Kuldhara - The Haunted Village

Back to Rajasthan

When we were planning our drive to Jaisalmer, the person who was helping us said "there's a haunted village on the way, a ghost town, where no local will ever go in the night....would you like to visit?" 

Fully intrigued, we of course said yes.

And then Bubu uncle says, 'think again, with all those spirits around and stuff, do you really want to go' To me Bubu uncle meant rational, intelligent, strong, wise.....so coming from him, I paused to rethink. But Diksha and Dhruva were keen, (and actually so was I, so all 'wise' went out the window), so it got added in and we went.

At around noon we drove into Kuldhara. It was like driving into a movie set. Broken down houses, just rubble, deserted, desolate... desert all around, so deserted takes on an even deeper deserted ....and the eerie feel, well it's there....just knowing all that we knew.......or because it was really there...don't know which, but inspite of the blistering noon sun, we could still feel a chill...a creepiness.

We found this little boy, Suhas, all of eleven, who was willing to tell us the story. 

Story goes that in the powerful era of kings and kingdoms, the village was home to the Paliwal Brahmins. Salim Singh, the Diwan of Jaisalmer, known for his debauchery and unscrupulous ways, set his eyes on the beautiful daughter of the village chief. The Diwan threatened the villagers that if the girl wasn't handed over to him, he would impose huge taxes on them.

Fearing the wrath of the Diwan, one dark night the entire village left....they left behind their homes and everything in them........ they abandoned their own village. No one saw the thousand-odd folks of the village leave, and for generations now, no one knows where the Paliwals have resettled. All that is known is they cursed the town when they left, that no one would ever be able to live in Kuldhara again. And those that wouldn't or couldn't go are said to continue to haunt the space.

There are stories of houses in which apparitions have been seen, people have sensed the presence of others, and weird noises have been heard through the night.

Apparently the Paranormal Society of India has done several experiments there and found unexplainable happenings......cameras and generators caught fire for no reason, lights coming on without activation, audio meters going haywire.....and such others. I watched a news channel clip later, and even watching sitting in the safety and comfort of home gave me goosebumps.

The site is now with the Archeological Survey of India, and some of the houses have been restored to give a feel of how the village might have once been.

Even as we were there, there was a movie crew that was setting up, and Suhas said Ajay Devgan was coming for the shoot the next day. He casually reels of names of stars he's met :)

Dhruva trying to give us a scare from one of the houses that's been restored.

Diksha ofcourse had to find a puppy even in the deserted and abandoned Kuldhara

The moment we went in here, Diksha and Dhruva figured this was the house in which a Rajasthan tourism advertisement was shot

I got back and googled....here's the ad itself. Will give you a better feel of Kuldhara than all the writing I can do :)