the mystery of kaali haveli

The Mystery of Kaali Haveli

There was an old mansion in Bhairavpur, a deserted village in Rajasthan, which people called the "Kala Haveli". Legend had it that 100 years ago, a royal king had sacrificed his own daughter here. Since that day, no one has lived in the mansion. The villagers would say, "Whoever stayed, went mad... or disappeared."

One hot summer night in 2010, Aryan—a young journalist—arrived at the mansion. His purpose was to make a documentary on its mystery. He had his team with him: cameraman Vikram and sound technician Priya. The elderly village head had warned him. Return before it gets dark. The shadows here are alive.

The main gate of the mansion was locked with rusty locks. Aryan broke the lock with an axe. As soon as he entered inside, he felt—the air temperature suddenly dropped by 10 degrees. Priya shivered and said, "Something is wrong here." Vikram turned on the camera and then thousands of small insects appeared on the screen. They were not real... only in the camera. The sound of a child crying came from the top floor. Aryan decided to climb the stairs. There was a room on the second floor, in which a white sheet was spread on a bed. There were red spots on the sheet. Priya said, "Is this blood?" Vikram turned the camera and then the sheet flew in the air and fell in front of them. A woman's laughter echoed from behind. The team did research in the village archives. It was found that the king's daughter "Princess Meenakshi" was in love with an ordinary young man and wanted to marry him. The king was worried about his reputation. He tried to convince his daughter a lot but she was adamant on her stubbornness. Now the king had to choose between his daughter and reputation. The king burnt his daughter alive. While dying he cursed. Every daughter of this mansion will burn like me! From that day onwards, a girl had died a mysterious death in every generation. Aryan found that the last death was in 1999—a 12-year-old girl "Radhika". Her mother said she was playing near the mansion... The next day her body was found in a well. Her eyes had been gouged out.

The team decided to spend the night in the mansion. At midnight, Priya saw a woman in a white sari standing in the garden from the window of the room. She woke Aryan up. Aryan looked out of the window and found no one outside. Then a voice was heard in the camera recording, "I want my eyes..." Priya was very frightened. Aryan, we shouldn't have stayed here. Aryan hugged Priya and consoled her. "Be brave Priya. We will find out whatever is happening here." Both of them spent the rest of the night awake.

The next day, Vikram found an old diary in the attic. It read "She is watching me. She stands near my bed every night. I haven't seen her eyes... because she doesn't have eyes." The diary was from 1999—Radhika’s mother’s.

The third night, Aryan went alone to the haveli’s basement. There he found a shrine—a statue of Meenakshi, whose eyes were studded with red gems. Suddenly, the statue’s eyes began to bleed. Someone grabbed her throat from behind—it was Priya, but her eyes were white. She screamed in a hoarse voice, “Give me my eyes back!”

Aryan regained balance and removed the gems from the statue’s eyes. Priya fell unconscious. The next day, she didn’t remember what happened.

Aryan told the villagers that Meenakshi’s soul would not rest until her ashes were immersed in the holy river. They dug up the haveli’s foundation, and found a black box. Inside was a charred skull and gold jewelry.

The villagers floated the box in the Yamuna. That night, there were screams from the haveli, and then silence. The next morning, the black of the haveli had turned white.   




A year later, Aryan hears the news—the mansion has become an orphanage. A little girl who lives there writes to him, “It is because of you that there is laughter here. Last night I saw a beautiful goddess smiling… there were stars in her eyes.”


Ghosts are not those who live in the walls,  

but those who live in our fears.  

Darkness is not forever…  

Sometimes, a diya is enough.

This story is dedicated to those invisible fears that lie buried in the corners of our minds… and the courage that reduces them to dust.