This incident happened when I used to do freelance work. It was well past midnight, and I was working furiously at home on my desktop, trying to meet a deadline next day. We had a black Indian breed dog named Leo, who had this weird habit of wanting to go out to do his thing at odd hours. It was one such occasion. He started his routine whining ritual standing in front of the door and looking back at me now and then. His way of saying "Dude its time, let's go!"
My tired brain needed some fresh air and my stiff back a decent walk, so I picked up his leash and set out.
Leo had recently found his new favorite spot to do his thing which was at a very odd place. One had to walk left from my building, cross two more buildings and then take a left from the main road which was more like a path which went 20-25 meters down and ended abruptly. Full of wild shrubs on both sides of the path and basically a place where people threw their junk. Some old, abandoned cars with shrubs growing inside them and peeking out of the broken windows. Beyond this path was just a dense patch of wilderness no one bothered going into. But right before this path ended, on the left of it stood an old dilapidated single storied structure with a mammoth dry Peepal tree (Fichus religiosa) behind it which stood like a hooded cobra over it. This used to be an old government office but since abandoned for some reason.
Being past midnight, the street was lonely, not even the usual gang of street dogs. The street dimly lit by occasional sodium bulb lampposts which threw an amber yellow light on the road. As I took the left towards this path, dragged hurriedly by Leo, I entered the dark zone which took some eye adjusting. Being my area, the darkness wasn't that unnerving and by nature I am cool being in total darkness. But I was a little more aware of the surroundings, must be the animal instinct kicking in. Leo had reached his spot and was busy fooling around moving in circles in the wild grass trying to figure out all kinds of smells. Doing everything but the thing he was supposed to do, much to my irritation. Me standing bored with a long leash in hand, lost in my own thoughts on how to execute my work when I reach back, I let him do his ritual in peace.
Few minutes must have passed, and we were still at the same spot and suddenly Leo sensed something which made him really alert and he started looking point blank at the abandoned structure giving out a soft urgent whine. I asked "Leo, what is it?" and he just answered with a low subdued growl. Frozen to his spot with his right foot up, eyes and ears focused straight and then retraced a few steps back. I assumed he must have sensed some animal nearby, so I yanked the leash gently to make him come out of his trance and get back to doing his thing. But Leo wasn't budging. Just frozen stiff looking at the building. Instinctively my eyes followed his line of sight.
As I concentrated and tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness in front, things started to appear a bit clearer. It was dark but as my eyes adjusted more and more, I could easily make out the structure in front which was roughly at 30 feet. The 4 flights of steps at front which lead to the open corridor around 15-20 feet wide. And I knew this corridor led to two doors on either side. Two pillars on side of the steps at top and then a very low wall that extended until the two doors on either side.
The first few moments I didn't notice anything wrong, but then I saw something moving by the corridor. A dark shadowy figure, moving at a slow pace like having a leisure walk. The appearance looked more feminine to me, and it seemed like its hair was long and kept open. I was pretty sure there was no one living in that dilapidated structure for long. But it seemed to be occupied now by whoever this was.
Both me and Leo were fixated at this moving shadow by now. My brain wanting to believe it was a real flesh and bones person, but I had never seen my dog behave this way. The shadow was pacing up and down the corridor, but what seemed peculiar was it didn't seem like a human gait but more of a gliding over movement. I adjusted my eyes again trying to make more sense of what I was seeing. Leo was now in a more aggressive stance... Brushing his hind legs on the ground furiously, but even his low growling had stopped now.
The only fraction of a second where I was missing the shadow was when it was crossing the two pillars at the front. And in one such moment as it passed from left to right again, it felt like its gaze turned towards us and the next moment the shape started dissipating like a cloud, it went past the pillar, but nothing came up on the other side. And the very next moment a dark cat like figure appeared by the foot of the left pillar and jumped down the entrance steps and vanished into the shrubbery in front towards the right. It looked like it was advancing towards us. But the area was dense with shrubs and grass and there was no way of knowing that for sure.
Till this point I was in an inquisitive mode but now a shiver went down my spine and my Spidey senses screaming to move from this spot immediately. I yanked hard at my dog, literally dragging him out of that path and somehow reached back to the main street and stood under a streetlamp to catch my breath. Glancing back, all I could see was infinite darkness and just eerie silence. I hurried back home not looking back again.
Nothing untoward happened past this. Except my mind trying to figure out what my eyes had just witnessed. Two days later I went and checked the place out of curiosity during daytime and it still seemed all locked and abandoned the way it always was. Littered with dry leaves, cobwebs and untouched dust.
Possibilities:
1. Easy one - It was just a play of dark shadows and my eyes playing tricks and the brain imagining things with faulty data.
2. Good one - Perhaps there really was someone camping in the premises, which thought of taking a stroll in the corridor and then laid down to sleep pushing out a cat sleeping near to it that ran down the steps.
3. Tough one- It was not from this world.
Thank you for reading.
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