Haunted! 11 places in India that scare the daylights out of you

9 years ago

Image courtesy: thrillophilia.com

Warning: Did you break into cold sweat while watching The Evil Dead or The Grudge? While coming across anything eerie if your eyebrows furrow, nostrils flare, hair stands on end, blood turns cold, palms get clammy, heart skips a beat and you feel like a deer caught in headlights, then STOP READING! This stuff is not for you!

Ghosts??? They are all DEAD and gone. At least, so we believe in this Space Age. But there are such places– not in some dreamy Hogsmeade– in our very own backyard which are still believed to be haunted! Unless you are a daring Harry or have courageous cronies like Ron and Hermione, think twice before you visit them.

**Here are our desi Shrieking Shacks that would scare the devil out of you:**

1. Bhangarh fort, Rajasthan

Haunted by: A tantric lover

What’s so spooky about it: Notorious as the most haunted place in the country, this fort is yet to come out of the curse of a tantric, who fell in love with Princess Ratnavati and went on a frenzy when he didn’t get her. Though he used his witch spell on the princess, it boomeranged on him and he died. But before his death he cursed the town. Even today, most of the houses here don’t have roofs. They are jinxed.

Image courtesy: hauntedindia.blogspot.com

2. Dumas beach, Gujarat

Haunted by: Spirits of the dead people who were burnt here

What’s so spooky about it: This is certainly not the beach to let your hair down. Believed to be the cremation ground for the Hindus, the dead souls that didn’t get salvation still roam around post sundown.

3. Shaniwarwada fort, Pune

Haunted by: The ghost of 13-year-old Prince Narayan

What’s so spooky about it: Young prince Narayan, who was the heir of the Peshwa dynasty, was killed here mercilessly. His screams “Kaka mala vacha” (uncles save me) can still be heard at night. But this space is bloodcurdling especially on full moon nights.

4. Delhi Cantt

Haunted by: A white sari-clad hitchhiker

What’s so spooky about it: The place that is full of lush greenery turns creepy in the night. People driving down the road have often spotted a white sari-clad woman asking for a lift, chasing the vehicle, matching the speed and sometimes just disappearing into the air like a thin wisp!

5. Dow hill, Kurseong, West Bengal

Haunted by: A headless apparition

What’s so spooky about it: Hill stations are as much favourite of ghosts as they are ours. Having seen many accidents and murders, a cloud of gloom saturates its air. Locals have reported of hearing footsteps in the corridors of the Victoria Boys High School here and seeing a headless young boy walking in the woods and disappearing into the trees.

6. Brij Raj Bhavan palace, Kota, Rajasthan

Haunted by: British General Major Burton and his son

What’s so spooky about it: The father and son who used to live here were killed by the sepoys in the 1857 mutiny. The guards have reported of being slapped by some invisible hand at night.

7. Tunnel no. 33, Shimla

Haunted by: The friendly ghost of Colonel Barog of the British Era

What’s so spooky about it: British engineer Colonel Barog was fined because of some miscalculations that he made during the tunnel construction. He was so humiliated that he killed himself. Till today, the Tunnel no. 33 or the Barog Tunnel that runs on the Kalal-Shimla railway line is believed to be haunted. People claim to have seen a man asking for matchsticks to light his cigarette.

8. Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad

Haunted by: Spirits of the warriors of the Nizam war

What’s so spooky about it: Lights falling off on their own, mirrors having scratch marks, food being scattered all over the place and clothes being torn all of a sudden! We are not talking about scenes from a horror movie, but a film city itself! As it is built on the ground where the Nizam war took place, the spirits of the warriors who died are said to be still wandering here.

9. Grand Paradi Towers, Kemps Corner, Mumbai

Haunted by: Anonymous

What’s so spooky about it: Even ghosts like to live in penthouses. The 28-storey building is one of the swankiest ones. But the number of suicides that have happened here actually makes it more famous. Weird noises are often heard here.

10. Savoy hotel, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand

Haunted by: Lady Garnet Orme

What’s so spooky about it: Ah, here comes Mussoorie’s most celebrated ghost! So prominent that she even found a mention in Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Ruskin Bond’s In a Crystal Ball—A Mussoorie Mystery. Someone spiked her medicine with strychnine and she was found dead here. Since then she has been wandering here in search of the person who poisoned her.

Image courtesy: heritagehotelsofindia.com

11. GP Block, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh

Haunted by: Four booze buddies, girls in red dresses

What’s so spooky about it: Passersby have often sighted ghosts of girls in red dresses coming out of the building (perhaps the people of the dead world have also started adding colours to their life). They have also seen four men drinking together. The scene of men – dead or not – binging on alcohol in some abandoned place is anyway scary (pun intended)!

Still shivering? So, what happened to your I-was-not-brought-up-in-the-woods-to-be-scared-by-owls side? It takes a lot of pluck to sneak into the frigging-creepy places, pal!