Rarely does a childhood memory carry the weight of the supernatural quite like this one. In a hair salon in early 2000s Massachusetts, a psychic reader named Celestine shared a chilling tale from her childhood—a story that changed her life forever—a story rooted deep in the folklore of 1950s rural Trinidad.

When Celestine was just nine years old, she defied her grandmother’s warnings and visited a woman the village feared. She recounted the legend that was Mama Vashti, a mysterious woman living isolated in the village who possessed supernatural knowledge of remedies and spiritual practices. Though villagers secretly sought her help for love and prosperity spells, they avoided her publicly, whispering that she was a soucoyant—a shape-shifting creature from Caribbean folklore who sheds her skin at night. Whatever she was, she was a woman wrapped in contradiction.

Slowly, an unusual friendship and apprenticeship formed between them. Mama Vashti taught Celestine card reading, herbal knowledge, and how to read people’s silences (the kind of knowledge you don’t find in any book). She also revealed she had been cursed in 1898 at age twenty, explaining her ageless appearance. The bond between them was profound and lasting, truly life-shaping in every sense.

Celestine carried these lessons across decades and oceans. Listen to this episode to hear her extraordinary story unfold.

What did Celestine actually witness during Carnival that she could never fully explain?

Our Podcast Theme Music

Music Title: “Haunted Haus”, Artist: Tim Kulig (timkulig.com) Lic CC 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We also used "Nocturnally" by Amulets CC no attribution required

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