A Haunted Castle in India - Bhangarh Fort!
Let me tell you a story.
But before I do – there are a few key words you need to know
A curse is when somebody use bad magic to make bad things happen to a place or person.
A guru is a clever person who leads and inspires others.
A wizard is a man with magic powers – like Harry Potter.
Forbidden means you are not allowed or permitted to do something.
Paranormal activity is something which cannot be explained by the normal laws of science.
A hermit is a person who lives alone - often for religious reasons.
A well is a big hole in the ground – built as a way to get water.
All of these words are important for the story I am about to tell you.
Last year I was walking and camping in the hills of Aravallis in the province of Rajasthan in the beautiful country of India.
As the afternoon was coming to an end, I caught sight of my resting place for the night. The village and village of Bhangarh. What a relief! After hours of hot climbing through the rocky hills, I could see the green plain below, and the impressive stone walls of a fort I knew would be safe and warm for the night.
But as I got closer to the old castle I saw something strange – signs on which were written. “Due to paranormal activity - It is forbidden to stay overnight in this place.”
Surely this must be a joke! I was going to ignore it and put up my tent but on old Indian man with a long, white beard and dirty hair approached me.
In his heavily accented voice he told me “Good sir! Please do not stay in this place! The spirits of the past live here and many bad things can happen to you! You may even die!”
Now I was afraid. I decided to move away to the next village. The owner of the restaurant where I dined that night told me more about Bhangarh Fort.
“Oh that place! It’s beautiful but it’s cursed! The old hermit called Guru Balu Nath used to meditate there. The king asked permission to build the castle and Balu Nath told him that he could, but only if no shadow would touch him. But the king’s foolish grandson ignored him and the fort grew too big. So the guru cursed the village. It was destroyed and the population had to run away for their lives. No one can build a house with a roof there – even now as the roof will collapse and everyone inside will be killed. You were right not to stay there.”
“But what about the old man I spoke to? Who was he?”
“What did he look like? Did he have a long white beard?”
“Yes”
“Don’t stay her tonight!” The restaurant owner warned me.. “You must have spoken to the wizard. Well – his spirit walks. After he fell in love with Princess Ratnavati and she threw away his love potion onto a rock. The rock fell down the mountain and killed the wizard. Before he died , he also cursed the village and everyone – including the princess were killed by the Mughal army. You are lucky – the wizard pitied you, but you can’t stay here. His spirit is evil.”
So I went to the next village and told nobody about my journey.
Later, before I took my flight back to London I saw on the news that a few days after I had been there, three young men had wanted to see if the castle was really haunted. They stayed there for one night. But one of them got lost and fell into a well. His friends rescued him and took him to hospital by car. But there was an accident on the way to the hospital and they all died. The locals all believe in the curse of Bhangarh. And I do too.
Now I know why the government keeps the signs there and why nobody stays the night… Would you be brave enough to stay the night in Bhangarh Fort?