The story of Gef the curious, talking mongoose and its relationship with a lonely farm girl is a story that has fascinated and entertained many, as well as becoming a much loved piece of Manx folklore.
Now a leading book which tells the story of Gef, also known as the ’Dalby Spook’ and investigates much of the history and the many stories surrounding the bizarre tale has been released as a second edition.
’Gef! The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose’, the award-winning book written by Christopher Josiffe, which looks at the story of the talking mongoose who, over an eight-year period, visited the isolated farm at Doarlish Cashen, high above Dalby, and would speak with the Irving family who lived there, in particular striking up a friendship with the daughter, Voirrey.
The story has captured the imagination of many and Christopher’s book, written and originally released in 2017, is considered the definitive account of the history, legend and investigation of the story.
Christopher said that he thought there were many aspects of the story of Gef that many people found appealing, which may point to its on going appeal and demand for his book.
’The book has done much better than I expected, to be perfectly honest,’ said Christopher.
’I didn’t realise how much of an appeal the rather strange story of a talking mongoose would have, outside of people such as parapsychologists or people interested in unusual phenomena.
’I think that one of those things that people seemed to have picked up on is that there was a certain friendliness to the story of Gef and a lonely girl living on a remote farm.
’There are all these quite funny quotes that were attributed to Gef, some of them cheeky and some of them quite rude.
’But the fact that this creature had a definite personality sets it apart from most paranormal stories and makes people want to know more, I think.
’It is very pleasing to have my book warrant a second edition,’ he added.
’Initially I only had 200 copies printed and, if I had been asked then, I would have been very happy and content with just that.
’However, they quickly sold and my publishers had another quantity of books printed, which also sold well.’
The releasing of a second edition has allowed Christopher to make a couple of rewrites and adjustments to the text, the most noticeable of which is to remove all references to England as the ’mainland’.
’That simply hadn’t occurred to me!’ he said.
’However, enough people have been in touch to let me know that it should not be described as such and I am more than happy to correct that.’
by Mike Wade
Twitter:@iomnewspapers