The Ghosts of Burma Airfield, Kanpur

Kanpur, a large industrial city in northern India may not seem the quintessential haunting ground, what with its mammoth population and the appalling lack of living space, but upon driving over to the Military Cantonment side of the city - Napier Road to be precise - one comes across the vast emptiness of the Burma Airfield. Currently known as the Civil Aerodrome, used for imparting the occasional Gliding Lesson to NCC Cadets (sort of like senior scouts and guides) and even more rarely for landing private craft.

During the Second World War the Airfield was one of the many in India used by the British to lend support to their troops. In 1990 - 91, my old man, being an army officer, had taken up residence with the family in 23 Napier Road which was across the road from the aerodrome and I, being 16 - 17 years of age, was discovering the joys of spending time with young women in any degree of solitude.

One evening in the empty moat surrounding the runway, my lady friend and myself were busy doing what teens do and had failed to note the approaching darkness. Determined to finish what we had started and unmindful to the possible dangers of being alone with a buxom young thing in such a lonely place, especially in the crime riddled hellhole that the city is, I had thrown all caution to the winds and wanted a repeat performance but only this time, on the boundary wall of the airfield. As we were trudging blindly through the darkness with my girlfriend in tow, all of a sudden I felt as though my entire body was tightly wrapped up mummy like in a bandage of static electricity and something was happening around us, of which I was acutely aware, but just what it was, I had no means of ascertaining, owing to the darkest darkness I have ever known.

It was then that I realized that we were not the only ones there. Though I could see nothing at all, I had the distinct feeling that we were surrounded by a group of unseen hands who were rapidly centering in upon us from all directions. By this time I had unknowingly left my girlfriend's hand and was half running, urging her to do the same. She seemed unperturbed and complied until she realized that I was no longer running ahead of her, but had stopped someplace behind.

She called out to me with a certain degree of panic in her voice, which I plainly heard but was unable to answer back because my active mind was straining to perceive something that was way beyond my five senses. In the time that it took my girlfriend to stop, turn back, call out to me and return to the spot that I seemed transfixed to, I felt the passing of eternity as though time had slowed down drastically.

In that space of time, I felt as though I was the pole in a Maypole dance and these unseen beings running around me peeling off band after band of static electricity that I had felt was enveloping me. Upon feeling that I was rid of the bands, I wanted to do nothing but get the hell out of there, but the moment I moved, I felt the whole bands of electricity routine start all over again, only this time, in reverse, as though the entities running around me had continued circling me even after completely peeling off the first bands of static.

Again I seemed to be tied up in the same way only this time it was much tighter. The whole peeling and unpeeling process went on Lord only knows for how long. It was only when my friend came back that I was able to move again. Only this time I did nothing but held her hand tightly and beat a hasty retreat out of there. This is the first time that I have ever related this incident to anyone.