Gef! The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose

Christopher Josiffe examines the reports surrounding Gef, a supposed talking mongoose said to have appeared at the Irving family’s farmhouse on the Isle of Man in 1931. Over the following eight years, Gef was credited with speech, singing, questions, nocturnal knocking and knowledge of local affairs, while newspapers and investigators followed the story closely.

Drawing on local reporting, psychical research, correspondence, eyewitness statements, photographs, fur samples and paw prints, Josiffe reconstructs the case and its changing reputation. The book considers the involvement of figures including Harry Price and Nandor Fodor, then weighs possibilities ranging from elaborate hoax and poltergeist activity to telepathy, folklore and psychological projection, without claiming a final answer.