Haunted places/Ghosts of Bangalore - 1 : Haunted House in St Mark's Road

Friends,

I am back after a break of 1 year. I have plans of writing about quite a few awesome supernatural topics so please stay tuned.

Bangalore is one of India's most distinctive cities. Its status as a IT powerhouse has attracted people from all over the country. Bangalore also has a great amount of history attached to it. Since its founding by KempeGowda to the time of Tippu Sultan, going forward to its use as a military cantonment by the British to being chosen as the capital of Karnataka, Bangalore has seen a lot.  It is no wonder then that Bangalore also has a few haunted places and legends about ghosts.

Let us examine one of them today.

1. Haunted house / mansion in St Marks Rd: Most old timers in the city would name this among their list of haunted places. The funny thing is I have walked past this place like a million times when I was in Bangalore. I did my high school (or PUC) a t St Joseph's College and I walked past this house at least twice a day on my way to Brigade Road to enjoy the sights :)..Thought I did hear some rumors I find it strange now that I was not that curious about it back then. But I always did get a weird feeling when walking past it. Some places just give out that eerie feeling. But was it really haunted back then in 2001 or was this a more recent occurence? Read below and find out.

It is still fresh in my memories. The dilapidated state of the house along with that run down car just sitting there gathering dust over the years. The whole place is in decay and I haven't been there for quite a few years now. Maybe those of you in Bangalore can actually post newer pics or maybe you will tell me that this house was broken down and remodeled long ago.

 Pic credit: http://tonymon7287.blogspot.com/2010/10/haunted-house-on-stmarks-road.html

Anyways here is the legend about it.

The house belonged to two Anglo Indian sisters who were spinsters, Vera Vaz and Dolce Vaz. Dolce Vaz was murdered in this house by an unknown assailant in front of her sister. The legend then continues that the lady was buried in this house. She was 75 when she was killed and her sister was 80. The killer was never caught. The house was then deserted because nobody wants to live in a house like that. And the place was soon deemed haunted.

People claimed to see things, hear noises. A bunch of folks even went in and were attacked by a supernatural force.

But the reality is this murder happened fairly recently. 2002 in fact. The Times of India actually reported the murder.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-09-04/bangalore/27320795_1_elderly-woman-murderer-stab

So all those times when I walked past this place when I was in college (1999-2001), it was actually not deserted. However I have been walking past this house after the murder in 2002 and it still did not make much of a difference to me. The place was just as eerie and rundown before Dolce's murder.

In any case, the strange thing is that there are some articles like statues, furniture and other stuff lying around in the house but nobody has had the courage to go steal them. From time to time, so called ghost hunters (actually groups of students with no better work to do) go here and post about their "experiences".
This one takes the cake.

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=1&contentid=20100410201004100502474912279e776

So what do you think? Is this place really haunted? Or are we witnessing the creation of a ghostly legend that over the next few years will grow to be more frightening.

If you happen to be in Bangalore, please do visit it and let me know. I would appreciate newer pictures of this place.

Footnote: After this murder, the house and its property is under litigation. It can be assumed that poor Dolce was a victim of murder. But with this haunted legend gaining steam, I wonder who would dare to come forward and buy this property. I think builders are one of the most superstitious folks out there. Would you like to buy this place?

PLEASE READ OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS BLOG IF YOU LIKED THIS.

Read about my ghostly experience in Mangalore here.