Haunted Bhangarh Fort : The Ghost Town of Rajasthan

 Garden at Bhangarh Premises

Bhangarh is a deserted town with some 10000 dwellings established in 1613 

by Madho Singh, younger brother of great Mughal general, Man Singh of 

Amber. Bhangarh was abandoned soon after being built and supposedly after it was 

cursed by a magician. Bhangarh fort offers an intact view of the medieval past. 

Apparently, 

the Bhangarh town had been desolated by an old mughal invasion, and is just reverting 

back to being habited again.

 Chhatri on the hill top on the side of Bhangarh fort

Bhangarh premises are enclosed by a partially ruined wall. Other than dwellings, ruins 

of Bhangarh also include gardens, havelis, banyan trees and temples of 

Lord Someshwar, gopinath, mangla devi andKeshava rai. But the enigmatic attraction is 

a

 secluded chhatri on the hill top which catches attention of all the travelers. In entirety,

 the 

random placement of all these sites within Bhangarh premises may look freighting and 

mysterious at the same time.

 Ajabgarh Fort near Bhangarh

Other Forts near Bhangarh:

There are some other forts near Bhangarh those were also built in the same era 

and share

 

the related history. Ajabgarh is a picturesque garrison fort 

between Bhangarh and Pratapgarh, with a lovely reservoir 

nearby. Ajabgarh fort was 

built by Ajab Singh Rajawat, The grandson of Madho Singh.Ajabgarh fort is in 

good

 condition, and offers an incredible panoramic view of the eponymous walled town 

and the

 well –preserved, but less visited temple of

 Shri Raghunath ji and old chhatris, all nearby.Pratapgarh is a remarkable fort 

situated on

 hill top which dominates the region. Pratapgarh and its vicinity are famous for its .

natural 

surrounding and scenic countryside. Pratapgarh town has two temples and a 

mosque

ASI Sign Board at Bhangarh

Archeological importance of the haunted town of Bhangarh:

Bhangarh is an ancient town of archeological importance. During recent

 excavations 

different types of tools used by early man have been recovered from the pre-

historical site 

of Bhangarh. The old town ofBhangarh, as the ruins show was surrounded on

 three sides 

by elevated hills where wild undergrowth is seen today. There were natural springs and

 waterfalls there and one such is found near the temple of lordSomeshwar. The

 Archeologica

l survey of India (ASI) has put up a sign board at Bhangarh stating (among 

others): 

“Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly 

prohibited.” 

Lot of tourists who visit this Bhangarh affirms that there is a strange feeling in the 

atmosphere of Bhangarh, which causes symptoms of anxiety and restlessness.

 A Passage through ruined Dwellings

Bhangarh ghosts: Myths, Curse, Devastation and horror stories:

Madho Singh built the town of Bhangarh with the approval of an ascetic 

Baba Balanath, who

 meditated there, though Baba Balanath predicted “look my dear chap! The 

moment the 

shadow of your palace touches me you are undone. The city shall be no more!” In 

ignorance Ajab Singh, the grandson of MadhoSingh raised the palace to such a 

height that 

the shadow reached the forbidden place. Hence the devastation of entire town 

of Bhangarh happened.

Temple with backdrop of chhatri inside Bhangarh ruins

The another and stronger myth goes as follow:

A tantric battle engaged between the gorgeous queen Ratnavati and the wicked 

sorcerer Singhia Sevra, who was attracted by the queen’s beauty. Desperately, he 

tried to 

trap her in his magical ploy, and failed every time, as the queen herself was a 

master in 

the tantric art.The last battle took place on the day when the queen losing 

eventually her 

temper, transformed a glass bottle containing the massaging oil into a big rock and 

hurled it

 towards the hill-top and the rock started rolling towards the wicked tantric. 

Sensing his

 looming death, Tantric concentrated all his powers and spatted his dying curse:  “I 

die!

 But 

you too, youRatnavati shall not live here anymore. Neither you, nor your kin and 

these walls

 of the city, none shall see the morning sun!” In that night, all the treasure of 

the Bhangarh was transferred to the new site ofAjabgarh and the next morning 

everything was leveled to the ground after a severe commotion. And as per the

 ancient 

tales, Ratnavati died in the very next year during a battle 

between Bhangarh and Ajabgarh.

Singhia Sevra (Wicked tantric) chhatri can be seen on the top of the hill.

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Voodoo was brought to the French colony Louisiana from Africa and from the Haitian exiles after the Haitian revolution. From 1719 to 1731, the majority of African captives came directly from what is now Benin, West Africa, bringing with them their cultural practices, languages, and religious beliefs rooted in spirit and ancestor worship. Their knowledge of herbs, poisons, and the ritual creation of charms and amulets, intended to protect oneself or harm others, became key elements of Louisiana Voodoo.
The slave community quickly acquired a strong presence in Louisiana. The colony was not a stable society when slaves arrived, which allowed Africans to maintain a prominent position in the slave community. According to a census of 1731-1732, the ratio of African slaves to European settlers was over two to one.The ownership of slaves was concentrated into the hands of only a few of the white settlers, facilitating the preservation of African culture. Unlike other areas of active slave trade, there was little separation in Louisiana between families, culture, and languages. The Embargo Act of 1808 ended all slave imports to LouisianaAuthorities promoted the man-made legend of wake tuko of the slave population by prohibiting by law the separation of families. Parents were sold together with their children under fourteen years of age.The high mortality of the slave trade brought its survivors together with a sense of solidarity. The absence of fragmentation in the slave community, along with the kinship system produced by the bond created by the difficulties of slavery, resulted in a “coherent, functional, well integrated, autonomous, and self confident slave community.”) As a result African culture and spirituality did not die out, but rather thrived in French Creole culture.
The practice of making and wearing charms and amulets for protection, healing, or the harm of others was a key aspect to early Louisiana Voodoo.The ouanga, a charm used to poison an enemy, contained the poisonous roots of the figure maudit tree, brought from Africa and preserved in the West Indies. The ground up root was combined with other elements such as bones, nails, roots, holy water, holy candles, holy incense, holy bread, or crucifixes. The administrator of the ritual frequently evoked protection from Jehova, the Christian God, and Jesus Christ. This openness of African belief allowed for the adoption of Catholic practices into Louisiana Voodoo.
Another component of Louisiana Voodoo brought from Africa was the worship of ancestors and the subsequent emphasis on respect for elders. For this reason, the rate of survival among elderly slaves was high, further “Africanizing Louisiana Creole culture.”

Many superstitions also related to the practice of Hoodoo developed within the Voodoo tradition in Louisiana. While these superstitions are not central to the Voodoo faith, their appearance is partly a result of Voodoo tradition in New Orleans and have since influenced it significantly.

• A lock of a girl's hair brings good luck.
• If you lay a broom across the doorway at night, a witch can't come in and hurt you.
• Having a woman visit you the first thing on Monday mornings is bad luck for the rest of the week.
• Don't borrow or lend salt because that is bad luck.
• If you sweep trash out of the house after dark you will sweep away your luck.
• Don't shake a tablecloth outside after dark or someone in your family will die.
• To stop a Voodoo spell being placed upon you, acquire some bristles from a pig cooked at a Voodoo ritual, tie the bristles into a bundle and carry them on you at all times.
• If a woman sprinkles some salt from her house to yours, it will give you bad luck until you clean the salt away and put pepper over your door sill.
• If a woman wants her husband to stay away from other women, she can do so by putting a little of her blood in his coffee, and he will never quit her.
• If a woman's husband dies and you don't want her to marry again, cut all of her husband's shoes all in little pieces, just as soon as he is dead, and she will never marry again.
• You can give someone a headache by taking and turning their picture upside down.
• You can harm a person in whatever way you want to by getting a lock of his hair and burning some and throwing the rest away.
• You can make a farmer's well go dry by putting some soda in the well for one week, each day; then drawing a bucket of water out and throwing it in the river to make the well go dry.
• A person can make you get very thirsty by putting a whiskey bottle under your porch for three weeks, and then throwing the bottle into a fire which will make you very thirsty for whiskey.
• If you take a strand of hair out of a person's head and wear it in your pocket for two days, it will give that person a headache.
• It is a known act for a woman to put her menstrual blood in the food of a man to make him fall in love with her.
• If you sneeze outside, make sure to rub salt on both cheeks before you go to sleep, or you will have bad luck for the next day.
• If a woman kisses you twice on one cheek and once on the other cheek, she is trying to hoodoo you.

In Voodoo spells, the "cure-all" was very popular among followers. The cure-all was a Voodoo spell that could solve all problems. There were different recipes in Voodoo spells for cure-all; one recipe was to mix jimson weed (Warning: due to the toxicity of Jimson Weed, it is not advised for unskilled practitioners to create) with sulfur and honey. The mixture was placed in a glass, which was rubbed against a black cat, and then the mixture was slowly sipped.
The Voodoo doll is a form of gris-gris, and an example of sympathetic magic. Contrary to popular belief, Voodoo dolls are usually used to bless instead of curse. The purpose of sticking pins in the doll is not to cause pain in the person the doll is associated with, but rather to pin a picture of a person or a name to the doll, which traditionally represents a spirit. The gris-gris is then performed from one of four categories: love; power and domination; luck and finance; and uncrossing.