10. FOREST OF DISENCHANTMENT

Nestled in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas, Kurseong town in North Bengal is famous for its lush tea gardens. But the people of Kurseong have also been growing a crop of terrifying ghost stories! Today, it’s become known as the most haunted hill station in India. What is it about Kurseong that brings out the ghosts… or the love of ghost stories in people?

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‘Rumors’ shines a light on the darkest corners of India, where fact and fiction combine into magical and haunting stories.

Brought to you by Bound, a company that helps you grow through stories. Follow us @boundindia on all social platforms.

Written and voiced by Chandrima Das, a best-selling author, storyteller and an avid collector of dark tales. Follow her @hackiechan on all social media platforms.

Produced by Aishwarya Javalgekar
Sound design by Aditya Arya
Artwork by Artisto Designz

Disclaimer: This show is for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to outrage, insult, defame, or hurt any religion or religious sentiments, beliefs, feelings of any person, entity, class or community and does not encourage or propagate any superstition, black magic and/ or witchcraft. While every effort has been made in research, we do not make any representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability or completeness of the content.

Transcript

This show was made for entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to outrage insult, defame or hurt any religion or religious sentiments, beliefs feelings of any person, entity, class or community and does not encourage or propagate any superstition black magic and of witchcraft. listeners should exercise their discretion.

00:24

The toy train to Darjeeling whistles pastor hill station and North pinball called kurseong.

00:32

This town isn't as ordinary as it initially looks. Tourists brochures tell you that there's a lot of history to kurseong in the 1930s the British confined Netaji Subash Chandra Bose here, that bungalow is now a museum.

00:50

Other visitors include Mark Twain and Sister Nivedita. Even Rabindranath Tagore came here to compose several of his poems. Standing at an elevation of 4800 feet, Coliseum offers magnificent views of Mount Kanchenjunga above valleys of wild orchids below, and verdant tea gardens all around.

01:14

But over the decades, the people of kurseong haven't just been growing tea on the hillside.

01:22

They've also been growing a crop of stories that speak of the most terrifying hauntings.

01:30

Today, it's become known as the most haunted hill station in India.

01:35

What's the special factor here? That seems to wake up all the coasts are the teller of course stories and people?

02:10

This is rumors. I am Chandra Das. Join me as I shine a light on the darkest corners of India, where facts and fiction combine into magical and haunting stories.

02:40

Christiane sits high in the mountains of North Bengal, midway between the cities of Siliguri and Darjeeling. In the 18th and 19th centuries, kurseong bounced back and forth between Nepal and Sikkim until the British decided they wanted it for themselves as a summer residence for their officers.

03:01

The down is still daughter today with buildings that are remnants of the Raj.

03:07

Nestled in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas museum used to be famous for its surrounding tea gardens. One of these remnants is a lush 150 year old tea estate, once known as Bara ringtones just outside kurseong Town spread over 14 150 acres. It is famous for some of the finest Darjeeling tea, and a haunting story.

03:37

A British man named JG D Cruickshank was the estate's manager between 1896 and 1927.

03:46

Like many tea planters of his time, his family lived in faraway England, while he oversaw the cultivation of hillside gardens,

03:56

under his mindful care, and with a lot of painful low wage labor from the local workers. The estate soon overflowed with healthy bright green bushes, providing an array of teas.

04:12

One spring, Cruickshanks wife and two daughters arrived from England to spend the next few months with him in the tea estate.

04:21

His younger daughter Margaret, fell madly in love with the place.

04:27

Over the next few months, she roamed the estate from dawn to dusk, becoming deeply attached to every tree flower empty bush. She became so enamored by this place that towards the end of their plan stay. Margaret came to her father with a request.

04:46

Daddy, can I please remain here with you in Barra ringtone.

04:53

Mum and Dad looked at each other and with a heavy heart denied her this request

05:00

an

05:01

eight year old Margaret really needed to get back to school. A different life in England awaited.

05:09

A disheartened, Margaret had to return to Britain with her mother.

05:13

But as she left, she made a promise to her father, and also to the hillside.

05:19

She was soon return to barring Tom.

05:24

Tragedy struck on the ship home. Little Margaret fell ill with a tropical disease. Her frail body could not withstand the after effects of the infection.

05:36

She died on the ship. Her dream of returning to barring Tom would remain unfulfilled.

05:44

A heartbroken Cruickshank was left to deal with the sudden death of his young daughter alone.

05:51

By day he discharged his duties as the estate's manager. And by night, he grieved

05:59

until one day when Cruickshank saw a vision he couldn't quite believe.

06:09

On one of his rounds through the tea filled hillsides of kurseong, Margaret appeared right in front of him.

06:17

He saw his dead daughter playing happily on the state grounds.

06:23

But when Cruickshank blinked, the vision disappeared.

06:30

Margaret had fulfilled her promise. She had returned to Barrington.

06:38

Cruickshank renamed the estate Margaret's hope, an apt name for it was the hope of reuniting with his land that brought Margaret back just for a second from the arms of death.

06:54

Tea continues to be grown to this day on the beautiful hillsides of kurseong that Margaret loved so much. What's wrong with tea? Stories of hauntings also brew.

07:09

The first thing that strikes you about kurseong is its natural beauty. The Hills cloud over with thickness every winter, and white orchids filled the valleys every summer. These orchids are so abundant that the original inhabitants of the area the lecture people named this place after they word for orchids, which is Carson.

07:33

Besides beauty, you also sense the long arm of history in corsia. Reaching across time, and laden with many stories

07:45

kurseong enjoys being mysterious. The old Gothic buildings keep their secrets close to the chest, and the forests invite you to get lost in them. Mother nature puts the cherry on top by covering certain areas in town with mist almost the entire year round.

08:07

What happens when the thick white veil of mist finally baths

08:13

then cool stories emerge.

08:17

Most of course yawns co stories are set in the sparsely populated Tao Hill area, which is at a higher elevation just above town.

08:26

The most well known story is set on a stretch of road which locals have named the Death Road.

08:38

The Death Road used to be a narrow kucha path that began from the forest office and connected up hill to dow hill road.

08:46

The road has since been improved. But even now, there are no human habitations along the path.

08:54

It winds like a single thread through the dense hillside forest.

08:59

coniferous trees and pines abound here and there is little to no underbrush.

09:06

Before the descent of ghost hunters and tourists into kurseong The only people who use this road were wood cutters and those working with the forest department.

09:18

Many of them narrate the same area count.

09:26

One winter evening, a wood cutters returning home on the lonely death road. He carries a bundle of dry logs on his back. With these he hopes to light a fire that will keep the cold tendrils of the Himalayan winter out of his hat.

09:45

Suddenly, the woodcutter feels a prickly run up the back of his neck.

09:51

Someone is lurking in the forest. Someone is watching him from behind the trees.

09:59

The wood cutter brush

10:00

She's off the feeling. He just needs to walk faster. Whoever is watching him will naturally get left behind.

10:09

Stopping himself from looking around, he fixes his gaze on the path and picks up his pace.

10:17

A few meters down the road.

10:20

The feeling of being watched persists.

10:23

The gaze upon the woodcutter now feels heavier and poisonous.

10:30

Whatever was watching him earlier, has been keeping pace and following him.

10:36

The woodcutter decides that walking away will just not work. He needs to confront whatever is following him now.

10:45

He lifts his gaze from the path and scans the forest.

10:51

The woodcutter sees his stalker.

10:54

A young boy emerges from behind a tree trunk, parallel to the Death Road.

11:00

He is dressed in a shirt, half pants, socks and shoes, and looks like he's been wandering the forest. The boy walks some distance beside the woodcutter and disappears behind another tree trunk.

11:14

Fear freezes the woodcutter to the spot.

11:18

Then he lets out a piercing screen.

11:22

Numbness overtakes him,

11:25

but he knows he has to fight this feeling. He needs to get his feet moving. Somehow he breaks into a run, puffing and panting the woodcutter emerges from the forest thanking his stars.

11:39

He is alive.

11:42

The woodcutter new it was eerie enough to see a child wandering through the dense forest alone. But that was not what terrified him into near madness.

11:54

The boy he had seen wandering inside Tao Hill forest was headless.

12:01

Unfortunately, for those who see the headless boy of Tao Hill, it doesn't quite stop here.

12:09

Legend says that if you've seen the headless boy once, you're doomed to see him again.

12:17

He begins by appearing in your dreams and turns them into nightmares. The Headless boy then bleeds over into your waking reality.

12:27

Those who are haunted by him begin to see him in their daily lives. In the most innocuous of places. You see him while going to the market. You see him while preparing lunch. You even start seeing him when you are around other people.

12:45

And no, they can't see the headless boy. The torment is yours and yours alone.

12:54

They say that people who are hounded by the headless boy eventually lose their minds. Some kill themselves. There is no cure. No solution.

13:06

Once someone sees the headless boy, they are doomed.

13:16

Why does the headless boy townspeople to their deaths.

13:21

Perhaps he is lonely and just wants more people to pass on to the afterlife. After all, even costs need company while they wander the pine forest for all of eternity.

13:35

But the headless boy isn't quite as lonely as he seems. There are reports of another Spectre that haunts the Death Road. Though she is not quite as deadly. She has been nicknamed the grey lady. Her stories go like this.

13:55

One morning, a tourist is taking a walk along the Death Road when she notices some movement in the distance. The tourist pauses, meaning she can spot a wild animal in the woods. Now that would be exciting. She squints her eyes and sees a small gray shadow in the distance.

14:15

Even as she watches it. The gray spot moves closer and closer, growing larger by the second

14:24

with a sinking heart. The tourist realizes that the moving gray spot is a woman dressed in Greek loads. This woman is running at a frantic pace right at her. The tourists shouts at this grey lady to stop but she doesn't listen. The Grey Lady hurtles closer and closer at a speed that almost seems superhuman. No stone bush or fallen branch seems to block her path.

14:54

Just as the Gray Lady is about to dash into her on the Death Road to tourists somehow her

15:00

herself off the bat, and she avoids the collision.

15:04

As the Green Lady speeds past the tourist, a blood curdling scream erupts through the forest so loud that the tourist is forced to cover her years.

15:16

open mouthed the foreign tourists stays at the Grey Lady speeding further and further away.

15:24

The tourist realizes why this Green Lady couldn't be slowed down by the stones or bushes in her path.

15:31

The green ladies feet never touched the ground.

15:37

There are also reports of people only hearing the really these voice but not seeing her and her voice. That blood curdling scream is enough to send a shiver down anyone's spine or burst they your drums.

15:54

Now, gray ladies are a type of coast typically associated with castles and old Gothic buildings in Britain. The Grey Lady of Tao Hill might be the only one of her kind haunting a forest in India.

16:10

Perhaps she is looking for something or someone in the forest. Or perhaps she liked the many British era buildings and structures in town is yet another remnant of the town's colonial past.

16:28

The final specter that is reported on the Death Road is the red eye. And no, this eye does not provide warnings of a conjunctivitis outbreak.

16:43

People encounter the single red eye floating in the air.

16:48

It appears suddenly, right in front of you smack at eye level.

16:54

Then, the single demonic eye stays deep into your eyes for a moment.

17:01

The very next second, after it has gazed into the depths of your soul, the Red Eye disappears.

17:11

One would imagine that these stories are enough to dissuade anyone from ever walking the Death Road again.

17:18

But the reality as usual, defies our expectations. Thanks to the power of the stories, the Death Road is now more popular than ever before. Paranormal investigators, Ghost Hunters and tourists have thronged the area in the last decade, and the numbers only seem to increase.

17:40

But no one has gathered any footage or actual evidence that backs up any of these legends. Neither the headless boy nor the Green Lady and certainly not the Red Eye.

17:53

Perhaps the number of cameras and mobile phones that are regularly pointed at the eerie Misty forest have pushed these coasts into the shadows.

18:03

The forest now refuses to give up her secrets.

18:11

uphill from Tao Hill Road lies the last stop on this haunted tour of course Young. On top of the hills, it's a well known boys boarding school.

18:22

Soon after the British settled in kurseong, they felt the need to build a school here. Some officers wanted their children clothes, while others simply couldn't afford faraway boarding schools. So in the 1870s, a large house was bought and repurposed into a residential school. Soon the school became popular, and the house became too small for its requirements. Some government owned quarters on Dow Hill were vacated, and the COVID residential school shifted there.

18:55

This building directly faces the stunning Himalayas

19:00

and the area is full of greenery, waterfalls and birds. More students poured in and the coed school had to be divided into two, one for the girls and one for the boys. In the 1890s, a new building was constructed right beside the original one. This new building became the site of that well known boys school on top of Dow Hill.

19:26

The boy school, which we shall not name is on the edge of the forest through which the infamous death road passes.

19:35

It is likely that the land on which the school now stands was part of the forest ones.

19:42

Naturally, locals believe that the eerie atmosphere of the forest also belongs on the school grounds. The mist that emerges from the forest seems to agree. It wraps the school in its opaque white falls whenever it gets a chance.

20:00

Once

20:02

but the hauntings at this historical boarding school are not limited to its mystery aura.

20:08

Every year between December and March, the school is closed for winter vacations. Its classrooms and hostels become completely empty.

20:19

Empty of humans that is.

20:23

Local say that during this time of year, the school turns into a playground for the supernatural.

20:31

Even while the school is closed, many reports hearing footsteps running through the corridors.

20:38

Some have heard children's laughter

20:42

and some have even heard a whole chorus of childlike voices whispering in unholy unison.

20:51

Rumors say that these sounds are the voices of children who died on the HELOC a long time ago.

20:58

But there are no newspaper reports or historical accounts of natural or unnatural deaths on school premises.

21:07

Even the school records are squeaky clean, with no deaths, disasters, or tragedies.

21:14

Whether or not these hauntings are real. One thing is for sure. kurseong is a fertile ground for stories of the supernatural. Why is that

21:27

Cruciani atmosphere may have a large role to play. This is a relatively isolated hill town. With an atmosphere filled with fog and mist. The town lacks the nightlife. Most street lights are dysfunctional and can rarely be coaxed into switching on all shops and markets close soon after sundown. Not a lot happens here. And that's great for the storytellers imagination.

21:56

It is the sleepiness of the small town that combines with the drama of nature, and creates these fantastic horror stories. No single person needs to have created them. Great folklore is often the work of many people.

22:12

And the core of folklore lies their collective and sometimes genuine experiences.

22:20

The stories of course, Jana is specially well crafted. And it is this craft that has caused the stories to spread to other parts of Bengal and the rest of India.

22:32

The ghost stories of Tao Hill have become so popular that curse Young's reputation as a haunted town has overtaken its reputation as a hill station of great beauty. There has been an influx of Ghost Hunters, paranormal investigators and tourists in the last decade.

22:51

Even tourists who would have simply driven on to Darjeeling now find a reason to stop over at kurseong.

22:59

One would expect residents of the town to be happy with the money from tourism coming in. Right. Quite the contrary. Many people have been trying their best to refute the rumors about Tao Hill. This includes locals who dismiss the stories of the Death Road. The administration of that boy school isn't exactly over the moon about the school's spooky reputation either. Many locals are unhappy with the unprecedented influx of tourists. Because not all little hill stations are equipped to deal with the noise pollution and garbage that people from the plains bring up to the mountains.

23:42

The people of kurseong have no choice but to make peace with their sudden popularity.

23:49

The town's crop of haunted Lord has now grown too big and too popular to be controlled or quelled. Stories maybe born in the hills, but so forest fires and stories, like forest fires don't like being controlled by humans. They only seek to consume. And in this case, the forest fire of Dow Hill stories consumes the darkest parts of our imagination.

24:25

Thank you for listening to rumors, fact and fiction combine into magical and haunting stories.

24:33

I'm Chandra Madonna's collector and Teller of dark tales, and the creator of this podcast in collaboration with bound, a company that helps you grow through stories

24:46

produced by Aishwarya as our maker and sound designed by other Aria.

24:53

Join me every Friday on this quest into the lesser known side of the subcontinent.

25:00

Subscribe rate and review for new episodes every week.

25:05

Sleep safe tonight.

25:08

Who knows what awaits in the dark?