In the shadows of India’s bustling metros, live paranormal investigators and exorcists, believers and sceptics, chasing and dispelling the idea of a ghost.

BLink goes in search of the truth, or the embellished lie, trailing the pallu of a spotless white sari

Delhi

>Mehrauli Archaeological Park

The Mehrauli Archaeological Park is a reliable haunt of good and bad djinns, where the restless spirits of Thomas Metcalfe and ‘Slave ruler’ Balban wander.

>Ranjit Nagar, near Shadipur Metro Station

The Sekhris believe their four-storey DDA flat in Ranjit Nagar, west Delhi, was haunted.

>Peepul tree, Dwarka Sector 9

The peepul tree near the Dada Badi Wala shrine in Dwarka stands tall, unmoved by the hubbub of traffic.

Kolkata

>National Library of India

The resident ghost of the 250-year-old National Library doesn’t approve of disorderly readers.

>Bhooter Bari, Neemtala

Located near a burning ghat, Bhooter Bari is a convenient pit stop for wandering spirits

>Institute of Education for Women

The first governor general of Bengal is believed to haunt the Institute of Education for Women.

>Kolkata Port Trust quarters, Taratala

The residential quarters of Kolkata Port Trust have been witness to strange things

Chennai

>Fort St George

Only those with steely nerves dare to visit Fort St George at night.

>De Monte Colony, Alwarpet

This colony, named after a 19th-century Portuguese businessman, is the source of many a vaporous story.

>The Theosophical Society, Adyar

The banyan tree at The Theosophical Society in Adyar is said to harbour friendly spirits

Mumbai

>Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Couples seek privacy at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai, undettered by the tales of leopards or ghosts

>Worli Sea Face

The germ of the idea for movie Talaash (2012) came into being when writer-director Zoya Akhtar had a brush with the supernatural at the Worli Sea Face.

>The courthouse of Mallarpur

At Kacheri Baari in Bengal, scars run deep, and the air hangs heavy with tales of persecution

>No bungalow for bhoot

As we grow in number and grab every inch of land we can, there is little wilderness — or plain imagination — left for ghosts to haunt

>Residential spooks

Boarding schools — rich in imagination and impressionable minds — are the perfect home for restless old men, headless boys and women in white

>Ghosts who act

As mythologies faded onscreen, the ghost movie gave Indian audiences their fill of supernatural chills and thrills

>The Wall

A Bengali short story that leaves you asking, what lurks on the other side… of the phone, of the wall

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