Hauntings: Stories Based on Actual Paranormal Investigation by Abhirup Dhar with Indian Paranormal Society encompasses the true events and accounts of paranormal activities. Read more to find out.
Rihon Bordoloi had moved to Mumbai from Dibrugarh in Assam two years ago for better professional prospects. His office was in Lokhandwala and he stayed in Dahisar, where the rent was pretty affordable. Hailing from a small city, it was obvious that it took him some time to get accustomed to the daily life in the city that never sleeps. It was so much more peaceful in Dibrugarh. The people there are simple with little or no ambition.
They live at ease, unaware and unbothered about the various achievements of people in bigger cities. They work, earn and return home to spend quality time with their families. They have weekends that are utilized well—there are so many places to roam around in as well and they have both the time and energy for it. Recreation is not compromised at all, not to forget, malls and multiplexes have come up in a big way in smaller locations too. What they don’t have there are better prospects for aspirational people who want to go that extra mile. So, Rihon moved when he was offered a good job in Mumbai.
One evening, he was boarding the Virar-bound fast local from Andheri that would stop at Dahisar. Travelling in Mumbai is a mess and it took him nothing less than forty minutes by auto from his office to the station, which was four kilometres away. Yes, even a kilometre can be a long distance in the city that always keeps moving, except, of course, when you get stuck in huge traffic jams. He had a monthly train pass, so he rushed to the platform as soon as he got down from the auto. His daily train originated at Andheri, and, if he could reach before time, there were chances he would get a seat. But, he was late that evening. He rushed down the staircase. The train stood there. But there was some problem. The platform was crowded—not that this was unusual—and there was some commotion, not the kind Mumbaikars witness daily while getting into or out of a train. This was different. There was something wrong. Rihon pushed his way to the front and came to know that a man had died by suicide just a few minutes ago by jumping in front of the train.
‘These losers end their lives and then we have to bear the brunt by facing such issues in travelling. Could he not die in his home?’ Rihon heard someone say.
‘Such a peak time and this happens. We should take another train, however crowded it may be,’ another person said.
The crowd slowly dispersed, leaving Rihon standing there, looking at the dead body of the man that lay on the railway track; his legs a few metres away from where the rest of his body was, blood splattered everywhere, his eyes wide open, as if he had been scared in the last split second before jumping in front of the train, but he must have said to himself, ‘Let’s do this.’
In that moment, Rihon’s life took a new course… one that would be difficult for him to comprehend.
Three days after this tragic incident, Siddharth received a call from a person he knew. This person connected Rihon with the IPS team. Siddharth, who had moved to Mumbai after Gaurav passed away, lived nearby. So, he first visited Rihon, who had taken a leave from his office for a few days. His girlfriend, Aisha, was with him and answered the door.
‘Does Rihon Bordoloi live here?’ Siddharth wasn’t expecting a lady to be there.
‘Yes, yes. Please come in,’ she looked terrified as Siddharth sauntered in.
Rihon walked up to greet him, terrified too. Not a smile on both his and Aisha’s faces. ‘Guys, first, relax,’ Siddharth smiled and shook hands with confidence.
‘It has been a frightening experience,’ Rihon shuddered recalling something.
‘I’m sure it must have been. But, there is always some reason behind such activities. Tell me all about it without hesitation,’ Siddharth said, trying to make his job look easy, which it is not. It is very difficult, but it is important that the team makes the clients feel relaxed.
Rihon looked at Siddharth as Aisha sat beside Rihon and held his hands, trying her best to make her boyfriend feel better.
After witnessing the tragedy that evening, Rihon reached his flat late and was in no mood to do anything. He took a bath because he had to, ate biscuits for dinner, switched off the lights and went to sleep.
Around 2:00 a.m., Rihon woke up with a jolt, sweating profusely.
‘I must have had a nightmare,’ he thought.
Though his eyes were open, he couldn’t think why. His heart was pounding and his mind was empty. He strained his eyes, staring at the pitch darkness and breathed heavily till he could sit up and switch on the light.
‘Water… I must drink some water,’ he mumbled and walked towards the fridge in the same room. He felt strangely dizzy while feeling a sense of nothingness, as if he was still dreaming. Rihon opened the fridge, quenched his thirst and just when he was about to move back to the bed, he stood there frozen! He was sleeping on the bed! For a few seconds, he was aware that the man on the bed was him and then, the next, he felt otherwise—his awareness began shifting from one body to the other. When he inhabited the supine body lying in bed, he’d see his duplicate bending over and shaking him.
‘Get off my bed,’ he said to the other body on the bed. His mobile phone rang. His awareness shifted back to the body that stood awake and he answered.
‘Hello, you didn’t call,’ it was Aisha.
She worked in an international BPO, and, since their timings were different, the couple would sometimes connect at odd hours over the phone, even for a few seconds. Normally, Rihon called her at around midnight before dozing off to sleep, but that night was different. ‘Hello,’ he responded in a daze. ‘Hello, why do you sound different?’ Aisha sounded curious.
‘Do I?’ he tried to ponder over his awareness. Was it still with him?
‘All good?’
‘No. No. A man died by suicide at Andheri station and I saw his body. It was… it was terrible,’ he cried out loud.
‘Rihon,’ Aisha wanted to console him but couldn’t.
The next moment, Rihon could see himself from the other body’s perspective, the one on the bed stared blankly at the one standing. Fear and confusion took hold. Was he the man standing up or the man lying in bed?
The next second, Rihon woke up with a jolt again, gasping for air. The lights were switched on and the fridge in the room was open. Why would that be? Had it all been a nightmare?
Did he sleepwalk? So many questions bothered him all at once that he shouted and got out of the bed. He walked up to the fridge, looked at the open water bottle—someone had drank water from it. He put the cap of the bottle back on, placed it inside and shut the fridge door. As he trudged to the washroom, completely baffled about what had been going on, there he was again! He was in the washroom! The body Rihon’s awareness was in could see him through the glass door. What on earth was going on? Unable to move for a few seconds in pure terror, he eventually made an effort and walked up to his doppelgänger, who hadn’t seen him yet. With trembling hands, he tapped his shoulder but…the shoulder passed through him like it was thin air! The Rihon who was aware screamed at the top of his voice, and the next second, he woke up again with a jolt, sweating profusely. The lights were still on, but the fridge had been shut. He looked at the clock, ticking in tandem with his heart rate. It was 4:25 a.m. He knew this was no nightmare, there was more to it for sure. He called Aisha.
‘Hey!’ She sounded worried.
‘Hi.’
‘You sounded very scared. Better now?’ Aisha asked.
‘When did you—’
‘I called at night. Don’t you remember?’
‘You called? No, I didn’t speak to you. I remember I came home and was in no mood for anything. I slept early.’
‘No, Rihon. We spoke at around 2:10 a.m. Check your call log.’
Rihon checked. Indeed, they had spoken. She had called at 2:14 a.m.
‘I…I have no recollection of the call…I don’t know… Something is wrong, Aish,’ Rihon stammered and cried his heart out.
‘Rihon, I’m coming over,’ Aisha said and headed to his flat straight after office. She had been with him for the last three days, till they had contacted Siddharth through a mutual friend.
This was a haunting of a different kind, and Siddharth didn’t feel the need to call the team yet. He knew that this would be more of a counselling session, which he could take care of. Yes, if a cleansing was needed, he would ask Meghna and Rith to join him for the following visit. Mohan wasn’t available then.
‘Thanks for sharing, Rihon. Hungry? Let’s order pizza?’ Siddharth asked and smiled.
Both Rihon and Aisha were tremendously negative and worried. Siddharth had to make them feel a little relieved first.
Siddharth ordered pizza from his phone and then looked at them, still smiling. It helps.
‘Firstly, let me inform you, there is nothing to worry about. Even if there is any problem, we are here,’ his words were consoling.
‘But what is this about?’ Rihon asked, more scared than curious.
‘There are many kinds of hauntings. We think that they are mostly about ghosts, witches, demons, but there is more to them. Please listen to me carefully,’ Siddharth began his counselling session. ‘Have you heard of people having out-of-body experiences?’
‘No. What is that?’
‘We all have done it while sleeping. Some do it a little more than others, but, mostly, all of us have out-of-body experiences. Very few are aware of them though. A person leaves their body and may observe it from a detached perspective, like a soul. It’s believed that we have regular out-of-body experiences while sleeping, often hovering a few inches over our physical bodies. For example, if you have had dreams of flying, not ones on a flight but of literally flying or, say, being in the sky, you have experienced this at a subconscious level.’
‘Does it have anything to do with my condition?’
‘You have no condition, Rihon. You are absolutely fine! I’ll come to it,’ Siddharth paused before continuing.
‘An out-of-body experience is a good example of an autoscopic phenomena, which can start with simply feeling the presence of something or someone next to you. Now, I’m coming to your “condition”,’ Siddharth laughed while making air quotes. He was trying to make the conversation as lively as he could.
Just then, the doorbell rang. ‘Ah, piping hot, yummy pizza! They made it really quickly, haan?’ Siddharth, Rihon and Aisha served themselves as they continued the session.
‘So, the doppelgänger effect takes this phenomenon to another level altogether. A person may hallucinate that they are actually seeing and interacting with themselves—a visual double!’ Siddharth explained.
Rihon began, ‘That’s—’
‘Unbelievable?’
‘No, I didn’t mean that.
‘But you nearly meant it! Let me tell you there is a very thin line between science and the paranormal, at times. In fact, there are many phenomena that both doctors and parapsychologists study, albeit differently. A good example is past life regression. In neuroscientific terms, it is called heautoscopy. It is different from other out-of-body experiences. As part of this, you may perceive an illusory body and your centre of awareness can shift from within the physical body to the illusory body and back, this can happen very frequently and very quickly! There is movement, there is sharing of emotions and sometimes of thoughts too!’
‘But why does it happen?’
‘There can be many reasons for it. In your case, it started with you seeing the dead body of the person who committed suicide at the station. Remember the moment you saw it. Remember the deep unsettling impact it must have had on you. True?’
‘Yes. You are right. It was a sad sight, Siddharth. I stood there and stared at it for a few minutes as if I was hypnotized. But I wasn’t. I was simply numb.’
‘Yes, that’s what happened. Then, you came back to your place, still very disturbed by the incident. It was a repercussion of the trauma. But, Rihon, there can be more to it,’ Siddharth paused, took the last bite of the pizza and then continued, ‘Some consider it to be an ill omen, that brings bad luck with it, more like a premonition. Interestingly, Abraham Lincoln had claimed to have seen his doppelgänger. He saw a double reflection of himself in a mirror. While one face was okay, the other was paler and looked sick. Allegedly, he shared this haunting experience with his wife too. She was worried, as it was a bad omen. Lincoln served his first full term but didn’t live to finish his second. There are many such supposedly true incidents. Queen Elizabeth I was rumoured to have seen a corpse-like figure of herself lying on her bed before her death. But we, at IPS, would not like to believe in such theories. Paranormal investigation takes on a more scientific approach these days. For instance, we look at it from different dimensions and time phases, which may be operating at the same time. Simply put, there can be more than one version of you existing at the same time in alternate realities. At times, it can also be caused due to people suddenly gaining the ability to tap into another time phase to view alternate versions of themselves or other people.’
‘But can trauma cause such a phenomenon? I mean, I agree it was a sight that shook me and left a deep impact, but still.’
‘Yes, why not? Mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, or even brain tumours can cause people to hallucinate about versions of themselves. This is also common among people with epilepsy, especially just before they are about to have a seizure. In your case, it must have been your trauma or you have other emotional baggage.’
‘I feel so relieved after talking to you. Thank you for coming, Siddharth,’ Rihon got up and hugged him.
‘It’s my work, Rihon. I love doing it. If you want, we can cleanse this place, but if you ask me, it won’t be required. It was an incident, and a terrible one at that, I agree. Try to pass it off as a nightmare and get back to your normal routine. The more you think of it, the more you will be disturbed. Don’t forget, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop!’ Siddharth hugged him back and bid the couple goodbye.
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