(Daily Chronicle February 23, 1977).
Tony was seventeen.
But he was also possessed.
At least his family believed this.
He would suddenly become erratic screaming and throwing things around . But when it was all over he couldn’t remember having done any of the things his family related.
They took him to the spiritualist Gwendoline De Freitas and her verdict: he was indeed possessed.
She agreed to organize a service for him to cast the spirit out.
That evening the altar was prepared with lighted candles and the customary glass of water.
Before the altar was the canvas which protected the floor from the Olive oil and Saint oil which were usually used..
Tony was placed in the circle of lighted candles with Gwendolin standing before him.
In the room there were three other men to help restrain him.
It was always necessary to restrain the possessed as Gwendolin knew so well or they would attack and beat her- tearing her clothing.
With Tony it was not different.
The service had just begun when he lashed out at her.
It took seven hours to bring that demon under control. Then it happened. A candle from the altar fell onto the canvas on the floor.
The demon fled Tony’s body but he left his image behind.
There on the canvas on the floor the melted wax from the candle had taken on the form of a shadowy figure.
At the sight of this shadowy figure Tony screamed and fled the house before anyone could restrain him.
A successful Gwendolin De Freitas came to the Guyana Chronicle bearing the canvas with the strange figure on it.
In all her years of “curing the sick” as she termed it, she had never seen anything like it.
“The demon called himself Thompson,” she said, “He said that he had been sent by a man who believed that Tony had used his daughter. When I threatened to capture him, he begged me not to. He said all he wanted to do was return to his peaceful rest.”
“I don’t know what prompts me to say the things I do during a service ,” she said.
“It seems like I am no longer in control of myself. But I believe my ability is a gift from God.”
Gwendolin who belongs to the A.M.E Zion Church said she realized her ability since she was quite young .
She would have visions of figures rising from beneath the water telling her what food she shouldn’t eat.
She eats neither shrimp nor pork.
