Bad Juju Mamma: The White Witch of Rose Hall

Now this haunt in Montego Bay, Jamaica, has just as much lore as it does bad juju. And that bad juju appears to be the real deal. Annie Palmer, a.k.a “The White Witch of Rose Hall,” received her voodoo training at an early age from a Haitian nanny. When Annie was only 10, her parents died mysteriously, leaving her to be raised by her big bad voodoo nanny. Makes you kind of wonder if she was sent to her room without dinner after a spat with mom and pops, and out from under the bed came the voodoo dolls. Who knows, but this seems to be when Annie became the woman who got what she wanted, when she wanted, or there would be hell to pay.

Rose Hall today.

Rose Hall today.

Annie consumed with the desire of wealth, soon captured(more likely bewitched?) the heart of local plantation owner, John palmer. No sooner had they been married, and John unexpectedly croaks and ends up six feet under, making Annie winner in the human lottery. Annie would now control the wealth and the plantation with it. Annie would quickly become bored and indulge in her new hobby, romp-fest with her slaves. Oh and she would marry again a couple of times. Marriage obviously wasn’t for her as these unlucky husbands died mysteriously as well. So it was back to late night slave love. Except now, Annie made sure that the slaves couldn’t yap about their adventures with plantation lady. You got it, she had them killed. Word spread of her cruelty but not outside the plantation. The voodoo queen began torturing slaves if they tried to escape. And if torture didn’t work she went back to the black magic, which often included human sacrifice, and specifically infants.

All the wickedness would finally catch up with her when she took the life of a young man who was to be married to the daughter of a powerful voodoo practitioner. This man would battle Annie not only with his fists but with his voodoo magic, eventually killing her. Annie was buried in a specially designed tomb that would keep her sinister soul trapped. Unfortunately one of the slaves didn’t get it right, and Annie’s spirit roams Rose Hall to this day. Nice job buddy. So in 1971 a group of psychics came to Rose Hall to try and trap Annie’s spirit. But still, no success, she still roams.

Annie's tomb

Annie's tomb

I did find an alternate report on Annie’s death that was even better. She supposedly felt that sex with mortals wasn’t satisfying anymore and she felt like a go with the devil himself might get her back into the swing of things. But during the ritual something went terribly wrong as her slaves heard her screaming from her room. Her door was locked so one of the slaves took a peek through the keyhole and saw Baron Samidi (the voodoo devil) standing in the middle of Annie’s blood-stained room. The slave who set eyes on Baron Samidi went blind instantly. The slaves broke down the door only to find the strangled body of Annie.

Some of the phenomenon reported at Rose Hall are doors slamming on their own, men screaming, crying babies, the scent of dried blood, apparitions, visions in mirrors, footsteps in the main hall, and even sightings of Annie herself riding her prized black stallion. But be forewarned, legend has it that not only Annie still roams the plantation but all her many victims.


5 Responses to “Bad Juju Mamma: The White Witch of Rose Hall”

  1. roninfuse  on June 9th, 2009

    Great post mister Brody keep up the great work.

    Reply

  2. Atrueoriginall  on June 9th, 2009

    I was there once. I didn't know why because I asked a taxi driver with broken English to drive us around and show us interesting things. Now I know why it was so interesting to him. He really never said anything at the time.

    Montego Bay is absolutely stunning but the poverty is the worst I've ever seen in my 57 years.

    We got our bad juju a few hours later when we got back on the ship. Hurricane Dennis was on his way up and sat on our tail as we headed north. We had to miss a couple of stops due to it moving as fast as it was. Then, we get to the mouth of the Mississippi and the Mississippi River Authority said the ship couldn't come in due to the hurricane so we had to sit on the Gulf and wait it out. Fun stuff! lol Not really that bad. The captain took the ship over to Galveston and we sat and stared at the off-shore oil derricks for a day and half. :)

    Just the same, I'll be going back to Montego Bay again one day and I'll have to go 'into' Rose Hall this time instead of just look at the outside.

    Reply

    • Brody Maddox  on June 11th, 2009

      Sounds like quite an adventure. If all that happened to you just by looking at the place, imagine what happens when you go in. :)

      Reply

  3. Angelique Avalon  on June 10th, 2009

    My theory on Annie? She's been reincarnated as Drew Peterson.

    Reply

    • Brody Maddox  on June 11th, 2009

      I think you may be on to something.

      Reply


Leave a Reply