THE HAUNTED HOUSE

Darlene said “Brian, why don’t you put one more log into the hearth? It is cold.”

“Yes Mom.” He did it and the dim illumination in the room was enhanced by the flickering flames from the fire place. Brian said “Mom, I enjoy the cold after my spell of duty in India where it is beastly hot. Living here in Dunbar you’ll never realize how hot it can be in India. The captain of the S.S.CLYDE by which I returned joked and said that people in colonial service should be paid heat allowance.”

Darlene nodded. She said “Every month I would look for mail from you as you would give me interesting tidings from that land.”

Brian laughed.

“Brian, it is bedtime now but I’m still awake. You could tell me something interesting from your experiences in India.”

He laughed and said “Mom I’ll tell you the story of a haunted house.”:

I was posted to Koga and reaching there I camped in the Administration Bungalow but I wanted a nice furnished house to live in and called a broker.

He said there were 3 houses vacant. “Two of them are small but the third named DIVYA is two storied and spacious. The only trouble is it has a reputation of being ghost infested.”

I said I didn’t believe in ghosts and he showed me the place. It was built within a compound with the garden all around it. The interior was mostly of wood including the staircase. I was happy I would have a very big furnished house for my rental allowance.  I took the house and moved in. I made myself comfortable in it employing all facilities offered. On the first night before I went to bed I put my loaded pistol beside my pillow just in case I happened to need it. I slept in comfort two nights and then came Sunday. That morning a bare bodied, bearded old fellow knocked at my door and said something. He knew no English and I didn’t know the vernacular. We British rulers had made provision for such situations: There were dubashes – Indians knowing English and the vernacular and I called one of them.

The bare bodied man said “This house was built by Pillai almost 200 years ago in the time of my grandfather. Pillai was a very rich man who had two sons who fought each other over inheritance. Pillai bought off the elder as him and his wife preferred the second son to succeed. The elder son quit this house. He however returned and using a large knife killed his younger brother and his younger brother’s wife. Nobody knows what happened to the killer. If he had been found he would have received capital punishment and would have been hanged.”

The bare bodied man continued talking.

I asked dubash “What does he say?”

Dubash said “He says he would invoke the spirits of the dead and urge them not to disturb people living in the house. They can rest where they are.”

There was more said by the bare bodied man.

The dubash said “The man says he can do a purification ceremony for a small amount.”

 I agreed not because of belief but because of curiosity about the process and he performed the rituals with me and dubash looking on. The man chanted many mantras and sprinkled holy water all over the house using leaves of the mango tree. He then lit camphor and followed it with fumigation of the entire house including the upper story which resulted in the house having a pleasant smell.

He finally said “The ghosts won’t haunt you any longer.”

The next two nights were also peaceful. But on the third night I woke up at one in the morning to the sound of creaking stairs. Drawing my gun and with a lighted candle I went to look. The stairs were empty but the candle was suddenly extinguished and I was left in total darkness. To relight the candle I had to go to the bathroom in the rear where there was a continuous live fire. I came back with lighted candle and again it was extinguished. I went back to bed as the creaking of the stairs had stopped.

The next morning I called dubash and told him about what had happened in the night. I said “The exorcism seems incomplete.”

He summoned the bare bodied ghost buster and the man went through the ceremony again.

For two nights there was no disturbance but the third night the stairs creaked again. I had kept extra lighted candles and went to investigate but the stairs were empty. However the candle was extinguished.

That night I had a strange dream which I vividly remember. A man enters DIVYA, my house with a knife. A woman is seated on a low wall drying her hair. The man goes to attack the woman but she springs on the attacker and kills him using his weapon. She then cuts her wrist and is also dead. Why did I have such a frightening dream? Was it ghost induced?

The next night the stairs again creaked but I didn’t go to look. I held on to my gun. The creaking was prolonged as if more than one were on the stairs. Through the open window I saw two bats screeching and flying out from their perch above the window outside.

After seeing the candles getting extinguished, multiple creaks of the staircase and more than that the dream that I had had I was in a terrible fright. I kept checking my loaded gun. The next night the stairs creaked and it looked as if someone had entered and climbed the stairs. I checked but there was no one. I had an idea. I called dubash and the owner of the house and spoke.  I said “Remove the staircase. I’m not using the upper floor.”

The two discussed the matter and dubash said to me “The owner has agreed. He will send carpenters tomorrow to do the job.”

After the staircase was removed the creaking stopped. The upper floor had been successfully isolated. But I heard no one was willing to even climb a ladder to reach the upper floor! The invisible occupants couldn’t traverse the stairs any more. What surprised me was that ghosts are not known to materialize and their movement cannot make noise. Then how did the stairs creak?

After a couple of months I was again transferred and moved out of DIVYA. I recommended it to the man who was my replacement.

Darlene said “Brian there’re said to be houses even in England which are said to be ghost infested. These stories endure. I’m also going to bed. Good night sleep tight.”

I said “Good night Mom.”

END