At first glance it looks like a nice example of a 1950's"Mission" didgeridoo from Milingimbi, painted in ochre (natural pigments made from Earth and crushed stones) with a design which tells the dreamtime story of the Wagilag (or Wagilak) Sisters but is there more to it than meets the eye?
Colin from Aboriginal Arts bought this didgeridoo from someone who had been advertising it for sale on the internet, he travelled to London's Liverpool Street station to meet the seller in a coffe shop. While discussing the didgeridoo and it's true value (the seller was advertising it for £8000 after being wrongly advised to it's worth) he glanced up and standing in the doorway was a woman who has been best described as an imposing, possibly Aboriginal, looking woman, she was just staring straight at him, Colin being Colin just smiled at her (anyone who knows him will know that this would be a typical Colin reaction), the guy selling the didgeridoo obviously saw her too as he asked Colin if she was a friend of his, Colin looked round to answer no and when he glanced back the woman had vanished.
Intrigued by what had happened Colin asked boo if he would like to see if he could find out if this woman and the didgeridoo had some connection.
After several discussions on the best way to go about this boo took the didgeridoo to a regular UK Paranormal Research Society (UKPRS) investigation, where it had been decided the didgeridoo would be present at a seance to see if any connection could be made. Telling only the core team running the evening the story behind it the didgeridoo was placed on a table in the middle of the circle where the seance was to be held.
During the seance, a female membe of UKPRS sitting in the circle slumped forward, she suddenly sat bolt upright and just stared into the middle of the group. The people around her asked several times if she was OK but got no response from her, a sensitive sitting on her right said her face appeared to be changing and described what she could see, a stern looking face with a wide flat nose and a strong chin, a description eerily similar to that of the woman seen by Colin in the coffe shop. No attempt at communication seemed to get through so the group member was withdrawn from the circle so experienced paranormal investigators could bring her safely back. Afterwards the group member had no recollection of what had happened.
Hmmm, interesting but was it just a coincidence? boo and the core team decided they needed to look into this further. Keeping it secret from the rest of the group the didgeridoo was bought to UKPRS' next investigation. This time so that no one could see it and make a connection to the last time it had been used boo bought and left the didgeridoo in the same bag he used to carry one of his others. The sensitive (and practising Wiccan) who had seen the female members' face appear to change during the seance had bought along a scrying mirror to use in an experiment. The UKPRS members were split into several teams to carry out experiments and vigils in various parts of the location. After one of these group sessions boo and his team returned to the room being used as the group "hub", the sensitive approached boo saying how it was a shame that he hadn't bought the didgeridoo with him as a face had appeared in the scrying mirror while they were using it and they could've sworn it was the same face. At this point boo took the sensitive to the bag holding the didgeridoo which happened to be only a few feet from where they'd be using the mirror and opened it, showing that he had in fact bought the didgeridoo with him after all.
Is it haunted? boo's not sure but is happy to admit that there does seem to be something in it. No one in UKPRS had been told the full story, no one had any idea what the woman who appeared had looked like other than that she was a woman. As nearly always with the paranormal it seems to ask more questions that it answers, if they didn't know what she looked like how could they describe her? If she was connected? How? Why? Aborigine society is very patriarchal in many clans women are prohibited from playing the didgeridoo (that doesn't mean she couldn't have been from one where they weren't of course) so why this one? Maybe she painted it? But "Mission" didgeridoos were produced for the early tourist market so she could have painted many, again, why this one? Maybe it's the Wagilag design on it she associates with? Djalu Gurruwiwi, the Yolngu custodian of the didgeridoo is fond of saying that a didgeridoo made by a traditional owner or custodian has spirit. The spirit is in the instrument itself, a genealogy dating back to the first didgeridoo. Maybe this one has a spirit which decided to make it's presence known? We'll probably never find out but that doesn't mean we should stop trying to.