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. 

Different types of ghosts in India - Part 2

Dear readers, here is part-2 of the different types of ghosts in India. I will soon begin explaining them in more details.

Part -1 (one of the most viewed post in this blog) can be found here.

http://supernaturalmonitor.blogspot.com/2010/09/different-types-of-ghosts-in-india.html

Pretas are the roaming ghosts of Hindu men who died by violence and whose corpses were disposed of "unceremoniously."

Mumiai is a Indian poltergeist that invades homes throughout Bombay.

Virikas are small spirits that appear surrounded by a reddish mist and make guttural sounds.

Bhoot - A Common Ghost and a departed ancestor (who has not become a ghost) are on the same level with regards to their spiritual strength. The main difference is that a departed ancestor troubles his descendants making use of his give and take account with them, while a ghost troubles any human being, using its black energy regardless of them being their descendants.

Hadal(Female Goblin) - They have a strong odour around them, like that of a rotten egg.
Generally, they affect the person without possessing him or her, i.e. they do not enter the body of an individual.Their main job is to provide material required for doing black magic, for example bones, skulls etc. to the sorcerers (māntriks) for their rituals, by digging out bodies in the cemetery.

Penchapechi (found in Bengal): An unusual form of ghost, the Penchapechi take the form of owls and hunt in the Bengali forests. The ghost follows hapless travelers through the woods until they are completely alone before it strikes. Unlike other ghosts, the Penchapechi actually consumes its victims, feeding on their body in an almost vampiric way.

Chetkin(Witch): A foul smell is associated with the presence of Witches (Chetkins).People possessed by Witches (Chetkins) when manifest laugh continuously.They are skilled in assuming various forms.They enter a person's body and cause accidents. They then take control of subtle bodies of these people to get them to work for them. They also train them in performing rituals to harness black energy.They are capable of taking complete control of a house and can then devastate the entire family living there.

 

Different types of Ghosts in India.

India has long been a place where the mystic and paranormal realm has never been far away from the daily grind of life. In many rituals and beliefs, the existence of the supernatural has been a given. One common belief among many Indians is the existence of ghosts and evil spirits.

These beliefs get more stronger as you move away from the cities into the towns a)nd villages.

Different parts of the country have their own beliefs in the existence of these supernatural entities. Most of them are said to be malevolent, ever waiting to prey on the innocent who happen to come in their path. Most of these evil spirits are given names. Some of them are said to be helpful spirits and some are even worshipped in places like Mangalore (Karnataka state).

I will attempt to briefly describe a few of these ghosts and this time I will need the help of my readers to add more to this list.

1. Mohini: The most well known female ghost among all. These are the ghosts of women and girls who had a failure in love and committed suicide or those women who died before fulfilling some of their physical needs. It is said that this makes them return as vengeful spirits. Most of them are given domain over a certain area which they haunt. They are said to entice males who fall for their charm and and led away to their world never to be seen again. Some say that these males pay with their life and others say that they are held prisoner for eternity.

In any case, this type of ghost is most dangerous and has been the subject of many Indian films.

2. Shaakini: A lesser known female ghost. It is the ghost of married women who died early in marriage either because of an accident or illness. Some of these are due to dowry harassment and are said to haunt their killers(most often than not, the in-laws). These are considered to be not so dangerous.

3. Daakini: Another female ghost often mixed up and confused with the Shaakini. This ghost is that of a woman who has died an untimely death which may be for any reason. You can assume that this is a generalized category for the ghost. The specific category would be a Mohini or a Shaakini. A Mohini can be both a Daakini and Mohini :) but that's digging a lot into this.

4. Kutti Chetan(Kutti saithan): Most of us have seen the dubbed version of the famous Malayalam film about the little mischievous ghost. People say that this ghost is that of a child. It is not so dangerous unless a tantrik(warlock or magician) has assumed control over it and converts into a malevolent evil spirit.

Some other ghosts from different parts of India.

6. Brahmodoityas(Bengal) are the ghosts of Brahmans, and might bless you or curse you.

7. Skondhokatas(Bengal) are the headless ghosts of people who died in train accidents.

8. Nishi(Bengal) are the ghosts who call people by name in the dead of night and lead them away, never to be seen again.(Now that's freaking scary!!!....and isn't this the Bengal version of the Mohini?)

9. Kolli devva(Karnakata) The ghosts who run through the forests and woods holding torches. Rational reason could be sighting of will -o-wisps.

10. Kallurty, Panjurli, Koti Chennayya(Mangalore, Karnataka) These three will need a post of their own. These ghosts are famous people who died for various reasons and are worshipped today as part of elaborate rituals. Some of these stories are down right scary. But more on these later.

So this was a brief introduction to the different ghosts of India. Feel feel to add/correct entries in this list.

Comments are much appreciated.

Read my real life Ghost experience here:

http://supernaturalmonitor.blogspot.com/2011/10/ghosts-experiences-1.html

Different types of Ghosts in India part -2 here:

http://supernaturalmonitor.blogspot.com/2011/08/different-types-of-ghosts-in-india-part.html

For ghosts of Bangalore:
http://supernaturalmonitor.blogspot.com/2013/03/haunted-placesghosts-of-bangalore.html