Happy Halloween. Today I am sharing with stories of Jamaican folklore Anancy, the Rolling Calf and the Blackheart Man all in the spirit of Halloween.

1. Creepy Scary Rolling and the Blackheart Man
Happy Halloween!
I grew up in rural Jamaica in the 1970s and at that time I did not know about Halloween. In fact, I only
learned about Halloween in the late 1990s or early in the new millennium.
My grandmother was a subsistence farmer and one of her crops was coffee. Once the coffee beans were
dried, my grandmother would parch them in two or three enormously large Dutch pots on the wood fire
in the kitchen. On these occasions, the aroma of rich coffee scent filled the air. To this day I am still
amazed how more than a dozen of my cousins and Ifitted intoa poorly ventilated, smoked-filled shanty
kitchen not suited for more than two or three people. As my cousins and I watched my grandmother, we
would listen to my grandmother and uncles stories about the trickster Anancy which I found funny and
stories about the creepy scary rolling calf and the blackheart man which terrified the living daylight out
of me.
My grandmother had been told the stories by her parents, children of slaves, who received their
unrestricted freedom after emancipation on August 1, 1838. The stories came to Jamaica through the
Atlantic slave trade from the west coast of Africa and served as part of the therapy for centuries of
hideous crimes. During storytelling time it was not uncommon for my grandmother and uncles to
breakout singing popular Jamaican folksongs like for “Hill and Gully Rider Oh” and “Come, Mister tally
man, tally me banana” or "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)," a traditional Jamaican mento folk song, the
best-known version of which was sung by Harry Belafonte.
The folklore tale about scary rolling calf and the creepy blackheart man scared the hell out of me as
child. As a boy living in the rural countryside, at nights I was terrified of theheadless rolling calf,a
monstrous calf-like creaturewith blazing red eyes that gash fire,pulling a carriage with dangling chains
making an unnerving clanking noise. From my experience the rolling calfhad very wicked intentions and I
was a prime candidate to be abducted from the face of the earth by the evil rolling calfespecially when I
was mischievous. If nighttimes were bad, daytimes were just as scary as the evil wicked blackheart man
driving on scary black hearse without a steering wheel would always be lurking around looking for
children like me.
As a child the stories I heard were not told every day. They were usually told just around dusk when
night is about to fall and there are dark pitch black clouds in sky. Rain drops are pelting the zinc roof and
the children can see the shadow of the banana tree leafs moving from side to side because of the gusty
wind.
Tonight is Halloween. It is all about Marisa dressing up as Ariel the Princess and Mermaid for ‘trick or
treat’. For me I will be on the lookout for the creepy scary rolling calf and the blackheart man that I
know will be lurking somewhere outside. Yes, those evil bastards are here in Brampton, Ontario and I
know they will be coming out tonight for me.

2. But you wait and see I have a plan for the rolling calf and the blackheart man. Tonight if I do come across
the evil rolling calf or the blackheart man I will definitely try Louise Bennett-Covelly, Jamaican folklorist,
playwright and author saying"Jack Mandora, me no chose none" and hope that Jack Mandora, the
doorman at Heaven’s door, know that I have no wicked ways.
And tonightif Jack Mandora does not rescue me Usain Bolt would not have enough speed to catch
because to as paraphrase the tunes and lyrics of Ernie Smith’s “Duppy or Gunman”:
If it is a rolling calf or blackheart man,
I man not going to wait to find out
I will be so frightened
My feet will not even be hitting the ground
All Marisa’s name I am likely to forget
Happy Halloween!
Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well
as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor. He can be contacted by
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