Deepta Roy Chakraverti

Many have spotted a long stream of misty shapes slowly walking in a line towards the sea. Those who know, fear it, but also bow their heads in prayer for it.

Some legends say the yeti prey on intruders scaling the peaks. At other times, they have been known to appear out of raging blizzards and help mountaineers find their way.

Everyone who handled artefacts belonging to King Tut's tomb died under mysterious circumstances. The Indian Museum in Kolkata has a small Egyptian collection.

Smearing clothes with violent colours and intoxicating oneself is believed to invoke the demons within. It is only then that they can be exorcised. And Holi thus ends peacefully with a soothing bath and pristine white.

From attracting wealth to warding off evil, ancient civilisations had many a secret that promises you all this, and more.

Could a mazar in the compound of 10 Janpath Road perhaps be a reason for the dark circumstances that dogged some of its inhabitants?

The temple's past is steeped in blood, as it goes back to the time of the Jaintia kings, when human sacrifices were made here.

If you offer your soul and speak your heart, they say the Yoginis listen.

The forest is an intrinsic part of the old culture of the East Khasi Hills, and the very heart of the magic which shrouds Meghalaya.

Bhangarh has a past, which still lives and walks side by side those who believe.

There is a reason the mirror is believed to be a portal between this world and the next.

When I would visit the old hospital site sometimes, dark forms would seem to flit behind the idols.

Perhaps that is what Panneerselvam meant when he told the press that the dead leader communicated with him.

Father Rosario Stroscio of Sicily performed an exorcism on the nun with her consent.

Did the hunter become the hunted?

Together, they seem to have an eerie, watchful atmosphere.

According to locals, in the old days, unclaimed and battered remains of the dead would sometimes be found here amongst debris and rubble.

Was there darkness within that form, which had been used, perhaps misused, by the powers that be?

You can never really foretell when the past of a place will reach out and take life once again.

[Book excerpt] This place which preserved the blood of two leaders, shed in such trauma and shock, seemed to have succeeded in holding back more than just the tangible.