CNN —
By day, it’s among the most spectacular historical sites in the Caribbean, a pilgrimage destination for fans of Johnny Cash, and the home of a championship golf course. Yet when the sun sets over Rose Hall Great House, the atmosphere shifts. Some staff refuse to venture out after dark, lest they fall foul of the shadowy figure spotted stalking the grounds on horseback.
The rider, according to eyewitnesses, is Annie Palmer. She is the “White Witch,” a 19th century plantation owner who murdered three of her husbands and terrorized the slaves of Rose Hall before she was killed in retribution, condemning her spirit to haunt the land where the White Witch Golf Course sits today.
It’s Jamaica’s most fabled “duppy” (ghost) story, a chilling bedtime tale whispered widely throughout the Caribbean. A cornerstone of tourism in Montego Bay, Palmer’s shadow stretches far and wide in popular culture, onto screen, stage, page and even song, courtesy of former local resident Cash.
The “Man in Black” would write music from within the grand old walls of Cinnamon Hill Great House, an 18th century estate just off the 14th fairway of the site’s second golf course, including 1973 hit “The Ballad of Annie Palmer.”
“At night I hear you riding, and I hear your lover’s call,” Cash sang, “And I still can feel your presence round the Great House at Rose Hall.”
Yet not all have been so spooked. Far from just contesting Palmer’s presence today, some have questioned whether she ever existed at all.
Tucked between the towering Blue Mountains and azure Caribbean Sea, the White Witch Golf Course is 6,758 yards of green serenity in one of Jamaica’s bubbliest resort towns. Yet its name hints at a shadowy past, or — as some insist — present. Rose Hall Developments The course’s name is a nod to the White Witch of Rose Hall, Annie Palmer, the purported ghost of a sadistic White plantation owner from the 19th century, said to have terrorized husbands and slaves alike. An after-dark tour of the Great House promises visitors a
A murderous ghost haunted an exclusive Jamaican resort for centuries. But could she survive a paranormal investigation?
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