Haunting Echoes in Eerie Mountains
(A fictional story inspired by real life incidents)
Author: Air Marshal VPS Rana PVSM,VSM(Retd)
Chapter 1: The Beautiful Village in the Grips of Horror
There are so many paranormal activities for which there is no specific explanation in science. It is therefore prudent that when it comes to traditions, culture and folklore, the scientific lens better be left out and lens of faith be zoomed in. The rituals have a very significant place in the village lives of remote regions all across the Himalayan belt. Many beliefs, faith and stories are passed on through the generations. This story is of one such scanty remote village of ‘Siloli’, nestled in the shadowy embrace of towering mountains of interior Uttarakhand.
An eerie silence reigned in this village. The village in the grip of horrific incidents, spoke in hushed tones, the voices of residents quivering as they recounted the tragic tale of young beautiful woman named ‘Phyonli’, whose spirit now haunted the village. No one dared to move after the sunset. It started with a strange encounter of a young girl ‘Binnu’ while returning to her house in the evening. Little fog had started setting in. In that misty chill evening, she perceived as if someone was following her and inquisitively turned back, but found no one. Once again, she stepped forward and heard the sound of footsteps following her again. She looked back, little scared now as it had started turning dark, but found no one. Then suddenly a gust of wind and small puff of cloud went past her pushing her sideways. She almost fell on the ground. She shrieked with fear and ran back to the nearest house and narrated the harrowing experience to the residents of the house. They came out huddled together but found no one. However, at a distance away in chilly winter mist, muzzled voice of someone sobbing could be heard. They all had chill running down their spine and they all rushed inside.
The untimely death of Phyonli had left an indelible scar on the village and her spirit started manifesting in many ways and refused to rest. It had now become difficult for the village women to remain in the forest particularly after evening hours. They would always stay huddled in the group in the forest area, fearing untoward incidents. Months passed and villagers began to experience strange occurrences. Unexplained noises, sudden cold drafts and whispers that seemed to come from the shadows became common place. Many of the villagers reported that stones were pelted on their houses in the middle of the night. Some of them reported seeing a woman in white clothes near their house sitting on the parapet and sobbing slowly. People were scared to come out of their houses after dark.
The village, otherwise was beautifully located with an oak forest adjacent to the village where the village women often visited to get the fire wood and fodder for their cattle. There was one natural spring known as ‘Dhara’ in local dialect, with very pure, sweet, tasty and refreshing water. The young women of the village often used to sit and chit chat there. It was their go-to point for any consultation or pure gossiping for heavenly pleasure in their otherwise tough and hard life. It was at this place that Phyonli’s mesmerizing voice and loud unrestricted laughter used to dominate the congregation of young women of the village. However, the spring now bears the deserted look ever since the talk of Phyonli’s spirit was doing round.
Now, in evening and early night hours an uncomfortable echo reverberates in nearby mountains as if someone was humming a song. The sound however, turns into melancholy and then scaringly loud whistling once you are inside the forest. After Binnu, many other young children reported that often they get similar feeling of someone following them but when they turn, a wisp of air goes past them. Out of fear, no children went out alone and they stopped playing in the evening. Their conversation also hovered around the spirit whenever they met.
‘Phyonli’ is actually the name of a wild, yellow flower, which blooms all over the mountainous areas of Uttarakhand, during spring months. Young children pick up these flowers in wee hours during Phulari, Phulkari or Phul Dei festival, which goes on for a month starting on Chaitra Sankranti. In this Hindu month of ‘Chaitra’, children set out in the dark to gather the flowers and put the flowers in the doorsteps of the houses, before sunrise. Phyonli, thus, is a message of happiness and community togetherness, bringing joy to everyone in the village.
Young Phyonli who had come to the village about three years ago after her marriage to Shambhu, was true to her name and she was the most liked person by all, young or old. One could hear her name being called from different corners of the village. The houses in Siloli were scattered over the mountains, besides a small cluster of houses near the central place of the village where all social functions would be undertaken. A big banyan tree stood in the central place under which all village gatherings would take place. Siloli was a nice small happy village with very strong social fabric.
Chapter 2: Phyonli’s Arrival, A Wisp of Fresh Air
Phyonli’s marriage to Shambhu was a big celebratory moment for the village of Siloli. The talk of her beauty, simple nature and good qualities had preceded her arrival as new bride in the village. Shambhu was over the moon having married such a wonderful and extremely beautiful woman with all good qualities. His friends teased him often for being extremely lucky to have got into such wonderful alliance. Phyonli was also over the moon as Shambhu was one of the most sought-after young men, being a soldier in Army and handsome to the hilt. She was also happy as she felt that now she has a family of her own. She did not have a very happy childhood, as she had lost her parents early to an unknown disease, and was raised by the family of her uncle. She was treated like a burden by her aunt and was never appreciated for anything. Despite such setback early in life, and unpleasant atmosphere at home, she moulded herself into a fine young woman with all good qualities and very pleasing nature.
In her new home, she had her Mother-in-law, one Brother-in-law and one younger Sister-in-law, much younger to her. She was welcomed in her new home and she won the love and affection of all the family members in real quick time. Everyone was very impressed by her behaviour and demeanor, besides her other qualities of being highly sociable and accommodative to all. Everyone in the village became very fond of Phyonli in no time. She was very chirpy with her young women friends, unmarried or married, and shared her happy time with them during daily chores of her village life. She was equally responsive, caring and respectful to all the elder members of the village. The time spent by her after her marriage was like a dreamy sequence of well-crafted movie. Her every moment spent with Shambhu was blissful and she was very thankful to the God for having given her such a wonderful, caring and loving life partner.
Whenever Shambhu came on leave, he would hover around Phyonli wherever she
ventured. It had not gone unnoticed amongst the villagers and his colleagues. Village elders would tease and question him for being head over heels in love with Phyonli. Some of the elders did not approve of his public display of affection to his wife and would often lecture him to stay within the bounds. But Shambhu couldn’t care less and would try to spend time with Phyonli as much as he could while on leave. He would even follow her in the nearby oak forest where she would go to fetch fodder for the cattle. He would often tease her by singing the famous Uttarakhandi song to her,
whenever they were alone-
फयोंलेड़ी त्ववे देखी के औंदु यो मन माँ ,
औंदु यो मन मां
तेरो मेरो साथ छयो पैला जनम मां...
तेरो मेरो साथ छयो पैला जनम मां...
(Hey, you like the beautiful flower of Phyonli, whenever I see you, it comes to my thoughts that we were together in our last birth too)
Phyonli would shy away, but in heart of hearts would want Shambhu to keep singing that song to her forever. Their love life was talk of the village, as all the villagers young and old, were very fond of both of them. Shambhu was also a very brave soldier and was posted in border area, where terrorists sponsored by enemy country had continued with many mindless attacks on innocent civilians as well as on security forces. He had confronted many such terrorists and excelled in each encounter. He was one of the bravest soldiers in his battalion. He had already had few close encounters with dreaded terrorists and he jokingly was called ‘Mahakaal’ for his fearless approach to charge at the armed terrorists without caring for his own safety.
In their married life of just about two years, Shambhu had come on leave only thrice and they yearned for their togetherness. It was always so heart wrenching for them to part ways after his leave. Last time in particular, it was unbearable for them as Phyonli was now pregnant and both of them wanted to share their maximum time together. It was however, not possible for Shambhu to take her along; one, because he was posted in a non-family area and second, he wanted her to take care of his mother and younger siblings. He promised to come soon and spend more time with her and be by her side at the time of delivery of their child. With moist eyes and deep anguish, she bid him farewell. Both of them had no clue that this was the last time they would be together.
Chapter 3: Wrath of Destiny
Unaware with the wrath of destiny awaiting, they remained busy with their respective schedule of work; Phyonli in her daily chores of working in the fields, managing household, caring for the cattle, looking after her in-laws etc. and Shambhu in his routine patrols and surveillance of the border areas day and night as per the intelligence gathered on terrorist hideouts. It was not easy for them to speak on phone on regular basis due to security restrictions and network issues. They could communicate with each other only through letters. Away from each other in solitude, they would spend hours reading those letters many times over, remembering each other and wishing for time to fly to make them unite sooner than later.
On one fateful dark night, based on intelligence inputs, Shambhu’s platoon went out on a search patrol and barged into a hideout where five dreaded terrorists were hiding after killing some unsuspecting innocent civilians. He like always, took the lead to neutralise the terrorists and killed two and wounded one of them. He however, faced the barrage of the bullets from one of the hiding terrorists and succumbed to his injuries. Despite the success of the operation, a pall of gloom engulfed his battalion. He was the real hero of the battalion and was suitably recommended for bravery award for his gallantry action during the encounter.
Even bigger tragedy unfolded in his village, once the news of his untimely demise reached there. His remains were received at district headquarters and ceremonial send off was given to him amongst the large gathering who were all praise for his sacrifice and bravery. Away from all this, Phyonli lay motionless staring the sky and could not fathom whether this was true or a dreadful dream. She remained in that state of shock for a very-very long time. To add to her woes, now her in-laws had also started blaming her for untimely death of Shambhu. They started telling in hushed tone that it was actually she who brought the bad luck to Shambhu and this tragedy to the family.
But worst was yet to come. Once the dust of gloom settled in few weeks and the family came to know of the death benefits and pension that Phyonli was to receive, her in-laws turned suspicious of her intentions that she may not share the benefits with them. To overcome the situation, they planned to get Phyonli married to Shambhu’s younger brother Mangal. Besides loathing the idea to get married at that stage, Phyonli shunned away the offer, as Mangal was few years younger to her. She had always treated him like a younger brother all along. Family kept pestering her to agree to the proposal but she did not relent. The pitch of discussions changed to minor scuffle initially, then to accusations and finally to physical assault and abuses.
Phyonli’s life, full of hardship and sorrow had taken turn for the worse. She had become unwanted in her own house and was targeted for supposedly misdeeds that she did not do. The family was hoping that she will finally give way getting tired of sustained harassment. Phyonli, who was yet to come to terms of life, could not understand the strange approach and attitude of her family members towards her in these tough times when she needed their utmost support. They would often curtly tell her, that they had also lost their son, their brother, so what is it so different for her. They persisted that they all have to come to terms and best way is to stay again as family. Phyonli however, did not relent.
Despite all out attempts by Phyonli to normalise the situation, she was troubled and harassed on everyday basis. She was even told to go out of the family hold and stay on her own. Often accused unjustly of transgression she did not commit, she was ostracized and humiliated by her own family on daily basis. Her in-laws started making up stories about she being unfaithful to the family and behaving strangely towards them and wanting to usurp all the money of death benefits of her husband. She even assured her in-laws that she would share the death benefits with them as it meant nothing to her after her husband’s demise. But the family did not believe her and continuously pressurized her to marry Mangal. She approached her uncle but he showed helplessness and suggested that she should do whatever is best for the family. She discussed her anguish with her friends and also approached some of the village elders but no one helped her much beyond few sympathetic overtures.
Desperate and broken, she found the life meaningless and chose to end her life. In sheer despair one day she went to the nearby jungle, where Shambhu would often accompany her in the past and sat under the ancient oak tree for hours crying and cursing her luck. After it turned dark, overcome by emotions, she hung herself from the same tree under which she and Shambhu had spent endless hours together discussing sweet nothings. Her dangling body was discovered after two days. Her family feigned ignorance and said that as per them she had gone to her maternal place to visit her uncle’s family. Her last rites were also performed by her family very reluctantly. The incident made the villagers very uncomfortable and they started fearing that considering the circumstances under which Phyonli committed suicide, her spirit would surely haunt the village. This was a common belief in these remote areas that any unnatural death would certainly wreak havoc. Particularly, when someone dies under desperate situations like Phyonli who was harassed to limits despite being in perpetual grief of losing her husband and being pregnant, at the time of her death.
Chapter 4: Village Gasping for Air
As feared by villagers, untimely and painful death of Phyonli brought lot of dreadful
occurrences of different kind to the village. The changed behaviour of most young girls and women in particular, was the gravest concern. Almost every household had some or the other strange story to share about the unnatural behaviour by the young women in their house. Many young women started behaving strangely, some of them just keeping mum, remaining withdrawn and moving like zombies; others talking loudly in high pitch voice and laughing out loud for no reason. After detailed deliberation amongst themselves, the village elders concluded that all these women were possessed by the spirit. The village was constantly in the grip of a ghostly atmosphere.
Villagers opined, that traditional cure for handling the spirits through the rituals of ‘Ghariyala’ should be resorted to, to get rid of such horrific situation. ‘Ghariyala’ is the process mainly for invoking the local deities in a social gathering mainly in the night. The person who sings the invoking mantras and ballad, does by playing a small drum known as ‘Daunru’ and brass plate known as ‘Thakuli’. Ghariyala is also organised to invoke the wandering spirit of people who die young by unnatural death. These spirits once possess someone, are invoked through Ghariyala to mainly know their wish and fulfil that wish, so that they leave the body of the possessed. Ghariyala is generally arranged by individual families where any member is supposedly possessed by some spirit. It can also be conducted in a mass social gathering of the entire village.
In every such Ghariyala, Phyonli’s spirit manifested through the possessed women and repeated the same thing, that she was tortured and blamed unnecessarily by her family and she wanted public apology from them. ‘To find peace, I must have justice’, she declared; her voice reverberating through the night in all such invocations. These gatherings put further fear in people’s mind and made the atmosphere even more gloomy and scary. Phyonli’s spirit insisted that her family must acknowledge their wrongs and seek her forgiveness. The villagers, moved by her plight and fearful of her wrath, approached Phyonli’s family. But her family blinded by pride and shame, refused to acknowledge their wrongdoing. ’We did nothing wrong’, they insisted. They were adamant that she has brought all this upon herself.
Fury Unleashed by Enraged Phyonli
Enraged by their defiance, Phyonli’s spirit unleashed her fury upon the village in subsequent months. Strange things started happening in the village. Crops withered, livestock perished, frequent fire in dry fodder of villagers gutted the collection of firewood and fodder, and scary wailing sounds were heard in the middle of the night frequently. A pervasive dread settled over the village. The villagers, now desperate and terrified, pleaded her family to relent. But the family remained obstinate, their denial as unyielding as the mountains surrounding them. As the days turned into weeks the situation grew dire. Mangal’s sister had a terrible fall and his mother also suffered severe fever and remained bed-ridden for many days. This was the first major setback faced by the family and they also now started fearing the wrath of the spirit. This was also the first time someone was physical harmed, otherwise it was only the scare that was created by the spirit, probably to make her presence felt.
Invoking the Spirit for Seeking her Forgiveness
Convinced that Phyonli’s spirit sought justice, the villagers decided to invoke her in public gathering. The villagers convened a Panchayat, the traditional council, in a final bid to resolve the crisis. Under the big Banyan tree, with entire village watching, the Panchayat called for Phhyonli’s family to be in attendance. The Panchayat decided to organise for village Ghariyala to invoke local deities for worshipping them to get the village rid of this horrific situation and possibly invoking the spirit as well, for everyone to take note and seek her forgiveness.
On the given day in a scary, dark moonless chilly and misty night, the villagers huddled together and the process of invoking the deities began. One by one, the deities manifested through various individuals present. They were worshipped and told to let the village be freed from the spirit of Phyonli. The people hustled together in fear of spirit as well as reverence towards the deities, hoped for the solution for their sufferings. Almost all the deities insisted that Phyonli’s spirit needs to be calmed for peace to return to the village. They emphasized that she needs to be invoked and her forgiveness needs to be sought by one and all, since she was wronged by everyone in some way or the other.
The proceedings for invoking the spirit then went on till late into the night. Around mid-night, Phyonli’s spirit manifested through a young woman Radha. To the horror and fascination of all present, before entering the body of Radha, the presence of spirit could be felt by all present. A wisp of cool air coupled with a small puff of cloud appeared from nowhere and an ethereal form flickering like a smoke in the wind, disappearing near Radha could be felt by all. Radha who now had Phyonli’s spirit in her, started speaking in Phyonli’s voice. People were shocked to hear Phyonli’s voice. Radha was now a replica of Phyonli in her mannerism as well. Her eyes with deep sorrow and raging anger, bore into the hearts of those present.
In a voice that seemed to echo from another world, in her crying voice full of anger and pain, she recounted the injustice done to her, the false accusations, the betrayal by her family, and the unbearable shame that drove her to death. Tears streaming down Radha’s eyes and her melancholic voice shook everyone present. Everyone with folded hands sought for her forgiveness in unison. Radha kept howling and describing the plight Phyonli had gone through.
Pradhan Ji, the head of the village, rose with folded hands and went to Radha and pleaded with the spirit that they all are her family and she should happily go to heaven where she belongs and leave these earthly things to them, the lowly ones. He promised that whatever she wishes will be done to please her. Phyonli’s voice now shrill, grave and cold, dictated that her family should accept their wrong doing and appologise to her now, in front of the entire village and speak the truth. Pradhan Ji turned to Phyonli’s mother-in-law and told her the fate of the village is in her hand and if she wishes she can save the village.
Phyonli Forgives her Tormentors
Faced with the mounting pressure from the village residents and the undeniable evidence of Phyonli’s wrath, her family finally broke down. Tears streaming down their faces, they confessed their wrongs before the entire village. “We wronged her”, they admitted. “Our pride and fear led us to treat her unjustly. We ask for her forgiveness.” Radha’s trembling body, gathered semblance, now radiating a soft, forgiving expression, spoke in a soothing voice, ‘Your acknowledgement brings me peace”, she said. in a calm and serene voice, with cringing pain, she said further, ‘I forgive You’ and cautioned everyone that no one should ever do it again to any innocent person otherwise the village will be cursed forever. With those words, her spirit left the body of Radha, who was now gasping for breath and sweating profusely. The spirit left and merged into the dark night never to return and haunt the village ever again.
Chapter 5: Peace Returns to Siloli
The results of her forgiving were evident almost immediately. In due course, the village prospered, crops flourished once again, livestock thrived, Mangal, who was now married, was blessed with a healthy baby bringing joy and solace to the family.They named the boy ‘Shiva’ as they believed he was Shambhu reborn. The air seemed lighter and fresher, birds continued relentless chirping and animals displaying their joy by jumping as if a great burden had been lifted. The village had now returned to its glorious past of being a happy place. Phyonli was not feared anymore; she was rather a companion in absentia, in all joyful gatherings of young women of the village.
The villagers of Siloli never forgot the lessons learned from Phyonli’s tragic tale. Her story became a cautionary legend, a reminder of the importance of justice, forgiveness and the perils of pride. Under the ancient oak tree, they built a small shrine in her memory, a symbol of their collective resolve to honour truth and compassion in their hearts and their lives. The shrine called ‘Phyonli Devi Mandir’ is now integral part of the village function. First pooja in the shrine was performed by her family and they hosted entire village for a meal that day. Now every year, on her death anniversary, there is a fair(mela) organized, wherein the villagers meet and greet, dance and rejoice and sing folklores of Phyonli. Over the years she is now considered the protector and saviour of the village. The children during the festival of Phulkari or Phul Dei also put flower on the threshold of the temple like any other home of the village. She is now remembered very fondly in every function and ritual of the village. Phyonli is now member of every household of the village.