Halloween is just 5 days away. Granted that we don’t celebrate it here like the rest of the world does, but we do like to indulge ourselves in the Halloween spirit. So in that spirit, we bring to you 6 real life stories that are bound to give you the creeps. Warning, these stories are not for the faint-hearted so read at your own risk. Happy Halloween! *evil laugh*
1. Midnight Visions
My husband had gone to Taiwan for business. I was pregnant with my second child at that time, and was all alone in our duplex in Eskaton with my 3 year old child and our maid. In the middle of the night, I was woken up by a strong smell of Ilish. I opened my eyes and saw something strange – there was a projection of a temple on our ceiling with red sky in the background and a hairy, demon-like creature eating raw Ilish fish, staring at me and smiling; blood was dripping from its mouth. I closed my eyes hoping this was all just a bad dream, but I could still smell the fish. After a couple of minutes, I gathered some courage and turned my lamp on. The temple and the demon had vanished, but the smell was still there. I had a miscarriage 2 days later. Maybe it was all a coincidence but till this day I can’t eat Ilish fish.
-Salima Aziz
2. An unwanted guest
I recently shifted to a new apartment in Uttara with my family. Ever since we moved, something bad is always happening to us. First my father got sick and then my mother. They were both perfectly healthy. On top of that, at night we heard noises of people running around the apartment and also sound of the fridge opening and shutting. I knew for a fact that neither my parents nor my sister get out of their room at night, but I still wanted to give these events the benefit of the doubt. However, one night I literally felt someone sitting on my bed. My door was locked so no one could have possibly entered my room. I didn’t have the courage to open my eyes.
-Taslim Khan
3. A pious entity
This incident happened about 30 years ago when I was a little girl. I grew up with my sister and three brothers at a house in Narinda. I used to sleep with my mother and sister in our room, while my brothers slept in the room beside us. It was mid-June when one night I suddenly woke up to find a woman praying in our room. At first glance I thought it was my mother till I turned right to see that she was beside me. I gave a mad shriek and woke everyone up. My brothers rushed in and turned on the lights. Nobody was there, but the Jaye Namaz was laid on the floor.
-Sunzida Beg
4. A friend’s visit
Back in 1968, I was living in Dhaka University dorm. One afternoon, my best friend Aslam and I were supposed to play tennis. I waited for him for an hour, but he did not show up. I went to check up on him, and I found him in our room. He had committed suicide. After a month, Eid holidays were about to begin and everyone went home except me. My entire dorm floor was empty. I went to bed early because I had to catch a bus to Mymensingh in the morning. A couple of hours later, I heard a knock at the door. Half asleep, I shouted “Ke ashche?!” And I heard a reply – “Ami Aslam, dorja khul!” Not remembering in that sleepy state that Aslam had passed away, I opened the door. I saw a semi-transparent figure that had his face, and then the next second a gust of cold wind rushed at me. I was bedridden with fever for the next two months.
-Anwar
5. Mystery at graveyard
Last December, a few of us decided to go to a friend’s farmhouse in Barisal. You need to cross a graveyard and a small bridge to get there. It was winter and the setting was ideal for a “ghost hunt”. At night, it was extremely foggy outside. Giving in to our sense of adventure, we decided to go to the graveyard. We found nothing. We then got into a conversation and started to share a few scary stories. On our way back, we were joined by two men. It was weird because – 1. We should have spotted them before, and 2. Ours was the only house in that direction. When the two men crossed us, all of our phones mysteriously died, and then the men disappeared into the fog. We lost our wits and ran back home as fast as we could.
-Rashid Ahmed
6. Haunted pond
My work requires me to visit plenty of different locations for field work. This one time, I was stationed at Thakurgaon. The office rest house was very pretty and had a big field in front followed by a pond. One evening, when I was taking a walk outside, I got a call from a friend. We had a lot of catching up to do, and I continued to walk down the way while talking to her on the phone. Eventually I reached the end of the field and stood at the side of the pond, still talking. At one point, I realized somebody was standing beside me. At first, I was not bothered by the presence, but after some time I looked up to see who it was. It was a figure in the form of a human, wrapped in “kafon er kapor” from top to bottom. Seeing this, I just broke into a run towards the rest house and reaching it, I got inside and locked the door. Never for once did I look back. Scariest day of my life!
-Umme Tasnim