The haunted grove

I discovered this story while I had gone on a vacation trip. I had never thought in the wildest of dreams that I would come back with a story to be shared with my readers. Before I proceed a small clarification that all the names taken here are fictitious.

Recently my family and I, along with some friends, embarked on a thrilling adventure to Nabagram a small village near Burwan district in West Bengal. The train journey was filled with singing, chatting, card games, etc. The excitement was at its peak, thanks to our big group.

Upon reaching Nabagram and settling in, we decided to explore the nearby forest. Some selected people including me headed towards very beautiful and dense woods which were unusually silent. On reaching a fenced part of the forest, something caught our eye – a massive, spooky tree. Our curiosity peaked. We were keen to have a closer glance at the tree, and that is when one of the locals who was with us warned us to be cautious.

As we inched closer to the bizarre tree, the village person shared a spine-chilling rural legend. In the same village, there once lived a family with a daughter named Kalindi. She was about 13 years old and with an uncommon persona. Her favorite place was the jungle. Most of the time she used to spend time in the jungle staring into the abyss of the creepy darkness of the jungle or sitting idle under this creepy tree. Sometimes, she used to play with her friends but that too in the vicinity of the jungle.

All was going fine when one day her innocent play in the jungle took a dark turn when she began acting strangely and at times blabbered gibberish. Her friends stopped accompanying her but she continued to spend her time in the forest and played all by herself.

Tragedy struck when, after months of her bizarre behavior, a child died, and the blame fell on Kalindi. A family was blessed with a baby boy who was healthy and fine. The family invited the other villagers to visit their house and bless the baby boy. Kalindi's family was also invited and she went with her family to see the boy. After reaching there she slowly managed to get closer to the baby. The baby was smiling and everybody else was also enjoying and blessing the child. Suddenly some of the villagers noticed that Kalindi was staring at the baby without blinking her eyes and then she touched him. Weirdly, after touching him, she turned back and ran from that house mumbling some nonsensical words.

Sadly, that baby boy died the next day without any apparent logical reasons.The villagers considered her to be a wicked witch and believed she possessed some evil power. Angry villagers exiled her family tied her to the ominous tree and left her to die there. She kept on shouting and yelling that she was innocent but no one was ready to believe that little girl.

After a few days, her yell went feeble and one day it stopped. Villagers went there only to find her body lying on the foot of this tree, lifeless. A villager grabbed the attention of the others and said that a few days back he came near to the tree unknowingly to collect dried branches and twigs. Kalindi was alive at that time but on the verge of her end. She whispered like the eerie rustling of the wind about her curse to all the villagers. A plague will eradicate all the villagers and desert the village.

A few days after her death, a dreadful plague destroyed the village and killed almost 70% of the dwellers, forcing its inhabitants to flee. Everybody now knew that they were undergoing the curse of that innocent girl and if they stayed here all would die.

Five years later, a family gathered strength and decided to return to the village. Slowly and gradually few more families came back to their homeland. Within a few months, they faced some more deaths in the village. They realized that the curse wasn't over.

Seeking answers, they found an old lady living on the outskirts, who claimed to communicate with Kalindi's spirit. Determined to break the curse, the villagers sought her help.

In a feeble voice, the old lady revealed that she spoke to Kalindi's spirit regularly, believing in her innocence. Kalindi's spirit spoke to her about her vengeful energy which is still burning with grudges. The old lady said that she spoke to the spirit, and tried to give her solace by offering food and water as Kalindi died with hunger and thirst. That old lady still offers that thing every day, in the dawn and dusk. The villagers realized their mistakes and agreed to ask for an apology to the revengeful spirit.

In the morning, all of the villagers went to the tree with the old lady with lots of offerings. As the old lady spoke to Kalindi's spirit, a warm breath released from a deep cavern of the tree, signifying forgiveness. From that day on, the villagers honored Kalindi as Devi, offering prayers to the tree, and Nabagram transformed from a ghost town into a place of peace.

So, there you have it – a tale of fear, curiosity, and redemption from the heart of Nabagram.