by Lucille Iremonger
Of the many curious religious cults that have flourished in Jamaica, the cult of Bedward the Prophet was one of the strangest. He swept the island with the story that he was going to fly to Heaven, and thousands followed him to the top of a certain green hill on a Sunday morning. Nothing happened; but even today there are a few Jamaicans who are ardent Bedwardites. Mrs Iremonger tells the story of this strange figure, and shows how easily Jamaican temperament and superstition make such things possibte.