Ghosts! – The Haunted Room

The Haunted Room

One often reads blood-curdling stories of awesome ghosts haunting old houses, spending their time flitting from room to room, frightening people nearly to death. The nearest thing in everyday life to ghosts is a father, who, when he reads his Income Tax assessment, turns as pale as a ghost.

But here are two short stories of rather unusual ghosts.

Jayapal was an elderly scholar, a man who had learned and seen much of life. One day, Jayapal put his books aside and decided to go on a pilgrimage to the ancient city of Benaras.

It was a long journey, and Jayapal wandered contentedly through the country, finding food and shelter at the towns and villages he passed on the way.

Late one evening, with a storm brewing, Jayapal was lucky to see an old house a little way off the beaten track. Knocking at the door, Jayapal asked the owner, a melancholy-looking old man, for a night’s lodging.

“We have only one spare room,” the old man said in a doleful tone. “No one has slept in that room for years because it is said to be haunted.”

“Haunted?” Jayapal was skeptical. “I am not afraid of spirits and will gladly share the room with your ghost.”

“This is no ordinary ghost,” said the old man, shaking his head. “Years ago, a maidservant hanged herself in that room, and if anyone sleeps in the room, her ghost comes in the middle of the night and terrifies them to death.”

Jayapal merely smiled. “I am sure your ghost will not disturb me unduly.”

Later, when Jayapal went to bed, he certainly found the room decidedly chilly, but he felt sure this was because the room had not been used for many years. Tired after his day of traveling, Jayapal was soon fast asleep. It must have been well past midnight when Jayapal was awakened by an eerie sound which seemed to come from a corner of the room.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Jayapal peered closely, and in the wan moonlight coming through the window, it seemed that there was a white shrouded figure standing in the corner. As he watched, the apparition came closer, and then he could see it was the figure of a young woman with a horrible expression on her face. Without uttering a sound, the ghost started putting out its tongue and making the most awful grimaces at Jayapal while waving its arms and legs in some weird dance.

“Go away, you silly woman,” said Jayapal quite calmly. “You are disturbing my sleep.” With that, Jayapal settled himself comfortably in bed and went off to sleep.

The following morning, the owner of the house seemed quite surprised that Jayapal was still alive and hastened to know if his guest had slept well.

“I had a good night’s sleep,” Jayapal said reassuringly. “It is a pleasant room, and as I have been traveling for many days, I would like to rest here for two or three days.”

That night, Jayapal went to bed, and again in the depths of the night, the ghost put in an appearance and went through the same antics as on the previous night. Jayapal sat up in bed and went into peals of laughter. At such an outburst, the wretched ghost stopped its antics and thrusting its face close to Jayapal, announced in a hollow voice, “You are inhuman. This is no place for a good ghost.”

Jayapal learned sometime afterwards that the ghost had never been seen again.

Selling a Ghost

Sathar was a young lad with plenty of spirit. One day, he decided to walk the five miles to a nearby town where a fair was being held, in the hope of earning a few rupees as a laborer.

On the way, he had to pass through a dark, gloomy forest. He had not gone very far into the forest when he was sure someone was following silently behind him. Turning around suddenly, he was astonished to see a pale-looking figure.

“Who are you?” he said boldly. “You look as though you have been frightened by a ghost.”

“I am a ghost,” said the figure grumpily. “And you are the one who should be scared.”

“But I am a ghost too,” replied Sathar. “Today, I am going to the fair to frighten people.”

“Then I will come with you,” the ghost said.

The two walked for some distance without saying a word. The ghost suddenly stopped and wailed, “This is very tiring. Let’s take turns in carrying each other.”

“All right,” Sathar retorted. “Jump on my back and I will carry you part of the way, then you can carry me.”

When the ghost got on Sathar’s back, Sathar was surprised to find that the ghost did not weigh anything at all. It was no trouble to carry the fellow. But after a time, Sathar put the ghost down and said it was now his turn to be carried.

No sooner had he clambered on the ghost’s back than the ghost started grumbling, “You are far too heavy for a ghost,” he cried as he stumbled along. “What kind of a ghost are you?”

“I am only a young ghost,” replied Sathar. “But if I am too heavy, I will carry you the rest of the way.”

With the ghost perched on his shoulders, Sathar strode merrily along, and all went well until they came to a stream, at the sight of which the ghost let out an awesome shriek. “That’s water,” he yelled. “I am a dry weather ghost, and if I get wet, I shall turn into an ordinary sheep.”

“That’s good news,” chortled Sathar and promptly ducked the ghost into the middle of the stream. The ghost was right, for he promptly turned into a nice fat woolly ram.

Sathar could see there was nothing ghostlike about this ram, and he proceeded to drive the animal to the fair and sold it to a butcher for a goodly sum. So Sathar went home, his pockets jingling with coins, and fondly hoping he would meet some more dry weather ghosts.

What is a Mongoose?

Do you know who Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was? If you do not, he was the mongoose in one of Rudyard Kipling’s stories of India. The mongoose makes an attractive pet and, as it is related to the cat, perhaps this is why! The Indian mongoose is about 18 inches long, has short legs, and is greyish in color. It has a long tail. It is a famous killer of snakes—even the deadly cobra rarely, if ever, gets the better of the brave little mongoose. It hunts other animals also.