Residents of Scott Town in Manchester talk about a strange animal that has been spotted in their community. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Something moved in the bushes. Everyone froze. I looked across at the man holding a stick beside me. He flinched and I swallowed hard.

I could feel a single trickle of sweat running down my cheek as the bushes moved again. Whatever it was, was making its way out. I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched my fists and braced myself for the impact.

But then, much to my relief, I heard the people around me start laughing. I tentatively opened one eye just in time to see a mongoose zip by my feet and into some more bushes behind me.

"Hee hee! A just one mongoose. Hee hee!" the man with the stick laughed, seeming much more at ease.

Seeking a monster

I, on the other hand, was still a bit shaky. You see, I was in the small, out-of-the-way community called Scott Town in the hills of Manchester, where an unidentified nocturnal creature, which, months earlier, had terrorised residents and obliterated farm lands, has made an unwelcome return.

"We nuh see it fi a long time and now, all of a sudden, it come back and start thief di melon dem again," said Munchy, a rather fragile looking fellow with small ears.

I had visited Scott Town early last year when the creature, known by many as the Scott Town monster, made its first appearance. Although nobody has a really good look at the creature, the collective glimpses that a handful of residents have got, paint a picture of a beast about twice the size of a big dog, with a snout and four long, skinny legs like a goat.

It was going around stealing melons and pumpkins from residents' fields and damaging many banana trees. The frustrated residents devised a detailed plan to stand watch in the fields at night with machetes and torches to capture and destroy the enigmatic beast, but they did so with no success.

"All di watch wi a watch, di creature just gone 'bout him business. After a while, we just figet 'bout it," said Munchy.

Short-lived respite

But their respite would be short lived. About two weeks ago, Maas Trevor, a retired truck driver turned banana farmer, was on his way to his field when he noticed what he thought was a small dog behind a tree.

"Mi pick up a stone and fling it afta di sinting and it nuh move. So mi ah wonder a how it so bright! So, mi fling a next one and den di sinting git up and mi realise dat it wasn't a dog, but di same crosses sinting dat wi did think gone from round here," he said, distress still evident in his eyes.

An agitated Maas Trevor pounded his fist against his knee as he spoke. He was wearing a baseball cap and a t-shirt with the words, 'The Harder They Come', printed on it. I was standing near the area where he spotted the beast, with him and his nephew, Munchy.

Now, residents of the community have developed varying theories of what the unidentified creature really is.

Miss Dorothy, the melon farmer, believes it's a beast of the devil himself who has come here to live because of the wickedness of the people.

"Di devil know seh Jamaica is a evil place and so him come teck root. Him will feel right at home wid all a di gunman dem," she quipped.

Wants it dead

Lorain, the shoemaker's wife, thinks the beast is the love child of a very accommodating goat and a most confused dog, while Maas Trevor couldn't care less what it is. All he wants is the beast dead.

"Di first time mi spot him, mi nuh shet mi yeye fi di whole night! Mi nuh know a wah it be, but mi nuh want it round mi," said he, his hand on his forehead.

So, as dusk quickly approached in the small hillside community, the residents of Scott Town slowly retreated to the safety of their own homes, all the while keeping an eye out for any sign of the next appearance of the mysterious Scott Town monster.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com