The Dark Hole

A true story based on my experience. Since born and brought up in a family where both parents were government employees, I was forced into UPSC coaching immediately after my bachelor's in human psychology. For god's sake, somehow, I qualified in all three phases and selected IPS as my career. For the phase one training, after the foundation course at Mussoorie, I moved to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad. Eleven months of training there changed my life entirely.

'Sogbowli' was a small village 40 km away from our stay. An underdeveloped place where people live like they are still in the 1980s. One day I and my friends- Sangeetha, Vaibhav, and Rihaan went to explore this village. On reaching there, Vaibhav checked his mobile signal to make a call to his home. But unfortunately, there were no mobile towers, and he couldn't make it. We went to the remote areas of the village that day. People there worship a goddess named 'Agerkheri', and their rituals are somewhat annoying. That day our local village guide took us to a place to see a custom that still haunts me in my dreams. 

During my bachelor's, I was interested in paranormal activities and did a project on it. Even though I believed in paranormal activities back then, I never knew I would ever encounter such a daunting incident like this in my life. 

It was twilight. We were in front of an old house where a few villagers gathered. I inquired about what was happening over there. 

The local village guide said in a low voice – "Exorcism". 

We were all astonished at that moment. Sangeetha asked, "What? Really?" She seemed shocked, like me. 

I had heard of exorcism. But now, it is happening in front of our eyes. We were all stoked and wanted to see the custom. With permission from the villagers, we were allowed to view the rituals and the exercises. 

Around twenty villagers, including women, were standing outside the old house. Suddenly an older man- the exorcist, called the spirit healer by villagers, with two other persons, who seemed to be the devotee of the exorcist, came chanting some mantra. They all wore white kurtas, equipped with some requirements for the exorcism. Inside a dark room illuminated by lanterns, they sat on the floor and spread all the carryings -buffalo skulls, human forearm bones, wooden sindoor boxes, and neem twigs.

After a few minutes, a small girl, eleven or twelve, was brought to the centre of the room by her parents. They made her sit on a seat decorated with neem leaves, said something to the exorcist and left. It was silent, dark, and breezy, and the surrounding air was filled with chanting mantras and some string instrument music. 

The village guide mumbled, "She has been acting strangely, depressed and talking nonsense for a few weeks like something has possessed her body". 

We looked into the dark room and saw her red eyes and burned marks on her body in the dim light. The chanting mantras and the music brought her into a trance state, and she suddenly lost control of her body. At that very moment, we all believed in supernatural forces. One of the devotees of the spirit healer uttered, "Now the battle begins between good and evil. This is the place for the dead and the last hope for the possessed".

 

The exorcist asked the girl something, and she responded in a disinterested voice. The three stood up from their positions and moved towards her. One person applied the sindoor to the forehead of the girl while the other brushed her with the neem twigs. The older man sprinkled some holy water on her, demanding the spirit leave the girl's body. The girl was silent. She seems helpless, shivering and sweating. Suddenly, they pulled her from the seat, and one person disrobed her. We were all paralyzed by the shock of what we had witnessed. The girl's hand was tied and hanged by a rope. The older man and two surrounded her with long wooden batons and started to beat her brutally, chanting the mantra. She was screaming with pain, begging to stop, but they kept beating. Blood came from her entire body, and she soon became unconscious. 

The ritual was stopped. The exorcists approached the parents with a triumphant smile and said, "It is over, and your child is now free from the hands of the evil spirit".

 

We came back to the hotel. 

On the way, we didn't talk to each other. We could only imagine the girl with blood oozing out of the bruises from her naked body. It was disturbing me in my dream that day. 

The following morning, we all gathered around the park with coffee, still having yesterday's hangover, and started to discuss what we had witnessed. We decided to complain about the cruelty faced by the girl at the local police station. 

Once that day's training was over, we approached the police station near the village and elaborated on everything we witnessed to the station officer. With a peculiar smile, he said, "I know you are undergoing the training for IPS, young blood, I am 54, and I have seen enough like this. Away from the big civilized cities, superstitions like this are bound. Give a written complaint and leave. I will look into it." We left there with grief. 

One week later, we were taken to Navi Mumbai for investigative training and were immersed in cases more horrifying than this event. 2 years passed. I am now the ASP in the Nalanda district in Bihar. But this incident still haunts me in my dreams. I still see that little girl's helpless face…