Mystical Legends of India: Abandoned Bhangarh Fort story

Some places are as if designed to be inhabited by phantoms and restless spirits: for example, abandoned houses, gloomy wastelands, and dark dense forests. The main thing is that it should be an old historic place. The remains of Bhangarh Fort, built in the 16th century in Rajasthan, fit such a place perfectly, and so it’s not surprising that it has long been nicknamed “the fort of ghosts”. Spooky apparitions are very common here.

Bhangarh stands at the foot of the mountain, and no one has lived in it for a long time. Its walls are gradually crumbling, and its ruins are slowly falling into complete disrepair. Once upon a time, there were temples, houses, stores, and even a palace, but now everything is abandoned and ruined.

The fort was founded in 1573 as a luxurious residence of Madho Singh, general of Emperor Akbar and second son of the great ruler Bhagwant Das. It had strong fortress walls, strong gates, and a royal palace that once delighted people with its magnificent grandeur.

Nevertheless, as early as 1783, the people very quickly left the place. There are even legends that all the people simply disappeared one day. Officially it is believed that the people left because of the drought and the ensuing famine, but this has no confirmation.

One way or another, the city-fort quickly became deserted, and its structures began to fall apart. Even in our time, representatives of the Indian Archaeological Society posted a sign at the entrance to the fort that at night entering the city is strictly prohibited.

Now only rats, monkeys, and ghosts live in Bhangarh. Tourists often come here, and local ghosts were encountered by travelers so often that soon, Bhangar became famous as one of the most cursed places in India.

There are several mystical legends about what caused the fort to become deserted. Mostly two stories are told. One tells that once in the fort lived holy Baloo Nath. He was said to have lived in these places long before the fort was built and was generally immortal.

He gave his permission to build buildings in the place, but on the condition that none of them should be so large as to cast a shadow on the saint’s house or on himself during his meditations in the forest. Should this condition be violated, Balu Nath promised to put a terrible curse on the fort.

“As soon as the shadow of your palaces touches me or my dwelling, your city will cease to exist and will be overthrown by wind and dust,” the saint said ominously, but the ruler agreed to his terms, and the fort was built. The royal palace at the time had only three stories, and none of the buildings cast many shadows.

But as the years passed, the conditions were forgotten and more and more tall towers appeared in the fort. One day their shadow of them fell on the saint, and he cursed the city, but he himself died after that. The saint was buried somewhere in the fort, and now his spirit still roams these ruins.

The second story tells of Rani Ratnavati, the beautiful princess of Bhangarh, who was once fallen in love with the black magician Singhiya. He tried to cast a spell on the princess and created a magic potion. But the princess accidentally spilt it on a stone, and the stone rolled to the magician and crushed him to death. And before he died, the magician cursed the Bhangarh fort and promised its destruction.

Another version of the same story tells that the princess herself was a black witch and performed witchcraft rituals in which she killed little children stolen from the locals to prolong her life and beauty. But she fell in love with a man from a lower caste and could not marry him. Because of this, she became enraged at the whole town and condemned it to torment and pain.

Like the ghost of the saint, the princess’ ghost also supposedly still roams the fort, and when some tourist sees a translucent female silhouette among the ruins, everyone immediately assumes that it is the same princess.

One way or another, there seems to be something wrong with this place. Many people say that no crops grow here, and also if a new building is built here, its roof will bend, and it will be impossible to live in the house. They also say that those who enter the city at night, contrary to the prohibition of the sign, will never leave it again.

It is often said that suddenly people in the Bhangarh fort would begin to hear enchanting music and people laughing, then dancing figures would appear, and a mysterious dark figure could be seen in the windows of the palace.

It is also said that if any of the people come to the fort and start walking and exploring the ruins here for too long, death will catch up with them. There is a known story of a man who climbed the ruins and then was found dumped in a stone well. According to some reports, he could not have fallen himself, and someone pushed him, but no one saw any strangers near him.

Another well-known case is the crash of a bus with tourists. The bus with 50 people was traveling to the Bhangarh fort and had an accident on an even place, several people were seriously injured. And there are a lot of such strange cases. Was it an accident or a curse? Nobody knows.