This tale is not for the faint hearted but if you love true horror stories, you are in for a treat. Not sure how much of it is true, but someone told it to me and he believed it to be true. So happy Halloween and enjoy a night at bhangarh fort. Do tell me if you liked it!
Benedict Thorburn and a group of his friends were out for a camping weekend after a long hard year of meetings and presentations. Every year, he and his friends Becky Fassbender, Rajat Rathod, Sanya Singhania and Gurveer Singh Sethi, went out for camping in the nearby woods to get away from their fast paced lives. This year, Gurveer had suggested a camping in Alwar, Rajasthan. The reason for his suggestion was simple. He didn’t want to travel for long and he wanted a quiet and uneventful getaway from his life. Others agreed and decided to camp at Vanaashrya Camping Resort.
The camping had begun and the date was 31st of October. The group decided to have a bonfire party that night. As the night progressed, due to the peculiar date of this weekend getaway, it was obvious that the group started discussing horror stories.
“Has anyone ever faced a real ghost?” asked Becky. She always was keen to meet a ghost or a spirit!
Rajat, being a native to the region of Rajasthan, said, “If you want, all of you can face a real ghost but I can’t guarantee your returns. I won’t accompany you, of course!”
“Bullshit! There is no such thing as ghosts and even if there was, waheguru would protect us.” said Gurveer, who was a sikh at heart and in spirit. Nothing has ever been able to scare him, which is why he never believed in horror stories.
“Oh cmon Guri… Let Rathod finish his story!” said Sanya. She believed in ghosts. Her grandmother told her horror stories and each and every one of them seemed real enough to make a believer out of her.
“We are currently camping in Alwar. Alwar is home to one of the most haunted places in Asia. This place is so haunted, that even Archeological Authority of India has prohibited entry to it once night falls. ” Rajat continued.
“Oh I know!” said Benedict, Mr. Know it all! “He’s talking about Bhangarh Fort!”
“Bhangarh Fort??” all said in unison.
“Yes! Bhangarh Fort”, said Rajat. “Bhangarh Fort is haunted and I know it. My entire bloodline has warned us to never set foot in that negative place. There are two legends to how it became so haunted,
The place was built by a king named Madho Singh. An ascetic named Bala Nath was known to reside in Bhangarh. Madho Singh had taken due permission from Bala Nath to build his fortress. Bala Nath had but one condition. The shadow of the fort should never fall on his home. One of Madho’s successors ignored this request and built more stories on top of the fort. The stories broke within no time and the fort was haunted ever since. The locals don’t make houses with roofs near that place. It is said that as soon as the roof is built, it falls!
The second legend says that Princess Ratnavati was the most beautiful girl in the world and a local black magician fell in love with her. He devised a love potion that he put into one of Ratnavati’s cosmetics. Ratnavati smelled something fishy and she poured the cosmetic on a big rock nearby. The rock crushed the black magician but in his dying breaths, he cursed Bhangarh fort for eternity, saying no resident would ever be happy here.
I’m not sure which of these is true, but no matter what happens, you guys won’t convince me into going there. Of all our adventures, this is where I draw the line!”
“I have never seen Rathod this terrified!” said Becky. “It must be true then! Can we go please!!!!”
“NO!!!” shouted Rajat, “AND DON’T FORCE ME!”
“Geezz! Rajat, calm down… Okay, we won’t go.” said Becky.
Becky really wanted to go so she used the oldest trick in the book, she got Rajat drunk! As he was intoxicated, he forgot all the warnings that his family had given him, and decided to accompany the group for a night at the most haunted place in Asia.
“Look! There is the warning!!” said Sanya. “Guys, I don’t think we should go in there!”
“Cmon scaredy cat! There is no such thing as ghost… and if there was, you know I’d protect you…” said Gurveer.
“Okay”, she said, “walk with me then.”
The group entered the fort premises. They had to sneak in as there were guards posted outside the fort walls. The fort was totally in ruins. There were some dark places in the fort but all in all, it was totally ruins. The group wasn’t impressed and everyone started scolding Rajat. He said, “Give it a few seconds! You just walked in. Let the spirits know of your presence!”
As soon as he finished that sentence, each and everyone felt a sudden chill go down their spine. It was weird because there was no breeze or wind blowing. Sanya tightly gripped Gurveer’s hand and asked him to take her back to the camping site. He said, “Calm down! I’m right here. Don’t worry!”
Suddenly they heard a wailing sound coming from one of the compartments. They went there to check it out. The room just had one window and no entrance at all. This was very weird! Suddenly, they saw an apparition appear right in the middle of the room. It was a small kid and the kid was facing the wall. As these guys looked through the window, the kid slowly started sobbing. He slowly turned his head towards them and said, “GO AWAY!!!”
The kid’s face raced towards the window as he said those words. Every single one of them jumped back to avoid the floating face. The kid vanished as quickly as he presented himself. “Are you happy now???” said Rajat, “Let’s get the hell out of here!”
As they got up to run out, Gurveer pointed out something weird. Becky was missing! “Where is Becky?” he said!
Now they had to look for her before they can get out of the fort. They shouted, “Becky! Becky!” as they roamed the ruined halls of Bhangarh Fort. Benedict heard someone whisper behind his back. He stopped and looked back. There was no one there. He turned back towards the rest of the group and to his horror, no one was there in front of him either. Scared for his life, Benedict ran towards the exit of Bhangarh fort but he was unable to find it. He kept going round and round in circles.
During his confusion, he saw someone in one of the guard towers of the fort. Whoever she was, looked like Becky! “Becky?” he shouted in bewilderment. The figure looked down at him and signaled him to come up. Benedict was trying to get somewhere with Becky for a really long time and he thought maybe tonight was the night so he started climbing the guard tower. He went up and saw Becky standing there in a white nightgown.
“Where did you get a gown here Becky?” he asked.
She kept signaling him to follow her. He could see a room behind Becky, so he thought that’s where she was taking him. As he walked towards the room, the room started flickering. It was just a mirage! There was no room and no becky! It was a ghost! He now realised that he had crossed the edge of the tower and was about to fall but it was too late. He couldn’t balance himself on one foot and tipped and fell down. Benedict died on the spot!
Sanya heard a loud thud nearby. She looked back and saw that Benedict wasn’t there! She said, “Where is Benedict now! Gurveer, let’s go find him while Rajat finds Becky!” She pulled on Gurveer’s arm as she said this. Gurveer wasn’t moving. She again pulled on his arm. He still didn’t budge.
She looked up and said, “Gurveer!…” she couldn’t complete her sentence as she saw something that she couldn’t believe. It wasn’t Gurveer’s hand that she was holding. It was a still figure who had glowing red eyes and sharp white teeth. She screamed in horror and started running towards the exit. Unfortunately, she found herself stuck in a corridor which had no doors and one window. Suddenly, the boy that she saw earlier, appeared again. All she could do at that time was be still and wait for him to do something. The boy started smiling as he saw her. He slowly started walking towards her and he said, “But I told you to go away… Didn’t I? Why did you stay?”
She couldn’t muster up the strength to answer him! His head came screaming towards him and because her eyes were wide open, she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on the spot.
Gurveer’s kada, a sikh religious ornament, started glowing as he was walking behind Rajat. While walking, he found himself walking away from the fort. There was no one around him and as he realised that, he turned towards the fort. He tried to go towards the fort but he couldn’t move his other hand, which had the kada. He then decided to wait till the sun comes up and then go and look for his friends.
The Revelation
Rajat found himself in the center of the fort and no one was around him. He started cursing himself as he ignored his ancestors and came in this fort. As he had this revelation, Becky presented herself in front of him.
She said,
“But you are not at fault, Rathod! You were brought here by me!”
Those were the last words Rajat ever heard…
