Amavas ki Raat : 3AM on Friday the 13th of July

It’s 28th of May and today I had my AIEEE exam. As per the trends, college for first-year commences from End-July to Mid-August. So, I need to wait for 1.5 to 2 months before I get back to the normal schedule. What to do during these days ??

So, I planned a meet-up with my peer group. There, we decided to go out on an adventure. Venue and date were not decided. For the next 7 days, we searched all adventure hot spots and then we decided to visit ‘Raj Qila’. We have heard a lot of stories about the fort being haunted. But, we are rationalists and we don’t believe in Ghosts, Bhut, pret, aatma and all. While fixing the date, we found that we have a Friday the 13th in the month of July. All 6 of us unanimously selected the date. We were very much excited about the trip.

We started our journey on 10th July and reached ‘Nayapur Gaon’ on the morning of 12th July. We hired a car from the nearest city and drove to the place. We interacted with some of the villagers and all of them had advised not to step into the fort after sunset. They also advised us to postpone our visit to the next day as it Amavasya (No Moon) on that day. The villagers were so scared about the fort that they don’t step out of their houses after 7 pm. On the day of Amavasya, they close the doors of their houses before sunset and remain indoors. They told us all kinds of paranormal activities they have seen or heard during their lifetime, but we remain firm on our decision.

We decided that we shall step into the fort between midnight to 1 am on Friday the 13th of July and it was Amavasya night as well. The villagers tried their level best to reverse our decision by telling us stories of people disappearing within the fort, but we didn’t.

During the day, we toured around the village. With the clock striking 5.30PM, we found that the villagers started getting inside their houses. They once again requested to revise our decisions but we didn’t. In the next 10 to 15 minutes, the entire village turned into a deserted one. We then moved inside our car and decided to take a nap. We had set the alarm for midnight.

We woke up to the phone’s alarm shart at midnight and have found that we were surrounded by darkness…the darkness of the nights topped up with pin drop silence. We parked the car in front of the fort’s main gate. At the entrance, we found that a few floodlights lights were installed till the main door. Then, we packed our bags with some dry food items, water bottles, torchlights and we started. We told the driver to wait there. Before departing, the driver too warned us. “Karna hai toh…karna hai”, I replied.

We entered the gateway at half past midnight into Friday the 13th of July and it was Amavasya as well. Owls were hooting. The fort was in ruins and we had to explore four storeys. As we entered we found an ancient temple of Lord Shiva, with a beautiful stepwell. It was very serene and we clicked photographs from every angle. Then my watch beeped telling me that it was 1 AM. My digital watch beeps at the end of every hour. We paid our respects to the Lord and then all of us decided that we should eat before we start climbing.

We were eating under the open sky…it was a ‘starry…starry night’. We finished eating and started climbing up to the fort. At 10 past 2, we entered the fort. we explored the places. The entire area was littered with broken columns and stones. We started climbing upwards to explore the first floor. As soon as we climbed half of the stars, my watch beeped, informing me that it was 3AM.

We then saw a bright light on the last step. It took the shape of a knight. We immediately turned around and saw a lady in a bright red dress with her head covered standing on the first step of the staircase. From both sides, they said, “You have done a great mistake by visiting this place. You should have listened to the warnings. Now, get ready to pay for your mistakes”. We were literally paralysed and started begging for mercy. Suddenly, someone whispered, “Ram” into my ears. Then I remember my mom saying, “Ram Naam’e Bhoot palay” (If you chant ‘Ram’ then, ghost stays away from you). Then, I saw a window right beside me and I alerted my friends. Then, I shouted ‘Jai Shree Ram’ and jumped off from the window. Others followed the same.

We found that we have landed in front of another gate. But, as we got up, we found that the gate automatically closed. We started chanting loudly and started running towards the point from where we have entered.

Hearing our loud chants, the driver stepped out from the car. Sensing an emergency, he immediately turned the car and opened the doors. We somehow managed to get in and he stepped the accelerator even before we closed the doors. He sped along the woods and we were loudly chanting the Lord’s name and Hanuman Chalisa. In the wee hours, we reached the highway and we entered the city in the morning.

Somehow, we were able to recover from the last night’s trauma. But, we were not able to speak properly and our hands were still shaking. While returning home, rest of my friends kept chanting. I was also chanting but at the same time, I was trying to match the things that I have read in my books with the ones that I have seen last night. There are a few questions that remain unanswered…