Haunted by a Jinn: A Terrifying True Story from Rural Bangladesh

He doesn't exactly remember which month in 2010 the incident happened. When it happened, meaning back in 2010, Sagar Bhai would have been around 13 or 14 years old. Sagar Bhai's maternal grandfather's house and their house were right next to each other, separated only by a pond. Their house was on one side, and his grandfather's house was on the other. His grandfather had a lot of land, but there weren't enough people to cultivate it. In those two households, the only male figures were Billal Bhai and Sagar Bhai. They were the only two at home. They had only one maternal uncle, and he lived abroad. And the lands they owned were given to others to cultivate – what we understand as sharecropping. The system there was that whoever cultivated the land would give half of the harvest to them, and the cultivator would keep the other half. That's how it was going. Billal Bhai was a student and didn't really have time to look after the land. He had finished his HSC exams and was at home, deciding whether to study further or go abroad. But just wanting to go abroad isn't enough; there are processes involved – passport, visa, and what kind of work he would do – everything requires a process to be followed. It takes time. He thought, "Instead of sitting idle, let me start cultivating this land that's lying fallow. I’ll get some work done instead of just sitting around." There was a piece of land lying unused, and he planned to plant rice on it. He shared this idea with Sagar Bhai, who agreed. So, the two brothers started working together. They did everything together and planted the rice. Meanwhile, everything was ready for Billal Bhai to go abroad. And since everything was ready, he went abroad.

Now, in these two houses, the only male figure is this Sagar Bhai, but he's only 13 or 14. At this age, he has to look after the land. He didn't really know when to fertilize or what to do. Because of this, when he was taking care of the land from home, he would ask around, "When should I do this? What should I do?" That's how he was taking care of things. That's how it was going. Then the day the incident happened, I remember it was a Wednesday. They say there's a common belief in their village that Wednesday is a day for ghosts, a day when scary things happen. Coincidentally, the incident also happened on a Wednesday. So, one day he was going to water the land. The system used to be that whoever's land was being watered would bring a liter of diesel, and the water would be pumped for an hour. The machine belonged to someone else, and they would get a portion of the harvest, or some kind of agreement like that, or they'd have to pay money. It was different agreements with different people for these machine owners. So, he also took the oil, the diesel. He went in the afternoon and saw that someone else was already in line. After watering their field for an hour, then they would water his. So, the machine owner told him, "Son, come back in an hour and a half." An hour and a half later meant he had to come back just before Maghrib prayer (sunset prayer). So, what could he do? When he left home, he had said he was going to water the fields. He went back home and told them what happened, that they told him to come back later. So, he went back later. But this time, he didn't go alone. He took his grandmother with him because evening was approaching, and he would be there for about an hour. He's a small kid, only 13 or 14 years old, so he took his grandmother with him. After a little while, his turn was already scheduled...

He leaves a portion of the embankment on his land open to allow water to enter. When watering the land like this, one thing is kept in mind: the water needs to be given to a certain level. Too much water entering can be dangerous. After a certain time, that open part of the embankment is sealed again with mud, otherwise excessive water will flood the field, which can be harmful to the crops. So, with all the effort, it took him about an hour, plus some more time, to water the land. Meanwhile, it had become pitch dark all around. His grandmother was also standing there. When he finished watering his field, he and his grandmother were walking back home. As they were walking towards the house, there was a kind of thicket or jungle beside the path. Suddenly, they heard a moaning sound. Hearing this moaning sound in the jungle, Sagor became frightened and hugged his grandmother. Then his grandmother said, "Hey, this moaning sound...it sounds like a person, not some ghost or spirit. Let's go a little closer and see." He was scared, but they both went forward into the darkness. They saw a girl lying on the ground, rolling around and groaning. And this girl was none other than Sagor's own cousin from his aunt's side. She was about the same age, 13 or 14 years old. As soon as his grandmother saw the girl, she screamed and hugged her. The moment she hugged her, the girl fainted, and her groaning stopped. If someone consumes poison, foam comes out of their mouth, right? Something like that was coming out of her mouth. His grandmother carried her home alone in her arms. After bringing her home, they laid her down in the courtyard and started pouring water on her. Some people were thinking, did the girl get angry and eat poison again? But why would she eat poison here? And there hasn't been any such incident. And judging by the symptoms, it doesn't seem like she's eaten anything like that. Anyway, some people were pouring water on her head, while others were warming oil and massaging her hands and feet. After about half an hour or forty minutes, she regained consciousness. And after regaining consciousness, she started crying and screaming.

Then they were telling her, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. You are home, don't be afraid, don't worry, we are here with you." Then she calmed down a little. She started to explain what had actually happened. She said that she had come to visit that day, before evening.

Now it was getting dark. Meanwhile, Sagar's mother gave this girl a light and said, "Sagar's grandmother and Sagar have gone to the back of the house to the fields to water them. They didn't get their turn earlier, they got it later, that's why they went that way. You take the light to them; they don't have a light. Bring them back here." So, Sagar's mother sent her off with the light. Now, what did the girl do? She was walking through the path that goes through the jungle. Actually, it’s quite big... well, it's quite big. And when I say jungle, it's not a dense jungle, it’s more like trees scattered far apart, and some small bushes, that sort of thing.

And the girl was 13 or 14 years old. She was skipping and running along the path through the jungle when suddenly she bumped into something. She fell after bumping into it, and the light fell to the other side. Before she could understand anything, suddenly a hand grabbed her neck tightly, choking her, and lifted her up. She couldn't scream, nor could she free herself from the hand. But when she grabbed the hand with her own to try and pull it away, she realized that the hand only went up to the wrist, and then there was nothing beyond that. That's the kind of situation it was. Just... the hand only went up to the wrist, and there was no body. And that wrist, with the five fingers, was pressing down on her throat like that. This went on for about five or ten seconds, when suddenly the call to prayer for Maghrib (evening prayer) began. As soon as the Maghrib prayer call started, the hand released her neck.

And right then, he falls to the ground with a thud. But even after falling, he doesn’t lose consciousness. However, he can't move his body. And he hears a sound, a rumbling, from the eastern part of that thicket and jungle. It sounded like it was leaving towards the east, rumbling away angrily. It felt like it heard the Azaan (call to prayer) and exited that way. Quite a while later, Sagar Bhai and his grandmother were passing by and found him in this state. Hearing this, everyone got scared. What could they do? What was done was done. The villagers performed their rituals – applying iron to his body, giving him water to drink, bathing him with warm water – and brought him home. The Imam of the mosque was called, and he also performed exorcism rituals. By the grace of God, he didn’t develop a fever or anything else. He recovered quickly, and that night, he wasn’t scared anymore. That's it for now, apparently. But the story doesn't end there. He was actually there on vacation. He stayed there for two or three days. Once his vacation was over, he was going back home. Their village was in the next village over. He didn’t mention the village name, because many people would recognize it. So, he went home. After going to sleep that night, around two-thirty or three in the morning, at the latest, he suddenly felt like someone was putting their hand on his eyes, nose, and mouth. At first, the girl thought it was her younger brother, who was sleeping next to her, perhaps doing this in his sleep. But as soon as the girl tried to remove the hand from her face, she felt that it was a hairy hand. When she realized it was a hairy hand, the hand held on for a while, as if questioning, "What is this hand? Why is it so hairy?" There was a dim light inside the room, so she tried to open her eyes and see what it was. While keeping her eyes closed she tried to remove the hand, the way we do, trying to push it away without opening our eyes. She was doing something like that.

So, when he tries to open his eyes to see what's holding his hand, the moment he opens his eyes, he sees a horrifying face he's never seen before. The eyes of this face are bright red, like burning coals, and the mouth is like a dog's, with its tongue hanging out, and the whole body seems to be covered in fur. Seeing this scene, he screams loudly and lets go of the hand that was holding him. His mother was sleeping beside him, and she quickly gets up, asking what happened, what's wrong. She turns on a light, and now sees that there's nothing there, everything is normal. Then his mother says, "You were scared earlier, and now you're probably having a nightmare. It's nothing." His mother recites the surahs and verses she knows and blows on him, telling him to go to sleep. But he couldn't sleep at all that night out of fear. He finally fell asleep after the Fajr prayer call. During the day, everything was normal, he didn't remember anything. The day passed, and he went to bed at night. Now the same incident starts again. The previous night, the hand had touched his nose and mouth. This time, he's lying down and feeling something like a soft tongue on his forehead, on one side of his face, on the other side, and on his nose. This thing feels a little warm – like when we touch our tongue to our skin, it feels a little warm, right? It felt like some tongue was touching his face. He had a dim light on in the room. When he opened his eyes, he saw something terrifying. The creature had come, and it had stuck its tongue out of its mouth. This tongue was two to two and a half feet long, and that's what was touching his face. As soon as he saw this, he screamed loudly. His mother was sleeping beside him, and she woke up too. When his mother woke up, she also saw this terrifying creature. As soon as they saw this thing, both mother and daughter started screaming together.

So, hearing the scream, the father, who was sleeping in the next room, came rushing over. He turned on the room's lights and saw nothing. He then asked what had happened. They explained the situation. He was stunned because he felt this wasn't a normal disturbance. He suspected that whatever had happened in the evening was still haunting her. So, that night, all the lights in the house were kept on. The next morning, they started looking for a good "Huzur" (Islamic religious leader/healer) and found one. While he performed some initial *Jharphuk* (exorcism/healing ritual), they invited the Huzur to their house to do some work.

The Huzur said he would come to the house, but after evening, as he had other work to do. However, he instructed them to keep a close watch on their daughter and ensure she didn't go outside alone under any circumstances. He told them this and explained that he couldn't come immediately because he had work and needed to gather some things, which he would bring with him when he arrived in the evening, Inshallah (God willing). He did arrive in the evening, bringing another person with him who also knew how to perform *Ruqyah* (Islamic exorcism). They started performing Ruqyah in the room where the problem occurred, for almost two to three hours. After that, he said that this thing would never bother her again and that they were taking the evil Jinn into captivity. He then prescribed some practices and instructed that the girl had to continue these practices until she got married. By the grace of Allah, she continued the practices and eventually got married. Now, she even has two daughters. However, why the Jinn was after her and the reason behind it was never explained by the *Kabiraj* (traditional healer/exorcist), and as a result, the reason remains unknown. This was the story.