A man of mystery

This event happened recently, around the beginning of 2021.

There were rumours of a man who had been practising black magic in a locality in the town of Tura.

The man is said to have grown up there his whole life; he only moved away to his wife’s small village after getting married. Most of the people in the locality seemed to know him. They said back when he was staying there, nothing seemed out of place.

Last year, he came back to town to stay with his sister who was settled there. His family did not go with him. The locals heard that he had been brought back because he was showing signs of mental disturbance.

After a while, people got word that he was cast out of the village by the nokma (Chief of the village) because the village folk had experienced and allegedly witnessed unusual events.

People were falling sick and dying in the same manner; even the animals were dying. Those who were being taken to the hospital could not be saved, while others who were being administered A’chik sam (local medicines) survived. From what people saw, the symptoms that such people were experiencing resembled those of being consumed by a skal (a demon).

The breaking point for the villagers was delivered at the hands of the man’s son.

It was around the Christmas season, and the son was out late with friends. When he reached home that night, he saw that a strangely bright light was circling the house, which landed with a thud behind the house after a while. The son witnessed a figure coming out from where the light had seemed to land; it was his father.

The son felt afraid and immediately reported it to the nokma.

The father is said to have been cultivating dikge (medicinal plant), varieties of which are believed to harbour bad spirits. After hearing all this and carefully studying the man’s behaviour, they banished him.

After the people from the locality heard of this, they called for a meeting. Those who had seen the man in person said he looked normal, while those closer to him said he was recovering from an illness.

However, they were worried that some people might resort to violence out of fear for their lives. They talked to the family of the man, who did not deny the accusations. They asked them to take him away from there.

Back in the village, they burnt down the dikges; it is said that they saw a shadow in the smoke and it looked just like him.