The Hitchhiker

Lakpa was returning to Darjeeling (India) after dropping a passenger in Siliguri. Though the total distance is only 70 km, the journey usually takes around 3–4 hours due to the majority of the road being in hilly terrain. Let me give a brief explanation of the route.

There are many smaller towns that fall between Siliguri and Darjeeling, with the largest one being Kurseong. Kurseong is situated approximately halfway between Siliguri and Darjeeling. If you want to travel from Siliguri to Darjeeling or vice versa, you have to go through Kurseong unless you want to take a longer route. There are three roads connecting Siliguri to Kurseong, P.B Road, the Hill Cart Road aka NH 55 (the road that runs parallel with the railway tracks of the famous Toy Train) and the Rohini Road.

This incident happened in the 1980s so the Rohini Road hadn't been constructed. The P.B Road, which is very isolated to date, wasn't considered safe at the time, especially after dark. So he was on Hill Cart Road.

Back to the story

After driving for around 40 minutes, he reached a small town called Tindharia at around 10:30 pm. There he noticed an average-looking young woman in casual clothes (of the eighties) standing alone on the side of the road (a classic element of horror stories, right?…). She appeared to be hitchhiking so he offered her a ride. She thanked him and sat shotgun.

She told him that she lived with her parents and brother in a small town somewhere between Kurseong and Darjeeling and had been invited to a birthday party of one of her friends living in Tindharia. She had lost track of time during the celebration and by the time she’d decided to leave, the last taxi (we have a shared taxi system in Darjeeling, which operates as a minibus) for the day had already left. Her friends had asked her to spend the night and leave in the morning but she had declined their offer, explaining that her parents would be upset if she stayed.

The story seemed innocent enough so Lakpa wasn't in the least suspicious. They chatted happily and soon reached Kurseong at around 11 pm. Drivers generally halt at Kurseong for refreshments and a bit of rest but that day Lakpa was forced to drive on as all the shops had already shut, owing to the lateness of the hour.

The journey continued and they finally reached the woman’s destination at around midnight. The woman pointed at a plain-looking, two-storied house, with a front lawn, standing independently on the edge of town. He also didn't find this suspicious as it is not uncommon to see such houses in the area. (It would have been even more common in the eighties when the population was less).

She thanked him and offered to pay for the ride but he declined and was about to leave when the woman asked him if he would like to spend the night at her house. As he was pretty exhausted from all the driving, he was tempted to take her offer but he was hesitant as he thought he would be imposing. However, on her insistence, he finally agreed. After parking his car on the side of the road, he followed her to the house.

The main door was unlocked and she explained that her parents had left it open for her. As she led him in, she told him to be quiet so that her family wouldn't be disturbed. She soon took him to a room on the ground floor and showed him the accommodations. There was no bed, but a mattress was rolled up in the corner. After helping him roll out the mattress and providing pillows, blankets and covers, she pointed at a hook on the wall, where he would be able to hang his clothes. She then bade him goodnight and left for her own room, which was on the first floor.

Lakpa, after hanging his jacket on the hook, drifted off as soon as his head hit the pillows as he was exhausted. The next morning, he sensed a bright light even before his eyes opened and he could feel a chilly breeze that made him shiver. As he opened his eyes, he was astonished to see that he was lying under the open sky, on the ground in the middle of a meadow of sorts. He felt confused and disoriented before he recalled what had transpired the night before. As he got up in bewilderment, he noticed that he was bang in the middle of a graveyard and to his horror, he realised that he had been sleeping on someone’s grave, with his jacket hanging off of the tombstone.

He bolted towards his car, which was parked near the graveyard, started the engines and drove away as fast as he could….