The mysterious death of India’s first qualified paranormal investigator--read scientific ghost buster, the type we had been used to watch on western television channels, who used paranormal detection gadgets such as Electromagnetic Field Sensor, Ambient Temperature Sensor, vibration detection device, Geophon, etc., to investigate the presence of spirits and ghosts at haunted places- Gaurav Tiwari, briefly sent the media into a frenzy of awe, which in turn drove people who believed in the existence of ghosts into stronger conviction about their spectral idea.
For a quick recapitulation for the uninformed, it should be enough to know that Tiwari, who had gone to the US to become a pilot, returned back as a qualified ghost buster instead. He founded India’s first Paranormal Society and became its CEO. He became a celebrity with successful eerie programmes on channels such as MTV. He died a mysterious death at a quite young age of 31 in his bathroom.
The media report about it was equally eerie: A thud sound from the bathroom, which his family heard, a thin black line around his neck. To make it worse, the channels reported how he had complained to his wife about his being sucked into the black hole of some powerful negative energy, which he was finding it difficult to explain.
Now this is a sad news. It could be suicide; it could be a heart attack, but since the background of Tiwari was ghost busting, naturally people who believed in ghosts had reasons to believe that his death might have been because of an act of revenge by some powerful supernatural force. The media cashed in on that point. For the sceptic, it was sad, but no extra-ordinary news.
Until science encouraged the enthusiasts to investigate paranormal activities with gadgets such as Full Spectrum POV Cam, EDI meter and dozens of other ghost hunting kits, which are openly available at online shops, one relied solely on his fear to gauge any eerie presence at a location. We heard stories. We recounted them with the same enthusiasm and fear that the media is showing today. We loved to see fear in the eyes of our listeners if they believed in our stories and asked us to stop if we told them stories of haunted places during late hours.
While it does not matter what the metaphysics of supernatural science has to prove with hundreds of scientific instruments, which many scientists are themselves skeptic about, believing in ghosts is a matter of choice. While most believe, some deny; some refuse to take any bet and would love to stay clear of any encounter with a spirit even though they claim to believe about the nonexistence of anything beyond death.
I fall into none of the above categories. I just don’t care. I am not scared of ghosts, but I am the type who would not want to invite them into his life or venture into their territory if they existed. But if there is a chance accident, then I don’t mind staying put and say a nice hello, without feeling the slightest shiver down my spine.
It feels awkward to narrate, but here it is. Years ago, when I had no clues about the metaphysics of supernatural elements, one day, at a new town, I accidentally slept in an office room in a remote place that was believed to be haunted. Sadly, no one had informed me about it. I slept without this knowledge, only to wake up in the middle of the night to find a shy woman walking beside my bed, unmindful of my presence. She was engrossed in herself. She just walked towards the backyard. I found myself temporarily seized, unable to get out of my bed, shout or move a limb. But I was on the alert, nevertheless. The tube light was on; the doors were locked from inside at both ends.
Next morning, my staff returned to quiz me if I had an unusual experience in the night. The rest is the revelation about the place being haunted by a spirit. For many years thereafter, I slept alone in that room at regular intervals, with full knowledge about the presence of some spirit in there, which I had seen, but nothing happened. The first time experience was unique as it was sudden, without any knowledge about what to expect, and without any fear or anticipation. As I was beginning to doubt my own sighting of a harmless ghost in the office room years ago, déjà vu happened. Some students from a distant place had come to the town to write their high school examination. Since they could not find a place to stay, I allowed them to use a portion of the office room to stay there in the night. Of course, the ghost was out of my mind, since it had never been sighted again. like me during my first stay at that place, the boys and their chaperoning uncle were totally unaware of the haunting stories about the place.
Next morning, when I returned back, I found all the boys suffering from fever; their uncle too. I sadly learned that the boys, who had been awake whole night reading for their next day examination paper, saw the same woman walking across the room. Result, the poor boys had to drop their papers and return home. Their description of the woman matched mine. I still remember her face. I failed to locate anything paranormal in that room for years thereafter, despite many more attempts at my untrained, naive ghost busting. That clear, shy face, though, has been there to remain with me despite my confused take on whether or not to believe in the existence of ghosts.
(The writer is an information officer of the Odisha Government)