Every 25th year on the night of Bhoot Chaturdashi, it is said that the ghost haunting the water of Dub Pukur comes back from beyond. You can hear wailing screams from the ghost thought to be a witch over the dark water.
Hidden amidst the modern buildings of Haldia Township lies a seemingly innocuous pond known as Dub Pukur (ডুব পুকুর). Beneath its calm surface lurks a sinister secret—a tale of witchcraft, murder, and restless spirits that continues to instill fear among the local people to this day.
Read more: Check out all of the ghost stories from India
Haldia is today an industrial port city in West Bengal by Haldi River, coming from Ganges. The surrounding area of the Zamindari used to be ruled by the Mahishadal Raj family and it is in connection to these royals, the ghost story comes from.
The Midwife Witch Haunting Dub Pukur
Legend has it that in the early 18th century, during the peak of the reign of the Royals of Mahishadal Rajbari, a midwife accused of witchcraft and child-devouring faced a grim fate at the hands of a vengeful mob.
The details of this story are sparse, and there is not a lot to go on to dig deeper into the legend of when it started to be told. Some of the few sources claim that the midwife was attacked by witches and they were the one that devoured the child when the Queen gave birth.
Daayans, or witches in Indian folklore are often thought to be a sort of succubi with vampiric traits as they often are said to feed on their victims for power. And as in the rest of the world, old or widowed women were often the subjects of witch hunts. As well as women in certain professions like being a midwife that are often accused of being witches.
In any case, the midwife was blamed and a mob formed. Tied and dragged far from Mahishadal into the depths of the forest along the banks of the Haldi River, she met her untimely end in the murky waters of Dub Pukur on a moonless night.
The Bhoot Chaturdashi Haunting
Since that fateful night, Dub Pukur has become a place of dread and superstition, shrouded in eerie tales of paranormal activity. Every 25 years, on the night of Bhoot Chaturdashi, the 14th day of Krishna Paksha, locals report hearing a blood-curdling scream emanating from the depths of the pond—a chilling reminder of the midwife’s tragic demise.
In West Bengal It is believed on the eve of this dark night, the souls of the deceased come down to earth to visit their dear ones. On this night they are also performing rituals to chase away the evil spirits.
But the horror does not end there. In the morning light of Diwali, the Festival of Lights, the lifeless body of a missing person is often discovered floating ominously in the murky waters of Dub Pukur—a grim testament to the vengeful spirit that still haunts its depths.
More like this
Newest Posts
- Serbia’s Vampire Town Kisiljevo and the Undead Ruža Vlajna
- The Haunted Fields of Croppie’s Acre: Dublin’s Restless Rebellion Ground
- The Vanished Valley: The Fairies of Val Gerina
- Trinity College: The Ghostly Scholars Who Never Left
- The Queen of Wildegg Castle and the Grave of Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart in the Forest
- The Mysterious White Woman Haunting the Belchen Tunnel in the 80s
- The Ghost of Marshalsea Barracks: The Prison That Never Slept
- The Linden Tree of Linn: A Living Monument to Death, Hope, and Haunting Whispers
- The Brazen Head: Dublin’s Oldest Pub and Its Restless Rebel
- Black Cat Ghosts of Bern: A City Haunted by Feline Phantoms
- The Haunting of Münchenstein’s Rectory Marini House
- The Ghost Procession of Basel and the Dance of Death
References:
Naraka Chaturdashi – Wikipedia
List of reportedly haunted locations in India – Wikipedia
