Horrific Hauntings : A Haunted Banyan Tree Part II

This is the second part of “Horrific Hauntings : A Haunted Banyan Tree”. Read the first part here

 Ganesan was ridden by guilt as he felt that the security guard died because of being taken into the groove again. He gave a ransom to the watchman’s family and informed his dad about the things that were happening in the groove. His father yelled at him for not informing him earlier and headed to the village leader’s house right away to let him know about the terrible things that happened. After keenly hearing what Ganesan's father told him, the village elder told him, “All of us will go to your groove tonight. Let us see what is happening there”.

 So that night, Ganesan along with the village elders camped inside the groove. There seemed to be no unusual occurrences until one of the elders complained of a burning sensation in his hand all of a sudden. The others told him it could be a bee sting but, the painful section of the hand started to show second-degree burns. It looked as if a man wearing hot iron gloves had firmly held his hand. He was taken home by a few of the camped villagers as his condition seemed to worsen. A few minutes later, Ganesan’s father had a similar burn on his arm and the group was clueless about what was causing these burns.

 When the time was 2:00 am, Ganesan saw the witch he had seen the previous night. She stood near the tree with the 4 burning figures he had seen earlier, standing around her. Ganesan screamed in fear pointing at the witch and the group towards the witch to beat her up thinking she was the one behind the strange events inside the groove. But as they got closer, the 4 burning figures stood around her as if they wanted to protect her. This stopped the villagers from taking another step towards her.

 As the villagers cursed her from a distance they deemed to be safe, The witch started shouting loud saying that she was not the one behind the eeriness in the groove and told them that she was actually trying to help them. When the village elder asked her what she was speaking about, she told him that, the thieves who looted the neighbouring villages, hid their loot in the banyan tree in the middle of the groove. “They had died in a fire accident and these 4 figures are their phantoms”, she added. When the elder asked her what should be done to free that groove from these phantoms, she told them that, the tree should be cut and burnt. She also told him that, the tree could only be cut after a week as she had to do a few rituals on it. She warned him saying that, during the forthcoming week, those figures could kill people from their village and that they should be extremely careful

 Just as she warned, over 20 villagers hung themselves from that tree and died that week. The list included a 6-year-old girl, a pregnant woman, and an elderly woman in her sixties. Those people did not have any driving factor and the cause for their decision still remains a mystery. On the first day of the next week, the elders along with the witch headed to Ganesan’s groove to cut that Banyan tree. They proceeded to cut the tree after getting Ganesan’s approval who, despite being reluctant at first because of the emotional value that tree had, decided to let them cut it for the greater good.

 While cutting the tree, the villagers heard a sound that resembled the wailing of a crowd of people and they told the witch about it. She asked them not to bother much about it and told them to continue cutting the tree. After putting in a lot of effort, they successfully cut that tree and burnt it. They were happy that no one else was harmed and continued with their daily routines. Everything seemed to be normal in that village for a week after which, everyone who cut that tree hung themselves to death on the same day and time. The people who died included Ganesan’s father as well as the witch. These people were financially settled and had no reason to kill themselves. The cause of their death still remains a mystery.

 As days passed, the villagers started seeing their harvest catch fire all on its own, right in front of their eyes. They started hearing the cries of people on the streets during the night. They tried seeking the help of almost all the priests in and around the village but, they seemed to be of no use. These occurrences eventually stopped on their own.