Top Ghost Stories and Our Fascination with these!

Ghost Stories:

Many faiths, now don't believe in AFTERLIFE anymore; but in Hindu Sanatan Dharma this concept is the linchpin of existence. aatma( Living) आत्मा, paramaatma(Divine)परमात्मा and Prētātmā( Spectre) प्रेतात्मा  denotes it very explicitly. 

Disc:I have never seen a ghost and certainly don't want to see going forward also, but there is a strange pull ghost stories have on me which kind of draws-me in  towards them every now and then,, 

Our association with Ghosts is since eternity and will remain till infinity, that is the reason they are found in our folktales, religious texts and many of contemporary plots.

One of the greatest state of  ambivalence for growing up child is the push and pull it draws from Ghosts & the world constructed around this mystical phenomenon. This is my first hand experience which occurred a day before .

My last blog was about the folk tales, while narrating  my plot to Nandini for her opinion and editorial input, the moments I reached on the Ondaa's face-off with Ghosts, she just flashed a STOP SIGN and without letting me utter a single word, shutdown the monitor. Post gaining some fresh air she explained how petrified she got by mere thought of a ghost in a broad day light.. I was little surprised by her reaction and with little more coaxing, got to know that the supporting illustrations in the story acted as "pouring oil on fire" and her mind started thinking beyond the story. She went in to ghost world in broad daylight started little spooky.. Well this was little too much for me.

 

Anyway the real twist came in night, when post switching off the bedroom lights we were to sleep and suddenly she started feeling uncomfortable, sat up straight, refused to sleep any further and insisted on lights to be switched on. Finally age-old formula of reciting Hanuman Chalisa was used to calm her down and feel reassured. The crescendo of this came 2 day later when I sought her input for new blog topic; impromptu came the suggestion "Write about Ghosts"!!  

The kind of fan-following Ghosts has attained, is much bigger than any Priyanka Chopra, Chota Bheem or Donald Duck of this and that world!!  

Ghost Stories: Why so Captivating 

I have few theories of my own:

Universal Acceptability- Meaning all cultures share them, just like all share The God.  If there is any truly cross- culture belief than it is existence of ghosts. Form, factor, color might vary subject to culture but regardless of what they call it, East or Western civilizations , any race , ethnicity all of them accept their presence.

Part of Culture and folktales- We all love to tell them and re-tell them again and again. Any session of anecdote is incomplete until a ghost story set in a haunted house and dark night is recited. Whether they are real or not, ghost stories are essential part of our folk tale legacy.

We love to be Scared- This theory has been established at the start of this blog by my personal encounter. We human love to be scared as much as we love to be loved!!  This trait is so primal in us yet it keep on enduring us in the modern world; and what better than a doze of Ghost Story...

Afterlife- Various anthropology expeditions have established the fact of Afterlife being believed by various civilizations. Essential items were found buried along with dead, with the faith that in the journey of afterlife also these items will be required by the departed. 

 

 

Sharing 2 scariest ( certainly not favorite) Best Ghost Stories to chill down your bones: 

A very famous account of Ghost and Human interaction is chronicled in the "Betaal Panchisi"( twenty five tales of vampires), which is about the adventures of King Vikramaditya from Ujjain and how his witts were pitted against a Betaal, a sorcerer had asked him to capture for him. Betaal was a resident of a tree in a desolate graveyard, and only way he could be captured was by standing still and silent at the dark mid night of an Amavasya. However every time the King tried, he was tempted by a story with a question at the last, answering of which King could not resist. As a result, Betaal will cling back to the tree leaving King Vikramaditya to try his luck again. Only after relating twenty five tales, let the Betaal King to take him to the sorcerer hence the name "Betaal Panchisi".

The Betaal forewarns the King about the treacherous sorcerer's wicked intentions, which were to sacrifice King a possessor of thirty two virtues as a prey to goddess and become owner of the Betaal and his kind. 

"Betaal Panchisi" was originally written in Sanskrit and is believed to be the inspiration behind many tales of Arabian Nights and Aesop's fables. Sharing one tales from that treasure collection:

                                 Four Boys who made a lion

Once upon a time there lived four sons of a poor Brahmin who taught them all Vedas and scriptures. One their parents death, all four decided to stay with their mother's father. But on reaching there found they were unwelcome and their cousins were inhospitable with them. With a sense of betrayal and dejected all four decided to go out in the world solo, learn a special skill each and meet at a common place after a while. So they dispersed in different directions and came back for meeting on a predetermined time and place. Each one did brag about what he has learnt. The first one said," I can create the flesh of a creature out of a single bone of the creature". Second one said " I can make hair and skin of a creature". Third one said "I can create the limb of a creature". "I can infuse life into a creature" was the biggest of the claim the fourth and last brother made and thumped his chest!!

So all of them decided to put in practice the skills they have attained and went in a forest. Skeleton of a dead animal they found and started putting their skills into it.. Little did they know that what they have chosen was of a Lion. 

First brother was very anxious to start it and others waiting with bated breath. Walla!! ..  it was a hit and flesh was created over the bone, Second one added skin and hair to the flesh. Using his special skills third brother put limbs into the structure and passed the baton to the eldest of them. Fourth brother true to his pedigree of brahmin origin susurrate some mystical mantra and infused life into the lion's body. 

As soon as lion came to life, it pounced on them and killed them all, very true to his nature. 

Betaal asked King Vikramaditya, "who among all four was responsible for the death of all?"

After taking a pause King Vikramditya answered "The fourth one, as he was the one who gave life to the otherwise dead structure of bone, flesh, limb, skin and hair". 

As soon as Vikram finished his answer, Betaal disappeared back to the tree.      

                                                       

                               The Cell Phone (Source: Reddit) 

A couple of months ago, my friend's cousin ( a single mother) bought a new cell phone. After a long day of work, she came home, placed her phone on the counter, and went to watch TV. Her son came to her and asked if he could play with her  new phone. She told him not to call anyone or mess with the text messages to which he agreed and took the phone.

At around 11:20, she was drowsy, so she decided to tuck her son in and go to bed. She walked to his room and did not find him there. Little perplexed she rushed towards her room and found him sleeping on her bed with phone in his hand. 

Relieved , she picked her phone back from his hands to inspect it. Browsing through it, she noticed only minor changes like new background, ringtone and couple of games downloaded, but then she opened the phone gallery where pictures are stored.  As it happens with any teenager his son has clicked many pictures of self and  surroundings, she kept few and started deleting others which were repetitive or blurry. Then suddenly her attention was drawn to a picture. Her instant reaction was of disbelief. The picture was of his son sleeping on her bed, but the picture was taken by someone else above him and it showed the left half of an elderly woman's face....

Should we continue this Tradition:

I think this novelty of Ghost Stories shall continue and flourish.

Reason : for Fun and Entertainment.

One should be scared while listening and should scare others while telling a ghost story. I mean that is how this has been going on!! Every child is dead scared while listening a ghost story and spends many sleepless nights thinking and visualizing each scene of a haunting tale.  Same child one reaches adolescence winks at his/ her stupid fear and plays the bad boy now by narrating the same tales with little extra spice and tings! Isn't this Fun and Entertainment trait as  doppelganger as the spooky characters of a story plot. 

Another dot that Ghosts stories connect as a constant reminder about mortality and frailty. Not matter how dearly we hold this world and its belonging, all this remains here only; what goes along is the deeds good or bad.  The cause of demise  is if good, natural and content will make people remember us fondly ; opposite if the reason is like accidental, torturous, painful will make people spooky, walking away and  uncomfortable and if this feeling is shared by larger pool of people will give birth to a potboiler Ghost Story! 

Gothic fiction is the commercially successful genre,  which is getting enough attention with ever increasing digital catalogue on Netflix , Amazon Prime and dozen more OTT platforms. Few catchy and hugely popular titles are Dracula, Frankenstein,  The Ghost, Interview with the Vampire,Supernatural and many more..

So do good and be at peace with self and other..

OMNAMAH

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