The Haunted Banana Garden: A Terrifying Tale of Jinns and Survival

The incident was sent to us by Mohammad Jovan Emon. His home is in Amtali Upazila, Barguna district. The incident is a village-centric one. He collected this story from a distant maternal grandfather. This incident happened in a village in Taltali Upazila, Barguna district. For obvious reasons, the name of the village cannot be mentioned. And this village, which was previously in Amtali Upazila, is now part of Taltali Upazila. So, this village is located beside the Payra River. It's a very quiet and peaceful village. The incident happened sometime between 1980 and 1985. At that time, most people in the village were engaged in agriculture or fishing. A small canal runs through the village, bordering the northwest side, and merges into another village. The house at the very end of the village was known to everyone as "Khal Agar Bari" or "Khaler Mathar Bari," meaning the house at the head of the canal. That's what everyone called it. The head of that household was named Mohammad Yunus Ali. He had a daughter and a son. Yunus Ali was a banana trader. He would go from house to house in the village, collecting bananas with their stalks, and sell them in the market. He would give a portion of the money earned from the sales to the banana owners and use the rest to support his family. Besides, since his house was at the end of the village, he had a lot of fallow land towards the end of his property. So, one day Yunus Ali thought that he would cultivate bananas on that fallow land.

So, no sooner thought than done, he went around the village collecting different varieties of banana seeds. Then, one morning, he took his 14-year-old son, Mujibur, with him to the field to build the embankments. He started digging the soil with a spade to make the embankments. After working for two or three hours, they got tired and went to rest by a canal under a babul tree. The father and son sat down on a mat under the babul tree and started eating puffed rice and grated coconut wrapped in a towel. Suddenly, from somewhere, about 10 to 12 crows started cawing very loudly from the babul tree. They ignored it, shooed the crows away, finished their food, and went back to the field. It took them two days to prepare the land and make it suitable for planting the saplings. Eventually, they planted the saplings. After some time, the saplings started growing quite smoothly. Before long, almost every banana tree started producing flower buds, what we call "mocha." Yunus Ali was overjoyed. One afternoon, Yunus Ali's son, Mujibur, and some of his friends planned to play hide-and-seek. They chose Ali's banana garden for this. The banana garden had become quite bushy by this time, making it seem like an ideal place to play hide-and-seek. When the children started playing, it was Yunus Ali's son, Mujibur's, turn to be the seeker first. His friends left him outside the garden and went inside to hide. After a specific time, Mujibur entered the banana garden to find everyone. As soon as he entered the garden, he found one of his friends. There were a total of six friends playing, so according to the rules, Mujibur was now the "thief," and he had to find the rest. One had already been caught, and four more needed to be found. After a while, he found everyone. Now, according to the rules, the first one who was found would be the new "thief." We have all played this game of cops and robbers, or hide-and-seek, so most of us are aware of the rules of this game, I believe.

Anyway, so now Mujibur and four others, a total of five, they're going to hide. Mujibur thinks, since the garden belongs to his father, and he's been to this garden many times with his father, he'll hide in the most secret place in the garden so no one can find him easily. No sooner thought than done, he heads towards the very end of the banana grove, close to the edge of the field, to hide, because he knew every nook and cranny of that garden.

Anyway, after hiding for a long time, suddenly Mujibur hears the Maghrib (evening) prayer call. No one had found Mujibur yet, and he was quite happy thinking about this. Now, because of the Maghrib prayer call, the game has to be stopped and everyone has to prepare to go home. As he's about to come out of his hiding place, he notices some creatures like bats sitting on the bunch of the biggest banana tree nearby, eating something. The bananas aren't ripe yet, they're green. What are they doing here? Thinking this, he realizes these bats are ruining their bananas, so he looks around and finds a medium-sized, thin, dry bamboo stick and runs towards those creatures that looked like bats and starts hitting them hard. With the blows of the bamboo, those bat-like creatures start screaming loudly. One even falls to the ground, breaking a bunch of bananas. The creatures, screaming loudly, jump on Mujibur. Seeing the situation getting out of hand, Mujibur starts calling for help. His friends hear Mujibur's call and return to the scene. When they return to the scene, they see Mujibur lying unconscious. They had been looking for Mujibur but couldn't find him, and the Maghrib prayer call had already started.

The others thought Mujibur had probably gone out another way, so they were going back. But they mainly came back because of his screams. When they arrived there, they saw a lot of blood in one place, right next to where Mujibur was lying. And seeing the scratch marks of nails on Mujibur's neck, face, and throat, they also became terrified. One of them ran to inform Mujibur's father. Mujibur's father, Yunus Ali, reached the scene within a short time.Seeing his son in this condition, he didn't say anything to anyone and took him home. From that night, Mujibur developed a high fever. Around eight o'clock that night, when he regained consciousness, his parents asked him what had happened. He explained the whole incident. Mujibur said that as soon as he hit with the bamboo, a creature fell down, and the rest of the creatures were rushing towards him with such angry eyes. Another thing was that the size of the creatures seemed to be increasing gradually. Each creature was becoming bigger than a banana tree and attacking him violently. They all looked like bats.

They started coming again, walking on the ground. After that, he doesn't remember anything. Hearing this from his son, Yunus Ali thought that his son was probably scared after seeing bats in the dim evening light. So, they didn't pay much attention to the matter and reassured their son, saying, "Those were just bats, and you don't have to go to the banana garden." Yunus told his son this. Actually, bats don't eat raw bananas, right? That's a common sense understanding. But this thought didn't occur to them at that time. However, even after four to five days passed, Mujibur's fever wouldn't subside. Mujibur couldn't eat properly, and in these four or five days, his body started to undergo strange changes. He was becoming very thin. But he shouldn't have become so thin in just four or five days. It felt like someone was sucking the blood out of his body. Not just blood, it felt like something had entered his body and started eating his flesh and fat, as a result of which these changes started happening to him. At night, Mujibur would suddenly wake up screaming. When the family members asked Mujibur what had happened, he couldn't remember anything he had seen in his dreams.

Slowly, changes began to appear in his behavior. He started addressing his parents and the village elders by their first names, using the informal "you." Every evening, Mujibur would disappear from home. After much searching, he would finally be found asleep beside the last row of the banana garden. Bite marks were visible on the surrounding raw banana bunches, as if someone had been biting into them. His family became quite alarmed by their son's behavior. Meanwhile, Mujibur's condition worsened day by day. His eyes seemed to sink into their sockets.

It seemed as if his bones were about to break through his skin; only the skin seemed to be holding them back. Many doctors and traditional healers started treatment, but Mujibur did not improve in the slightest. The situation gradually became critical. At one point, Mujibur started biting off his own nails and tearing out his own hair. He would look up at the sky for no reason and laugh loudly, then a moment later, he would cry in a plaintive voice, saying, "They will take me away. They won't leave me alone. They will kill me." Eventually, Mujibur had to be chained to a post in the house.

Seeing their only son's tragic fate, Yunus Ali was devastated, because although they had a daughter, they had no other sons. What would happen to them if something happened to this boy? Then one day, a neighbor told them about a traditional healer whose home was just two villages away from Yunus Ali's village. Without delay, Yunus Ali set out for the healer's house that afternoon. It was difficult to find the healer because he wasn't home at the time, and he didn't have a mobile phone back then. After much effort, Yunus Ali finally found the healer and described in detail what had happened to his son. He pleaded with the healer for help. Without delay, the healer finished his Maghrib prayers and set off with Yunus Ali towards Yunus Ali's house. As soon as the healer stepped into the courtyard, he sensed the presence of something bad.

At the same time, he began to feel quite uncomfortable, yet without paying any heed, the moment he took another step forward, from inside the house, this Mujibur, little Mujibur, who was 14 years old and had never even seen the Kabiraj (traditional healer), started cursing the Kabiraj by name in foul language at the top of his voice. This startled Yunus Ali, his daughter, and his wife. The reason being, their son couldn't possibly have known the Kabiraj's name, nor was there any way he could have. The Kabiraj, after reciting Surahs (chapters from the Quran), had spiritually shielded himself before entering Mujibur's room. Inside, the hurricane lamp was flickering. As soon as Mujibur saw the healer, he burst into loud laughter and said, "Oh, it's you! What can you do to me? Get out of here!" He further said, "Whoever interferes with my work, I will finish them! Blood for blood, that's the only solution!" The Kabiraj observed everything for a while, then took out a bottle of blessed oil from his bag, mumbled some prayers, blew on it, and rubbed it on Mujibur's head. Mujibur immediately collapsed to the ground and fell asleep. Then, the Kabiraj took Yunus Ali to the courtyard and said that he would come again tomorrow. Tomorrow, Mujibur's final treatment would be done; it couldn't be done today. He also said that Mujibur was possessed by four evil Jinns (spirits). For the treatment, he requested sandalwood powder, eight leaves from four lemon trees that don't bear fruit, four incense sticks, four candles, and charcoal from a newly made clay stove. He instructed them to make ink from the charcoal. He also advised them to be careful that night, meaning the night before he would return. The Kabiraj warned them to be very careful that Mujibur's chains should not be opened under any circumstances. Deep in the night, Mujibur's terrifying screams were heard, screams so loud that not only Mujibur's family but also the people in the neighboring houses couldn't sleep.

Everyone's sleep was broken. This Mujibur, with a light, pale voice, says, laughing, "What did you guys think? That old healer would get rid of me from this boy? You're wrong. Now, because of that healer, Yunus, your son will die, your daughter will die, I'll finish off your wife too. No one from your family will survive.

I'll finish you off along with your family, and I'll definitely kill the boy." That night, Yunus Ali didn't let anyone go into Mujibur's room, no matter what he said, no one could go in there. All night long, sounds came from Mujibur's room – sometimes laughter, sometimes crying, sometimes wailing, sometimes loud threats. With the Fajr prayer call, everything went silent. In the morning, everyone went to Mujibur's room and saw Mujibur sleeping. But the strange thing was, a raw piece of something was found in his mouth – raw banana. How did this get into his mouth? It seemed like he had bitten into a raw banana stalk, resulting in a piece of raw banana being stuck to his mouth. But he didn't leave the house. Meanwhile, noon passed and evening came, and after the Maghrib prayer, the healer arrived as he had said he would. The healer asked to light four candles in the four corners of the room. Then, he drew something on the ground with the soot from the new stove's coal. He placed sandalwood powder in a clay pot and lit four incense sticks one by one, placing them in the same pot. With the scent of the incense sticks, Mujibur started making a hissing sound, like a snake. He was hissing terribly, seeming very angry, and started threatening the healer in various ways. The healer then asked Yunus Ali for eight leaves from the lemon tree – leaves from four lemon trees that didn't have any lemons. When Yunus Ali gave those leaves to the healer, the healer washed the eight leaves thoroughly with water from his bag. Then he placed the leaves in the pot with the sandalwood powder and incense sticks, took out another vial from his bag, blew on it, and sprinkled drops of oil from it into the pot.

Meanwhile, inside the house, it suddenly felt like a Nor'wester storm had begun. Mujibur was hurling profanities at everyone in foul language and threatening them. Then, the moment the Kobiraj (village doctor/exorcist) grabbed a handful of the sandalwood powder from the street and threw it at Mujibur, Mujibur's agonizing cries made the surrounding environment even more terrifying. Mujibur screamed, "Stop, stop, Kobiraj! Don't do it anymore! Don't hurt me!" Then the Kobiraj realized that the evil Jinn inside him was weakening. The Kobiraj asked, "Now tell me, who are you? What is your enmity with this little boy? Why are you tormenting him? Why have you come to him?" In response, the evil spirit inside Mujibur said, "My name is Sakin. This boy killed one of my children, so I won't let him go. A life for a life, blood for blood. We were a family of five living in the Babul tree next to that canal. One evening, he struck and killed my son inside the banana garden. Since then, the four of us have been following him. We will take him, no one can stop us, no one." After hearing this, the Kobiraj repeatedly ordered the Jinn to leave his body. But the Jinn was quite stubborn and refused to leave. Then the Kobiraj recited more verses and sprinkled sandalwood powder on Mujibur's body again. The Jinn cried out in agony and said, "Oh Kobiraj, stop! I beg you, stop! Don't hit me again, I can't bear it anymore!" Then the Jinn said, "We will all leave his body on one condition: a whole goat must be left under the Babul tree on a moonless night. And remember, since we have sworn to kill Mujibur, even if we don't kill him, we will harm one of his body parts. As long as he lives, he will live with that crippled limb."

Then the Kabiraj (traditional healer) understood that Mujibur could not be saved unless he agreed to the jinn's proposal. Even if one of his limbs became disabled, at least he would live. Otherwise, even if they were driven away for now, they would return and eventually kill him, even his entire family. But the Kabiraj couldn't give his consent on this matter; it had to come from his family. Then the Kabiraj told Yunus Ali that if he didn't give permission now, his son couldn't be saved later, and neither would they. He had to give this permission now. As a father, he could accept his son having a disabled limb, but realizing the reality of the situation, Yunus Ali agreed. When the Kabiraj told the jinn that his family had agreed, the jinn supposedly saluted the Kabiraj and left Mujibur's body. Immediately, Mujibur collapsed to the ground. Then the Kabiraj performed some rituals and incantations in his own way and taught them some practices. After that, he left. From the next day, Mujibur's behavior became completely normal. He didn't regain consciousness that night. The next morning, when he woke up, he saw Mujibur behaving completely normally, but he couldn't move his right hand. From that incident onwards, Mujibur lost the strength in his right hand for life. Then it was heard that on the next new moon, the goat was left under the acacia tree at exactly the right time.

Since then, Mujibur or his family has not had any further problems. However, this incident in the banana garden was a dark chapter in Mujibur's life. Mujibur is still alive. He currently has a wife and three children. And although Mujibur's mother is currently alive, this Yunus Ali passed away several years ago, about four years ago, something like that.