Akriti Maharjan

About Akriti Maharjan

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13 06 2018

Baby Snatching Phenomenon

Akriti Maharjan True Scary Stories child, dream, experience, ghost, happened, haunted, haunting, horror, Kathmandu, mother, nepal, Nepali, paranoia, phenomenon, pregnancy, real, scary, snatching, spirits, stories, story, supernatural, tales, true 2

So, what happened is, in our culture when a woman becomes a mother she goes to stay at her parent’s house for a month or three four, where she gets pampered and stuff and people come to visit her with foods.

Anyway, when my aunt had her first child, my cousin brother, she came to stay with us. I wasn’t born yet. My parents even married yet. At that time, the room I grew up in belonged to the aunt and that was where she was lying with my young infant brother. She was just about to fall asleep when she saw a figure climb in through the window she was facing.

It was a strange looking dwarfish human like figure who tried to snatch away her child. “Give him, give him to me quick” he said urgently and tried to take him from her. Everything about his mannerism was rushed and he said “Give him, give him to me quick”. Of course she wouldn’t. She hugged her baby tightly and tried to fight off this thing while screaming at the top of her lungs.

When my grandmother and some other relatives entered the room, there was no one. Only my aunt balled up over her child. She started crying and told what had happened. But this room was on the third floor and there wasn’t any foothold one could use to climb up into the room.

Similarly, when my mother had me, she went to stay at her parent’s house. One day she was lying down in the afternoon with me on the wall side of the bed and she on the edge side. She was facing me. She was not sleeping because there is a belief that one should not fall asleep during the afternoon. Also, new mothers shouldn’t fall asleep until after sun down. So she was just kind of lying down when out of nowhere, like she didn’t feel anyone enter the room or anything but just from a few steps away, she felt someone materialize or something who then walked briskly towards the bed and tried to take me. She fended off the hands reaching towards me and hit and kicked at this presence who didn’t try to attack her but just constantly tried to reach to me. Like for that thing, my mother wasn’t there and it couldn’t figure why it couldn’t get to me. After few attempts, my mother felt this thing get frustrated and it left.

Again, this other time, something sinister tried to drag me off. This night she was starting to fall asleep and I was on the edge side of the bed this time (on the edge side but on the center of the bed. It was a big bed, I hadn’t started to crawl) when she saw from the edge of the bed, a shadowy figure rise its head. Then two hands propped up which tried to drag my bedding over the edge. So for foreigners, we don’t have a separate cradle for children. We have a little bedding for the child on top of the bed and this thing tried to drag my little mattress, along with me, over the edge. She said the previous one was in a hurry or something and just wanted to take me away, not that there’s nothing wrong with that. But this one wasn’t trying to take me away. It wasn’t in a hurry. It was slow and malicious in its intent. Of course, she again hit at this thing while becoming more awake and, then there was nothing.

In both these cases it is possible they were dreaming very real like dreams. But why this kind of dream? Maybe new mothers are just innately fearful of losing their children? So, there might be more mothers out there with similar experiences. If you know any similar stories, please share it down in the comments. Thank you.

25 08 2017

Hello Sister

Akriti Maharjan Paranormal, True Scary Stories Asian, creepy, dark, dead, death, event, experience, from nepal, ghost, horror, Nepali, real, really happened, spirit, stories, story, supernatural, tales, true 0

I don’t know how we are related. I only see her during the big festivals so maybe a distant something. Anyway, I like her because she knows a lot of creepy stories and this one time she told me about her childhood experience.

The house she lived in when young was made of mud like most houses at the time. Her room was small with only a bed at one corner and a mirror and a tin box on the diagonally opposite corner. The tin box contained things like comb, clothes, toys and some accessories. She used to share that room with her sister but then she got it all for herself.

What happened after that was she started waking up to the sound of doors opening. She would then hear a small pair of feet travel to the farthest corner where the mirror was. First time she peeked out from under the blanket? It was her sister playing with the toys. Other times it was her sister playing with the toys or combing her long black hair the aunt so envied or her sister just standing still like a statue in front of the mirror.

But no matter what she saw her sister do at night she would find all her things in place the next morning. Not an inch here or there. It was scary she said but her parents never believed her. “Dead people don’t come back.” they would say. “Only I know how terrifying it was when some nights I heard the footsteps come towards the bed.”

30 04 2016

Strange Hitchhiker

Akriti Maharjan True Scary Stories Asia, Asian, chudel, creepy, from, ghost, haunted, horror, kichkandi, kichkanya, Nepali, paranormal, real, roads, scary, stories, story, supernatural, tales, true, wierd 1

Not for the FAINT OF HEART. You have been WARNED! Dun dun dun…

I heard this one from a driver dai and drivers are the best people to go to for scary stories because they are travelers and they travel lonely roads in the dead of night a lot.

So this driver dai from Bhaktapur (I cannot mention his name. I didn’t explicitly confirm I could share this) and his friend was returning home from a party one night. They were riding separate motorcycles.

This dai was a little ahead of his friend and was riding through this dark empty highway. Because it was highway, he had his front light shining almost straight. So, he could see till real far when, this was around Thimi, something like a tall big pole/pillar came into view. It was re…..d in color and was standing right in the middle of the road. He slowly came to a stop then called out to his friend who was just catching up.

“Hey! Look over there. What is that?”

His friend was as stupefied. Why was this red, tall pillar like thing put in the middle of the road?

They slowly approached this thing and coming closer, the pole started to look a lot like a woman. It was indeed a really tall woman in a really red sari, one of those with them shiny golden things sewn in. She had a very pretty but expressionless face, her long black hair was loose and her skin was impossibly white.

As they came closer, the woman extended both her arms and made the gesture for them to stop. Neither of them wanted to. Instead, trying to ride past her, they rounded towards their respective sides. They took a big round in order to be clear of her but, apparently, she wasn’t having that. Her pale hands, continuing that ‘come’ like motion used to say stop to vehicles, started to stretch.

He said that that split second of time felt like eternity, wondering if they would make it past her or if the hands would get them first. All this was while moving towards her. They were terrified but confused like what is happening, is this happening? Then zoom! They rode past her with her hands almost brushing the side of their faces.

They passed her just before the hands could touch them. They were inches away, he said. And when they turned around after a few seconds, the road was empty. Shaking, they drove home at top speed without stopping and without looking back.

They were both cold as ice and fell ill for days. He was so traumatized that anyone in red made him jump throughout the following years.

He said other people driving through the road has witnessed the woman in red as well. I too remember hearing a similar story a long time ago. Minus the hands stretching, but the tall pillar like thing that turns out to be a really tall woman was there and I think it was around Thimi as well.

GALLERY

Dai– Literally means ‘brother’ but also used on unrelated older males for the lack of a better word to address such people with

Bhaktapur and Thimi– Places within Kathmandu valley, Capital of Nepal

06 04 2016

Tin Ghante

Akriti Maharjan Supernatural Beings Asian, beings, creepy, ghosts, horror, Kathmandu, legends, monsters, myth, Nepali, paranormal, real, scary, stories, story, supernatural, tales, true, urban 1

Tin Ghante (literal translation- three hour-ed) is a cautionary tale?

Tin ghante are known to come knocking at your doors, ring door bells, or just call you. When they call you, they mimic the voice of someone you know. Never answer any of this. Because if you ask “Who is it?” or say “Yes?” to the call, it will say “Tin ghante” and you will die in three hours. If you don’t answer, it will repeat the action two more times. Then it will leave you alone. So…always answer only after the third call? What kind of cautionary tale is that?

30 03 2016

Silent Solacer

Akriti Maharjan True Scary Stories accounting, Asia, Asian, child, creepy, dark, ghosts, happened, horror, house, hunted, monsters, nepal, phenomenon, read, really, scary, stories, story, supernatural, tales, true, weird 1

I live in a neighborhood where one can hear the birds and insects. It is nice, among the trees, away from the dust and noise. Real peaceful. But sometimes it gets so quiet it is unsettling. It was like that that day.

It was day time and I was home alone. I had gone up to the kitchen to find food when the phone rang. Now the kitchen is on the top most floor and opens into the rooftop. I picked up the phone and sat on the doorway so that I could get some sun on my back while conversing with my friend.

We talked about a lot of things and the conversation soon turned to boys and relationships. I had recently fought with my boyfriend, something to do about him and his female best friend. Get the idea? I was like complain complain.

It would be a lie to say I completely trusted their relationship but even if I did, the very fact that there is an unrelated someone as or more important to him than me, no matter in what way, someone who knew him so closely, someone he could be so carefree with or someone he gave as much importance to when allocating his time was so frustrating that I started to cry, loudly, like huhuhu…and someone started crying along.

I was surprised by how near it sounded. As if just behind me on the roof. Was that a child? But I didn’t hear it anymore. You know how fast thoughts are, so this was just a small pause before I started going uwauwa and there it was again. Somewhere close behind me, definitely on my roof, in a teasing child like voice. It stopped like half a second after I did. That was NOT an echo.

I waited, tense, straining to hear it again. Maybe some child crying somewhere in the distant? But it was quite. It was so quite I thought if I breath now, it would break this ‘stare contest’ like game and that ‘something’ would jump at me. Whatever! Let’s sprint.

It took a lot of courage but I finally threw the phone and ran on my shaky legs. Next thing I know I was on the ground floor. I don’t remember passing all the floors above and for the first time, running away from sunlight towards the darker parts of the house felt safer.

I was still quite shaken so I decided to call my parents to know when they’d be home but my friend was there, continuing with her words of comfort in her nonstop rapid way of talking. I hadn’t hanged the phone, I had thrown it. Wow!

27 03 2016

Where Was I Going?

Akriti Maharjan True Scary Stories Asian, creepy, dream, experiences, from, ghosts, horror, new, nightmares, occurrences, paranormal, real, scary, sleepwalking, stories, story, tales, true, weird 0

This happened when I was little. I had a dream. In the dream I was following a girl in a blue skirt through a dark, narrow alley. Its sides were houses as tall as skyscrapers. They stretched up as high as they stretched out before me such that the sky was just a thin blue line in a distance and not bright.

When I looked back down, the girl was walking before me. Actually, she was kind of skipping, from right to left to right. I followed the same pattern but I was walking. Her blue skirt and her hair, black against the blue skirt, were the only things I saw in the darkness. Rest of her was black and one with the surrounding.

We walked for a while, wind some corners. I don’t know why I was following her but something about her movement was alluring, not is a sexual way for I was myself a little girl then and as straight as I am today. Her movement was sharp, swift, precise and graceful and I just followed to…see more of that?

Anyway, we walked for a while and came upon a cave. We were still in the alley. This cave looked liked it was kind of stuffed there, between the tall houses. It even had a pair of blue curtains covering the mouth. The curtains were blowing in the wind that seemed to be coming from inside the cave. It made my feet cold.

The girl entered the cave. Now this is how it happened, curtain-wind-definitely a gaping hole-girl enters-curtain-wind-door! I tried the door because I too wanted to enter the cave but it wouldn’t budge. So I pulled at it will all the strength I could muster, planning to break the lock (lol) and banged on it.

I was at it when I heard my parents calling me from far away. I panicked. If my parents found me, I wasn’t going in there and I just had to. I banged on the door louder, screaming to let me in. I could hear my parents nearing. They sounded scared and for a moment I was like ‘should I return?’ but I only banged some more, frantic to get in.

Suddenly, there was light and I was like, ‘I know this door.’ This is the door to the rooftop. Then I noticed I was standing on the staircase that led to the door. Then I was like, ‘Hmm, I’m dreaming’ when I was actually starting to wake up. But I was still half asleep and confused. My mother was down at the end of the staircase looking at me scared. My father’s eyes peeped out from the banister.

‘What are you doing?’ my mother asked, looking very much on guard.

‘Toilet’ I don’t know why I said that. That wasn’t the reason but I realized, as I started to feel more awake, that I did really need to go.

‘Well, it’s downstairs honey.’ (In Nepali)

When she said that, I just ran to her in sudden terror. She, too, almost had a heart attack. One second I was there looking dope, next I am coming down full speed. All this was funny the next day, though I had carried my pillow and blanket to sleep with my parents that night.

I am sure you know by now that I was sleep walking but what was chilling about this was, at those last moments of my desperate banging on the door, I was thinking ‘Enter, climb over. Enter, climb over. Enter and climb over. Fast, fast fast!’ That day, that door stood between me and my mushier, bloody version.

This wasn’t the last of my sleepwalking. Second time, I ran downstairs to the main entrance door. Someone was following me in my dream. I was in my own house and wherever I was running in my dream was where I was running in reality. Only, in my dream, the lights were on and I could see but the lights were actually turned off. So, after much banging on the front door, when I woke up because the thing almost caught me, I was a little discordant. I could see, then I opened my eyes and couldn’t? However, I was aware of someone running towards me, calling my name. The horror! Didn’t I just wake up?! It was only my mom.

All my neighbors were talking about someone’s screams the next day. My mom said that she woke up from an uneasy dream only to hear my loud, terror filled ‘mommy!’ I said that once and the next thing she heard was my feet pitter pattering off like I was running away from a hell hound. I don’t remember calling her in my dreams though. Hmm. It is all funny now. I haven’t sleepwalked after that.

27 03 2016

Kichkandi

Akriti Maharjan Supernatural Beings Asian, beings, creatures, creepy, from, ghosts, horror, is, Kathmandu, legends, monsters, nepal, paranormal, scary, stories, story, supernatural, tales, true, urban, what 0

Long black hair, pale skin, sharp nails and white sari is the typical description of a Kichkandi which isn’t much different from other female ghosts. Then, how to tell a kichkanya apart?

Simple. Look at their feet and you will see a pair of soles. Because they are backwards. Their body and feet face opposite directions. And yet, they can run, I hear. Forwards and backwards.

It is believed that a kichkandi (or a kichkanya) is formed when a body fails to burn completely. I don’t know what happens when a male is not properly cremated since kichkandis are only female and there is no male counterpart but, females will become a kichkandi.

There are a few urban legends and many true stories about encountering a kichkandi. They usually start with a man being approached by a beautiful damsel in distress who then leads them to different bone chilling fate. But my favorite is the one I heard recently. It is a little different from the norm and really scary.

So kichkandis are supernatural beings that lure men with their beauty and proceed to feed on their life force unbeknownst to their happy victims. Else, they will just scare the life out of you. For example, here is a little story I heard from my friend.

There was a rikshaw wala who was working till late at night when a woman asked him if he would go to *****. This place was a ghat where a kichkandi was often seen roaming or playing with her long long hair. He wondered what business she had there at this hour but that wasn’t any business of his so he agreed to take her.

The passenger was quiet. She did not make any conversation and only gave one worded answers to his efforts.

On the way, he was stopped by another woman. Because it was really late, he stopped even though he already had a passenger. She might be headed towards the same direction.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“To *****” she answered but the rikshaw wala sped up before she could get on. He cycled furiously.

“What happened?” the silent passenger asked behind him.

“Didn’t you see her feet?” he cried. “They were backwards!”

“You mean like this?” and her feet were backwards too!!!

This is where he ended the story. It was funny and scary at the same time.

Anyway, to end a kichkandi’s existence, you need to find its remaining parts and burn them to ashes. It is said that such ashes of a particular kichkandi is buried under the Rani Pokhari (Queen Pond) of Kathmandu. You can read this urban legend here.

27 03 2016

Making of the Valley

Akriti Maharjan Legends Asian, capital, city, folk, formed, how, into, Kathmandu, lake, legends, lore, made, Manjushree, myths, nepal, stories, story, Swayambhunath, tales, turned, valley, was 0

Kathmandu Valley is best described as a bowl of soup. Ingredients? A number of religion, culture and race. As such, it is full of fascinating legends and myths, one of which is how the Kathmandu valley itself came to be.

The story goes that once upon a time, during the golden age (the Satya Yuga), there was a beautiful lake. It was absolutely magnificent. It drew its clear water from the surrounding Himalayas. It turned golden and blue with the sky. It housed many strange spirits and many a mystical being traversed it. It also drew to its shores Saddhus and Siddhas.

Vipaswi Tathagata was one such Siddha.

One day, he was meditating as usual near the lake when a lotus seed materialized out of nowhere and landed on his upturned palm. The wise one knew what to do. He circumambulated the lake three times and threw the seed into the water.

The seed drifted down, down into the fertile lakebed and started to germinate. Nourished by the rich soil, it grew. It reached out its arms and after many, many years, surfaced, blooming into a large, most spectacular flower.

It was as round as a chariot wheel, the flower. It had thousands of petals. It was studded with different precious gems. And at the center of this miraculous lotus was the eternal flame, Swayambhu Jyotirupa (the Self-manifested light form), the primordial Buddha.

Many came to venerate the Adi-Buddha in light form. So did Bodhisattva Manjushree, the sweet voiced. He was meditating somewhere in China when he became aware of the flower’s existence and promptly set out to worship it. There, while paying his homage to Swayambhu Jyotirupa, Bodhisattva Manjushree realized how easier it would be for people to venerate Swayambhu if the surrounding waters could be drained. So he sat down to meditate over what could be done, about how and from where to best drain the lake.

Then, after thinking about it, the wise Manjushree brought down his mighty sword Chandrahrasa at Chovar hill and cut it in a single blow. Water rushed out from Chovar, slowly exposing a fertile valley of black mud. He cleaved some other openings and soon, the water receded. The flower came to rest at a hillock called Gossing Parvat, now known as Swayambhu, where it is still venerated. And the valley? That is the land called Nepa, better known as the Kathmandu valley.