Miscarriage Atop The Tree

Greetings! This is a small incident but a very scary one, that my grandmother still remembers as vividly as one that took place yesterday. It's not my personal experience, but I've heard of this incident from not only my granny but also other village people. Living in a big city like Mumbai and never having been exposed to such stuff makes it a little difficult to digest. But I'll tell you nevertheless.

I hope though, that you would read my other story first, because this sort of stems from that. Thank you.

So this is a year or so after my grandpa's death. Granny had been confined to her room and was extremely depressed for way too long, so her mom-in-law told her she should go outside the house, visit her friends and lighten up her mood. She decided to visit her friend from the village who used to stay across the lane from her old village house.

This friend of granny's was six and a half months pregnant at this time. Granny was going to stay with her for 2 days, and just sort of catch up. The first day was uneventful. The two friends had a great time chatting and laughing away. On the second day however, after an early dinner, just as the two were about to retire to their room and chat some more, the electricity went (was very common then, in fact in my village it still is). So the two of them along with the former's husband, took their bamboo and jute beds and went to sit out in the lawn. (There were no wooden beds and chairs those days- it was either scrap iron or bamboo and jute- the latter obviously being lighter, was carried out and used to sit in the lawn whenever it was too hot inside). The kids were already asleep so they let them be inside.

Out in the lawn, they were chatting and remembering the good old days, while granny's friend was simultaneously oiling her hair, when all of a sudden an extremely cold wind started to blow. Now, it was the month of May and that too in the state of Haryana, India- there is supposed to be intolerable heat at this time of the year. So it was a little strange. But granny dismissed it. However, the husband began to over react- his face went pale and he immediately got up from his bed and told his wife to do the same. He started repeating loudly and frantically that they should go inside immediately. She followed his instructions quietly- she began to get up from the bed, but naturally it took her a while, thanks to the big baby bump she was carrying.

Guess it was too late. While she was half standing, she suddenly fell onto the bed violently, and started to yawn widely several times. Her eyes started rotating up and down and round and round. In the meanwhile her husband started swearing and chanting prayers simultaneously (quite ironic huh!). My granny knew what was happening. (Although she was seeing her friend like this for the first time.) She knew that the people of the neighbouring house had contracted some illness which had taken away many lives. She knew most of the people who died there had come back to haunt their neighbours. She knew they were bad bad spirits. She knew they were responsible for her husband's death and were now troubling her brother too (kindly read the other story). She knew her friend was bothered by these spirits too. She had heard from the other village people that almost once every 3 months or so, her friend used to start screaming loudly at night, running about madly and uncontrollably, throwing utensils outside the house, and glaring at passers by. On some days she would even be found scratching the door of that neighbour's house and even though her nails weren't too long, they would make a distinct screeching noise. Granny knew all this, but she had never seen her friend being "possessed". Not like she wanted to either. But here it was.

After a few extremely wide yawns, the lady got up, and jumped in one swift movement onto the bed (with her feet on the bed). She slowly turned her head and looked at granny and then the husband, then smiled naughtily and jumped off the bed (don't forget she was very pregnant). Her husband was used to this possession of hers. He knew what was to be done. He ran in and woke up his oldest son, who then ran over to the priest's place to get him.

While the husband had gone in, my granny was left alone with her possessed friend. She had no idea what to do. When my grandpa used to be possessed, all he would do is stare about and be quiet. This jumping around was new to her. Her friend had by now jumped off the bed and was screaming and laughing and dancing on the dry grass in the lawn. She seemed to be in a trance- she had no idea what she was doing- just flinging her arms violently and jumping here and there. (Also if you would remember, she was oiling her hair- which means they were open. And Indian village girls those days weren't allowed to cut their hair as it was a "manly thing to do"- so they were pretty long too. Now imagine a very pregnant lady with long open hair jumping up and down in front of you... Scaryyyyyy!). Now imagine if this is your dear friend. Obviously granny was petrified but just stood there silently. The friend would randomly stop in the middle of her "trance dance" and glare widely at granny, with a slight tilt to her head. This look, granny says, was sending the chills down her spine. And when she narrates this story to me now, she STILL gets goosebumps.

The husband then came out and stood there waiting for the priest while the son ran to get him. Note that the son wasn't scared seeing his mom like this either- it was that common a happening. Anyway, so while doing the trance dance, this lady had reached near a tree in the lawn, around 80 metres away from where they had been sitting before. Granny and the husband followed her there. And then the unbelievable happened... She rapidly climbed up this tree- with her baby bump- like she was used to doing acrobatics like this on a daily basis. (This tree is an ancient tree that has been standing in the village since years. According to traditional village folklore, it is haunted and it houses plenty of dead spirits on it... Frankly, I don't believe that, but well my village relatives swear by it). Anyway so she climbed it up rapidly- and obviously this was an extremely scary sight. They couldn't see much of what was happening on top as it was dark and there was no electricity either. But they could make out that, from atop, she was intermittently staring below and smiling slyly at the two of them. One such stare got particularly scary as she leaned forward with her feet on the trunk below and holding a branch above. She leaned rather dangerously forward at a very acute angle and glared creepily at granny. At this point, granny got extremely freaked and passed out unconscious.

She has no clue what happened after that, but when she opened her eyes, her friend's son was sprinkling water on her. She immediately stood up and asked him where his parents were and was told they were at the hospital. The village had a basic amenities primary health centre where simple medical cases used to be handled. There were no doctors but trained midwives and nurses used to come there and work in turns. Granny walked there as fast as she could (it wasn't too far). On reaching there she found that her friend was absolutely unhurt (don't ask me how), but the baby was declared still born (dead on delivery)

The husband was crying as this was to be a son (Indians were, and some still are, fixated with having a boy child). He told granny that the priest managed to get the spirit out by some enchantments and by threatening the spirit to leave the body (yeah... That's how it's done in Indian villages- they beat up the person possessed with a broom sort of thing and continuously chide the spirit to leave him/her alone; all along chanting some prayers too... Don't ask me how, but it seems to work just fine, each time). So anyway, the spirit left, but while she was climbing down the tree, his wife started to bleed and he had to rush her to the hospital. He was obviously very heartbroken with this news. Granny was glad her friend was fine and went over to speak to her. She was sad due to the news and in pain due to the delivery, but was in a state to talk to granny. Except extremely red eyes, she seemed fine. Though apparently, she didn't remember a thing. All she knew was that they were sitting in the lawn and then she started bleeding so was brought here.

Coming to the end of my story, I must tell you that she never became pregnant again. Maybe it was a coincidence also. No idea. (Not like I am complaining, she had 4 kids already). They later got so troubled by these happenings that they gathered some money and shifted to another village. She has never been troubled again after that! Touch wood.

Granny came back to her own place a day later, only to hear of her brother's first suicide attempt (kindly read the other story). Her troubles, it seems, were nowhere nearing an end...

Thank you for reading. Take care.