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The Woman Near The Handpump

 

Namaskar folks.

This incident, as narrated to me by my mother, occurred to my late maternal grandma, whom I would refer to as "nani" for the rest of the story.

This dates back to the 80s, when my mom was still a kid. My mother's family used to live in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, in a locality where many families used to live. The locality was not the sort of 'colony' that we'd imagine, but was instead, a closely knit group of houses, where people shared verandahs and roofs with each other. Those houses now lie in ruins and seem to be a hotspot for paranormal activities, since every family migrated to some other place in the early 2000s, leaving those houses unoccupied.

As per my mother, there had been a number of paranormal activities in that area, like there used to be a house where many people would faint, and would later claim that they felt a gust. But none of this was so frightening, as compared to my Nani's experience.

It so happened, that there was a sacred thread ceremony being held. Since everyone lived near to each other, all of them used to live like a single joint family. Our house was a bit bigger than the rest of the lot, and hence, some kids, who were relatives of the family that had the ceremony at their house, came to sleep at our place. My mother, her sister and three other girls (the ones related to the family hosting the ceremony) were sleeping in the outer room that was just next to the verandah and my nani was sleeping in the room behind it. She felt thirsty at night and went to fetch a glass of water from the container, which was kept in the outer room.

While she was having water, she saw someone using the handpump just outside. Although, someone using hand pump isn't unusual, but at 3 o'clock in the midnight, was a sight someone wouldn't take easily. My nani gathered some courage and went outside to take a look, but she got chills down her spine, when she saw that it was a woman, clad in white, and seemed to float in the air. My nani didn't dare call her out, and quietly went inside the room. She closed the doors and windows, and kept a photo of Lord Hanuman beside the kids.

She didn't disclose this to anyone for years. But one day, a neighbour of ours herself told her that she had seen a woman using the handpump at midnight. This cemented my Nani's belief that she did see something paranormal that night. Although, my nani never told this to me, but she surely did tell this to my mother. My mother always wondered why she was not allowed to sleep with the windows open after that particular night, but she too, received the shock of her life after listening to Nani's experience.

I hope you all liked it. For now, goodbye.

Namaskar.

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, slim_shady, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Sleeping-with-steve (guest)
+2
6 years ago (2018-10-07)
Hello AugustaM,

Thank you for your informative comment. You certainly know your stuff. It makes sense now that spirits do need food.

When I read 'I see the old cartoon image of a skeleton drinking a beer only to have the contents splatter to the floor through his bones', I cracked up laughing. Lol 😊

Thanks for putting me straight and sharing all that information. The more information shared, the more I learn.

Best wishes,
Miandra
😘 ❤ 😘
AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)
+3
6 years ago (2018-10-07)
Sleeping with Steve - the concept of spirit interactions with water and vittals is an interesting one. I totally agree with you that logically (especially to a modern Western way of thinking) a spirit has no need of physical nourishment of any kind. However, in many cultures, spirits do require food and drink. Think of the ancient Egyptians provisioning their dead for the journey into the after life with food and wine in their tombs. Many Eastern cultures too hold that the dead must be made offerings of food and drink. Ancient Roman tombstones often featured apertures for the pouring in of wine for the dead. Traditions from the British Isles contain suggestions to leave dishes of milk out for the little people. We have even had accounts from contributors to this form tell of experiences of leaving out offerings for the dead and, in some, seeing evidence of such offerings is being been "consumed".

True, in my mind, I see the old cartoon image of a skeleton drinking a beer only to have the contents splatter to the floor through his bones - but, perhaps, there is more to it than that.

Then again, in this particular situation, perhaps there is less to do with the water and more to do with the action. Drawing water for the household is a daily and vital chore - there is much symbolic inference that can be writ into such a ritual - its importance may be part of the reasoning behind the spirit's attraction back to the task. There is also peace to be found in this sort of rote mechanical process - creating opportunity for the mind to wander into near meditative even trance-like states - mental states where many hold it is possible to draw nearer to the veil and enable communication beyond it. Given all that, it seems almost unsurprising to hear of this spirit's presence and also quite difficult to determine whether the haunting is residual or sentient... I wonder if it is possible to be a little of both...
sushantkar (16 stories) (533 posts)
+4
6 years ago (2018-09-25)
Hello Shady, thanks for the reply and brief history of your native place. British ruled india for almost 200 years and there is no place left where they didn't brought ruin and death. Mine place is also not an exception. The locality where my ancestral house was used to be, was a battle ground once where british faught against the resistance. So there are many sightings of soilders of both India and Britain in vesture of old colonial era.
From my childhood to until date I have always found wells very creepy because the number of tragedies associated with it along with number of paranormal sightings.

Once again thanks for your input and I am looking forward to read more from you in forth coming time.

Regards
slim_shady (5 stories) (11 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-09-25)
Dear Melda,
I thought on the same lines as yours, when I heard this from my mother. Definitely, there must have been someone who was a regular on that hand pump, but died tragically. Now, it keeps making appearance. I don't know whether it does, even now, but surely hope that all this might have stopped and the spirit has attained the required peace.
slim_shady (5 stories) (11 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-09-25)
Hello, Sleeping-with-steve,
I agree with you. But neither do spirits cook. Still, people witness utensils levitating in their kitchens.
😜
slim_shady (5 stories) (11 posts)
+3
6 years ago (2018-09-25)
Hello sushantkar.
The area that I have referred to, is too old. It was there during the British era, and has its own share of deaths and tragedies. Although, this was just one of the experiences, my mother tells me of different strange things happening there, even before she was born. As far as the hand pump is concerned, I have myself seen it, when I last visited the place in 2006. But considering the proximity of a wall to the hand pump, it is difficult to say that a well once stood there. Although, I didn't know of this incident then, but still, I thought how creepy the place was.
Melda (10 stories) (1363 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-09-25)
slim-shady - I tend to go with sushantkar's version of a residual sighting. It probably occurs at about 3 in the morning because that lady, for whatever reason, had a habit of pumping water at that time. I think it's very unlikely that she would harm anybody - if it's residual she actually isn't there anymore and will be totally unaware of the fact that anybody has witnessed her activity. 😐

Regards, Melda
Bodi-Gundamma (1 stories) (21 posts)
+3
6 years ago (2018-09-24)
Nice Story young man! I had similar kind of experience while I was preparing Dosa in kitchen 😊
Sleeping-with-steve (guest)
+2
6 years ago (2018-09-24)
Hello Slim-Shady,

Thank you for sharing your nani's experience. She must have been petrified.

Why was the spirit pumping water? Spirits can't eat or drink, to my knowledge anyway. I know you probably don't know that answer but I wondered and thought I'd ask.

Hope to hear from you soon.
😘 ❤ 😘
sushantkar (16 stories) (533 posts)
+3
6 years ago (2018-09-24)
Hello Shady, I am also from UP, Varanasi to be precise. Being raised in a similar locality (mohalla), I truly understand and create a visual of that. I know how close by the houses are generally in mohallas where you can even go one roof to another by just crossing small boundaries/fences.
Have you tried to dig history of that place. Maybe someone committed suicide there or had a tragic death. Multiple sighting shows it's residual, imprint of someone's untimely death. Maybe there was some well and later on people constructed handpump there for safety.
Looking forward for reply from you in this regards.

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