THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS GHOST

THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS GHOST
A.K.Raman
Exploring the village

Anand and his classmates Hussein and Baabani were excited. The summer vacation was nearing and they had planned to visit Anand’s grand parents. They were living in a village called Chittur on the edge of a thick forest. Main aim of their visit is to get the feel of the forest. The three friends were in their late teens. All of them were well grown to defy their real age. They were intelligent, inquisitive and adventurous.
On a particular day, all of them met during the lunch break. Anand took out a newspaper clipping and showed it to his friends. The heading was
“Fear of ghost triggers an exodus”
The body of the news item described that a ghost was haunting Chittur village and most of the villagers had left the village. The village already appeared deserted. Few villagers presently living might leave the village at any time leaving the whole village at the mercy of the ghost.
Hussein and Baabani looked at Anand with a frown. The ghost was threatening their planned visit to the forest. But Anand assured that his grand parents would never leave the village, ghost or no ghost.
“What I wanted you to know is that with luck we may have a tête-à-tête with the ghost.” Anand said cheerfully.
The train journey was comfortable. But they had to travel the last fifteen kilometers by bus. The road was bumpy and the rickety bus shook their bones. The heat was telling upon them. They heaved a sigh of relief once they reached the house. They slept like a log of wood in big well-ventilated room. The single fan might have been there in the room for ages and wind from it was barely able to penetrate the mosquito nets. The air was hot and sultry. The rhythmic sound from the fan coupled with whining of mosquitoes would not allow any body to sleep in normal days. None of these affected the boys, as they were so tired.
The next day, after breakfast they went outside to explore the village. The trees in the village were green and dense. They felt that they were already inside the forest. The streets looked deserted. Most of the houses were locked. The people in the remaining houses were old who were either unable to undertake a long journey or determined not to leave their home, ghost or no ghost. Out of the few people they met, only two people made an impression on them. One was the temple priest.
“The temple has been locked for decades. See! Now I am around sixty-five. The last puja I conducted was at the age twenty-five. The temple was locked due to the feud between two leading families. I have warned them and other villagers about ill effect of keeping the temple locked. Nobody listened to my warnings. The village was thriving in agriculture few years ago. The villagers were well fed and led a simple and happy life. Now we have to purchase food from the neighboring villages. To make the matters worse, the ghost is waiting in the wings to enter the village. Bad days are coming.” The priest went on lamenting.
The other was tall, lean and thin with a large bushy mustache. There was something evil in his look. He was wearing clean clothes neatly ironed. Smell of country liquor was whooshing out from his mouth. All the three boys hated him instantly.
“Is it the right time for you to visit your grand parents? All the people are going out of the village for safety and you have selected this time to visit and see deserted village!”
“No Sir! We have come here to see the forest and other wild animals inside” Baabani blurted out.
“Oh! You are going inside the forest too. I warn you now itself. The forest is dangerous. Return back to your parents if you want to live long. I don’t want to see your dead bodies inside the forest. Understand. Get out of this village fast sooner the better.” He growled and went along his way.
“What a welcome party?” The boys mused within themselves and returned back home. But when Anand told his grand father about the conversation with the bad guy, he laughed loudly.
“Oh! Veeru? Don’t go by his looks. He is a nice fellow. He means no harm. In fact he would be the first person to help you in case of a danger. He knows the forest in and out. I will call him and ask him to escort you into the forest one day.”
These words encouraged them and their mood changed instantly. They took their dinner and went to bed making plans for the adventure.
* * *
The ghost appears

The next day, the morning sky was overcast with occasional lightning and thunder. By about ten ‘O’ clock, rain started pouring down. Though it brought instant relief from the heat, it prevented the boys from venturing inside the village to explore further. The boys decided to take out their Ham radio set and try their luck to make contact with some friend. Luck was with them as a voice came out of the loud speaker loud and clear. This indicated some other Ham member was nearby. Instantly they struck a lively conversation with him at the end of which they agreed to contact each other daily at that hour. The rain had not stopped yet and they decided to take early lunch.
After lunch they went upstairs to continue their conversation among themselves. It turned towards the ghost. Enquiries had revealed that nobody among the remaining villagers had seen the ghost. But rumor had it that the ghost appeared in the skies during midnight. It appeared randomly as per its wish at least once in a month. Most of the times it appeared new moon days or a few days on either side of new moon day. Sometimes it had appeared twice, few days before and again a few days after new moon day in the same month. This was bad news for the boys. New moon day was a week away and hence they decided to take steps to see the ghost with their own eyes. The plan was to persuade the grand parents to permit them to sleep on the terrace. The stairs to the terrace was on the outside. They would take turns and watch for the ghost till twilight. It was also agreed that once the ghost appeared on the sky, the person on duty would awake the other two. This would serve two purposes, safety and equal opportunity for all to see the ghost.
Accordingly they started their watch from the next day. But the ghost disappointed them for four consecutive days. Slowly the excitement was fading. On the fourth day Anand watched the sky till midnight yawning number of times, awoke Hussein, handed over charge of watching and fell into deep slumber instantly. His sleep was disturbed as he felt something heavy falling on his body. He awoke with a start to see Hussein on him. He was trembling and was mumbling some incoherent sound. He pushed Hussein out and sat up. Simultaneously, He saw Baabani getting up as Hussein had fell on both of them, his body falling on Anand and his legs on Baabani. Anand froze as he followed the gaze of Hussein. Utter fear gripped the three boys. They saw a big black face slowly rising from the woods towards the sky. The red eyes were looking down towards them. Two large canine teeth were jetting out of the mouth. The big face was swaying slowly and the ghost was watching the whole village from one side to the other. The three boys were staring at the ghost and the ghost was staring back at them from the sky. Suddenly Hussein ran towards the stairs and climbed down towards two steps at a time. Anand and Baabani followed him. They opened the door and rushed inside the house closing the door firmly. Once inside their bedroom, they caught hold of an iron bar as if their life depended upon the firmness of contact with iron. They had heard that ghosts fear iron and don’t harm anybody in contact with iron. They were muttering mantras and verses from their respective religion. First it was a whisper and then they started repeating the mantras each time the decibels increased. After some time they gained courage. Anand looked at the watch and time was 2.30 a.m. By 3.00 a.m. they felt a faint light outside. Anand recovered first and smiled faintly. It caught with others.
“So we have seen the ghost. What next? Let us start our return journey tomorrow.” Hussein murmured.
“That is today” Anand replied.
“Let us pack up then.” Baabani agreed.
“No. Let us grab some sleep if possible. At least take some rest. We are not in a condition to think anything now. It is already twilight now. There is no more danger now. It is four ‘O’ clock now. The village will awake at any time now.” Anand countered.
They went on talking nonsense for some time until exhaustion put them to sleep. By five ‘O’ clock all of them were drowned in deep slumber. They got up very late in the morning and finished their morning chores. They ate their break fast silently due to slight hangover of fear. Baabani broke the silence with a loud chuckle.
“The bravest gang of the school, my foot” he spoke to himself.
“However my friend! We are no match to a ghost” Hussein responded sarcastically.
“But we came flying from the terrace without wings. The ghost did not do anything at all. Ours was a knee jerk reaction. We did not even have good look at the ghost. This is utter cowardice” Baabani was adamant.
“Anand! Fix an appointment with the ghost for our superman. He wants to have good look at the ghost.” Hussein retorted.
“Yes! I would like to have a good look at the ghost. No matter whether you people come with me or not. I do not want to go back with partial knowledge.” Baabani replied red faced.
“I think Baabani is right. We should have spent some more time in the terrace.” Anand intervened.
“That is right.” Baabani smiled.
“There is no use crying over spilt milk. I suggest let us continue our watch as usual.” Anand went on.
“This time, let us be more prepared. Let us keep our digital camera and binocular with us.” Baabani said.
“Is it OK for all?” Anand wanted to know looking at the direction of Hussein.
“I am not a deserter. I wanted to be little bit more careful. Let us keep some Iron rods with us.” Hussein remarked.
“No hard feelings Hussein. My criticism was mainly aimed at me and slightly at our group.” Baabani said in a mild voice.
Excitement slowly crept in their mind and replaced fear within no time. But when they went to the terrace, they were very anxious. But days passed smoothly without the appearance of the ghost. In fact the boys started cutting jokes about it. The ghost did reappear after ten days of first appearance. Anand was keeping watch when it appeared suddenly in the sky. Fear gripped Anand. He shook others awake and showed them the ghost. Out of all the three, it was Hussein who kept his cool comparatively of course.
He took out the camera and started clicking furiously. Emboldened, Baabani took out the binocular and focused it on the ghost, his hand trembling slightly.
“I could not make out anything. It is too dark.” He whispered.
Anand’s mind was racing fast. After a few minutes he told,
“Let me go down in the open and watch it. Both of you please be here till I come.” He slowly got up and went down dragging his feet with an iron rod in his hand. Once in the open space in front the house he lifted his head to see the ghost. A tree near the house was hiding the ghost; he took few steps backwards till the face of the ghost was just visible. He drove the iron rod into the ground with the help of a heavy stone to mark the place where he was standing. Then he went up to meet his friends. Baabani put the binoculars on the floor and took a long torch, which hunters use, in the forest. He switched on the powerful torch held it towards the ghost. As if on cue, the red eyes of the ghost blinked shut and the ghost disappeared in thin air.
“The belief that the ghosts fear light appears to be correct” Hussein murmured. As they were thinking what to do next, a powerful lightning illuminated the sky followed by a deafening sound of thunder. Within few seconds, heavy summer rain poured from the sky. The boys took their belongings ran down the stairs and entered the safety of their room. They examined the photographs for some time. No additional knowledge could be gained from the images on the camera.
“The ghost appears to be harmless. It just stares down at us and disappears.” Baabani mused.
“What about the thunder and lightning. I think it is just watching us. We should not take any hasty step.” Hussein opined.
“We have already seen the ghost twice. Next let us venture into the forest and get the feel of it. Then we can go back happily with ‘mission accomplished’ feeling.” Anand concluded.
* * *
Visit to the forest
Next day the boys expressed their desire to venture into the forest to Anand’s grandfather.
“The forest is very dense. Even experienced people lose their way sometimes. So don’t go inside on your own. I will tell veeru to escort you. He is an expert of this forest and knows his way well. In the meantime you spend your time playing some games or explore the village again.” He suggested. The boys agreed. None of them told him about the ghost. Once back in their room, Anand took out a compass and went outside the house along with his friends. He put the compass on the iron rod driven inside the ground the previous day. Then he noted the direction towards the tree. He took out the binocular and looked in that direction. He could see up to a small hill inside the forest. The hill was completely covered with greeneries. It was decided to visit the hill the next day along with Viru.
The next day they started their journey early. Viru seemed to know the forest inside out. His expertise helped them and they vended their way towards the hill. The hill was about six kilometers inside the forest. Even though Viru discouraged them, the boys marked their way so that can find their way back home without any difficulty. The forest was very dense and thorny bush retarded their progress. In spite applying mosquito-repelling cream, the mosquitoes hummed in their ears and bit them continuously. A number of small insects including fly hovered around their head. At some places foul smell from carcass hunted by animals created vomiting sensation. In spite of all these things, the boys were excited whenever they saw some forest animals. It took them about three hours to reach the foot of the hill.
“There are some caves up there. It is believed that Pandavs lived in them for some time.” Viru told.
The boys wanted to go up to see the caves. Viru took them up. The caves were very dark inside. Viru did not allow the boys to go deep inside the caves saying wild animals take shelter inside them during daytime and might attack any intruder. All of them felt very hungry and decided to take lunch on a level ground covered with grass by the side of a mountain stream. They were very tired and decided to take some rest before starting their way back.
After a few minutes, Anand took out the binocular and started to scan the forest downside. He saw a small opening directly below them. It was strange that there was very less vegetation when the area surrounding the clearing was very dense. Anand put down the binocular and stood up. The others were enjoying the cool breeze and sweet sound created by the stream gently flowing down. He aimlessly walked towards the cave mouth.
He switched on the powerful torch and held the beam towards the cave. Few bats rushed outside flapping their wings with a loud noise. The cave appeared to be unused for ages and deserted. He switched off the torch and slowly moved away. He saw another cave mouth and switched the torch again. Finding nothing again he went on exploring other cave mouths in the vicinity. On the fifth cave mouth, he observed something strange. The cave was bigger than the others. There was no sign of living things, not even bats. Keeping the torch beam steady he ventured inside. He had a nagging feeling of something or somebody observing him. Fear gripped him slowly but steadily. He saw a piece of newspaper on the floor. He picked the paper. Suddenly he heard his friends calling him. His heart throbbing with fear, he rushed outside. He joined his friends outside the third cave. Their presence gave him a sense of safety. Viru was slightly annoyed.
“Don’t venture in the forest alone. There are wild animals in this forest. You people cannot sense their presence. Very few people have the ability to sense the presence of wild animals well in advance to escape their attack. So I again warn you no to leave my company till you reach home” Viru blurted.
“OK. Let us climb down and go back to our house.” Anand suggested.
Once at the foot of the hill, he cleverly maneuvered them towards the clearing.
“This might be the place. Watch for any clue for left by the ghost.” murmured Anand in the ears of his friends. The mention of the ghost jolted his friends to full attention. Silently they followed Viru, their ears and eyes catching every detail. The trek back home was more difficult. They reached home by about seven in the evening, fully tired. After a silent dinner, they went upstairs and started discussing their trip to the jungle simultaneously replacing the tools and tackles they carried to the forest. Anand thrust his hand inside his pockets to check whether something was left out inside. His fingers rubbed against something inside the pocket. He fished for it and took it out. It was the piece of newspaper found on the floor of the cave. He held it under the light and examined it closely. Suddenly he got excited and gestured to his friends to come near him. Seeing the excitement on Anand’s face, they rushed near him
“Examine the paper thoroughly. Do you find anything strange in it?” Anand quizzed.
All of them took a close look on the paper and stared back at Anand as if they wanted Anand to explain.
“Please look at the date line.” Anand prompted.
“This is released just a few days before.” Hussein replied slightly confused.
“I found it on the floor of the cave.” Anand went on.
“So what?” Baabani wanted to know.
“Don’t you see? Nobody is going into the forest for the fear of the ghost. Still the paper found its way to the cave. Is it not strange?” Anand asked.
“You mean that somebody is going inside the forest”
“For what?” Hussein prodded.
“For supplying newspaper.” Anand replied.
“You mean somebody is living in the cave”
“That could be possible. Isn’t it?” Anand remarked in a matter-of-fact tone.
“That means the ghost is not real.” Baabani was thinking fast.
“Why anybody prefers a life in a cave deep inside a forest” Hussein mused.
“He could be a criminal and could be hiding fearing arrest.” Baabani suggested.
“No criminal in hiding would attract the attention of the whole world by the ghost story.” Anand was emphatic.
“He could be an officer from the Law investigating the ghost.” Hussein opined.
“He could investigate from the village. Why should he live in a cave?” Anand disagreed.
“Somebody might have gone there to picnic.” Hussein told.
“Picnic in summer and that too to a cave deep inside a forest haunted by a ghost” Baabani exclaimed.
The conversation went on and on till tiredness took over and put them to sleep.
* * *
Looking for more clues
After about ten days of repeated brainstorming sessions they could arrive on only one unanimous conclusion. It was really strange for the piece of newspaper to be found in the cave. But they could not agree on any single reason for that happening. During one such brainstorming session, Hussein suggested an amicable solution. He quoted their mathematics teacher’s advice.
“If you could not find a way to solve a problem and if you are completely confused, it means that you are overlooking some clues. So read the problem again and again and look for new clues.”
It sounded reasonable to all of them and they decided to look for some more clues. So they decided to inspect the caves and the clearing below, again and again. Nobody was taken into confidence regarding the visits. After a few visits, they met in their room to review the situation.
“We achieved only one thing through these visits. We can find our way to these spots blind folded.” Baabani remarked to nobody in particular.
“Yes! We can go there even in darkness.” Anand agreed.
“We could not get any clue in the day. So I suggest let us visit the forest and look for more clues in the night.” Hussein was not in a mood to leave the problem unsolved.
“Great! Since we are useless and since we could not solve the problem and find new clues by visiting the forest during day time, let us go in the night and fall prey to some hungry wild animals.” Baabani was sarcastic.
“Even after so many visits, I have not seen any animal in that part of the jungle, not even a rabbit.” Hussein was equally sarcastic.
“That is true. There is no chance of us being hunted by wild animals.” Anand agreed.
“But there is a very good possibility of the ghost haunting us. We have certainly seen the ghost.” Baabani reminded.
“That is the main purpose of our visit to the forest. We are not going back without having a closer look at the ghost.” Anand was emphatic.
“So let me ask for an appointment with the ghost in the night.” Hussein joked. All of them laughed merrily and departed to their respective beds.

The next day was full moon day. The boys armed with axe, iron rods and powerful torchlight ventured into the forest in the night. Initially it was difficult to move, but after sometime it was comparatively easy. By about two a.m. they reached the edge of the clearing. They stood at the edge for sometime enjoying the moon lit forest. As if to spoil their mood, they heard the sound of breaking of small branches followed by a loud ‘thud’. The boys froze with fear. They heard the same type of sound again and again. They also heard the sound of something heavy being dragged on the ground. The sound came from the opposite edge of the clearing.
“Could be a herd of wild elephants.” Anand murmured.
They stood there for sometime looking at each other, fear paralyzing them. Suddenly Anand turned around and ran towards a big tree and climbed to the top. The other two followed him. On reaching the top, they settled at the junction from where two big branches branched.
“The trunk is too big for the elephants to break.” Baabani commented in between gasps for breath, assuring himself of safety from wild elephants.
The tree was very tall and the place where they rested was almost sixty feet from the ground.
“No elephant can catch us at this height. We are safe here.” Hussein said in reassuring voice. They heard a few more ‘thuds’ preceded by wild movements branches. After those sounds, silence fell again and the forest looked calm and quiet again. They sat in the tree up to three a.m. Feeling safe again; they descended the tree and made their way back home. They continued to watch the forest from the top of the tree during the following nights also. They heard the same sequence of sounds for next five nights. In fact they were anxiously waiting to have the glimpse of the elephants and hoped they would come out in the open space one night or the other. But the elephants did not oblige them. From the sixth night, even the sound stopped and they watched the forest in dead silence. The boys thought that the herd of elephants must have moved to some other place. They did not abandon their watch on the clearing and the hill and nothing happened till the tenth phase of the waning moon.
* * *
Light at the end of the tunnel
On the tenth phase of the waning moon, something strange did happen. The night was very dark and the boys were keeping the watch in the dim starlight. By about one a.m. three tall and dark figures came in the open space. The boys jerked to attention.
“Gorillas!” All the three boys murmured in chorus.
The gorillas reached the center of the open space dragging something with them. They left the bag like thing in the center and returned back. After few minutes they returned, this time dragging something that looked like a dead log of wood. They kept that log of wood near the bag like thing and squatted around those things. The boys were watching the happenings with utmost attention. Suddenly they heard a loud hissing sound. But they could not see what made that noise. Suddenly the dark face of the ghost appeared in the center and started moving up. When the dark face reached their level its red eyes blinked open. The boys almost fell from the tree and gripped each other as if their life depended on it. As if unaware of their presence the ghost went up and up. There was no body attached to the face of the ghost. After reaching about hundred feet, the ghost stopped its upward movement and stayed there as if watching the village. Hussein took out the iron rod and held it firmly in his hand ready to attack. Anand took out the axe and handed it over to Baabani. Anand was holding the torch on his left hand and another axe on his right hand. Their bodies were shaking wildly with fear. All of them were murmuring their respective prayers requesting God to save them from the ghost. Unaware of their predicament the ghost was watching the village.
“So far so good. Don’t be afraid. Ghost appears to be harmless. See below. The gorillas are not afraid of the ghost. They are watching the ghost lying on their back. So let us be calm. Let us not panic.” Anand said in a hushed voice barely audible. He was encouraging himself along with others. After about twenty minutes, the gorillas sat up. The ghost started descending and half way through its eyes blinked shut. The boys were staring at the bright red eyes and hence it took sometime for them to adjust to the starlight. A loud hissing sound heard from the ground again. Within minutes the gorillas went back to the forest dragging the log of wood and the bag. The boys sat in the tree silently for almost five minutes.
“What is next?” Anand asked.
“Let us take some rest and regain our strength. I am completely drained out.”
Baabani replied. In fact he was telling the condition of all the three. Almost half an hour passed. Before anybody could talk, two heavy beams of light fell on their tree. The boys froze again, their hearts beating loudly. The beams were becoming brighter and brighter and moved up and down simultaneously as if scanning the whole area. Suddenly Baabani snapped his fingers with a light chuckle.
“An automobile! An automobile is coming here.” He said in a lighter mood.
The sound of the automobile engine relieved their fear very much. As the automobile, a truck to be exact came near; about ten gorillas came out in the open.
“Oh! Oh! They are not real gorillas. They are men dressed like gorillas.” It was Anand’s turn to snap his fingers. As the truck halted, the gorillas started loading logs of wood on it. A sweet smell filled the air.
“Sandal wood! It is Sandal wood smuggling.” Hussein remarked in general.
“The ghost is helping people to smuggle sandal wood. Isn’t it crazy?” Anand mused. Silently they kept on watching.
“Where is the second truck? There are sufficient logs to load another truck. In fact we were told to load two trucks.” One gorilla asked the driver.
“The boss told not to engage additional people. It is dangerous. I will come back on the new moon day. Till then don’t cut more woods. It is paid holidays for all of you. But don’t leave the cave at any cost.” The driver smiled.
“Who wants paid holiday inside dark caves?” The gorilla responded.
The gorillas briskly loaded the truck and disappeared in the woods. The fully loaded truck whined its way back and disappeared behind the hill. The boys sat in the tree till twilight and reached home as the dawn broke. Relieved of all tensions and completely exhausted they slept till noon. After taking lunch they assembled in their room again for further planning.
“So we have cracked the case of the mysterious ghost.” Hussein said in general.
“We should not utter a single word to others till the last nail is driven on the lid.” Anand warned.
“What is the ghost made of?” Baabani asked.
“Helium balloon. Two red electric bulbs illuminating the eyes of the ghost.”
“That explains the hissing sound, filling and releasing the gas. Why do they need it?” Hussein asked.
“It is the signal to indicate that the logs are ready to be loaded. There is no other way of communicating with outside world. Sending a man out is time taking and risky. Mobile phone won’t work for want of signal inside the forest. They are not advanced enough to own and operate two way radio sets. These modern sets are susceptible to interception by suspecting police.”
On the new moon day, the police, on tip off from the boys caught the smuggling gang red handed. Within a few days the rest of the gang including some big and influential persons were arrested.
* * *
Back at the school

The newspapers were all praise of the three brave boys. Anand’s grandfather though proud, strongly disapproved their ventures inside the forest without any protection. Their parents were really worried and advised them not to take such risk in future.
They became overnight heroes in their school. But as the days passed, they were told to concentrate in their studies to do well in their examinations to be good roll models to their juniors.

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