Are they merely spooky tales or nightmares in the city of dreams

The night is never dark in Mumbai, the city which is always on the move. But if you happen to stop and listen, you will surely catch strains of something from the beyond...

Haunted Jaunted

There’s something eerie about Sewri. From the docks and the graveyard to the Sewri highway, spook seems to surround you

Rebecca Leslie/ Elphinstone Road

There is news for those of you who thought that Mu mbai has always been an extremely safe, sane and rational city. The next time you venture out at night, you might want to watch out for the unnatural. Kidding, are we? Here are some uncanny and rather creepy places in Mumbai you might want to stay away from…

The dreadful docks

The docks in Sewri-west seem to be quite a hot spot for the spirit world. The docks, which are rumoured to harbour smuggling and underground activity, are also known by the locals for the bloodcurdling aura it has at nights. "We are told not to go there at nights because it's not safe at all and unusual things happen there.

It can be dangerous to your life, I've heard," said my friend, Emmanuel Tapala, a resident of Sewri-east, mentioning an incident that happened with him a couple of months back. "I was roaming with two other guys at about 1:30 am in the night and we casually ventured near the docks. We saw a group of women dancing, playing and laughing aloud all by themselves. It's pretty unusual for women to be out that late and in a place like that. They even started teasing me and my friends and that scared us enough to turn back."

Darryl D'Souza, who has visited the place often at nights when out with friends, also testifies to the spine-chilling feeling that one gets here.

He speaks of a dilapidated, abandoned office building that is in the vicinity and says, "There's always a feeling that something is wrong in that place, whenever I pass by it." The ramshackle construction that used to be a Docks Office building previously, now lies deserted and has overgrown shrubbery all around it. Cynical? You must test your guts there at night.

Rest in peace?

The famous Christian graveyard in Sewri east is the biggest resting place for the dead in Mumbai. It's no wonder that people who live in the vicinity feel and see weird things in the night. A friend of mine stays on Sewri hill in a house that overlooks the graveyard. "We need to look for a new house but we can't afford it at the moment," she cries. "I have not had proper sleep in months. Every night, I feel a presence enter the house and tries to choke me. I'm suffering from severe chest pain ever since."

"I've been staying here since 21 years but never had the guts to go there after dusk. It's too scary and there are definitely sprits lingering in that place," adds Emmanuel Tapala, who stays at a stone's throw from the graveyard. "I know for sure that there are spirits and it is pitch dark in the night. I know the watchmen in the graveyard and they all have to get drunk every single night, just so that they don't freak out on their duty. They do it to remain semi conscious and avoid seeing the spirits."

Emmanuel and his friends have also witnessed a lady move about in a white saree in the graveyard at night. "I was out with my friends again and we were at a height on Sewri hill. We saw the woman. My friends saw her too. We were at a distance, but I'm sure we did see her."

Khoja Chawl, a string of houses opposite the graveyard, has also had its share of ghostly visitations. The residents of this area claim to be haunted by the spirit of a woman who plunged to death by setting herself on fire.

Her family members claim to see her every now and then at nights and the residents of the chawl fear her rumoured visits at night. Parveen (name changed), a young mother who resides here is said to have seen the ghost of the burnt woman call her by name.

Accidents?

I think not… The harbour-line highway that starts at Sewri and ends at VT has always had heavy vehicles like trucks, lorries and tankers plying through at any hour of the day. The highway has witnessed its share of truck accidents at a particular point in the road at Sewri. slum dwellers and hutment residents near the accident prone area say that at nights, a lot of trucks brake suddenly and meet with accidents.

Beulah Yama, a spiritually sensitive resident of the BDD buildings that fence the road says, "I once had a dream that there was a little black man dressed in a long black attire standing in the middle of the road where the accidents take place.

I knew that there was some evil spirit responsible for the mishaps." Beulah's dream got confirmed rather strangely a few months later. Banu, a slum resident said that a truck driver who was terribly wounded after an accident was brought to their slums. When asked how the accident took place, he claimed to have suddenly seen a black man, dressed in black, standing in the middle of the road.

Bizarre? Not so to those who've witnessed it. Can we discard these instances as old wives' tales and let our logic attempt to explain these unexplainable experiences?

All these residents of Sewri have witnessed spooky and hair-raising stuff that no logic and rationale could elucidate. There is an active spiritual world out there, wake up to it.