.
Like certain things.
Don't surprise I don't getsurprised by people having
experiences or you know, likeyou see these videos of people
(23:50):
who, as they say, catch thespirit, and they're like, like
they're on the ground andthey're, like you know, like
like fish moving around on theground.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I've seen those.
I've seen that, I've witnessedthose.
Yeah, yes.
I've witnessed a couple ofexorcisms supposed exorcisms One
, I tend to believe, because itwas a very large woman.
And now the mind is a powerfulthing.
Don't get me wrong.
I know that things happen, butI saw this very big woman
(24:22):
Supposedly she was possessed,and a preacher made her fall on
the ground and she fell veryfast for her size.
She was very fast and shestarted having these convulsions
and he started speaking intongues and she started having
these convulsions and he startedspeaking in tongues and she,
(24:43):
like you just mentioned or youjust alluded to, about someone
moving around like a fish,jumping around.
That's what she was doing.
She was convulsing, like alittle spit coming out of the
side of her mouth.
She was saying stuff at someother time and moving around
like a fish and at some point hesaid certain things and she it
(25:03):
was over.
But the fun part about that isto me and that's just one
experience, I won't go into allof mine because we're talking
about you what?
What was weird to me was thatwhen he, supposedly when the
spirit, came out of her, she hada hard time getting up.
Help her up.
She fell like nothing was movingaround like she weighed, you
(25:27):
know, 90 pounds, but yeah, whenthis was over you had to help
her up oh my gosh, I can'texplain that?
Uh, that didn't freak me out.
I was just wondering wow, howdid she?
I was more fascinated with thefact that she could.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
She couldn't come she fell down easy enough.
She's more aware of her bodynow that the spirit is gone
exactly oh yeah, so in trin inyour family practice
voodoo type well, you know our,because everything is so inter,
(26:09):
interconnected, intermingled, ifyou will, right.
So their aspects.
So our catholicism, likepracticed at home, incorporates,
like all of these differentthings.
So I remember my grandmother'ssister.
She was what's referred to asShango Baptist, which
incorporates a lot of theAfrican-esque type of and of
(26:33):
course, africa is a hugecontinent, right so maybe more
like Yoruba style Africanpractice.
So I remember they would be,the women would be dressed in
these long white dresses, beltsaround their waist and what we
call a cutlass, which is likebig knife, this huge knife on
their, on their waist, and sothey were almost like soldiers.
(26:57):
For you know this practice and Iremember seeing like they did
just all kinds of differentthings.
They would have water, they'dhave like wine, that they would
have oils, they'd have picturesof Jesus, pictures of Mary, you
know other types of deities,different food that they would
(27:17):
offer, which is very similar forHindus as well in our culture.
They'd have like Lakshmi,hanuman, all of the God images,
and offer food to them.
And we would have as well whatwe call Thanksgiving, not like
American Thanksgiving.
We'd have people come to thehouse and do prayers and a lot
(27:39):
of the flopping around was thereas a kid.
That was really kind ofunnerving for me was was there
speaking in tongues a lot of alot of speaking in tongues and
you know like we kind of in.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
When you watch it in the movies it seems like, okay,
they're babbling, but when youin real life it does sound like
a language that I agree I agreebecause there's a certain I'm
sure you've experienced this too, so and I have as well,
especially in in the states wehave kind of a subsidiary of
baptist, which are church of godand pentecostal.
(28:13):
Yeah, they are really big onspeaking in tongues and they,
they are really big on speakingin tongues and they, they say
they're full of the Holy ghostand they will speak languages.
Now, like you say, it doessound like babbling at first,
but when you have several peoplespeaking in tongues and this is
what I think I don't speak intongues and I've never really
(28:35):
wanted to, but when I see people, the language whatever language
.
That is it is very similar whenyou and I grew up, having to go
to all these different churches.
I've been to all, all over this, all over the country.
My dad was traveling tochurches.
He took us all over.
I've seen a lot of stuff inchurches that you know almost
turned me against some of it,but they would speak in tongues
(29:00):
and no matter what church youwent to to I don't know if
there's some pamphlet that saysthis is how we talk.
I've never seen it never butvery similar the language is
very similar and your firstreaction, as you say, is to say
oh, they're babbling, it's not,it's not it's not a real
language but there's somethingto it I don't know what gets
into them that makes them speakthis similar language.
(29:21):
Maybe, god, I don't know, itcould be something else and
they're not aware.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yeah, it's funny that you say that.
Right, because, like you, as anadult, I try to understand.
Okay, well, what actuallyhappened?
Right, because you seerelatives and friends and
everything having theseexperiences and they are not
what we call normal people.
They're everyday people.
They're not necessarily goingto try to get to speak in
(29:48):
tongues, but for whatever reasonthey're in the, in that
environment, the energies getcaught up in them and this comes
out of them.
So, as an adult, I try to thinkokay, so is it some kind of
reaction in the nervous systemthat causes your vocal cords to
produce this language?
That's hidden in your brainsomewhere.
(30:09):
I think it would be great tostudy what's happening in the
brain when this is happening,because we speak a language that
we know from birth, that we'retaught, unless we learn other
languages as we become adults.
But the language of the tongues, it's like, where does that
come from?
It's not a language that we arespeaking as your natural
(30:30):
language.
They're not speaking English insome other form.
It's definitely not English,it's definitely not Spanish.
Some people say it sounds alittle bit like a tonal language
, like an African language orone of those languages.
Here are people who've neverstudied any of those languages.
And this is what's beingproduced because of an emotion,
(30:50):
because of a feeling, an energythat comes upon them, right,
even if we say, okay, well, wecan't measure that kind of
energy, but something ishappening that's transforming
their vocal cords, like theircommunication has changed, and I
think that you know I don'tknow if there's anybody done
research on it, but definitelyworth checking out.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
I would say older, I get, the more I have this desire
to learn more about the humanmind and people the good thing
about the technology that wehave now in the world is,
(31:31):
whereas I remember one timewanting to do I was in my 20s,
late 20s I would get in my heada certain subject and I would
want to research that subject,so I would have to go to the.
You remember these days in thelibrary.
I would have to go to thelibrary and check out, yeah, and
I would have to read all thesebooks on it.
(31:52):
Take notes.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Yeah, I would do that .
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Sometimes I would do it for months at a time and I
remember for almost a year ormaybe longer, I studied life
after death.
I got all these books on theafterlife.
I wanted to know what thecorrelation was between the
average, what the averageexperience was among so many
people, because you know, youcan have all these different
(32:14):
stories, but what's the averagestories?
But what's the average?
What is the most commondenominator when it comes to
what people experience in lifeafter death?
They call it the near-deathexperience, or some people
actually die and come back.
There's something to all ofthis stuff speaking in tongues,
(32:35):
but if you think about it, whenpeople, people have a tendency
to right away put this off as afantasy or just a wild
imagination or just somethingpeople are making up.
However, the human body and themind, the way the mind and the
body work together, can do somefascinating things.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
And I believe there is also an outside force that
created everything and that weare all a part of.
You can call it God, you cancall it what you want.
There's some outside force thatcomes in.
You're talking aboutpremonitions earlier.
That's not just something thatis normally in your head, like
it's not a fabrication in yourhead, in your head.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Like it's not a fabrication in your head,
something some outer force putthat in your head for whatever
reason.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Right, or maybe it's already in there and we just
every now and then, we use thepower that we have and we don't
realize we have it yeah, youknow babies and animals see a
lot more than we do becausetheir minds not so cluttered,
right.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Right.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
As you get older, you are fed bullshit from every
direction, right, and whetherit's media, just other people,
folklore stories.
You have so much coming in, somuch recycled material in your
head.
Yeah, that you don't really youknow.
You just don't know what'sactually in there.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Either in there from an outside creation or we block
our signal from whatever's outthere yes the signal is broken
yeah, and we know there aresignals because we talk on the
phone.
So we know there are invisiblesignals in the air already.
So why not?
Why not have that spiritualsignal that that we somehow
hinder as we get older?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
and we forget about it.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Some biblical scholars and other religious
scholars think that man overtime has forgotten who they
actually are, and some peopleevery now and then it comes to
them somehow.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
One episode that I plan on having in the future is
just a whole episode on deja vupremonitions, because I've had
them and you've had them andprobably most people have had
them, whether they admit it ornot.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Like you're saying, they kind of put it off like, oh
you know, it's just, it'scoincidental or something like
that.
Right, we have busy lives.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
We don't.
We go about our life almostlike.
I mean.
I think people like you, peoplelike me, probably people that
listen to this show, thispodcast, have a desire to know
more or want to hear about morethan just the average everyday
nine to five life.
Because we get so, our livesbecome so mundane.
(35:20):
I try not to let mine be thatway, but most of us do kind of
live a mundane.
We know what we're going to dowhen we wake up, type of day
every day and there's no roomfor if there is a signal, I
think we don't pay attention toit.
Yeah, we just either don't payattention or we don't use the
(35:42):
power that we already have.
There's something there.
I really enjoyed your ghoststory.
It's amazing because I canrelate, and I'm sure not only me
.
Well, we had another woman onan earlier episode that also had
(36:03):
a ghost experience that shecouldn't explain, but in her
case she heard voices.
She didn't really see anything.
I kind of think I'd rather seesomething.
Honestly, At least I know what'sin the room.
Yeah, I think, rather than havesomebody whisper in my ear, I
think I'd much rather see it.
At least I know.
Maybe I should get out of thehouse or what is this, but I
really appreciate you coming on.
Oh gosh, this has been a lot offun and I've learned a lot.
(36:26):
I've learned a lot fromeveryone I talk to every day,
included.
And when we do a future episodeon premonitions and deja vu, I
would love for you to come back.
I'll have a few stories fromother people, including you, to
tell us more about that, andwe'll talk about that in depth
as well, that'll do it foranother edition of the show.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Join Billy Shadow next week for another all-new
Sonic Hitchhiker podcast.
Thanks for checking out theSonic Hitchhiker podcast.
Follow us on Instagram at SonicHitchhiker podcast and get new.
The following podcast was recorded in two separate
secret locations, so sometimesthe audio's in, sometimes the
audio's out.
Sometimes it's good, sometimesit's bad, but trust me, folks,
it's well worth the wait.
Just turn it up, Mr Announcerman.
Take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to the Sonic Hitchhiker Podcast dedicated to
all things strange, mysterious.
The Iconic Hitchhiker PodcastDedicated to all things strange,
mysterious and just plain outof the ordinary.
Your guide on this audioodyssey is Billy Shadow.
Billy has led a life full ofexperiences that have put him on
his current path, from hishumble beginnings in the ghettos
of southwest Georgia to theGreat Plains of Oklahoma.
(00:39):
Billy has led a life full ofexperiences.
As a youth, billy traveled withhis family on a bus while his
father preached in churchesacross the country.
As a young man, billy spenttime in the military, became an
entrepreneur, met and workedwith multiple celebrities,
became a singer-songwriter.
Billy's travels and experienceshave led him to witness
(01:00):
exorcisms, cult mind controlevents, ghosts and other
supernatural phenomena.
It is because of his interestin these experiences that this
podcast was created and now yourhost, billy.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Shadow.
Welcome again to the SonicHitchhiker Podcast everyone.
Today we have a very specialguest, and our story today takes
us all the way to the Caribbean, to a little island, Trinidad,
and I believe it is off thecoast of Venezuela, am I correct
(01:41):
?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yep, it's the most southerly island in the
Caribbean, so it's right off thecoast of Venezuela, just across
from Caracas.
So if you wanted to go toCaracas, Venezuela, the flight's
like I don't know, maybe 15, 20minutes.
You go up and then you're down.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
You're there and I don't know if I I don't think
I've done this yet, but let meintroduce our guest, Rianne
Sharp.
I hope I'm saying that right.
I keep asking you, but RianneSharp and I have not heard these
stories yet, so I'm asintrigued as everyone listening
is to what she's going to talkabout.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Rianne, if you don't mind.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
tell us a little bit about yourself, how long you
grew up in, or did you grow up,were you born and raised in
Trinidad, when you came to theUnited States, and a little bit
about yourself, so the audiencewill know something about you.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Well, I'm so happy to be here.
Thanks for inviting me, bill.
This is really fun.
I love this kind of stuff.
So, yeah, so, trinidad, I grewup there, I was born and raised
there.
I lived there until I was 21.
Then my mom was recruited she'sin healthcare, was recruited to
come to the US working inhealth, and that was gosh,
(02:51):
almost like 31 years ago now.
So I'm dating myself right.
So I'm going to be 54.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
That's okay, I'm right there with you.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yeah, I've been in Atlanta.
I've worked in many differenttypes of healthcare
organizations.
You know I have my own companyworking in healthcare and I've
been doing.
I've been in healthcare forabout 20 years and on my own for
about 10 years and I'm alwaysvery when I go back to Trinidad.
I try to go every year and it'salways such an interesting
(03:22):
place to me.
I mean it's beautiful, yes, thepeople are interesting, the
scenery is interesting, thehistory is interesting, which
kind of adds to all of theundertone right, I always feel
like there's an undertone.
It's beautiful and safe andlovely and everything else.
But when you go to certainplaces you have a feeling about
(03:43):
certain places a lot of oldbuildings, a lot of colonial
style buildings and differentcolonial lords throughout the
history of the island.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
So I'll start with that, and what is the primary
language in Trinidad?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
So the primary language is English.
It was originally a Spanishcolony was on the same voyage
Christopher Columbus did in 1492, looking for India, and ended
up going to the West Indies,which he called the West Indies.
Trinidad is named after theTrinity.
So when he came across the eastside of the island he saw those
(04:21):
three mountain peaks, if youwill, kind of hills those are
the three sisters is what wecall them and he saw the three
sisters and said La Trinidad,like the Trinity.
So the island is named afterthe Trinity, which is the
Trinity, you know, the crucifixTrinity, as well as the three
sisters that he saw.
Then the French had the islandfor a little while, so my
(04:43):
grandparents and they some ofthem spoke broken French.
And then the French had theisland for a little while.
So my grandparents and theysome of them spoke broken French
.
And then the English were thelast colonials that had the
island until 1956 or so 65, inthe 60s is when it became an
independent twin island republic.
So it's Trinidad and Tobago,and so that's why we end up
(05:06):
speaking English, but it's akind of broken English with
other languages kind of filteredin there.
So because of that, othercultural influences- I find that
interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I like history anyway , so we could probably talk
about the history of Trinidadfor a long time.
There's a rich history of thesupernatural in that area and I
did a little research to seewhat was one of the primary
folklores of that area and itwas something called.
(05:39):
Is it the Duppies or theDoopies?
It's almost like gremlins.
Now, this is all topic of whatwe're going to be talking about.
But, every country seems tohave their own folklore, like
stories that kids are told.
You know that either scare them,keep them in line, or to
entertain them one way or theother.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Stories for the children.
You know, get them in the houseearly.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
But I, as everyone knows thatlistens to this podcast, am
interested in the true stories,people that experience actual
phenomenon, and I know you saidyou have had some of these
experiences and I'm excited tohear about them.
Experiences and I'm excited tohear about them.
(06:27):
So if you would like to tell meabout some of those, and I'll,
but I'll ask you questions aboutthem as we go along and let us
hear what your stories are andyour experiences are in trinidad
yeah, what ages you?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
experienced them to, to me very important yeah, yeah,
so, um, so, in terms of like,we do have a rich history of
folklore and it is verythroughout the islands.
So, yes, we do have Duppies,which are these for us, it's the
babies who died prior to beingbaptized.
(06:55):
So their spirits are kind ofwandering and a lot of these
stories are like from Africanfolklore, as well as some Indian
folklore and native Caribbeanindigenous folklore.
So there are a couple of reallybig ones.
The other one is this womancalled Vilaja Bless.
Who is this beautiful woman?
She's wearing this huge hat.
(07:16):
She presents as beautiful,great figure, but when you get
close to her she has a demonface and she has a hoof foot.
So you know, we had all thosekinds of stories growing up, so
mine is a little bit kind ofunusual, right.
So I I think I shared with you.
I couldn't remember exactly howold I was when I had the
(07:36):
experience of this, so I what Iremember is I believe it was
maybe a weeknight, maybe like aFriday, going into bed, probably
.
My bedtime was like aroundeight o'clock.
It gets kind of dark prettyearly, it gets light very early
and it gets darker pretty earlythere.
So it could have been aboutseven or eight and not really
(07:58):
being able to go to sleepproperly, not, you know, not
ready to fall asleep Maybe.
I was excited, wanted to stayawake, and just being in the bed
and then, looking over, I sawwhat looked like figures walking
through the room.
So they looked like they wereshadowy figures, one was behind
the other, connected by what Ithought was a chain this is my
(08:21):
memory, my recollection of itand I thought maybe about four
of them, four or five of them,and they they didn't seem aware
of me in in the room, like theydidn't look at me or try to
engage with me at all.
They just kind of walkedthrough like the room, so the,
from the the base of my bed,just through the, through the
(08:43):
room and then out the door.
I remember just kind of beingreally scared, not wanting to
see them, I just kind ofcovering my head not to see them
and I kind of peeked out andthey were still there and then I
looked again and they were gone.
Where we lived at the time isthis area called gopal lands and
it was purchased by mr gopalwho um was of east indian
descent and old.
(09:03):
All of the land through there,but that land also belonged to.
They were like plantation landsand everything else that was
sold off.
I think that the US probablydoes a better job of keeping
account of what was there priorto the purchase.
So I'm not quite sure what wasthere prior to the purchase of
these residential properties.
(09:25):
But I even remember being littleriding my bike, and there was a
house on the hill, very oldhouse that nobody lived in,
nobody owned, and it just itfelt very unusual, very kind of
creepy.
I remember it being a wooden,very large structure, wooden
structure, white paint that waskind of really ripped off.
(09:45):
It looked like in its day itcould have been a really grand
house.
Riding my bike I'd always rideby really, really quickly
because I just felt veryuncomfortable, just kind of
unnerved, just riding by thereand I remember some friends we
wanted to go.
They were like, oh, let's go upand see, and I just never
wanted to go up there, right,you know.
So we have all of those littlekind of homes and that you know,
(10:09):
nobody kind of maybe somepeople, the older people, really
remember what was there butthat house was just never on
touch.
A lot of property around it butno one ever lived there did
everyone get a sense of anegative vibe around that house.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Was it a negative or sad vibe?
What would you call it?
I know as a child.
People tell stories when you'reafraid, but what would you say?
The energy around that housewas Negative.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
I would say kind of sad and negative.
Yeah yeah, it didn't feelcomfortable for me, right?
And I didn't want to be aroundit, I don't want to be close to
it or any of that stuff.
So, even riding my bike whichwas, you know, the hill was
going up this way my bike was onthe road, like I'm riding, I
would do my best just to kind ofride back very, very quickly.
(10:57):
And I spent a lot of time, likeyou know, like most kids did,
back then.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
We were out of the house a lot, riding around the
neighborhoods a lot, and thatone, specifically, was one I
just wanted to avoid at all cost.
Yeah, I want to get back toyour story, um, because there's
some things that you said thatare familiar to me, uh, as a
seven and eight year old thatyou were at the time when you
saw these shadowy figures goingthrough your room.
Did they seem to just appearthrough the wall or just out of
the blue?
How did you first notice them?
You were awake and you wereasleep.
(11:31):
Then you woke up.
When I hear a similar storythat I've experienced, I always
like to get details, because tothis day.
I'm still trying to explain itto myself.
So when I hear other stories,I'm like maybe they can help me
explain what I went through byhearing their story and their
experience.
I know, when you have anexperience and you see a spirit,
(11:55):
a ghost, whatever you want tocall them, whatever they are, I
know that when you're,especially when you're a child,
as an adult I would still be thesame, but as a child, if you
see that time is kind ofmeaningless at the moment, when
you think about it could be twoseconds, it could be five
minutes, it could be 30.
You know your mind doesn'tthink that way.
(12:17):
You're just suddenly you seesomething out of nowhere that
shouldn't be there.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
And you're, you're, you're frozen in time, so you're
just waiting for it todissipate.
Yes, so you saw that.
So you know for sure that youwere awake.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
There's no doubt I was awake.
I don't think that.
I think I was maybe like tryingto drift off asleep, but I was
not asleep.
I was kind of you know, Iremember like just going to bed,
being in the bed, not beingasleep, and then looking over
and then, for from what I recall, it looked like they were
(12:53):
coming through the wall.
So I had the.
Where the bed was facing therewas a window and a wall and the
window was against the you knowlike out of that wall.
So, looking over, they lookedlike they were coming through
the wall and then through theroom and then out the door, out
the door so like they weremaking a passage and it just
happened to go through it,happened to come through my.
(13:17):
that's what, that's what itlooked like to me and again, no,
none of them looked in mydirection.
Yeah, they just kind of youknow, kind of like heads down,
keep, you know, going throughthe room.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
They were on a path and they just happened to go
through that.
See, that's a little differentthan my experience where, um,
mine, I always tried to rememberif I was.
I know I was nine or 10.
I think nine for sure, prettysure.
So I was kind of in that sameage.
In that same age as you were.
The difference was with me, asI've told in an earlier episode
(13:53):
and I've revisited in the lastepisode, mine looked at me like
they were there.
It seemed for me or for someone, but I just happened to be
there, maybe.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Now for me.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I don't know if you had a chance to listen to any
episodes, but the episode I talkabout.
The difference is they didn'tlook at you.
They happened for you.
It sounds like they were justpassing through.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
You just happened to see these spirits that were
passing through.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Yeah, but for me.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
they looked at me and , like you, you said that you
covered up your head orsomething.
And then you looked again.
Yes, what made you look again?
I know what made me look again.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
I don't want to see this.
But you know, then still partof you is like are they still
there, kind of thing.
So I'm like OK, so let me kindof peek out to see.
And they were still there whenI looked out and I was like, oh
my gosh, this, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So they were moving slowly then.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
It wasn't.
It wasn't like some kind oflike running through.
You know, it was a slow walkthrough.
Yeah, a lot of, a lot of Iwatch, I get off on a tangent on
YouTube.
Sometimes I start watchingthese supposedly videos taken of
spirits, and in the videos theyalways move.
It seems like they dart past.
They're very fast, almost ablur.
A lot of the videos are thatway, but I certainly didn't
experience it that way and youcertainly didn't experience that
.
To you they were just slowly,like they had all day to go
(15:22):
through, and for me they hadhands outstretched and yours
they were a shadowy figure.
You said.
For mine they were bright, white, they were like glowing in the
dark, and it was dark, very dark, and so there was no doubt that
they were glowing, and I don'tknow to this day of my
(15:45):
experience if the spirits thatvisited me or that were in the
room with me were male or female.
What do you think about you?
Would you say you couldn't tell, or you?
Speaker 4 (15:55):
any gender like it it was.
It was just shadows, likeshadowing, I you know.
I think maybe they were like Ikind of thought, well, maybe
they were just kind of like likeslaves or something you know,
because they were just kind oftrudging down and just kind of
moving through right and I don'tremember any gender terms of
height or anything.
(16:16):
They, you know, they seem likeadult, regular adult height.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
I didn't think they were super tall or super short,
um, but they were just shadowskind of move, just moving
through yeah, that's interestingbecause I I'm telling you my
experience and, as I talk tomore people, I I want to know
this from other people.
So far, the people I've talkedto, there's no real gender known
(16:39):
yeah, I don't know if that'sbecause of the fear that you
have without, you don't want toget, you don't want to look too
deep, you don't want to get toomany, too many details, because
that means you have to looklonger or really study what's in
front of you.
That's that's making you afraid, or it's just how it is in the
afterlife.
Maybe it just that way, butmine I don't know to this day,
(17:03):
and I've tried to think back inmy head I've never went under
hypnosis to see if I can figurethat out one day I may try that.
The problem with hypnosis is I'mafraid that they may mess
something else up.
Yeah, turn me into a chicken orsomething I I don't know, but
because once they, have youunder who?
Knows?
Yeah, but they definitely.
I saw no gender, but theyseemed older.
(17:26):
I do remember that and they allhad their hands outstretched
and they were at the door and Ifelt really cold.
Did you feel really cold, orany certain environmental change
that you felt, or just or no?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I don't remember feeling any environmental change
.
Okay, I'm just my own fear yeah, well, maybe that's maybe
that's what happened to me?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
maybe fear, just you know.
They say you, you know you stopcold in your tracks, maybe it's
something like that, but I feltreally cold and that's kind of
there was something thatprompted me to sit up on the
couch and look over the couchtoward the door.
There's something that promptedme.
I can't even explain it, but Ido know there they were.
I covered my head up, I pinchedmyself a lot because I thought
(18:12):
I've got to be dreaming.
Yeah, even as a kid, this can'tbe real.
And, like you, I had to lookagain because I had to know
either it was my imagination orthey were actually there.
My problem was when I did comeup, they were right there.
they had moved from the door tothe couch oh my grandmother ran
into the room and turned thelights on, that they disappear
(18:34):
and, as I say in the episode, umI, I couldn't sleep in that
house anymore with the lights on.
I just couldn't do it because Iknew that something was there,
or at least had been there.
So when you saw these beingscome through, appear through the
wall and just keep walking,what do you, as an adult,
(18:57):
looking?
Back, I'm sure you're like me,like you wonder sometimes was it
my imagination?
Was it real?
What was it?
There are too many stories likethat from people that let me
that make that I tend to believethem based on my experience.
There are a lot of people thathave a hard time believing
(19:19):
things they've never seen.
I understand that.
So the fact that you and I hadsimilar experiences, what do you
think about that experience asan adult?
How do you see it now?
Speaker 4 (19:34):
So you know, for the longest time as a child I
remembered it right Ever.
So I mean, like ever so often II kind of have some memory of
it right.
So, like your um with yourpodcast, kind of said, oh my
gosh, I remember I, I did havelike an experience like this.
Yeah, as an adult, you know,you hear about all kinds of
(19:54):
stuff, right.
So, um, what is the the sleepparalysis and all of these
things that you hear about?
And then I think, well, maybe Ihad some kind of sleep
paralysis, or maybe what is theCharles Dickens thing about?
Maybe it was some undigestedfood or something.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yeah.
So I tried to think in my mindwell you know, if that happened,
like what could it, what couldit have been rationally right?
Like what's the the reasonbehind it?
There are a lot ofunexplainable things in this
world.
Like I have a lot ofpremonitions in a way, like I
think about stuff and like I hada thought in my mind about a
(20:35):
friend of mine who was.
I kind of visioned him on a bednot doing well, and then I
found out he had a stroke right.
So I think that there is aconnectedness between people
maybe, and sometimes they arelike you have a connection to
people who aren't here still.
You know in some way, and youknow again the people who are
(20:59):
moving through.
They weren't engaging with mebut for whatever reason I was in
their path, you know so.
So I think that there's a lotthat we cannot explain.
We won't ever probably be ableto explain, and I think that
that's okay.
You know, when I was younger Iwould like, really like, dig
hard to try to explaineverything, but and I think I
won't be able to explaineverything, and that's fine you
(21:21):
know, the problem is, I want toknow, so I, yeah, so I I think
about it too much now.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Do you have any other stories from Trinidad that
you've experienced, or knowsomeone who had like?
Speaker 4 (21:34):
you have family members, maybe what.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
What else do you have for us?
Speaker 4 (21:37):
yeah, so I mean, we have so many stories, so I told
you about.
They're all about differentbeings, right, and I always look
at some correlations between,like, european stories, some
Indian stories and then ourCaribbean stories.
So I told you about theLajabless, right, the beautiful
woman.
The other one is the Sukunya,another woman.
(21:58):
She sucks the blood of um, menand babies apparently is her,
her, that's the her diet withthe babies they always say that
you should wear your baby,should wear blue, and that you
should rub the baby with salt sothat the sukuya does not get
your baby, and she likesnewborns, apparently, and she
(22:18):
likes men.
So I don't know if men aresupposed to wear blue, but um,
there's also that is thatsomething that people actually
do?
so my grandmother's family.
They're from maruga, which isuh east of the island, further
out in the, in the woods, if youwill, and um.
So there were a lot of beliefsaround that in the country areas
(22:40):
especially.
Maybe now with technologypeople aren't doing a lot of
those things, but there are alot of those kind of beliefs.
And the other one is Papa Bois,who is the keeper of the forest
, so he protects the animals, heprotects the forest.
He's half man, half um, someother kind of creature, um.
(23:03):
So that was another one thatthat kids would hear a lot about
.
And then you know we have um.
You know, in Haiti they have uhvoodoo.
In Trinidad and a lot of theother parts of the Caribbean we
have opia, which is similar tovoodoo, so and that's also
practiced in a lot of thecountry areas.
That and shango baptist, whichwere kind of like a mixture of
(23:27):
like orisha and someun-catholicism and everything
else in there as well.
So with all of those kinds ofinfluences, there's a high
degree of spiritual connection,if that makes sense.
Like certain things.
Don't surprise I don't getsurprised by people having
experiences or you know, likeyou see these videos of people
(23:50):
who, as they say, catch thespirit, and they're like, like
they're on the ground andthey're, like you know, like
like fish moving around on theground.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I've seen those.
I've seen that, I've witnessedthose.
Yeah, yes.
I've witnessed a couple ofexorcisms supposed exorcisms One
, I tend to believe, because itwas a very large woman.
And now the mind is a powerfulthing.
Don't get me wrong.
I know that things happen, butI saw this very big woman
(24:22):
Supposedly she was possessed,and a preacher made her fall on
the ground and she fell veryfast for her size.
She was very fast and shestarted having these convulsions
and he started speaking intongues and she started having
these convulsions and he startedspeaking in tongues and she,
(24:43):
like you just mentioned or youjust alluded to, about someone
moving around like a fish,jumping around.
That's what she was doing.
She was convulsing, like alittle spit coming out of the
side of her mouth.
She was saying stuff at someother time and moving around
like a fish and at some point hesaid certain things and she it
(25:03):
was over.
But the fun part about that isto me and that's just one
experience, I won't go into allof mine because we're talking
about you what?
What was weird to me was thatwhen he, supposedly when the
spirit, came out of her, she hada hard time getting up.
Help her up.
She fell like nothing was movingaround like she weighed, you
(25:27):
know, 90 pounds, but yeah, whenthis was over you had to help
her up oh my gosh, I can'texplain that?
Uh, that didn't freak me out.
I was just wondering wow, howdid she?
I was more fascinated with thefact that she could.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
She couldn't come she fell down easy enough.
She's more aware of her bodynow that the spirit is gone
exactly oh yeah, so in trin inyour family practice
voodoo type well, you know our,because everything is so inter,
(26:09):
interconnected, intermingled, ifyou will, right.
So their aspects.
So our catholicism, likepracticed at home, incorporates,
like all of these differentthings.
So I remember my grandmother'ssister.
She was what's referred to asShango Baptist, which
incorporates a lot of theAfrican-esque type of and of
(26:33):
course, africa is a hugecontinent, right so maybe more
like Yoruba style Africanpractice.
So I remember they would be,the women would be dressed in
these long white dresses, beltsaround their waist and what we
call a cutlass, which is likebig knife, this huge knife on
their, on their waist, and sothey were almost like soldiers.
(26:57):
For you know this practice and Iremember seeing like they did
just all kinds of differentthings.
They would have water, they'dhave like wine, that they would
have oils, they'd have picturesof Jesus, pictures of Mary, you
know other types of deities,different food that they would
(27:17):
offer, which is very similar forHindus as well in our culture.
They'd have like Lakshmi,hanuman, all of the God images,
and offer food to them.
And we would have as well whatwe call Thanksgiving, not like
American Thanksgiving.
We'd have people come to thehouse and do prayers and a lot
(27:39):
of the flopping around was thereas a kid.
That was really kind ofunnerving for me was was there
speaking in tongues a lot of alot of speaking in tongues and
you know like we kind of in.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
When you watch it in the movies it seems like, okay,
they're babbling, but when youin real life it does sound like
a language that I agree I agreebecause there's a certain I'm
sure you've experienced this too, so and I have as well,
especially in in the states wehave kind of a subsidiary of
baptist, which are church of godand pentecostal.
(28:13):
Yeah, they are really big onspeaking in tongues and they,
they are really big on speakingin tongues and they, they say
they're full of the Holy ghostand they will speak languages.
Now, like you say, it doessound like babbling at first,
but when you have several peoplespeaking in tongues and this is
what I think I don't speak intongues and I've never really
(28:35):
wanted to, but when I see people, the language whatever language
.
That is it is very similar whenyou and I grew up, having to go
to all these different churches.
I've been to all, all over this, all over the country.
My dad was traveling tochurches.
He took us all over.
I've seen a lot of stuff inchurches that you know almost
turned me against some of it,but they would speak in tongues
(29:00):
and no matter what church youwent to to I don't know if
there's some pamphlet that saysthis is how we talk.
I've never seen it never butvery similar the language is
very similar and your firstreaction, as you say, is to say
oh, they're babbling, it's not,it's not it's not a real
language but there's somethingto it I don't know what gets
into them that makes them speakthis similar language.
(29:21):
Maybe, god, I don't know, itcould be something else and
they're not aware.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yeah, it's funny that you say that.
Right, because, like you, as anadult, I try to understand.
Okay, well, what actuallyhappened?
Right, because you seerelatives and friends and
everything having theseexperiences and they are not
what we call normal people.
They're everyday people.
They're not necessarily goingto try to get to speak in
(29:48):
tongues, but for whatever reasonthey're in the, in that
environment, the energies getcaught up in them and this comes
out of them.
So, as an adult, I try to thinkokay, so is it some kind of
reaction in the nervous systemthat causes your vocal cords to
produce this language?
That's hidden in your brainsomewhere.
(30:09):
I think it would be great tostudy what's happening in the
brain when this is happening,because we speak a language that
we know from birth, that we'retaught, unless we learn other
languages as we become adults.
But the language of the tongues, it's like, where does that
come from?
It's not a language that we arespeaking as your natural
(30:30):
language.
They're not speaking English insome other form.
It's definitely not English,it's definitely not Spanish.
Some people say it sounds alittle bit like a tonal language
, like an African language orone of those languages.
Here are people who've neverstudied any of those languages.
And this is what's beingproduced because of an emotion,
(30:50):
because of a feeling, an energythat comes upon them, right,
even if we say, okay, well, wecan't measure that kind of
energy, but something ishappening that's transforming
their vocal cords, like theircommunication has changed, and I
think that you know I don'tknow if there's anybody done
research on it, but definitelyworth checking out.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
I would say older, I get, the more I have this desire
to learn more about the humanmind and people the good thing
about the technology that wehave now in the world is,
(31:31):
whereas I remember one timewanting to do I was in my 20s,
late 20s I would get in my heada certain subject and I would
want to research that subject,so I would have to go to the.
You remember these days in thelibrary.
I would have to go to thelibrary and check out, yeah, and
I would have to read all thesebooks on it.
(31:52):
Take notes.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Yeah, I would do that .
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Sometimes I would do it for months at a time and I
remember for almost a year ormaybe longer, I studied life
after death.
I got all these books on theafterlife.
I wanted to know what thecorrelation was between the
average, what the averageexperience was among so many
people, because you know, youcan have all these different
(32:14):
stories, but what's the averagestories?
But what's the average?
What is the most commondenominator when it comes to
what people experience in lifeafter death?
They call it the near-deathexperience, or some people
actually die and come back.
There's something to all ofthis stuff speaking in tongues,
(32:35):
but if you think about it, whenpeople, people have a tendency
to right away put this off as afantasy or just a wild
imagination or just somethingpeople are making up.
However, the human body and themind, the way the mind and the
body work together, can do somefascinating things.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
And I believe there is also an outside force that
created everything and that weare all a part of.
You can call it God, you cancall it what you want.
There's some outside force thatcomes in.
You're talking aboutpremonitions earlier.
That's not just something thatis normally in your head, like
it's not a fabrication in yourhead, in your head.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Like it's not a fabrication in your head,
something some outer force putthat in your head for whatever
reason.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Right, or maybe it's already in there and we just
every now and then, we use thepower that we have and we don't
realize we have it yeah, youknow babies and animals see a
lot more than we do becausetheir minds not so cluttered,
right.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Right.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
As you get older, you are fed bullshit from every
direction, right, and whetherit's media, just other people,
folklore stories.
You have so much coming in, somuch recycled material in your
head.
Yeah, that you don't really youknow.
You just don't know what'sactually in there.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Either in there from an outside creation or we block
our signal from whatever's outthere yes the signal is broken
yeah, and we know there aresignals because we talk on the
phone.
So we know there are invisiblesignals in the air already.
So why not?
Why not have that spiritualsignal that that we somehow
hinder as we get older?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
and we forget about it.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Some biblical scholars and other religious
scholars think that man overtime has forgotten who they
actually are, and some peopleevery now and then it comes to
them somehow.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
One episode that I plan on having in the future is
just a whole episode on deja vupremonitions, because I've had
them and you've had them andprobably most people have had
them, whether they admit it ornot.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Like you're saying, they kind of put it off like, oh
you know, it's just, it'scoincidental or something like
that.
Right, we have busy lives.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
We don't.
We go about our life almostlike.
I mean.
I think people like you, peoplelike me, probably people that
listen to this show, thispodcast, have a desire to know
more or want to hear about morethan just the average everyday
nine to five life.
Because we get so, our livesbecome so mundane.
(35:20):
I try not to let mine be thatway, but most of us do kind of
live a mundane.
We know what we're going to dowhen we wake up, type of day
every day and there's no roomfor if there is a signal, I
think we don't pay attention toit.
Yeah, we just either don't payattention or we don't use the
(35:42):
power that we already have.
There's something there.
I really enjoyed your ghoststory.
It's amazing because I canrelate, and I'm sure not only me
.
Well, we had another woman onan earlier episode that also had
(36:03):
a ghost experience that shecouldn't explain, but in her
case she heard voices.
She didn't really see anything.
I kind of think I'd rather seesomething.
Honestly, At least I know what'sin the room.
Yeah, I think, rather than havesomebody whisper in my ear, I
think I'd much rather see it.
At least I know.
Maybe I should get out of thehouse or what is this, but I
really appreciate you coming on.
Oh gosh, this has been a lot offun and I've learned a lot.
(36:26):
I've learned a lot fromeveryone I talk to every day,
included.
And when we do a future episodeon premonitions and deja vu, I
would love for you to come back.
I'll have a few stories fromother people, including you, to
tell us more about that, andwe'll talk about that in depth
as well, that'll do it foranother edition of the show.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Join Billy Shadow next week for another all-new
Sonic Hitchhiker podcast.
Thanks for checking out theSonic Hitchhiker podcast.
Follow us on Instagram at SonicHitchhiker podcast and get new.
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