Regardless of the location in the Caribbean region, stories and folklore have very common features, although coated with different details.

However, there are some stories that are specific to particular islands in the Caribbean.

This post will be featuring the beautiful Caribbean island of Barbados.

It is quite customary in the Caribbean for parents and adults to use stories to scare unruly children straight.

1. The Heart Man

One popular saying uttered by grandparents in Barbados is ‘yuh better behave before the Heart Man come and get you’.

That is correct the Heart Man.

Usually dressed in all black, the Heart Man’s only driving desire is to carve out the hearts of people and was especially keen on disobedient children, who made a habit of misbehaving.

The northern side of Barbados is his stomping ground that he would patrol in a black hearse.

Don’t worry, it was not only the children that feared the Heart Man, but also the adults.

2. The Steel Donkey

Not all scary stories in the Caribbean have a rhyme or reason for the characters existence. The Steel Donkey of Barbados is just such as example.

To understand why the Steele Donkey is a thing of terror it is best to paint a picture for you.

Picture yourself, all alone, walking down a dark, very poorly lit curvy lonely road. Then something breaks the deafening silence.

You hear a noise that is very out of place. So, you instincts immediately react to this sound.

The sound you hear is the definite ‘clink clank’ sound of chains, lots of chains, directly behind you.

Now, in a scenario like this, there are two types of people. You may call them by different names. The first of these two types of people could be referred to as brave, fighters, curious, or even nosey. The second of these two kinds of people could be referred to as cowards, runners, or weak-hearted.

Now, if you are the first of these two kinds of people and turn around, you would become face-to-face with the screaming blood red eyes of a very large fire-breathing donkey completely enveloped in chains from head to hooves.

Whether or not the Steel Donkey is driven by a thirsty, particular devious desire is hard to determine.

However, it seems that the answer to what could be the only obvious question as to what happens when you turn around is you run, as fast as you can!

Barbados folklore claims that the Steel Donkey is known for stoning houses relentlessly at night in backwoods locations.

3. Baccoo/Baku Man

Besides Barbados, the Baccoo Man or Baku Man can also be found in Guyana and Trinidad’s folklore.

The Baccoo Man is akin to the infamous leprechaun of Ireland. He is described as being a very tiny bearded man that is capable of granting the wishes of his owner and performing unbelievable acts by magic.

His description varies depending on the location. In Barbados, this particular character of folklore was associated with East Indians and Islamic immigrants referred to as ‘coolie men’.

These ‘coolie men’ would go village to village selling wares that included necessities for the house, like curtains, appliances, clothing, etc.

The ‘coolie men’ would allow villagers to take the goods in return for small installment of payments over time.

For those villagers who failed to pay their installment fee, the ‘coolie man’ would summons his Baccoo man, who was usually kept in a bottle.

This devious, shape shifter can make himself invisible and was known to behave with the same violent disturbing characteristics of a poltergeist.

4. The Chase Vault, Barbados

While I do admit that Chase Vault is not a mythical character of Barbados’ local folklore, it would be remiss for me to not mention the Chase Vault of Barbados.

This is an actual location in Barbados that you can visit in person, with those most hair-raising of history.

Housed in the cemetery of the Christ Church Parish is an unassuming, partly underground tomb that appears to be agitated whenever a coffin is placed inside of it.

This history of this vault started in the year 1724 when it was originally built. Then, the Chase family bought the vault to bury three members of their family.

The three members of this family faced unusual deaths and were buried in this tomb.

The three family members included:

1. The first recorded death was of a two year old little girl by the name of Mary Ann Chase, who was buried in a lead coffin; and
2. Although unidentified, there was another individual interred in a wooden coffin along side Mary Ann Chase.
3. Two years after Mary Ann’s death, her sister, Dorcas Chase, starved herself to death and was buried in the vault.
   

Nothing notable occurred until the death of Thomas Chase one month after Dorcas. Thomas Chase was the father of Mary Ann and Dorcas Chase.

When the people who were burying Thomas Chase broke the seal on the vault, they were shocked to discover that the three coffins that belong to Mary Ann, Dorcas, and the other unidentified occupant had been violently displaced from where they were laid to rest and now were laying in complete disarray against the walls of the vault.

According to reports, no other vault in the cemetery showed the same signs of disturbance. Therefore, it was determined that what was witnessed in the Chase Vault was not as a result of a natural cause, like a hurricane or a flood.

This discovery did not deter the burial team. They simply added Thomas Chase to the residents of the vault and resettled all the coffins in an orderly fashion.

Some years later, the Chase Vault was reopened to add yet another resident. Once again, all the coffins inside appeared to have been violently thrown all over the vault, where they remained.

Perturbed by this second occurrence, after adding the new occupant and setting the coffins back in order, a layer of sand was added to the floor; and this apparent watertight vault was resealed and appeared impenetrable. Thus purpose of the sand was to the gather the footprints of the culprits should they return.

Because these mysterious events so disturbed the community, two years later the Chase Vault was reopened.

The crowd that gathered outside the vault were shocked when the seal was broken to reveal a repeat of violently dislocated coffins all over the tomb. The most creepy part of the encounter is that there were no footprints on the ground. The sand was completely undisturbed.

The coffins were removed from the Chase Vault and reburied in other locations in the cemetery.

Since that time, the Chase Vault has remained vacant.