Below is the transcript found on the phone of Hans Drukker, a 21-year old citizen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, last seen at Karunadevoor, a small town in the Kozhikode district of Kerala state in the Republic of India. Drukker had a popular video blog known as ‘Wereldrukker’, and the below videos seem to be recorded for the purpose of uploading it there.
The phone was found by a local fisherman named Adheef Panaparambil and duly handed in to Inspector Ramachandran at Karunadevoor police station. Adheef claimed to have found it on the beach at some distance from the historic ruins of Padmanabhavilasam Palace (known by the locals as ‘Parangi Nashiccha Kottaram’, meaning ‘the palace ruined by the foreigner’) while returning from his early-morning fishing trip. Upon accessing the phone and investigating, the following videos were found. Police investigation resulted in the declaration of Hans Drukker as a missing person, and the notification of the Dutch embassy.
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CLIP 1 (Recorded on 14/08/2019)
HANS DRUKKER, a young man with long blond hair turns on the front facing camera and makes a few adjustments to his hair. He smiles widely, then begins speaking cheerily.
HANS: Good morning dear friends! Thanks for tuning in to Werldrukker today, please like my video and subscribe if you want to see more of me. If you like this video, check out my previous ones too. Share it with your friends while you’re at it, yeah?
HANS leans back and chuckles, then moves toward the camera confidentially.
HANS: I’ve been in India for two weeks, and now have come to this little town in Ko-Koli..nevermind, you see the name on the screen. Now you may wonder, ‘Hans, what are you doing in this little backwater?’ Well, fret not, I’m going to tell you.
Today we’re going to do something that is my passion; exploring abandoned places! If you follow my previous adventures, you’ll see how I have gone to numerous old buildings in the cities I visit. But this time is extra special!
Now a bit of history for you guys. The Dutch East India Company was active up and down this coast in the 1600s, and the local chiefs used to make deals with them, you know, I give you trading rights for my place, and you destroy my enemy with your big guns. Now this town was one of those little chiefdoms. And over here also the same deal went on. But the thing is that, the Dutch guy who made the deal here was my ancestor! That’s right, Eustachius van Drukker was the commanding officer of the Muiden, the Dutch vessel who landed here. The main reason I came to India actually was to visit this place. Little surprise for all my viewers, eh?
So near the beach is a palace, with another unpronounceable local name (laughs), so I’ll just call it the palace for you guys. The story is my great-great-great-something-grandfather, he stayed there for 2 years and learnt some of the local language. But over that time, he fell in love with the chief’s court dancer or something? And then the king made him leave, then locked up the dancer. But they say the dancer went mad and cursed the place and it soon faced a lot of misfortunes that made the place uninhabitable. Locals don’t even go near it, it’s crazy!
HANS swigs some water from a metal bottle on his bedside.
HANS: I don’t really believe in that curse bullshit you know? Maybe my ancestor just had his troops burn down the place or something! (chuckles) Anyway, see you there!
HANS holds his palm to the phone to cover the camera, making the screen blank. End of CLIP 1.
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CLIP 2 (Recorded on 15/08/2019)
HANS is walking down a beach, sweat streaming down, holding the phone to show his face.
HANS: Hey guys, now I’m on the beach, walking down to the palace. You know, not one of the taxi or auto-rickshaw drivers wanted to take me there? No matter how much money I gave, they just said no. So I’ve got to walk!
HANS pans the camera around him. It’s a very bright and sunny day. The sea is on one side, and groves of coconut trees on another. Ahead of him is a boat on the shore, where two fishermen are relaxing.
HANS: It’s hot as hell out here! I already finished my water a while back (brandishing his bottle), so there’s no relief. How do the locals manage? Actually, there seems to be two guys ahead. I’ll ask them for some water.
HANS approaches the boat where the two men were sitting. Both of them were dark-skinned with curly hair, and wore only a lungi, leaving their chests bare. They were subsequently identified by Kerala Police as C. Varunan and V. Basheer, both local fishermen.
HANS (In English): Hey guys!
VARUNAN and BASHEER turn toward him, wave and smile. HANS reaches the boat and holds the phone at waist-level, so we can see his head from below.
HANS (IN ENGLISH): Hey, do you know English?
BASHEER: Little-little. What you want?
HANS: Oh that’s great! You have water?
VARUNAN: Water, ah? Come, come.
End of CLIP 2.
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CLIP 3 (Recorded on 15/08/2019)
HANS is sitting on a bench in a small shelter with Varunan and Basheer beside him. He is holding a tender coconut with a straw out of it, which he sips from intermittently. He continues to speak in English.
HANS: Hello everyone, meet my new friends, Varunan and Basheer! Meeting them really was a godsend.
HANS swings the camera so they are clearly in view. VARUNAN and BASHEER are grinning and wave at the camera. HANS swings the camera back to himself.
HANS: They not only filled my water bottle, but also got this tender coconut right off a tree for me! Never had anything so cool and sweet before! So, you guys see the hospitality of India? Even for a stranger like me, they dropped everything to help!
VARUNAN and BASHEER grinning and nodding.
VARUNAN: Ahh, you said you’re going where?
HANS: The palace.. what was it called? Pa…Padam…
VARUNAN (with wide eyes): Padmanabhavilasam, ah?
HANS (cheerfully): Yeah! That’s the one!
VARUNAN and BASHEER share wide-eyed looks.
BASHEER (leaning forward): Don’t go there. Especially because you’re foreign. What we are saying listen. Can save your life.
HANS: That’s what all the auto drivers were saying! Not to go. But I really want to go! My ancestor lived there for some years!
VARUNAN (To BASHEER, softly in Malayalam): He is that foreigner’s descendant!
BASHEER (to HANS): Then you surely can’t go. Please listen. We know that place. If you are the captain’s relative, you stay. We’ll guide you wherever you want around this place. Don’t go.
HANS: Listen, I’ve made up my mind to go there. Your old wives’ tales won’t stop me.
VARUNAN (frantically): Not safe. Don’t go. Can’t say what will happen there. If the woman catches you…
HANS (slightly annoyed): Now listen, you don’t try to stop me! I appreciate you guys helping me, but you can’t tell me what to do!
VARUNAN goes to say something but stops. BASHEER is already sitting with his head in his hands.
VARUNAN (resigned tone): Then go. But don’t say we didn’t tell you.
HANS walks out of the shelter.
END OF CLIP 3
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CLIP 4 (Recorded on 15/08/2019)
HANS is walking down the beach again. Clearly this was taken only about a minute after the previous clip, as the fishermen’s shelter can be seen in the background. HANS is speaking in Dutch again.
HANS: That was odd, right guys? Locals are really kind, really kind, but also too superstitious. Must be afraid of their own shadows! And what was all that talk about a woman catching me? I know I have devilishly handsome looks (he grins at the camera), but not that much!
Anyway guys, we’re approaching the palace at last, there you see it in the distance..
HANS turns the camera around and zooms. In the distance is seen a tiled roof peeking over half-broken, mossy walls. The entire structure has been consumed by the surrounding vegetation.
HANS: It’s really a relief to see the end goal in sight. Maybe I should get a couple of bricks from there to give those guys, how about that? (laughs)
END OF CLIP 4
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CLIP 5 (Recorded on 15/08/2019)
The camera faces HANS, the sea behind him.
HANS: Whew, that was way longer than I thought! It took me half an hour to walk from there, even though the building looked close. (drinks water and exhales). Anyway, we’re at the palace gate! Take a look guys..
HANS turns the camera. We see the gateway to the palace. The gateway is a small building that was once white, but now was black and green from the corroding forces of nature. The roof would have had tiles, but now merely a few beams clung on, like a reminder of past glory. There were wooden double doors, one of which had fallen and the other which was holding on by a single hinge. Both are significantly decayed.
HANS: Well, time to go in, I guess..
HANS walks through the doorway, glancing around. As he steps through, the sound of the wind suddenly falls silent. The main building is some distance away; in traditional architecture of the region, buildings of the wealthy were surrounded by a huge compound. In the corner of the compound is a small building that would have once been a temple to a local deity. Stone paths criss-cross the compound, which would have connected the palace with structures that no longer exist.
HANS (quietly): This place is crazy, although it’s not to big.. hardly a Versailles, yeah? (HANS weakly chuckles, but the sound is stifled by the oppressive silence in the courtyard.)
HANS approaches the temple in the corner. Leaves crunch underfoot, and more than once he starts and looks over his shoulder.
HANS: Bit creepy out here..I get why the locals don’t want to come around. But hey, I’ve been in worse places. Like that abandoned high-rise out in Medan last year, where that junkie jumped out at me.. I had to buy new pants that day! (HANS laughs, but he slowly stops and clears his throat.) A-anyway.
HANS turns the camera to show the small, shrine. Unlike the rest of the place, the temple seems to be in good condition, with only minimal damage. The walls are still mostly white, and the roof retains most of the tiles. The wooden door is inset with gold decorations, and is bolted with a large, ornate gold latch. HANS’ hand reaches out and opens the latch. HANS turns the camera back to himself.
HANS: Here we go!
HANS pushes the door open. His expression goes blank, then his eyes widen and he begins to hyperventilate. Wordlessly, his shaking finger approaches the screen. After missing the button a few times, the camera turns around. The shrine doors are open. The platform where the idol would usually be, was replaced by a much decayed traditional Dutch hat, which had a metal pin with the VOC logo, so rusted that it looked like it would crumble. Bones were scattered all throughout the shrine, and a skull displaying signs of blunt force trauma was placed beneath the platform where the hat lay. The walls of the shrine had writings in an older form of Malayalam, made in a crusty brown substance which appears to be blood. The writings were translated as, “Why did you abandon your beloved? Where have you gone, crossing the sea? All those who stood in our way are now dead. Soon you must come back to me.”
The camera remains in place for almost a minute. After that, HANS suddenly whips around. The phone screen is black presumably due to him putting it in his pocket. After about a minute, HANS is back on screen. The hat seen in the shrine is now on his head. Through the stillness, a faint sound of a female singing, in a tune and language typical of 17th century Kerala, is heard to the accompaniment of anklets. Wordlessly, he starts shuffling toward the palace, his eyes blank. There is a pause in the song, as the anklets continue to ring. HANS begins to mumble, seemingly in the tune of the song. He stops after a short time, and the female voice picks up the song again. As HANS draws closer to the palace, the song and anklets increase in frenzy and intensity. He slowly climbs up the steps of the verandah, and the song can clearly be heard. Set to the tune of a classical dance song, it details the longing of a beloved for her lost lover. Interspersed with it are lines detailing the tortures the bereaved woman inflicted on those who kept her away from her lover, which were not part of the original composition.
HANS waits at the door, occasionally singing in accented Malayalam when the female voice is silent, as if prompted. HANS is not known to have any prior knowledge of the language. The song comes to an end after about ten minutes. The anklets are heard coming closer, rushing to the door, and stopping just on the other side. There is complete stillness for around half a minute. Suddenly, HANS tosses the phone aside, and the camera lands facing upward, recording the mossy, tiled roof which has gaps on it. The door is heard opening and the sounds of Hans’ flip-flops along with the anklets are heard receding. The camera records the roof for an hour, during which nothing further is heard or seen, and after which the battery dies.
END OF CLIP 5
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There was no more media on the phone, so it is unknown how it reached the beach, nearly 250 meters away from the palace. The phone was dead when retrieved by Adheef, and had to be started by an IT team from Kozhikode city, upon which the above clips were accessed. Preceding these clips were regular clips shot in Kochi city, where he was staying prior to his arrival at Karunadevoor. Upon viewing the clips, the Kerala Police declared the case closed, and attributed his disappearance to a riptide when he went to swim in the sea. The area of a radius of 150 meters around the Padmanabhavilasam Palace was declared an ecologically protected zone, prohibiting people from entering without a permit. However, fishermen say that if they pass the palace on their boats at night, while breeze blows from the land to the sea, they hear the tinkling of anklets interspersed with frenzied laughter- both male and female.