Fear Files

The Jingling Sounds

This incident took place in the late 70's.

My father spent his childhood in a village and he did his college in a small local town near his village (will avoid writing the names of the town and the village, sorry). During his college days, he (in his early 20's) used to stay in a small, rented room with one room-mate. It was quite a small town. There were a few houses nearby but at that time, there weren't much occupants. His room-mate was a job-holder. Earlier that person used to stay alone in that room, and was joined by my father later on. So that way my father didn't know much about the area that he was staying in.

One evening, his friend needed to go somewhere for some work and there, he had to make an overnight stay also. Before leaving, he asked my father whether he is okay staying alone for that night, and will he be scared to do so. He asked that just like in a caring tone as my father was younger than him. My father had absolutely no problem staying alone so he said there's no problem at all.

Those days there wasn't a regular electricity supply to 'all' homes, only a few houses in their town had that connection, and so my father used to study under oil-lamp. So that night my father, after studying, was about to retire to his bed. It was close to midnight. Before sleeping, my father used to lower the flame of the lamp to a small level and then went to sleep. But before that he came to know that the houses nearby did not have residents for that night so it was literally like he was the only one in that about 50 meter radius area, with no electricity. The nearest house with residents was about half a kilometer away.

According to him, it had been just 2-3 minutes that he laid down in his bed that he started hearing jingling sounds of 'Ghungroo' (something similar but bigger than 'anklets'). 'Ghungroos' are items worn around the ankles that people wear/use generally for classical dancing in India. They are like a bunch of 5-6 anklets worn together. So their sound is much 'heavier' than anklets make. My father had not even closed his eyes that these sounds in a pattern- 'Shring'-1 second pause- 'Shring'-1 second pause-'Shring'-1 second pause-' started coming from outside, as if someone is slowly walking wearing 'Ghungroos'. He started listening to them carefully. He felt like the sounds were coming closer to his room. So close, that within 10-15 seconds, my father said he felt that the 'sounds' totally 'stood' outside the room's door!

First, my father waited for a few seconds for that person to call him/or knock the door. For if he/she has got any work with him, the person will definitely 'say' something. Seconds passed... No knock... Minutes passed... No knock. But he had this constant feeling that something/someone was definitely 'standing' outside his door, because he felt there was a 'movement' at the door. Now my father started getting curious as well as a bit scared. He thought if 'it' had been a human, it would never stay 'silent' like that at the door! Still, my father waited like that for about 10 minutes, waiting to see what happens next. Nothing - no sound, no knock, no words.

My father, during those days, used to keep 2 things beside his bed every night before sleeping - a flashlight torch and a 'Khukri' for his personal protection. (Please check wikipedia images to know what a 'Khukri' is). My father's curiosity did not let him stay at rest. He was quite a brave guy and so next, what he did was- took God's name, got hold of his torch in his left hand and the Khukri in his right hand. He opened the door and 'chased' whatever 'it' was outside. To his surprise there was no-one and nothing to be 'seen', but even more surprising was the fact that he did 'chase' something/someone! The direction in which he chased that 'thing', the ghungroo 'sounds' made by an 'invisible' entity were also running ahead of him as in the act of 'being chased'! And no, it was not any stray animals like cat/dog/goat etc. If it were, he would have seen it running. Some 15-20 steps of chasing and after that, no jingling sounds were heard of. It felt as if the 'thing' with the sounds just vanished then and there! My father came back to his room, bolted the door and sat down. He tried to sleep but, of course after that incident, you can hardly think of falling asleep. The night passed without further disturbances by anything.

The next day, his room-mate returned and later on, he asked my father was he scared being alone the last night. My father told him about the previous night's incident, to which his roommate replied, "That was the reason I kept asking you whether you will be okay or not, staying alone for the night." He then told my father that he too kept hearing 'Ghungroo' sounds at night when he used to stay alone there and he was actually 'worried' for my father for that night where he would have to stay alone. He also said he did not want to scare my father by letting him know about it beforehand. He said since my father had no problem in staying alone, he left without telling him about the occurrences. He actually hoped that my father would say no to staying alone, so that he could have managed taking care of him by sending him to one of his friend's place elsewhere for the night.

Nevertheless, his room-mate was quite surprised to know about my father's dare-devil act the previous night of being able to 'chase away' the entity. My father replied that even he himself does not know what made him open the door and chase 'that thing' away with his flashlight and khukri. He said the only thing he did before going out was that he took God's name for his protection. But my father also said that he was not surprised to have come across such an unnatural 'thing' cause he had been encountering paranormal incidents since his childhood. His room-mate went on to say that even some residents nearby had told him about such Ghungroo sounds outside their houses at night. They even tried searching for the source but they could never find out what it was.

I still get scared even imagining about the incident that my father went through that night. Really, so brave was he. Khukri is a weapon made of iron and according to our customary beliefs, evil spirits are scared of rods/knives/any weapons made of iron. And the only confession I want to make in here is that, "Thank God, you helped and saved my father that night without any harm! Anything could have happened right?"

Thanks everyone. Please forgive me for my mistakes in English, if any.