On the quiet outskirts of Mile Gully, Manchester, stands the chilling remnant of St. George’s Anglican Church, now known among locals as the “Duppy Church.” Abandoned and left to decay, the once-holy site is entangled in ghostly tales, its walls a silent witness to generations of haunting memories.

Constructed in the early 19th century, St. George’s was once a thriving place of worship. But whispers of strange disturbances emerged over time, stories of “duppies” driving parishioners away. As the supernatural tales grew, congregants moved to St. Simon’s Anglican Church nearby, leaving St. George’s to rot under the weight of its dark history. Today, the church is an eerie shell—its broken windows, gaping doorways, and crumbling walls amplify a sinister silence, as though the building itself has succumbed to the spirits that linger there.

The haunted grounds are steeped in the unsettling legend of James Knight, a slave from the nearby Lyndhurst estate. Knight, who dared to preach Christianity, enraged his masters. In an act of brutal vengeance, he was beheaded, and his skull was mounted as a chilling warning to others. Local lore holds that his spirit, denied a proper burial, roams the area, eternally bound to the land where he suffered. This violent past casts a permanent shadow over the church and its cemetery, where graves from the 19th century peek from overgrown weeds, as if clinging to their secrets.

_{Tap first photo to view pop-out gallery | Photos by Sheldon Levene}

Even today, those who venture near report sensations of being watched or hearing distant, ghostly organ music seeping through the silence. Taxi drivers speed up as they pass, fearing a breakdown in this haunted zone, while locals avoid walking past, especially at night. The graves—some cracked and weathered—bear witness to a forgotten era, and within the hollowed-out church, a lingering chill suggests that its history is far from laid to rest.

Despite its eerie reputation, some locals see potential in the Duppy Church as a tourist attraction, a site where the brave can explore Jamaica’s haunted past. As the church crumbles into the earth, the tales around it only grow stronger, preserving Mile Gully’s ghostly legacy for all who dare to listen.