Gef, the Talking Mongoose
On a lonely farm on the Isle of Man, a family said a talking mongoose lived in their walls, and it wouldn't stop chatting.
What was reported
In 1931, the Irving family, living on an isolated farm near Dalby on the Isle of Man, began hearing scratching and animal noises in the wooden panelling of their house. Soon, they said, the creature began to speak: first mimicking sounds, then talking, singing and joking.
It called itself Gef and claimed to be a mongoose born in India in 1852. Newspapers made it a sensation, and the investigator Harry Price visited, but Gef never spoke to him. Most of what Gef said was heard when the family's teenage daughter, Voirrey, was nearby.
Explanations offered
Most investigators thought Voirrey produced the voice herself, perhaps with ventriloquism, and the story grew from there. Mongooses had been released on the island, so a real animal in the walls is possible. Voirrey later said she wished the story had never happened, but didn't admit to faking it.
- When
- From 1931
- Where
- Dalby, Isle of Man
- Witnesses
- The Irving family and visitors
- Status
- Disputed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.