Ghosts of HIMALAYAS

With its soaring heights, steep, jagged snow-capped peaks, breathtakingly beautiful valleys, and alpine glaciers, often of stupendous size, this still growing Himalayan mountain range imparts a feeling of infinity. With its magnificent look it also attracts people seeking peace, adventure and others on call of duties. With its unending serenity it is also known to be the abode of gods of many religions. But the Himalayas are also believed to be home to many restless souls of those who died on these pristine mountains and their bodies remained till date without proper last rites.

By C K Nayak

It should come as no surprise that stories of such supernatural bodies are firmly entrenched in the folklore, mythology, and belief of the local people. Indeed, the Himalayas have long been seen by the native Sherpas as the realm of numerous spirits and ghosts. It is believed that anyone who dies in the mountains without a proper burial, and most of them do, are doomed to forever wander as restless spirits. And such ghosts are thought to be numerous in the Himalayan mountains.

The Himalayas have long been a magnet for the adventurous, pulling in those brave souls, who would attempt to conquer this rugged place, push forth into the clouds, and mount its nearly inaccessible peaks. But nearly one third of such climbers die and their bodies remain preserved in the snow till date. The mountain range passing through several counties is also the theatre of several battles, even during the two World Wars. Many flights crashed into the Himalayan peaks, earning it the nickname, “Aluminium trail,” referring to remains of crashed aircrafts and their ill- fated crew.

Thousands of soldiers have died, and, in fact, many still die in the Himalayas in skirmishes and in its harsh conditions. In many such cases their bodies remain in remote inaccessible areas and are still to be recovered, let alone the question  of  any last rites. It is believed that like mountaineers these soldiers also remain as ghosts in the Himalayas. Even otherwise, the population is sparse up in the Himalayas and most of them are nomads. When some of them die the tribes perform last rites as per nomadic customs and leave the place for a better one. It is believed that the spirits of some of these nomads also roam the mountains.

The most common type of ghostly activity often reported from the Himalayas is that of encountering shadowy figures that wander through the hostile landscape. One such account  was  given in 2004, by a Sherpa named Pemba Dorji, who was climbing in the Himalayas when he came across a group of scattered corpses in the snow, with one of them still dangling from a rope fastened to the rock wall. He claimed that he was suddenly surrounded by a group of dark shadowy figures presumed to be of the dead climbers.

These reported spirits are not usually described as particularly evil or malicious, and indeed are most often reported as asking for help or, in contrast, offering it, acting as guides for the lost, warning of impending danger, or giving comfort to climbers in dire situations. Such benign presences offering aid have been reported by numerous climbers from the Himalayas. A very strange encounter was reported in the 1930s by British climber Frank Smythe. On one of his several attempts to scale Mt. Everest Smythe claimed he had come across a “presence”, which had approached him and to whom he even offered a cake.

Other reports of strange, paranormal activity in the Himalayas seem a bit harder to explain. A particularly eerie account revolves around Polish climber and mountaineer Wanda Rutkiewicz, who in 1986 became the first woman to successfully climb K2 but died in 1992 trying to climb Kanchenjunga. The truly strange part of the story comes after Rutkiewicz’s death, when her friend Ewa Matuszewska supposedly received a call from her late at night. The weirdest part about the account is that the call had occurred after she had died. Similarly eerie is the case of famous British climber Julie Tullis. She died frozen in 1986 following severe frostbite and an injury sustained from a nasty fall near Camp IV. Her body, as well as those of several other climbers, who also died on the ill-fated expedition, was never recovered.

In 1992, mountaineers Thor Kieser and Scott Fisher were jolted by a sudden noisy transmission over their radio, which allegedly was the voice of Tullis who said, “Camp IV to Base Camp, do you read, over?” This was very unsettling, as no one else was known to be in the area at the time, and certainly no one at Camp IV! Tales of ghosts in the Himalayas do not always encompass climbers only. There are such cases of dead soldiers too. Apparently, the benign ghost of the Himalayas is said to be the spirit of Sepoy Harbhajan Singh, an army officer with the Punjab Regiment, posted at the Nathula Pass in 1966. Two years later, Singh reportedly slipped and fell into a stream while escorting a mule and was washed away. His body could not be traced, and it was assumed that he had died. But soon he appeared in dreams of two soldiers of his regiment and told them where they could find his body still intact due to cold conditions. They led a search team directed in their dreams and the corpse was found exactly where he had said it would be.

Harbhajan Singh consequently received a proper burial with full military honours. But the tale only gets stranger from there. In the following days, there were numerous sightings of a mysterious lone soldier on horseback wandering about the area, who was frequently seen by soldiers stationed on both sides of the border. This “ghost rider” was claimed to be the spirit of Singh, who would allegedly appear out of thin air, disappear just as abruptly, and was said to be able to pass through objects or to travel at superhuman speeds. He also continued his habit of appearing in dreams, where he would give military advice and point out remote areas that had been left unprotected and were opened to attack by the Chinese, all of which proved to be incredibly accurate!

The legend of the ghost soldier Singh grew until he was honoured and respected to the point that a shrine was erected for him, which consisted of a three-room complex where a bed was made for him, and his uniform displayed for reverent visitors to see. But the caretakers at the shrine have claimed that the bed sheets will often be crumpled as if someone has slept in the bed even though no one was there, that the uniform will often be equally mysteriously moved or crumpled up and that the polished boots have muds.There is a bone chilling story of a military post located in the Baralacha La pass, in the Zanskar range of the Himalayas in Kargil district of Ladakh. Three soldiers were trapped at the outpost for two months when they were hit by an uncommonly harsh winter, during which no one could reach them for rescue. When the weather got better and help finally arrived, it is said that there was a hunched-over stranger at the post devouring one of the dead soldiers amid body parts, pools of blood and other half-eaten bodies flung around him.

The stranger reportedly snarled and attacked the rescue team, who responded by shooting him down with their weapons. In subsequent years, other soldiers posted at the site would complain of hearing mysterious phantom whispers or strange voices, as well as screams of agony as if someone is devouring them. And there were occasional claims of seeing the sinister ghostly figure of a man holding a knife. Vehicles passing the remote outpost have also reported being chased by a knife wielding man, who would suddenly vanish, as well as soldiers covered in blood standing in the snow, who would call out for help only to disappear into thin air if approached!

There are also stories of ghosts of the dead crews who wander around the 600 crash sites of Himalayas specially in the North Eastern side. Tribal hunters and hill dwellers claim to have seen them as if searching for something.