The thankful ghost

A’chik people have this inherent belief that after death, people do not directly pass on to the afterlife; they stay back and haunt the living. Instances of alleged haunting are fairly common, with certain places being notorious for experiences of such nature.

The route to William Nagar in the East Garo Hills district is infamous for its ghost sightings and unpleasant supernatural experiences. Before reaching the town, people have to pass by a village cemetery near the Samanda Forest Reserve. There are rumours that ghosts tend to haunt people with weak rasi (hosroscope) along that route.

Years back, an officer posted at William Nagar encountered a dead person's spirit, which Achiks refer to as me’mang.

One fateful night, he was driving back home along the route. The time was between 9:00 to 9:30 P.M, and he was passing by the Samanda Forest Reserve when he saw an injured woman lying on the roadside.

She had seemingly been hit by a speeding vehicle and the perpetrator was nowhere to be found. The woman was left half dead and helpless on the side of the road.

Taking pity on her, the officer lifted the woman onto his car and drove her to the William Nagar Civil Hospital. After making sure that she’d be taken care of, he went home.

About six months after the incident, the officer was driving along the same route around the same time.

At the exact spot where he had seen the injured woman all those months back, he saw a woman who had her hand up asking for a lift. The officer did not think anything was out of the ordinary; he asked her to get on and drove them straight to William Nagar.

When they had reached the town, he looked at her and said, “Well, this is me. Where are you off to so late at night though?”

The woman got down from the car and politely told him, “I’ve been waiting for you for the past six months just to tell you one thing. Thank you so much!”

She did what she had been waiting to do all this time and walked towards the Civil Hospital.

The officer carefully stared at her and had a sudden flashback to the incident six months ago.

“Oh my God, she looks so much like the girl I had brought to the hospital all those months back! But why is she here so late? Maybe she’s not done with her treatment.”

Feeling unsettled by the encounter, he went back to the hospital the next day to ask about her. He walked up to the nurse and asked about the condition of the girl. The officer was not expecting the answer that he received from the nurse.

She said, “Sir, I’m so sorry, but she succumbed to her injuries and passed away the very next day.”

He was then hit with the realization that the woman he had given a lift to the night before was not a woman but the spirit of one. So consumed by fear, the officer avoided passing that stretch of road by himself at night.

Although there are many rumours and stories of hauntings by ghosts, this story shows that not all encounters with the supernatural are harmful.

Source: Ong’bebeamasai? Knaronggija Ongronggija Kattarang by Ma C T Sangma