The photograph allegedly shows Gef, the Talking Mongoose on the ridge of a sod hedge at Cashen's Gap, the Isle of Man.

link...

http://www.resologist.net/ryook005.htm

i don't really know what to make of this story, the photo doesn't show much though, i mean how can you tell if a mongoose is a talking one from a photo...

Oooo, a stick! Weird story......

The mongoose might be able to recreate the constant and vowels sound that we make with its own through, and through hearing conversation a lot, it might be able to recreate words. But that doesn't mean it understands them, and understanding the sounds coming out of the mouth is a vital part of speech.

Anyone ever heard of the MANY dogs that have been known to say Mama. The dont know what they do, only that the have been told to do it and they get A COOKIE for being a good dog.

That's actually a stump, but still,

That is my most favorit, FAVORIT, ghost story in the whole wide world! I love it to death! I know it by heart!

Though, if you want some background info, just in case it isn't included in the story,
Mongooses had been intoduced to doarlish cashen by a farmer to lower the rabbit population. But it seems impossible that the mongooses could survive a manx winter. It was also heard that sertain spiritual indian men could teach the mongoose how to talk, but there has been no proof of such.
Gef was in his seventies, which is WAY beyond the lifespan of a normal mongoose. But, he was also afraid of ghosts.
One time Gef was downstairs talking to mrs. Irving and Viory. Jim heard that he was making jokes about him, and decided to turn the tables on the little mongoose. He took off his boots, drapped a sheet over his head, and tiptoed down the stairs.
Gef screamed in terror, then when Jim removed the sheet from his head, Gef cried in relief.
I know just about everything about this story, I have collected bits of information from twenty different sources, and I would love more than anything to share it with you.

I LOVE Gef the mongoose. I wish I have him as a pet!

SO DO I!

Weeeeiiiiird...

Lme man lame

oww owww In the pic I see......A whole lot of nothing...and a little bit of nothing also. ???

IMHO, Gef is real.
Apparantly, Gef called himself "a little clever, extraclever mongoose".
Gef also said he was "not a local product" and that he had been born in Delhi, India on June 7, 1852.

Make ur own minds up.

I wouldn't class myself as a sceptic, but I draw the line at talking mongeese, this is a clear case of crazy girl who can throw her voice.

Well if recording equipment was available between 1931 (first appearance) and 1937 (when the Irvings abruptly sold the farm and moved out), then i'm sure Gef will be either proved or disproved.
Actually in 1931, Irving's daughter was 13...
PS In India, there is a tradition that certain mongooses can learn human speech

yeah i must admit i can't see anything in the photo, i'm going to keep looking at it until i see a mongoose, its there i reckon...

how intelligent is a mongoose?...just curious....

more intelligent than me anyways! (",)

LOL! Exactly! Plus, even Parrots can talk, they just mimic what they hear and apes can be taught sign language, but they can't hold a conversation with you. I really said BS when they said the mongoose told them the day and year he was born and could tell jokes and stuff. Even if it could talk how in the world would it know and understand our dates and calender and year system? What, he's got a calender in his hole or wherever mongooses live?! LOL! Nice little story though, entertaining, but totally unreal.

Yeah! I have an open mind about unexplained mysteries and supernatural stuff, but Gef looks and sounds like a character from a children's book. I just have to draw the line here. LOL!

It's not just the learning of human speech that trips me out, because even parrots and apes can talk, apes using sign, but you are saying that the mongoose in addition to talking can understand and comprehend things that an animal cannot, like knowing where he was born and when, telling jokes and being afraid of ghosts! Come on now! LOL! I didn't know mongooses went to mongoose school to learn geography and dates and to learn what a ghost is.

Not sure if this is in the story either, but in addition to talking, Gef would also bring the family gifts of dead rabbits, would allow them to watch him eat via his shadow, and even stuck his hand out for them to see his stumpy, yellowed fingers--did a crazy girl manage all that too??

I recently transfered to Mongoose School. Look! They even have shop class!

I wish i was a mongoose.......hee.....hee.........I rule!!!!!!! WOOOO!!

Lol....

Moose can imitate coms so why can't they sound like people.

*points, whines* Parrots can so too understand what they're saying.
A lot of very serious clinical research has gone into parrots and the great apes. Well, no, a parrot or an ape would likely never address you about the weather or make small talk on politics, they can still use words meaningfully. I spent a long time working with mine and she can put together individual words, like "WANT APPLE" or "UP UP FLY." She'll also use phrases that she's learned to mimic as one long series of sounds appropriately. "Come Here!" Is what she'll say when she wants me, but when she uses "COME" or "HERE" as individual words they're completely different sounding, so I don't think she gets that the phrase is made up of individual words. I might suggest, if the topic of "talking animals" interests you
Roger Fouts' book, Next of Kin
www.gorilla.org
http://www.alexfoundation.org/

agreed--i was very impressed with a parrot i saw on a tv show a long time ago--could distungish shapes, colors and numbers!

yeah birds can imitate people and do voices and talk, but are mongooses/mongeese whatever known to be able to talk?, i mean how smart are they? do they have the ability to talk?...anyone heard anyhing, or is it a myth?

Gef's tale begins in a small farmhouse (what is it with isolated farmers and supernatural phenomena?) on the Isle of Man in the 1930's. In September 1931 the Irving family - consisting of James, his wife Margaret, and their daughter Voirrey - started to hear strange noises like a wild animal coming from the attic of their farmhouse. Strangely enough, these noise began to develop into a voice, echoing the words spoken by James. Before long this mysterious voice had learnt a sufficient amount of English and it introduced itself as a mongoose by the name of Gef. He told them he had been born on the 7th of June, 1852, in Delhi, India.

As well as talking, Gef, it seemed, also developed a flair for singing. He knew the words to a good many popular songs and was also a bit of a joker, providing the family with an interesting source of entertainment (certainly must of been a good sight better than Darrel Sommers). There was one time, however, when apparently he went a little too far and pretended to have been poisoned, which the family did not find in the least bit amusing (I think they just lacked a decent sense of humour). Just to prove he was also a fully rounded Renaissance mongoose, Gef also took to espionage. Apparently he spent also spent good deal of time spying on the locals and reporting their goings on back to the Irvings. Occasionally, some of the locals reported hearing the odd sounds of an invisible creature, which they believed to be the Irving's "pet" mongoose.

Gef insisted on remaining hidden to the family, being seldom seen except for the daughter Voirrey. The mongoose apparently resided within the walls of the house or would perhaps hide in the garden. The only evidences that the creature existed were the sound of its voice and a few other strange happenings, such as objects being moved and thrown about the house.

As is usually the case with talking mongeese (Is the plural of mongoose, mongeese or mongooses? That's a question that's going to keep you up all night.), Gef's fame spread quickly and it wasn't long before the press got wind of it. In 1932 an old family friend, John Northwood, arrived at the farm to check that the family was surviving the onslaught of reporters. After some coaxing, Gef began talking with Northwood and their conversations varied from idle chat to vicious accusations and threats. On hearing that Northwood's son Arthur was due to arrive at the farm, Gef bacame angry sand shouted, "Tell Arthur not to come. He doesn't believe. I won't speak if he does come. I'll blow his brains out with a thrupenny cartridge!" (If ever there was an argument for gun control, it's an irate talking mongoose with an itchy trigger finger.)

Gef finally allowed himself to be photographed by Voirrey, but although several photographs were taken of it, none show sufficient detail to determine whether the creature was a mongoose or even animate. In March 1935 Gef calimed to have plucked some of his own hair and left it on the mantelpiece. (It's so important for a mongoose to care about the way he looks.) This hair sample was sent to "Captain MacDonald", a friend of famous psychic investigator Harry Price who had been sent to have a poke around the farmhouse a few years earlier. This hair sample eventually found its way to Price who had it examined by a zoological expert, it was the expert's thought that the hairs most definitely came from a long haired dog.

On the 30th July 1935 Harry Price finally arrived at the Irving's farm, with magazine editor Richard Lambert, to have a look into all this Gef business for himself. Unfortunately, on arrival James Irving told them that Gef had not been seen for several weeks. They stayed for three days, and still Gef refused to put in an appearance. They returned home after having first removed some of the Irving's pet dog's hair for comparison to the ones sent earlier. They proved to be a perfect match.

Not long after Price's and Lambert's departure, Gef reappeared at the farm, leaving a set of footprints behind. James Irving sent three plaster casts of the prints to Price, who passed them on in turn to the Natural History Museum in London. The museum's report said that none of the three seemed to bear any relation to the others. One was possibly made by a dog, another by a North American raccoon (What on earth was a North American raccoon doing on the Isle of Man?) and the third was never formally identified. None of them appeared to have been made by a mongoose.

The Irving family themselves finally moved out of the farmhouse in 1937. Later in 1947, the new owner of the farm claimed that he had shot a "strange looking mongoose like animal," which had been roaming around the property. Although some say that this may well have been Gef, the majority of people on the Isle of Man at the time were sure that Gef left the farmhouse along with the Irving family. Personally I doubt it would have been Gef, because from what we know of him it seems likely that he would have shot first.

http://studentweb.usq.edu.au/home/q9722414/tale.html

The mongoose may be able to repeat words,or words that it has been taught.Just like some birds.I don't know if it would be able to have a conversation though.Btw,that pic could be of anything.

S'Ok the story.

very true that photo could be of anything, but theres still a story that has been going around for quite a few years....the photo looks like a log or something, i still can't really make out anything in it...

The story is somewhat believable...

i really don't believe that stories, i just can't see it being a reality