Haunted Beach Resort

Anand is my best friend since school and one of the few ones whom I have been in regular touch. Like me, Anand too is interested in the paranormal and we have experienced one such occurrence together as described in my story "The Ghostly Hitchhikers". Anand and I are both Engineers by profession and hence life is very hectic. We rarely get a chance to meet each other though we are in constant touch on phone or via e-mail. This incident happened couple of years back when we were in Mumbai, India. Due to a couple of public holidays in India falling in line together, we had a long weekend of around five days ahead of us. Since we had not taken a holiday for quite sometime due to our busy schedules, my wife immediately suggested that we go to a beachside resort for a couple of days to unwind. I immediately called Anand to check his availability. Anand and his wife Jyo immediately agreed and the plan was finalized within minutes. We decided to go to a beachside resort at Murud which is around 180kms away from Mumbai and takes around 3 hours to reach. Murud has a pristine beach and is a very popular destination among tourists. There is also a fort named Janjira in the middle of the sea. Janjira fort is also famous for being the only fort along India's western coast that remained undefeated. Since all of us are interested in history, it seemed like an interesting proposition for us. Another thing to be noted at this point of time is that Murud is just 7kms from Kashid and one has to pass through Kashid to reach Murud. The highway leading to Kashid is where we had met the Ghostly Hitchhikers a couple of years ago. Though this incident was at the back of our mind, we nevertheless decided to go ahead with our plan. We started for Murud at 7.00 am in Anand's "4X4" SUV. It was a clear morning and we managed to reach the resort at around 10.00am. Anand and I were very careful not to mention our previous experience to our respective spouses since it would frighten them and dampen their spirits. We checked in at the resort which was really very beautiful. It was situated on a hill very close to Murud beach. It had a great sea facing view from the front and a dense forest cover at the back which made us feel one with nature. We immediately rushed to the beach where we had a great time swimming and splashing around in the water. We came back to the resort at around noon, had a quick lunch, rested for a while and then set off to see Janjira fort which we were all anxious to see. The visit to the fort was great and we were back in the hotel by around 8.00pm. After a lavish dinner consisting of several local delicacies we decided to retire to our rooms. I was tired but Anand insisted that we go to his room for a game of cards before hitting the sack. My wife and Jyo too didn't mind and so we went to Anand's room. Immediately after entering his room I suddenly felt a chill in the room which made me feel uneasy. I told Anand about it but he shrugged it aside and suggested that it might be the cool sea side breeze which might have made me feel that way. We played cards for around 2 hours and really had fun. At around 12. 00 am we decided to call it a day. We had however not reckoned that this would be the start of our ordeal and chilling events to follow. The long day had taken its toll on us and my wife and I immediately fell off to sleep. It must have been around 1.30am when I heard a knock on my door. I cautiously opened the door and was surprised to find Anand outside. He looked a little worried and told me that after we left Jyo suddenly started feeling very cold and started shivering. Anand had found it surprising since he felt no such chill. I asked my wife who is a doctor to accompany me to Anand's room with her medicine box. Upon entering his room, I felt uneasy and could immediately sense that something was amiss. Two woolen rugs had been wrapped around Jyo but she was still shivering and her teeth were literally chattering. When my wife examined Jyo, she was stunned to find that though Jyo was feeling feverish and her body had become icy cold. Shrugging aside her fear my wife gave her a couple of tablets which would put her to sleep and give her a much needed rest. We did not want to leave Anand alone in this condition and decided to be with him. This was perhaps the best decision which I took considering the events which happened subsequently. Anand was sitting on the bed, caressing Jyo's hand gently to put her at ease. My wife and I made ourselves comfortable on a couple of chairs available in the room. It was around 3.00 am, my wife had dozed off and I was about to follow suit when something really creepy happened. Jyo suddenly sat up straight in her bed with a look in her eyes which we had never seen before. Anand, who was sitting beside her tried to put his arm around her to comfort her. She suddenly shrugged herself free from Anand, caught him by the neck and pushed him. The force with which Anand was pushed was so great that he was literally flung like a puppet, six feet away from the bed. To do that to a person like Anand who is close to 6"3 inches tall and weighs around 90 kgs really required extraordinary strength. Jyo suddenly said the following words "Mujhe Jaane Do... Jaana hai " (Let me go... I have to go!) This still is a mystery to all of us. The voice that said those words certainly wasn't Jyo's. Jyo stood up as if in trance and was trying to go to the balcony. I have to admire the courage shown by both my wife and Anand at this point of time. Anand and I used all our might and pinned down Jyo to her bed while my wife ran out to get help. We got a couple of housekeeping staff from the hotel in the room within a couple of minutes. I immediately told them to help us shift Jyo to my room. It took five of us to lift Jyoti and shift her to my room. All this while Jyo was only uttering the words "Mujhe Jaane Do... Jaana hai ".As soon as she was laid on the bed in my room things started to return to normal. Jyo stopped resisting and soon fell asleep much to our relief. All of us were shaken by the turn of events. We thanked the bewildered Hotel staff for their help. I noticed that it was around 5.00am at that time and perhaps with the coming of daybreak the hold of the spirit on Jyo had weakened OR Shifting her out of that room had helped. We decided to check out the next morning. Though a little tired, Jyo was perfectly fine the next morning with no recollection of the previous night's events. She was however surprised to find herself in our room. Anand however put her at ease and told her that he would explain everything once we left the hotel. While Anand was settling the hotel bills, I was called aside by one of the hotel staff who, under the condition of anonymity told me that the room had been the scene of a gory incident a couple of months back. A couple had checked in, they had a big fight which lasted late into the night. The man walked out off the room leaving the lady behind. After sometime the lady flung herself from the balcony of the room killing her instantly. The police had made some enquiries but were unable to trace the man who had accompanied her that night. The case was subsequently closed. The housekeeping staff had themselves felt a creepy feeling sometimes in the room, though no incident was reported by any of the occupants who occupied it after that. We decided to let the matter rest but before leaving, advised the manager of the resort to do some sort of purification or a cleansing ritual to free the tormented soul. Whether he performed the ritual or not is not known to us since we did not visit the place again. We were just happy at that moment to have escaped without any harm. Anand subsequently told her the events which had occurred that night. She was shaken at first, but has now come to terms with it. However what would have happened if Anand and I would not have been able to subdue Jyo that night is a thought which still gives me the shivers.

A Drive Back Home

I am sharing one of my recent experiences. Although, I still cannot figure out the reason of this, but it actually happened to me. It was already dark and I was returning from Pune. Tired of driving at a stretch, but fully awake. I was crossing Lonavala, there is a strange thing happens in a section, it's about 500 meters stretch and you will face that the speed of the car starts dropping down, even though you press your accelerators, but nothing happens, the speed drops quickly, even though it's not a climb, it's a straight road. I haven't got the clue of this. But never mind, this is not what I want to share. There is a high accident prone area in the Ghats and you will notice, an accident happens every second day in that road. But surprisingly most of the accidents happen in a particular section of the road only. I noticed an accident on that stretch on Wednesday night while coming from PUNE and something weird happened with me on Thursday night in the same section. While I was driving slowly in the line of other cars, I was drained out in myself with full day's of meeting and work. But it's not that, I was hallucinating because of that. I could clearly remember that, I was alone in my car and suddenly, I saw a man sitting in my back seat. I now also I can remember his face. He was a average looking guy, clean shaven, wearing white shirt, smiling at me. I saw him from my real window and smiled at him. I was surprised, thinking that when I didn't stop my car anywhere, neither given anyone a lift, then how come someone can enter the car. I felt that something was wrong, and when I saw again, there was no one. Still I am not getting the whole situation or incident which happened to me. But then it was not over, I was coming out of this, and then suddenly I saw the same man, running parallel to my car. I got a shock, that how come cars behind me are not blowing horns to him? He came here my front door window and again smiled at me, but this time, I was freezed. It was so much shocking that I forgot that I was driving the car. But fortunately, I recollected what I was doing and got a hold of it. Although, I have a unique interest of reading and experimenting whole lot of paranormal stuffs, but to understand this and give a explanation of such incident is hard for me.

A Haunting In Indian Railway

This unforgettable incident took place in October this year when we (my father, mother, sister and myself) were on my way to North Bengal to celebrate the Durga Pujas (a festival of Bengal). . We boarded the Teesta Torsha express from Sealdah. It was going good until night when my uncle called us up and told us that 19 oil tankers were derailed at Kishanganj. We were now 34hours in train. Day 2: We suffered a lot as the train stopped for hours at stations and the attendants switched of the A.Cs in the train. We were tired and slept off after we reached NJP at 12. 30 at night. After some time, I woke up for some fresh air as I was feeling uncomfortable being confined in a small area for so long. So I went out and after refreshing myself, out of sheer curiosity, I opened the door latch. The train was stationary. I checked the cell info, which showed that it was GAISAL and the time was 1.28A.M by my watch. It was steady when suddenly a gust of wind passed through me. Then I heard the honk of an engine which was gradually approaching closer. Then suddenly I heard a loud noise as if there was an explosion. Then our train began moving with a jerk and suddenly I regained my senses and everything was as quiet as before. I closed the door latch and as soon as I looked behind, I saw a shadowy figure which suddenly disappeared within a second! I quickly went back inside. I kept thinking about what had happened exactly as I did not believe in paranormal activities before and thought it was just a dream. Day 3: We reached my maternal uncles home by morning. I decided to surf the net and check whether anyone had experienced the same at GAISAL... Then, to my surprise, I found out that GAISAL was the site of one of the worst railway accidents in history of Indian Railways! I have some questions in my mind which will remain unanswered. 1) The first question is, have anybody else experienced the same? 2) If so, why don't the drivers experience? 3) Or was it just a dream?

A Recurring Encounter

This is not a conventional ghost story. It has a paranormal entity involved in it but it turned out to be a noble one as I found out... It was back in 1996, November 17th, when I was 21. I was on my way home to Harnai to visit my grand-parents house in Kokan region. I had left Mumbai late in the afternoon and had a flat tire on way so was delayed unexpectedly. Harnai is a famous beach village in Kokan, There are two routes to go to Harnai. One via Khed -Dapoli where you take NH3 up to Bharana Naka and other via Goregaon-Ambet-Mandangad-Kelshi-Anjarle where you leave NH3 at Tole (a village, not toll) and take inner route after Goregaon. This is a short but pretty deserted and lonely route in the night. As I was getting late, I took this route. It was about 11. 30 pm when I was on outskirts of Mandangad on way to Kelshi. I was surprised to see a girl waving her hand to my car. There was a small hill on right side of the road and a house at some distance from where the girl may have popped up. Nevertheless, I stopped my car. The girl was about 15-16 years old. Coming close to passenger side seat, she knocked on the glass. I pulled down the glass and looked at her. She was strikingly sweet looking girl and there was a feeling of calmness on her face. She was wearing a salwar-kameez with the dupatta wrapped around her ears to prevent the cold. I asked her what was the matter, to which she replied, "Mala Anjarlyala jaycha aahe, urgent aahe, sodtos ka?" ("I need to go to Anjarle urgently, will you drop me?") I was bored on a long drive of about 7 hours and the delay anyway, and since Anjarle was on my way, I decided to give her the ride. At least I have found someone to talk to than just listening songs and driving. She sat on the passenger seat and we moved on. We started talking after some time. Her name she told was Ratna and she had gone to see her uncle at Mandangad. She had missed the last bus that leaves at 10 in the night and had to reach Anjarle urgently as she was in 10th and had an early morning school. I was taken aback completely and asked her how her uncle allowed her to travel alone at this hour of the day to which she replied that she wanted to leave early, but uncle said he would drop her after dinner and he caught up with fever suddenly, so she had no option. We kept on chatting on our way on different topics. In about an hour we had crossed Kelshi and were approaching Anjarle when she asked me to stop the car. I stopped and looked around. On my right side, there was a beach and on left was small hill...! Where was this girl going to go? She got down from the car. I asked her where she was going to which she replied that her home was just behind the hill. I offered her to walk with her to safety of her house to which she replied very curtly, "Nahi. Ithparyantach, pudhe nahi... Punha bheten kadhitari mi tula... Ja tu!" ("No, uptill here only, not ahead. I will meet you sometime again... Go away") I noticed the change in her voice. She was pointing towards Anjarle village. Her face was motionless. I was about to say something but she gave me such a look that I decided not to argue more with her. I got back in car and moved on. I reached my grandparents house in another half and hour and they both were surprised to see me reaching so late. I narrated them the whole incident and my encounter with Ratna. They both warned me not to stop there ever as that area is known for being haunted in the night. As I didn't believe in paranormal world then, I turned deaf ear to it and went to bed. I had couple of rest days and visited Suvarnadurga fort which is an island fort like Janjira and Sindhudurga. I had a made few friends on my earlier visits to Harnai and we decided to have a day trip to Anjarle beach. After some time on beach, as we were relaxing, I saw a figure coming down the hill. It was a man of about 40 coming down on the road. He was surprised to see us as Anjarle beach is very lonely one. I asked him where did he stay to which he replied he stayed on other side of hill. Something struck my mind... That was the exact location Ratna had mentioned...! I casually enquired about his family to which he replied, he had wife and 2 sons. No daughter. I asked him if there was another home nearby to which he replied, his was the only home there and rest all were fields. I asked him if he knows about a girl called Ratna staying nearby. He gave me weird look the moment I asked about her. "Dada, Ratna mazi mulgi hoti. 10 varsha zali geli ti...!" ("Ratna was my daughter, she passed away 10 years ago.") I had shock of life...! I could not utter a word for few moments... Slowly I gathered myself. How was it possible that the girl I met couple of days back was dead 10 years ago? I told him that I had dropped Ratna at that very point two nights back. He looked at me weirdly. I narrated him the whole story how I picked her at Mandangad after her uncle getting ill suddenly and her missing the last bus. He listened to it carefully and told me the other side of the story. Ratna was indeed coming form Mandangad on the night she had died. His brother was at Mandangad then who had got ill and Ratna had hitch-hiked a ride in a car after she had missed the bus. The car had met an accident at that very spot, as the driver was tired and felt asleep while driving. He survived with multiple injuries but Ratna had died on the spot! I was not convinced still. It was possible that the girl I was talking about was a different girl with same name, Ratna. I walked along with him to his house on other side of the hill. The moment I entered his house, I saw a girl's photograph on the wall with flower garland around it. No doubt it was the same girl whom I had met couple of days earlier. She was the daughter of the farmer who had passed away 10 years ago! As I was standing there, suddenly a thought crossed my mind. What would have happened had I insisted on walking her to the house? How would have she reacted at that? I had met her on 17th November and to my astonishment, her brother said that it was same day that she had met her end 10 year earlier. I had cold sweat down my spine. I enquired carefully with the family if anyone had encountered or felt her presence ever around or if anyone had seen her like I did in last 10 years to which everyone replied negative. I made few enquiries in Anjarle and Harnai village as well as in Kelshi during my stay if anyone had given ride to a girl from Mandangad. I could not find a single person who had met her ever. After my vacations were over, I drove back the same road to my home. I could not separate her thoughts from my mind and tried to have clarification as much as possible. I had no doubt in my mind that the girl I had met was the farmer's daughter as I could make it clearly from her photograph. The details she had told me about her activities on the night she died were matching perfectly with the night 10 years ago. Some questions which remained in my mind were:- 1. Where was she in these 10 years? 2. What made her to come back suddenly after 10 years? 3. Of all the people, why did she meet me that day exactly 10 years after her death? 4. Why did she say, "I will meet you again!"? Was I supposed to have another encounter with her? I was sure of one thing that she didn't have any intention to hurt me or scare me. Had that been her intention, she had all the opportunity as I was with her for an hour or so. As days passed on, slowly the memories of my encounter with Ratna faded. I had joined a new job and was really busy with my office and other activities. I had not visited Harnai for a couple of years now though I had met my grand-parents when they had visited us in Mumbai. It was very difficult for me to find vacation from office, but this time around I managed to get a week's leave from office and decided to take a trip to Harnai. The moment I thought of trip to Harnai, Ratna's memories came rushing back. Will I meet her again this time? What if I meet her again? What should I ask her? What would she do if at all I meet her? I was not afraid and was now looking forward to the encounter. I left Mumbai late keeping in mind to reach Mandangad by about 11 in the night, but this time there was no signs of her. I waited at that spot for 10 minutes anticipating she would make an appearance, but no avail. Thinking that it was a chance encounter I moved on. Another year passed and I happen to visit to Harnai again as my grand-father had organized a get-together of all family members at his home. My parents had left earlier and I was supposed to join couple of days later. I was once again on way to Harnai, leaving Mumbai late in the day. Busy with daily schedule, Ratna's thought had been out of my mind for a while now. I left NH3 at Tole phata and had reached Mandangad at about 11. 30 and as I reached the same spot where I had picked her about 3 years back, I saw her again! This time though, she was not waving down to me, but was expecting me to stop. As she approached my car, I looked at my watch and the date on it showed 17th November! She calmly opened the door of the car and got in without a word. It was the same salwar-kameez she was wearing and same calm expression as it was 3 years ago! I was not scared at all at her presence, cause I was sure she didn't mean to hurt me. As we moved on, she asked me, "Mi kon he tula kalala aahe, bhiti nahi vatat tula?" ("You know about me now, are you not scared?") I told her that I was surprised to know about her but was not scared as I knew she didn't intend to hurt me at all. She nodded understandingly but warned me though that everyone is not like her and some are really nasty ones. I had so many questions in my mind. After my first encounter with her, I had taken keen interest in paranormal world and had read lots of stuff and met few people in this field. And now I had a paranormal entity sitting right next to me in my car. It was a situation of its own kind. I started asking her questions one after the other and she answered all of them with detailed information. The information she gave me was so detailed that I can not give it all here. As I had already read many books on this subject it was confirmation of what I had read from her. She told me what exactly happens at the time of death and immediately afterwards. I asked her where she was for 10 years after her death and our first encountered to which she replied that she was in 'Bhuvar-lok' in form of Sukshma Sharira (small physique) which is made up of thin air. Why did she chose me to communicate that to after 10 years, to which she replied that, it was because I was the first person with whom she could communicate at sub-conscious level. There was some more relation between us which she did not disclose. It is not possible for everyone to interact with a paranormal entity and it's the other way round as well. Paranormal entities can not communicate to everyone as well! Why could I not see her last year on my way to Harnai? She could not take a human form that night though she was able to see me waiting for her to appear. How long would she be in this state and would make appearances? She said, her life span was supposed to be few more years in mortal world and because she had died in an accident, she had to spend those remaining years before she could progress to next lok which is "Swarga lok" or re-born in "Bhu lok" which is mortal world unless she's instructed otherwise. I asked her how long was the span but she replied, she didn't know exact amount of time. What if I wanted to meet her sometime or somewhere else? She said that she had no restriction of place, but she can not meet me frequently whenever I wanted to as it would be interfering with the strict restrictions to which every paranormal entity is bound to and would prolong her stay in Bhuvarlok. We had reached the spot where she had died and she recounted the whole incident to me how it had happened. She had died instantly after she was thrown out of car after the accident and her head had hit a stone. We continued our conversation for some time. She had been helping people near death to get used to paranormal life after their death as this was her assigned task. After some time she said, its time for her to go now. I asked her, "Mala punha bhetshil?" ("Will you meet me again?") She replied that she can meet me anywhere as she had said earlier, but I have to be very careful to be alone and it can be preferably after evening. Also I have to ensure that the meetings are not frequent. I assured her that I would not want to interfere in her world and would be glad to meet her when it is possible for her and she herself appears before me again. I got in my car and moved on. I had met her for second time! I didn't have any encounter with Ratna for year or so after that. My dad had retired from office and we were looking to get a new home in suburbs. We had almost finalized down on an apartment and were about to sign a deal. After discussion with the property dealer for the price and bank regarding the loan, I came back home exhausted after a long day. I have a habit of taking a walk after dinner. As I was too tired that day, I just went to terrace of my apartment for a stroll. As I entered the terrace, there was no body there. I began walking up and down on the terrace and as I started my 3rd round, I saw someone standing on the other corner. I wondered who it can be as I had the door behind me and was certain that whoever it was didn't come that way. Walking at a normal pace I reached over near that person and it was none other than Ratna! She had appeared on my terrace this time! I was happy to see her again but before I said anything. She said very curtly, "Nako jaus tya gharat, tula hech sangayala aale aaj, ti jaga changli nahi tuzyasathi" ("Don't go there, I came today only to tell you this. It is not a good place for you.") I was startled! Why did she say that? It was a really nice apartment and we had bargained a lot with the property dealer and I had taken enough pain to get loan from the banks and now this girl was putting me off. I asked her why she insisted me on not taking that apartment but she refused to give me any details. She flatly told me that it was not good for me and my family, that's all. I could sense a definite concern and urge in her voice about stopping us to move there. That moment itself I decided to cancel the deal. I told her I won't go there at which point she smiled and just went away to other corner of the terrace and as I was watching, she just mixed away with thin air and disappeared. Later on I came to know that previous owner of the apartment had committed suicide and prior to that there was a murder that had occurred in that apartment! Perhaps that was the reason Ratna wanted to keep me away from there. I had few more encounters with Ranta. I asked her once if I can take a picture of her but she refused. She had told me many details of life beyond death and different kinds of paranormal entities and about the powerhouse we call it as god. My wife also happened to see her once before we were married. I clearly remember the date as it was 10th September 2005... The last time we had seen her... She told me that time had come for her to move to a different life and we won't meet again. She blessed us and left without ever coming back. To this date, I have never seen her again. I hope wherever she is in whatever state she stays happy. I wonder what it was between two of us that kept her bringing back again and again, I only guess that there was some sort of relation between us for sure. I have encounters with paranormal entities after that but I will share those later sometime. If anyone is interested in the information Ratna gave me about life after death, I would be willing to share.

A Never Ending Night

My name is Niki from New Delhi. Since my childhood I've had several paranormal experiences. I always felt I could see and feel the supernatural. Being a kid, nobody believed me so I rather keep my experiences to myself and related it to those who faced similar experiences. This incident occurred when I was in Kolkata during my college days. I used to rent a flat with five other girls. The flat was a two-story building with just two houses. One was ours and the other on the second floor belonged to two old ladies who never really interacted with us. They were weird anyways. It was a huge flat with three very big rooms. I used to stay in a single room, four girls in adjacent room and the last room was given to another girl. The four girls opted to stay together in the same room. There was a dining area in the centre with kitchen opposite to it. I always found the dining area very weird as the walls were black, as if they were burnt. Three girls from the adjacent room used to work in call centres, so they arrived at 2:00am each day. That night Shweta (the girl from their group), the last room girl and I were chatting until late night in my room and we didn't realize when the clock struck 2:00 am. The other girls (Fatima, Mandeep and Neha) rung the bell. Now, we had a grill at the building entrance and the flat was in the floor, so we had to go down to the ground floor to open the gate if somebody comes at night. So Shweta and the last room girl went downstairs to open the gate for them. I was alone in the flat. Suddenly both of them came running. I was surprised and asked them what happened? They looked at me and said, "Niki, why did you shout so loudly and we could hear a loud sound". I was surprised. How is it possible for me not to hear that loud sound and shout in that 2:00 am silent night? We found it very strange but ignored the incident. Days passed by quite normally, but each one of us in the flat always felt a spooky presence when alone. That day was my last day in that house. All other girls had already shifted to different places. I found a place for myself too, and it was the last night I had to spend in that house. I remember all my furniture was already shifted to the new house. All I had in the house was my double bed mattress and a pair of clothes for me to wear for the next day. It was around 12:30 am. I was speaking over the phone and lying on my mattress, which was placed on the floor as the bed was already shifted. The room door was closed (not locked). Suddenly the door opened of its own. Please bear in mind the door was a heavy wood door which cannot be moved by wind because first, it was tight. And second, it was an old age thick heavy door found in old houses. When the door opened, it moved me back. I could clearly sense somebody in the room. I kept my phone down. I was horrified by then. I could not move. I was still lying on the mattress. It was complete silence. I could hear somebody breathing. I could hear somebody walking on the floor barefoot. The sound was very clear and distinct. I wanted to move but could not. Somehow I gathered the courage to pick up the cell phone lying beside me and dialed my mom's number. I was crying and told my mom whatever was happening to me each second. My mother got to know immediately what it was and gave me the courage to fight the evil. She made me realise that power of God is always there to protect me. I always carry my God's picture in my purse. I somehow managed to grab my purse and take out God's picture. It gave me strength. I stated chanting the name of Lord repeatedly and could feel the energy fading. I then felt alone. Very alone. The whole night I could not sleep for a second. I continuously chanted prayers and waited for the sun to arise. Many days later, after moving from that flat, I was once passing from the same area with some of my other friends and told them about my incident. One of my friends who stays near that same flat said that it was a haunted house and the whole area knows it. It once caught fire killing a man.

A Trip Back In Time

I make it a point to visit my ancestral home which is around three hours from Goa at least once a year. The unpolluted surroundings, pure air, greenery and the pristine beaches ensure that I am fully recharged and rejuvenated at the end of my vacation. I would like to describe my ancestral home for the benefit of the readers. I am told that it was built sometime in the 1850's and housed generations of my ancestors for more than a century. Generally people of that time lived in large joint families in India and palatial houses were built to accommodate them. My ancestral home is no different and has around ten bedrooms, a huge dining area capable of seating at least thirty people at one time. A huge courtyard and a garden in front of the house must have definitely made a lot of people envious. An area which needs a special mention is a large store house located outside and a little away from the main house. My ancestors were zamindars (landlords) who owned huge areas of land that was leased out to the farmers every year for paddy plantation. They must have been a rich lot and prosperous too. The joint family system continued until the 1970's after which individual family members started branching out to the Indian metro's to seek their fortune. Currently only one of my uncles stays there with his wife. Coming back to my story, I visited my ancestral home in November this year with my wife. It is an eleven hour drive from Pune and we were really tired by the time we reached there. My uncle and aunt warmly received us with hot tea and a couple of homemade delicacies which made the pain of the journey worthwhile. The next couple of days were spent in just lazing around in the mornings, going for long walks in the evenings and visiting nearby acquaintances. It seemed like a refreshing change from our daily routine and we were generally happy with our visit. India generally has fixed seasons namely Monsoon (June- Sept), winter (Oct - Feb), summer (March- May). But this year was different as we had an extended monsoon due to which many areas experienced intermittent rainfall well into November. 12th Nov 2010, I remember the date quite clearly. It was just two days before we were supposed to head back home. Most of the time, the weather was bright and sunny except for some stray showers at night. I woke up early that day hoping to catch up on my early morning jog, a routine which had been liberally relaxed over the last couple of days. However to my dismay I found that it had rained that night making the ground wet and muddy, practically impossible to jog. Cursing my luck I just stayed in the house and sulked. It was just after lunch at around 1 pm that I started feeling claustrophobic. I came out of the house to catch fresh air. It was then that I saw the store house a little away from the main house. I had never gone there before and decided to explore it a bit. It seemed like a sturdy structure but unfortunately in ruins currently due to neglect. However it still had a roof and provided shelter to a few stray dogs who roamed about in that area. I went inside and was looking around when it suddenly started drizzling. I tried to come out and run towards the main house but it started pouring heavily within a short while and I was stranded there until the rains stopped. Luckily I found an old chair inside on which I perched happily and waited for the rains to stop. I might have been there for around fifteen minutes or so when I suddenly became aware of something burning inside. Getting up from my seat, I carefully ventured inside hoping that it would be a false alarm. To my surprise, I saw three young boys probably twelve years old inside trying to light a "Beedi" (a cigarette, commonly smoked by locals in India). I thought they might have sneaked in when I dozed off perhaps. Since they were not known to me, I tried to shoo them away and shouted at them for smoking at such a young age. I was just standing a couple of feet away from them, yet they did not seem to notice me and continued lighting their beedi's. I was really annoyed at the lack of respect shown and moved towards them in order to give them a piece of my mind. Suddenly I noticed that a haystack kept in one corner of the room had caught fire. Surely the boys weren't the culprits since it was quite a distance away from them. The boys had not noticed it and merrily continued with their activity. I rushed towards the burning haystack and tried to put out the fire. However my efforts had absolutely no effect and the fire grew in intensity. It was indeed eerie that I was in the room but no one was acknowledging my presence nor was I able to do anything to help the boys. It seemed like I was watching a movie being in the movie itself. Before any of the boys could realize it, the whole room was engulfed in flames. The frightened boys tried to run towards the door and get outside. I was a nothing more than mute spectator observing the hideous scene without being able to do anything. It was also strange that even though this whole incident was happening right in front of my eyes, I wasn't affected at all. Under normal circumstances, the boys should have easily got out of the room, but there seemed to be something which was preventing them from doing so. As they tried to get out, I saw a man standing outside the main door who was preventing them from escaping. There seemed to be something wrong with the man, he seemed to have unusually large arms, quite disproportionate from the rest of his body. The boys were helpless against the sheer strength of the brute. I heard the poor souls scream in agony as the fire singed then. I wasn't able to move even though I wanted to rush out of the room. Then I suddenly felt an arm over my shoulder. This seemed to have woken me from my trance. It was my wife who was worried because of my prolonged absence and had come to search for me. I was definitely relieved to see her but I also realized that everything in the room had gone silent. There was absolute silence everywhere. The boys, the fire, the screams & the strange man, all seemed to have vanished into thin air. I also felt very weak. Realizing that something was wrong, she immediately escorted me to the main house and gave me some water to drink after which I slowly started to feel better. By dinner time I had sufficiently recovered to approach my aunt who has been living there for almost fifty years now. When I told her about my strange experience, she was astonished at the way I narrated the details to her. She just couldn't believe it especially when she knew for sure that I couldn't have known these details unless I had been around at that time. Then she told me the actual story which she had heard from my great grandmother. My aunt's story: In the early 1900's, there were 5 families of my ancestors living in that house. Around twenty five people stayed there at that time. The sons of three of the brothers were the ones I had seen that afternoon. It was a great year for the family, the harvest was bountiful and everyone was very happy. However one of their relatives who lived nearby had fallout with my family over money matters. He couldn't touch them directly since they were reputed people with contacts at the high places; hence he devised a devious scheme to get back at them. In this part of India, black magic performed to rid yourself of your enemies is called "modi". In this, a spell is cast on the intended victims in order to cause bodily harm. A ritual animal sacrifice is also performed among other things. I will not be able to divulge anything else as this practice is too ghastly even to write about. The three boys had a habit of sneaking into the store house sometimes in the afternoon after school to smoke bidi's. This was probably known to the person very well as he had planned the whole thing quite meticulously. The spell was cast accordingly to kill the innocent children which explains the mysterious fire and the presence of the man with unusually long hands outside the room, an evil spirit perhaps, who prevented the safe exit of the three boys. The poor boys were burnt to death in the sudden fire that broke out in the store house. Efforts were made to douse the fire but the intensity of the blaze was so strong that it was all in vain. A couple of days later, three black dolls were located near the store room buried in the soil which lead to the suspicion that there was something more to it than just an accident. Upon further investigation, it was found that the relative in question was seen frequently with a local tantrik. He along with the tantrik were caught and after days of interrogation finally confessed to the heinous crime. They were lynched by the angry villagers and their bodies burnt at a secret location to avoid any police investigation. All this seems ghastly, but at that time, lynching was commonly used as a punishment against people who practiced black magic. However the irreparable damage had been done and three innocent family members had been killed for no fault of theirs. My family had to pay a heavy price indeed. The store room was rebuilt after a few years but no one dared to stay there at night because of the tragedy that had occurred. The question before me is that, why me... Of all the people was transported back in time to witness the gory scenes which happened over a century ago. Or perhaps on second thoughts... This incident repeats itself periodically and I was unlucky enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. My Uncle performed a pooja (a cleansing ritual) at the store house the very next day to set the restless souls free. I sincerely hope that their souls rest in peace and things are fine of now, but I'm definitely not going there again to find out.

A Visit To The Graveyard

In early 2009, I changed my job and joined an Organization which had its Head Quarters in Bangalore (India). Though I was based out of Pune, I was called to Bangalore for an Induction session and meetings with the Company's Senior Management. The whole schedule was for around 5 days. After I reached Bangalore I found out that there were around eight others who had recently joined the Organization at the same time as me. We were all housed at the Company's guest house a short distance away from the office. The induction sessions were from 9.00 am in the morning to 5.30 pm in the evening. Past that all of us had a lot of free time on our hands and used it to get to know each other better. For this particular story, I would like to mention the names of three colleagues out of the eight who were to play an important role in the incidents to follow. I struck a great rapport with Ajay, Shailesh and Navin. It's not that I was unfriendly with the rest but I got along with these guys like a house on fire. Ajay was a Punjabi from Northern India, very talkative and always ready to take up a challenge. Shailesh was from Mumbai, quick witted but generally quiet. Navin was a resident of Bangalore whose personality was similar to Shailesh but he had a great sense of humor and his one liners kept us entertained all throughout. We had a great time together during this period and got to know each other really well. During one of our conversations after dinner, Navin told us that there was a graveyard near to the guest house. Our housekeeper Sri had also told him of strange happenings there. The road leading to the graveyard was lonely and generally avoided by people especially at night. He had asked Navin to inform everyone not to venture out on that particular stretch. Ajay was a total non believer and scoffed at the very idea of ghosts and the paranormal. The rest of us were intrigued by this story and wanted to know more but Navin himself had limited knowledge. Sri wouldn't tell us anything more so we let the matter rest there. Soon it was our final day in Bangalore. After the induction sessions were over, our seniors had arranged for a dinner at a nearby hotel. We had a great time and were treated to a lavish dinner. Ajay in particular enjoyed the most and had one drink too many. Once we were back at the guest house after dinner, all of us started packing our bags since we had to leave early the next morning. After packing our bags we sat down reminiscing the great time we had spent in the last couple of days. The topic of the old graveyard was again brought up by Navin. Seeing Ajay scoff again, he was a bit irritated and dared Ajay to go to the graveyard and spend an hour over there alone. Ajay was a bit high and in the spur of the moment immediately accepted the dare. He stood up and immediately began to walk out of the guest house. We tried to restrain him but to no avail. Being a teetotaler and in full control of my senses, I reluctantly decided to accompany him in his nocturnal adventure. Ajay was in high spirits as we walked towards the graveyard. The road leading towards the same was very lonely without any signs of habitation. It must have been one km away from the guest house and it was 12. 30 am by the time we reached there. It was an old cemetery not used frequently by the locals. It somehow had an air of nostalgia about it. It was particularly cold that night since it was winter and nights in Bangalore in winter can be quite cold. We reached the gate and were stopped by an old man who introduced himself as the security guard, Abu Chacha. He suspiciously asked us the reason for coming there at such an unearthly hour. Ajay immediately jumped in and told Abu Chacha that one of his relatives was buried there and he had to visit him that night itself as he had come to Bangalore for a short visit and was to fly off to London the coming morning. Abu Chacha sympathized with us and told us to make it quick. We slowly made our way inside the graveyard. It seemed like a normal cemetery. There was a cemented path in the center with graves lying on either sides of the road. There was eerie silence except for the occasional howling of the strays who roamed freely in the area around the cemetery. There was a bench at a short distance away. Ajay, still high told me that he wanted to sit there and spend a couple of minutes and enjoy the solitude. I was feeling uncomfortable but relented to Ajay's persistent request. We sat down and Ajay immediately put his hand in his pocket, taking out a cigarette. I tried to dissuade him against doing so as it would disturb the sanctity of the place. He was in no mood to listen and had his way. After spending a few more uncomfortable minutes on the bench, Ajay told me that he wanted to move further inside and check out the rest of the place. We had hardly walked a couple of paces ahead when he told me that he suddenly had this overwhelming urge to pee. I told him to immediately refrain from doing so and that it was high time that we left the place. But stubborn as he was, Ajay did not listen to my advice. Winking slyly at me, he went off to some nearby bushes a little away from the place where we were sitting, promising to return quickly. The bushes were thick and I could not see him at all from my current location. Suddenly I felt weak and found it very difficult to breathe as if someone was trying to squeeze the life out of me. I dropped to my knees on the road below. As my gaze turned ahead further down the road, I could see a shadowy form slowly move away from me. It seemed to stop for a moment as if to cast an eerie glance at me before slowly melting away into nothingness. My head started spinning and a feeling of horror took over me affecting my ability to think clearly. With great difficulty I regained my composure and then it dawned on me that Ajay still hadn't returned. I called out to him but there was no response. I slowly made my way towards the bushes where Ajay had gone a short while ago. I was horrified by what I saw. Ajay was lying senseless on the ground. Not knowing what to expect I got down and shook him vigorously. This fortunately worked and Ajay slowly regained consciousness. Once Ajay was full conscious he told me he heard some movement near the bushes where he was peeing and suddenly felt as if someone was standing behind him. He instantly experienced the same feeling of weakness and breathlessness as me. Before he could call out to me, he felt a stinging blow on his back which rendered him unconscious until the time I shook him awake. He was still feeling pain near the shoulder. (Later when I had a look at it, I saw a clear imprint of five fingers clearly visible on his upper back and the whole area had become blue due to the clotting of blood). Not wanting to spend another minute over there we proceeded towards the gate of the cemetery. We were suddenly stopped by a young man who asked us sternly as to what we were doing in the cemetery at such a late hour. We quickly told him that we had taken permission from the old man, Abu Chacha and also told us our ordeal. He was surprised at the mention of the name Abu Chacha and told us that no one except him had stood guard at the cemetery for the last 5 years. Some people had earlier told him of an old man being seen around the cemetery especially late in the evening. He had never come across Abu Chacha or whoever the old man was. This was too much for Ajay to bear and he fainted at the gate itself. We carried him slowly to the guard's cabin at the entrance after which I immediately called my colleagues to rush there with a vehicle and get us back to the guest house. It was close to 3.30am by the time we were at the guest house. On relating the incident to our caretaker Sri, he cursed us for our folly and told us that we were very lucky to get away unharmed. Ajay was down with high fever for the next couple of days and had to stay back in Bangalore. Being a religious person, I promised myself never to be a part of such activities in future. When I met Ajay a couple of months later, I found that he had mellowed down quite a bit. He was also wearing a "Taaviz" (a locket) given to him by one of the priests at a temple in his hometown. This sure was an amazing transition from a skeptic to a believer.