Duppy (Caribbean, West African Origin)
Regional Origin: Jamaica, Trinidad, the Anglophone Caribbean; origin tradition in Akan and Ashanti West Africa
Cultural Matrix: West African ancestral veneration, Caribbean Obeah practice, colonial Christian demonology overlay
Transmission Pathway: Ritual Failure combined with Stolen Passage (violent death, inadequate burial rites in colonial context)
The Duppy represents the restless spirit lineage's expression in a cultural tradition that was itself violently disrupted: the African spiritual practices brought to the Caribbean through the Middle Passage, which could not be fully maintained under colonial conditions and which consequently produced exactly the ritual failure conditions that generate restless spirit activity at scale.
The 9-nights ritual that Jamaican and other Caribbean cultures developed as the primary Duppy-prevention practice is a functional adaptation of the belief-architecture's requirements: the extended communal mourning period and ritual acknowledgment creates the belief-resonance context that allows souls to complete their passage in the absence of the original West African ritual toolkit. It is, in the Hollow's Edge framework, a remarkable example of a community developing effective supernatural technology through cultural necessity.
OVM Caribbean operations engage primarily through relationships with Obeah practitioners and community leaders who maintain the traditional protective practices. The organizational position is that these practitioners are the primary containment infrastructure for Duppy activity in their regions, and OVM's role is to support rather than replace that infrastructure.