The John crows, the coffin, Mr Brown and The Wailers

IN MANY years gone by, there was a practice by some person’s enemy to call a funeral home to send a hearse to pick up that person’s body because that person was dead. It was the ultimate insult; you are nothing, you are dead. Sometimes, there was also an advertisement in the newspaper announcing your departure from this realm.

Now, imagine, you see a hearse at your gate, and when you go find out why it is there, you are told it is there to collect the body of John Brown, and you are in fact John Brown. The practice of witchcraft was rife, and practitioners would do bizarre things to frighten and vanquish their enemies.

There were many stories of these bizarre occurrences, but the one that captured the attention and imagination of the nation more than any other was the alleged sighting of three John Crows atop a three-wheel coffin asking for a Mr Brown. Some sources claim it happened in the 1960s, but the earliest mention of it in The Daily Gleaner was on Thursday, October 29, 1970.

“Hundreds of curious persons chased through the streets of downtown Kingston yesterday. For the majority, the object of their chase was both elusive and invisible. With pedal cyclists setting in a hot pace, office clerks, and school children rampaged along King Street, Orange Street, Beckford Street., invaded Tivoli Gardens, and then doubled back on their rout; all the while searching for a glimpse of the object.

“The chase was provided with added fuel by the spate of fanciful respite of and weird rumors. A policeman shot at it in Spanish Town, a rumour stated. He was immediately stricken and taken to the Spanish Town Hospital in an unconscious condition. The Spanish Town Police denied that any member of the force in that town was so incapacitated,” The Gleaner reports.

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“However, several persons claim they had seen the object. They described it as a coffin with three wheels, two at the back and the other at the front. On the top was perched a John Crow. The witnesses professed seeing the unguided coffin at various points in the Corporate Area. Some claim that it only appeared to the eye at infrequent intervals.”

There was mass hysteria indeed in Kingston, as The Gleaner story continues with, “Meanwhile, reports reaching The Gleaner stated that Spanish Town Road in the vicinity of the May Pen Cemetery was blocked by thousands of people who tried to have a look at the elusive coffin. Large number of people also turned up at the Maxfield Park School area, while chasing the phantom-like coffin with its three vultures.”

Lance Neita, in his Thursday, May 26, 2011 Gleaner column writes, “At one time, it created panic and near rioting when it was said to have been sighted at Parade in downtown Kingston. The massive crowds became boisterous, stores were forced to close, and traffic came to a standstill. People ‘committed perjury’ when they swore they saw the coffin going up the steps of a courthouse and causing consternation inside the building.”

Yet, the story of the sighting that stood tall above the others was from 16-year-old Murnell Byfield who told The Gleaner and the Hunts Bay Police that she saw the coffin on Wednesday, October 28 about 1 p.m. at St Peter Claver Primary School at 33B Waltham Park Road.

She said the man-size coffin had three wheels, and three John Crows were on it. The two big ones at the ends were in black coats, while the little one in the middle wore a red one.

“The little red-coated John Crow, Byfield said, asked one of the teachers at St Peter Claver Primary School if she knew John Brown. According to Byfield, the teacher fainted. One wheel of the coffin, she added, ran over a little boy’s foot. He also fainted. The little John Crow said sorry.

“Miss Byfield said the coffin appeared and then disappeared. There were many persons, she added, present at the time. Her story was backed up by a student of the Maxfield Park Primary School who described the appearance of the coffin in similar fashion,” The Daily Gleaner reports.

However, the principal, Pearline Reid, said nothing like that happened at her school. But, there was in a fact a large crowd at the bottom of St Joseph Road, and most of her students ran to see the coffin, but it did not appear at St Peter Claver.

The coffin, the John crows and Mr Brown might have been a bizarre prank/rumour, but The Wailers have certainly immortalised the story with a song called Mr Brown. Glen Adams wrote the lyrics after hearing the story.

Parts of it say:

“O-o-oh, calling duppy conqueror

I’m the ghost-catcher!

This is your chance, oh big, big Bill bull-bucka

Take your chance! Prove yourself! Oh, yeah!

Down in Parade/People runnin like a masquerade

The police make a raid

But the people – oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah – they think it fade

What a thing in Town

Crows chauffeur-driven around

Skankin’ as if they had never known

The man they call Mr Brown.”