The Haunted Train and the Scary Pumpkin

The village of Chandpur was small, quiet, and surrounded by dense forests. But hidden beneath its peaceful appearance was a long-forgotten legend — the tale of Mohini, a witch so powerful and evil that the villagers had once trapped her spirit inside a cursed pumpkin and sealed it aboard an abandoned train. That train was sent into the forest and never seen again.

Or so they thought.

The Return Begins

It was the night of Sharad Purnima, when the moon shines brightest. Children in the village played near the old, broken railway tracks. Among them were Raju, a curious 13-year-old boy, and his younger sister Meena, just 9 years old.

As they laughed and played, a strange whistle echoed through the air — the sound of a train, distant but growing louder.

“But that’s impossible,” Raju whispered. “No trains have run here in 50 years.”

Suddenly, out of the thick mist, an old, blackened train emerged, moving slowly and screeching to a halt on the rusted tracks. Its windows were shattered, and smoke poured from its chimney like dark shadows. The door to one of the coaches creaked open, and from inside rolled a large, glowing orange pumpkin with strange carvings on its surface.

The train disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, leaving behind only the pumpkin.

Raju, brave but foolish, picked it up.

“We should take it home,” he said, not knowing the horror he had just awakened.

Whispers in the Night

That night, eerie things began to happen. The pumpkin, now placed in Raju’s house, began glowing faintly. Strange whispers echoed through the walls, and cold winds blew even though the windows were shut.

Meena woke up in the middle of the night and screamed. She had seen a woman with long black hair, twisted limbs, and eyes burning like fire standing in their room, whispering her name.

Their parents thought it was just a nightmare. But the next morning, claw marks appeared on the floor, and the mirrors in the house were cracked — with the word “MOHINI” written backward.

The village priest was called, and his face turned pale when he saw the pumpkin.

“This is no ordinary object,” he said. “This is the prison of Mohini — the witch who once cursed our land. She’s trying to come back.”

The Witch Unleashed

That night, the pumpkin exploded open, and from it rose a terrifying figure — Mohini.

She was tall, with floating black hair, sharp teeth, and eyes that glowed red. Her nails were long like knives, and her voice echoed with centuries of rage.

“You locked me away,” she screamed. “Now, I’ll take what is mine — your souls!”

Mohini began haunting the village. Livestock disappeared, people fell ill, and anyone who heard the ghost train’s whistle would vanish the next morning.

Every time the clock struck 3 AM, villagers heard the demonic train whistle, and the sound of footsteps echoed in empty streets.

Raju and Meena, guilt-ridden and terrified, decided to put things right. They visited the village’s oldest library and found a torn book titled “The Curse of Mohini”. It told them that Mohini could only be stopped if her spirit was bound again inside the pumpkin and returned to the haunted train before sunrise on the blood moon.

That blood moon was tonight.

The Final Ride

Armed with a holy rope, sacred ash, and the remains of the broken pumpkin, the children waited by the tracks. At exactly 2:59 AM, the train returned, surrounded by fog and screams.

As the train stopped, Mohini appeared behind them, floating inches above the ground, laughing.

“You think you can stop me? I’ve waited fifty years!”

Meena threw the sacred ash, and Raju used the holy rope to form a circle. Mohini screamed, struggling as her body began to flicker like a dying flame.

“We’re not afraid of you anymore,” Raju shouted.

In a final act of courage, they reconstructed the pumpkin with the sacred rope, and Mohini’s spirit was sucked back inside with a deafening scream. Raju tossed the cursed pumpkin into the train’s burning furnace.

The train let out one last whistle — long and sorrowful — and disappeared into the forest once again, never to return.

Peace Returns… or Does It?

Days passed. The village slowly returned to normal. Raju and Meena were hailed as heroes, and the railway track was sealed forever.

But on the night of the next full moon, a little boy playing near the forest found something half-buried in the mud.

A small orange seed.

From it grew a new pumpkin.

And deep inside that pumpkin… a faint, wicked laughter echoed once more.