Demon Crabs?

When I was about 10 years old my father took me on a fishing trip (1 day), something we usually do once per month. I got the buckets ready as he prepared the net to throw it into the trench (man made irrigation canal). After he finished preparing the net he threw it into the water and slowly dragged it up the bank of the trench. As he was pulling up the net, his expression changed to that of "slight" fear. And I knew why.

In the nets were 3 crabs. The smallest of these crabs were 12 inches across the shell with some very large tentacles. The crabs resembled what we Guyanese called "Buck Crabs" except they were 4 or 5 times larger that those we are accustomed to seeing. They were in fact... Hideous to look at. My father secured them in the net and we proceeded to his parents home, which was just a few houses from where we were living at that time.

When we arrived, he put the crabs on the ground and called his mother and sister to look at what he brought home. My aunt came out first, took a look at the crabs, began jumping up hysterically and shouted "you brought home those demons things, get them out of here". My grandmother nearly fainted and begged my father to go and release them.

Now I'll tell you why my father showed fear, my aunt behaved hysterically and my grandmother nearly fainted.

My father's grandfather (an immigrant from India) usually went to fish in the ocean (Atlantic Ocean), as a means of supplementing his food source as the low wage that was earned from cutting sugar cane was not enough to support his large family.

Before my father was born, the grandfather went on one of these exercises and caught a rather large crab, this crab measured over 16 inches across its back (the smaller species that we know about is called "Sherigga Crabs"). So he put the crab into a quake (a bamboo basket with a tightly closed cover), and proceeded home to show his family his great catch. When he reached home, he was extremely tired - which was strange as he usually fetched heavier loads over longer distances. He set the quake down and sat next to it to take a rest.

All of a sudden he was twisted backwards, with his belly up in the air and his heels reached the back of this head. Naturally, his wife and children were scared and frantic. Then a voice came out of the quake asking him why he disturbed it (the crab), well he couldn't really answer. His wife was now screaming louder and running around like a headless chicken.

A neighbour heard the commotion and came over, he asked the crab what it wants to which it replied; that it must be put back at the exact location from where it was taken from before it released my great-grandfather. My great-grandfather gave the neighbour the direction to where the crab was caught, he then picked up the quake and proceeded to the location.

Based on the timing given, it seemed that as soon as the crab reached its hole, it released the hold it had on my great-grandfather. That was the last time anyone in the family brought home an abnormal creature.

...I'm not sure if my father released the crabs we caught that day, chances are that we had crab curry some time later that week.