10 Wikipedia Pages About The Most Bizarre Happenings In India That Have Been Keeping Me Up At Night

My sleep cycle is officially ruined.

The internet is a strange place, and India is most certainly an incredibly interesting place. I therefore decided to take a deep dive into some fascinating, weird, and lowkey creepy Wikipedia pages from the country, and man, what a trip! Here are some of the most interesting pages I found:

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🚨🚨🚨Note: This post contains pages about true crimes, and some include topics like suicide and murder.🚨🚨🚨

And yes, my sleep cycle is officially ruined!

1. This abandoned ghost village.

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Kuldhara, a village in the state of Rajasthan, has been a deserted place since the 19th century. There are several evidences of settlements and a thriving community from the 13th century onwards, but legend says that residents left the town to escape from its tyrannical Prime Minister, not before cursing it to remain barren forever. Current investigations say that this exodus must have happened due to water shortages or natural calamities. 

2. The Stoneman

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The Stoneman is an unidentified serial killer who was active between 1985 to 1989 in Calcutta. Investigations have speculated that this person has murdered at least 13 homeless people, crushing their heads with a heavy stone. There have been similar murders in other cities, but it was never determined whether they were committed by the Stoneman or a copycat. No one has been charged for the crimes yet and absolutely nothing is known about the killer. 

3. The seemingly anti-gravity arched hall of Bara Imambara.

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The Bara Imambara is located in the city of Lucknow. Built in 1784 by Asaf-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh, it is a grandiose building boasting of a gorgeous Mughal design style. The strange bit, however, is the vaulted central chamber of Asaf-ud-Daula's tomb. It is almost 15 metres all, and isn't supported by any beams or pillars — making it an architectural marvel.

4. Skeleton Lake

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Roopkund, also known as the Mystery Lake or Skeleton Lake, is a glacial lake situated in Uttarakhand and is nestled in snow-clad mountains. The lake got this spine-chilling nickname because of the naturally preserved ancient skeletons that can seen around its banks, once the snow melts. Haunting, right?

5. The village of twins.

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Kodinhi, a village in the state of Kerala, has an astonishing number of twins. The oldest twin birth, according to records, happened in 1949. Even women from Kodinhi, who have settled in other places, have been known to give birth to twins.

6. The Burari Deaths

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Touted to be one of the strangest instances of mass suicide in India, with a cult-esque storyline, the Burari deaths refer to a case of 11 people, belonging to the same family, dying by suicide. Handwritten notes were found at the place of their residence, which suggest that this event was a ritual prompted by the late patriarch of the family. The strange part is that the notes claim that the patriarch's spirit "spoke" through his younger son, luring the entire family to their deaths, in hopes of a better future. 

You can watch the Netflix documentary about this case.

7. Gravity-defying hills

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A gravity-defying or magnetic hill, is an optical illusion that makes a downhill slope look like an uphill slope. Ergo, vehicles, water, etc. seemingly defy gravity, i.e. they appear to travel uphill against gravity.  

India has a number of magnetic hills scattered across various states. You can find the list here.

8. Ghost lights in West Bengal.

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Aleya, or ghost lights, are glowing apparitions spotted in marshy areas and bog lands of West Bengal. According to local folklore, these are the spirits of fishermen who lost their lives in these swamps. These spirits are said to ensnare fishermen and drown them.

9. The disappearance of Rahul Raju.

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In one of the most bewildering missing person incidents of India, Rahul Raju, a 7-year-old from Kerala, went missing in 2005. He was playing with a bunch of friends and was allegedly spotted with a bearded middle-aged man, before vanishing from the spot. The CBI has made multiple efforts to trace him, but they have been to no avail, yet.

10. The isolated Andamanese islanders.

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The Sentinelese, or eponymously the North Sentinel Islanders, are a tribe who live on the North Sentinel Island — a part of the Andaman Islands. The catch? They refuse any contact with the outside world and react violently to those who do so. They were first peacefully contacted by Indian anthropologists in 1991 and there haven't been any other such instances since 1997. 

The Sentinelese are hunter-gatherers and do not practice agriculture. They wear bark strings and necklaces, use canoes, and live in temporary huts. However, nothing is known about their language yet.