it.
This is the story that my
cousin told me, as had been told to him by my aunt, his mother.
***
……….Our great grandfather
and grandmother lived in a village near a sleepy railway town called Jamalpur
(in Bihar, India). They lived in a rural area, and there was a graveyard not
that far away. In fact, there was even an overgrown path through the forest
that led to the unmarked graveyard, but it was not often used. As you know,
Hindus are cremated on a funeral pyre, this graveyard was a special one, used
on certain occasions. Very young children when they die or those suspected of
being churail are buried here.
The path had become unruly
and overgrown as it was only one of many ways to get to the graveyard and many
people did not use the path out of respect of my grandparents, for they would
have had to go through their property to reach it. Most of the villagers used a
path that joined up from the road, which led to the main entrance.
Shortly after their
marriage, grandmother became pregnant. Both she and grandfather rejoiced in
this happy event. Grandfather doted on grandmother, protecting her and
nurturing her and the baby. All good men did this, it was necessary to prevent
a churail from occurring, were the pregnancy to take a bad turn.
However, a churail ended
up in their lives anyways. Because she was pregnant, sex was out of the question
so grandfather began to sleep in the other room, so that grandmother would have
the bed to herself. He did not mind the arrangement; he wanted what was best
for his bride and the baby. However, he soon found himself in a very dangerous
position, under the deadly spell of a churail.
Grandfather began to grow
weaker, and he was looking frail and older than he should. The difference was
shockingly apparent to grandmother, but grandfather insisted he was fine,
despite his increasingly fragile health. Grandmother was worried and
rightfully so, one day, while outside, she noticed that the forest path to the
cemetery no longer looked so overgrown. The weeds had been tramped down from
somebody travelling along the path.
Curious, grandmother kept
an eye on the path but saw nobody that day. That night, she was unable to
sleep and so she was sitting by the window, in the darkness, when she saw the
woman. The woman was young, and beautiful, and she passed so close to the
window that grandmother could have reached out and touched her. Grandmother
said nothing, assuming that she was perhaps from the village nearby, walking to
the graveyard, perhaps to meet somebody in the darkness.
The next day, grandmother
went outside and saw footprints, in the dirt around the side of the house. They
were human and yet they were not. It almost looked as if they were backwards.
Most people walk heel to toe, so the heel makes a deeper impression. These
footprints had a bigger impression by the toes and the ball of the foot, not the
heel and they just looked wrong, grandmother got a very uneasy feeling.
The next night,
grandmother went to bed but did not go to sleep. Instead, she waited for her
husband to retire to bed and then she waited some time and then took a lantern
and entered the room grandfather slept in. She was so shocked that she nearly
dropped the lantern. She saw her husband, lying on his back in the bed, with
the woman she had seen naked, over top of him. The woman had her feet on
backwards; she was a churail!
Grandmother knew that her
husband was under the churail’s spell. The churail was sucking his life force
and it would kill him, then the churail would kill her and her unborn baby as
well. She needed to do something and she needed to do something quickly. The
next day, grandmother went to the village to ask if anybody had died recently.
She discovered that a young woman had died recently of unsuccessful child birth
and was buried in the graveyard, relatively close to where the forest path was.
They told grandmother that it could not be a churail because they had
This is the story that my
cousin told me, as had been told to him by my aunt, his mother.
***
……….Our great grandfather
and grandmother lived in a village near a sleepy railway town called Jamalpur
(in Bihar, India). They lived in a rural area, and there was a graveyard not
that far away. In fact, there was even an overgrown path through the forest
that led to the unmarked graveyard, but it was not often used. As you know,
Hindus are cremated on a funeral pyre, this graveyard was a special one, used
on certain occasions. Very young children when they die or those suspected of
being churail are buried here.
The path had become unruly
and overgrown as it was only one of many ways to get to the graveyard and many
people did not use the path out of respect of my grandparents, for they would
have had to go through their property to reach it. Most of the villagers used a
path that joined up from the road, which led to the main entrance.
Shortly after their
marriage, grandmother became pregnant. Both she and grandfather rejoiced in
this happy event. Grandfather doted on grandmother, protecting her and
nurturing her and the baby. All good men did this, it was necessary to prevent
a churail from occurring, were the pregnancy to take a bad turn.
However, a churail ended
up in their lives anyways. Because she was pregnant, sex was out of the question
so grandfather began to sleep in the other room, so that grandmother would have
the bed to herself. He did not mind the arrangement; he wanted what was best
for his bride and the baby. However, he soon found himself in a very dangerous
position, under the deadly spell of a churail.
Grandfather began to grow
weaker, and he was looking frail and older than he should. The difference was
shockingly apparent to grandmother, but grandfather insisted he was fine,
despite his increasingly fragile health. Grandmother was worried and
rightfully so, one day, while outside, she noticed that the forest path to the
cemetery no longer looked so overgrown. The weeds had been tramped down from
somebody travelling along the path.
Curious, grandmother kept
an eye on the path but saw nobody that day. That night, she was unable to
sleep and so she was sitting by the window, in the darkness, when she saw the
woman. The woman was young, and beautiful, and she passed so close to the
window that grandmother could have reached out and touched her. Grandmother
said nothing, assuming that she was perhaps from the village nearby, walking to
the graveyard, perhaps to meet somebody in the darkness.
The next day, grandmother
went outside and saw footprints, in the dirt around the side of the house. They
were human and yet they were not. It almost looked as if they were backwards.
Most people walk heel to toe, so the heel makes a deeper impression. These
footprints had a bigger impression by the toes and the ball of the foot, not the
heel and they just looked wrong, grandmother got a very uneasy feeling.
The next night,
grandmother went to bed but did not go to sleep. Instead, she waited for her
husband to retire to bed and then she waited some time and then took a lantern
and entered the room grandfather slept in. She was so shocked that she nearly
dropped the lantern. She saw her husband, lying on his back in the bed, with
the woman she had seen naked, over top of him. The woman had her feet on
backwards; she was a churail!
Grandmother knew that her
husband was under the churail’s spell. The churail was sucking his life force
and it would kill him, then the churail would kill her and her unborn baby as
well. She needed to do something and she needed to do something quickly. The
next day, grandmother went to the village to ask if anybody had died recently.
She discovered that a young woman had died recently of unsuccessful child birth
and was buried in the graveyard, relatively close to where the forest path was.
They told grandmother that it could not be a churail because they had
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