Introduction
India is not just the land of gods and goddesses but also of superstitions,
ghosts and of paranormal happenings. Indians take them seriously! In this book,
I will attempt to narrate a set of stories that happened to me or were told to
me by others. I have no reason to believe that those who told me these stories
lied to me. These events are true events as far as I am aware and have happened
in real life either to me or someone I know. It’s entirely up to you if you
want to believe them or not!
Before I tell you these
stories, I will give you a brief description of types of ghosts that are
believed to exist in India. Sometimes these are dismissed as fable by modern
Indians but nonetheless many people in India still take them seriously and
therefore cannot to be taken lightly.
Bhoot
This is a general word
derived from the Sanskrit language that actually means ‘past’ and ‘being’. But
most people when they say bhoot they mean ghosts. Most of the time, it means
the spirit of a dead person. In the Hindu religion, when a person dies the soul
either achieves moksha (liberation from the recycle of birth) or is reborn
according to their deeds. Sadly, there are some people whose souls do not leave
the physical word and lingers on. These people are usually those whose last
funeral rites have not been carried out or those who have faced a violent
death.
Pretni
Pretnis are female ghosts.
When a woman dies (such as dying unmarried) without fulfilling their humanly
desires then they become a pretni. In order to satisfy and complete their
humanly and worldly desires, the spirit of these dead women would stay in the
physical world and attempt to satisfy their desires. It is said that they have
backward feet. They find their prey in young men.
Churail
Churails (or chudails) are
similar to the pretni but the spirit belongs to women who have died during
childbirth. They can take the shape of a beautiful a woman and slowly suck
blood of men over a period of time till they die of weakness. Their feet are
also backward.
Dayan
Dayans (Daayns) are not
spirits but actual human beings. They are women who do black magic, witchcraft
and voodoo. It is said that they kidnap children and kill them to suck blood to
increase their lifespan. The dayans are very much incorporated in Indian
culture particularly in the rural areas of India. Sadly, many women have been
falsely accused of being dayans and are ostracized by society and even killed.
Some people say that evil spirits also live with the dayans. It is also said
that they practice voodoo where they are able to make dolls of anyone they like
and cause harm to them.
Shakini
These are supposed to be
female ghosts of women who have died just a few days after their marriage due
to an accident. These shakinis have high sex drive and they can posses living
women. It is said that those possessed by shalinis have a lot of pain their
body particularly the eye.
Rakshasa
These are supposed to be
mythological characters that fought with the gods to cause chaos in the world.
Their main aim was to defeat the gods and take over the world. They have been
mentioned in the holy books of the Hindus, the Ramayana and Mahabharata. They
can take human forms and have lots of supernatural powers and only gods can
defeat them. The most popular rakshasa is Ravana who had ten heads. He abducted
Sita, the consort of Lord Ram, who later defeated Ravana with the help of Lord
Hanuman. To this day, Hindus burn the effigy of Ravana to symbolize the triumph
of good over evil.
Mohini
There are two types of mohinis.
The first one is the female avatar of Lord Vishnu and worshipped. The word
“Moh” actually means “to please” hence she is supposed to cast an erotic spell
on lovers. The word “mohini” now symbolizes a woman who can please.
There’s another version of
mohini. These are women or girls who were deprived of love and ultimately
committed suicide. Suicide is something that causes a