Haunted: Purulia ‘ghost station’ myth busted, locals blamed

Begunkodor(Purulia): A team of rationalists spent a night at an obscure railway station in

Purulia

in an attempt to bust the myth that it is haunted. Instead, they chanced upon a couple of locals, who were trying to scare the team members. Tucked away in a far corner of the district near the Ayodhya hills,

Begunkodor

station has been rumoured to be infested with ghosts for over forty years.

Often, passengers have been left scared and even injured following ‘encounters’ with spirits. On Thursday night, ten members of the Paschim

Banga Bigyan Mancha

(

PBBM

) with help from the Purulia district administration, police and railways, camped at the spooky station but found nothing ghostly.

“There are several ghost stories spun around the station. One is that a station master and his wife had set themselves on fire at Begunkodor and their spirits can be spotted. Another one speaks of a woman who hanged herself from a tree nearby. Unfortunately, save for a snake disturbing the water in a well and a couple of men, who were trying to scare us by making strange noises, we encountered no other disturbance,” said

Nayan Mukherjee

, district president, PBBM.

Over the last few years, some people — interested in making a quick buck — have encouraged people from Kolkata and elsewhere to visit Begunkodor station on ‘ghost tours’.

Around 10 rationalists settled down at the station shortly after 11 pm and then started making their rounds. Their first stop was a decrepit well and for a moment they were taken aback for something was in the water. Finally, a torch beam picked up the shape of a water snake. The team then headed to the other side of the small station building where a ‘chhatim’ tree stands. Nothing out of the ordinary was detected near the tree, believed to be haunted. PBBM members also placed two digital compasses at the two ends of the station to pick up any magnetic disturbance. The magnets did not detect anything. Neither do the two digital cameras or tripods capture any unusual image. While all these were going on, the team heard a noise — half human, half animal — from the darkness behind the station building.

“We had to find out where it was coming from. Torch beams picked up figures in the bushes and we chased them. We spotted a couple of men running away. This is a ploy to fleece tourists, who visit the station looking for ghosts. As the visitors flee, they leave behind valuables, which are stolen,” said PBBM member Somnath Parta.

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