Location: Assam, India
This takes place around 2018. I am doing a government job and at that time was posted in a rural area near Bhutan border. So, office times were lax and I usually headed back home around 2ish. Since villages usually have flaky electricity supply and I was heavy into gaming at that time, I decided to rent at the nearby town and would commute to office on my motorcycle for around 35 kms. The road was pitched and well maintained but there were no houses around and sparse forest areas for the entirety of around 20 kms till the road merges with the national highway.
So, coming to that eventful afternoon, I was riding back home at around 3 PM and had covered around half the way. The roads were usually vacant with a rare car overtaking you or a man with his cattle. So, your peripheral vision tends to be very active and if you spot someone or something, you look. Here I see this lady, in tribal garb , walking on my side of the road. Around 30ish, I would assume. When I overtake, I look in my rear mirror to see her face. Surprise, surprise, nobody there. I stop my bike. Big mistake. But in my mind, this was a spooky adventure and in broad daylight, mind you, so rather than getting afraid, I decide to investigate. The area was mostly bamboo trees with no houses on either side, so it was not possible for her to get off the road and be somewhere. So, after a few seconds of looking, I take a leak and head back home.
The rest of the evening is spent playing games and eating dinner. Nothing unusual. I go to bed around 1AM. At around 3AM, I suddenly wake up with an intense feeling of dread. I open my eyes but cannot move my body. Sleep paralysis, I think. I have had similar attacks quite a few times before so I know how to deal with it. I do not try to move my body, I just close my eyes and wait for it to end. Suddenly I find myself being embraced from behind by cold hands. I can feel the coldness radiate through my body. Now I feel nervous. I have never seen apparitions or felt any presence in my previous sleep paralysis bouts. I nervously squeak “Who’s there?”. After a few seconds, I hear a female voice, not harsh, but sweet and melodious “You don’t know me. What will you do with my name?”. I am seriously a mess at this point. I croak out “Please leave me alone.” She says “I am not leaving you. I will be with you forever.” I manage a “Why?” and the answer is “Because you were looking for me.”
I don’t know when I slept. The next day, I came down with a high fever and decided to skip office. That day I was a wreck of nerves. I was afraid to sleep alone. I was alone in a new town and my parents were in a different end of the state, so asking them to come down was not a feasible question. That night, same situation, I feel the embrace again. But this time I pretend like I do not feel anything. I lay still and feverishly pray. I hear the voice “Do you not like me?”. I do not reply. The voice repeats “Do you not like me? My husband did not want me, so he killed me. Go to X village and ask (Said village is a small habitation, around 15-20 homes and a tea/grocery shop nearly 3 kms from the place first mentioned). I will never leave you now.” I do not know when I went to sleep.
Next morning, I get ready to go to office. Today, I need to get to the bottom of this mystery. I reach office and confide in my attendant, let’s call him Ram (he was a local of the place). So, Ram and I head off to this place on my bike. We head for the tea shop and strike up a conversation with the owner. Chatty fellow. He tells Ram in their local language that the wife of a woodcutter who stayed there was found mysteriously dead by hanging a few days back. Local authorities declared it a suicide but the info was that the couple were constantly fighting and overall it was an unhappy marriage. Reasons, the lady did not conceive after 5 years of marriage. The husband was obviously grieving and stuff, but tongues were wagging about how he had done off with his wife.
I now knew what I needed to know. Ram takes me to a local tantrik who asks me to narrate everything in detail. I spill all the beans. He says I was a fool to stop there and God was with me that I was not dead in these two days. According to him, people who get their lives snuffed out are usually malevolent after their deaths. They do not know right from wrong and vent out their anger on any poor soul who happens to cross their path. Ans silly me had to pee there of all places. He performs a puja for me and gives me the ashes. He said spread these on your entrance and near your bed and do not clean them off for seven days. He takes only 20 bucks from me as payment. I do what I am told and that was the last time I was bothered by this entity.
To conclude, the logical mind would assume sleep paralysis and my colored mind to be the reason for this experience. I would beg to differ for a few reasons. First, I am not sure you have a coherent conversation during sleep paralysis. Some people do see things but the way she talked to me and narrated the place of her death does raise questions. Secondly, I have never had sleep paralysis for two nights continuously in my life. Thirdly, at the first instance when I saw her on the road, how could she disappear in a split second with no place to be or hide for a few miles.
I feel that this experience have opened my eyes and broadened my horizon. I am no longer a naysayer. There are indeed some things which we may never know about for certain but which will continue to elude us and sometimes give us a small peek into their existence.