Ghosts at Union Carbide & other spooky stories from Bhopal

As part of our series on urban legends – unexplained phenomena, stories of which many people in cities and towns have grown up hearing -- we take you to Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Locals have reported many ghost encounters at the Union Carbide factory ever since the Bhopal gas tragedy, which has been etched in our collective memory as one of the world’s worst industrial disasters. The now abandoned Dow industrial complex used to be the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant, where the gas leak occurred. Between 2nd and 3rd December, 1984, in the dead of night, 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas got leaked into the Bhopal skies, killing over 3,000 people instantly and condemning hundreds and thousands of people to a future of chronic pain, disease and disability. More than 500,000 citizens were exposed to the highly toxic gas, most of whom turned to mere ghosts of their former selves… Locals in the adjoining JP Nagar area say the spirits of the people killed in and around the pesticide plant still linger on. Their agonized screams for help can still be heard from afar. Some trying to venture into the factory complex have even felt an invisible push, as if the spirits don’t want them to come inside and meet a similar fate… It’s been 38 long years, and the real horrors of the Bhopal gas leak still haunt the city’s inhabitants, as do the ghosts conjured by urban lore… Ghost of Taj MahalBhopal’s very own Taj Mahal, the Taj Mahal Palace was built as the residence of the third begum of Bhopal – Shah Jahan Begum, who ruled the state from 1868 to 1901. Its construction spanned 13 years, from 1871 to 1884. The palace used to be a major tourist attraction for its British, French, Mughal and Arabic architectural influences. After large portions of the Taj Mahal Palace collapsed, the state government decided to lock the property. Tourists still visit out of curiosity, but locals residing in the vicinity of the palace share a different story. The story of a woman in white who is often seen wandering from window to window inside the palace. Apparently, Shah Jahan Begum had spent the last days of her life alone in the palace, estranged from everybody in her family, even her daughter. The story is so popular that people living in the area observe a self-imposed curfew after 10pm. One shop owner who had recently set up a paint shop near the palace was not aware of this. It was during the time of Eid, and he decided to keep his shop open till late into the night. Around 11.55 at night, his shop windows started rattling. He thought it might be the wind. He had two boys with him at the shop, and told them to start wrapping up as it was getting late. They were all packing their stuff, when they felt a sudden cold creep into the shop. They had come out and were just downing the shutters, when they saw a lady standing right across the lane. She had long hair, was wearing a white kurta and had an eerie smile across her face. They stopped on their tracks in shock, till one of them mustered the courage to kickstart their bike. After a few attempts, he managed to get the bike running. They quickly sat on it and sped away. The shop owner didn’t open his shop for an entire week after that... Ghost in Bhopal mosqueNext to the Taj Mahal Palace stands the Zeenat ul Masjid, which had been built by Shah Jahan Begum for people who wanted to offer prayers while working at the palace. The mosque had been built in 1899 along the banks of the Motia lake in Shahjahanbad, Old Bhopal. It has quite a reputation for strange occurrences. Even the muezzin there, the person who calls everyone to the mosque for prayers, has spoken of good djinns roaming around the place in the mornings during fajr namaaz. Ever since childhood, history professor Ashar Kidwai had heard stories of ghosts visiting the Zeenat ul-Masjid. Not one to believe in such stories, Kidwai decided to check for himself. So, there he was at the 18th-century mosque at five in the morning one day… He took off his shoes outside and was doing his ablution before offering namaaz, when he saw a person sitting next to him mimicking his actions. It felt quite odd, but he dismissed the thought. He reasoned that it might be his mind playing tricks, since he had heard so many spooky tales about this place…. He walked into the mosque and was just about to sit down for his prayers when he felt a pat on his back, as if someone was calling him from behind. On turning, he saw a man in a long white kurta with a smile…he was standing, but floating…almost like an apparition…. “Chalo namaaz ke baad tehelne chalte hai,” the apparition told him. “Mein bhi yaha fajr namaaz ke liye aya hoon.” Kidwai’s heart began racing. He ran out of the mosque without offering namaz, never to return…. Anchor: Anindya ChakravortyAudio production: Prateek Kapoor