Real Ghost Stories: The Baby From the Cremation Ground

This happened to my father’s grandfather, about a hundred years ago. This is one of the oldest real ghost stories in our family, and I will tell it exactly the way I heard it from my father.

The Newlywed Carpenter

When it happened, my grandfather was twenty-four or twenty-five. He had just married. For their first wedding anniversary, he had left his wife at her parents’ house, where a function was being held. After leaving her there, he came home. As in village homes, in the winter season there were all sorts of arrangements, including pitha and other treats. On that occasion they invited my grandfather. As the new son-in-law, he went. I should say that he worked as a carpenter. After working all day, he set out toward his in-laws’ house in the evening. His in-laws’ house was in a village. By the time he reached it, it was seven or eight o’clock.

The next day he had a job that had to be finished the very next day. So that night he told his wife, “Give me whatever there is to eat quickly, I have to go.” He spent a little time with them. Then everyone said, “Stay the night, set out at dawn.” But he would not listen to anyone. Around ten or eleven at night he set out from the house. You will understand, this was almost a hundred years ago. There was no electricity then, and the roads were in bad condition. He set out on foot. All he carried was a small kupi, a little oil lamp.

The Cry in the Cremation Ground

After walking a little way from his in-laws’ house, he had to take a road through the fields. Let me describe the road a little. From one place he had to walk about a kilometre and a half or two. After setting out, he saw a cremation ground on his right. Beside the cremation ground was a bamboo grove. He had to walk right past that bamboo grove. He thought, what is the problem, I can manage. Up to near the cremation ground everything was normal.

But just as he was about to pass the cremation ground, he heard the sound of a small baby crying from inside it. He stopped. A small baby crying at this hour of the night, where had it come from? He did not think much about it. Because there was no house within a kilometre or two of the cremation ground. Without thinking about this, he went straight into the cremation ground.

Inside it, he saw a newborn baby crying. When he saw the baby, he picked it up in his arms. Holding it, he said angrily, “Who, what kind of person did this? If you give birth to your own child and cannot raise it, why give birth?” After scolding like this at length, with the baby in his arms he began to wonder what to do. Without thinking much, he set off toward home with the baby in his arms. That was the biggest mistake of his life.

Read more: [LINK: Real Ghost Encounters: Five Years Haunted After a Stone in Kapasia]

The Baby Who Grew Heavy

He slowly came out of the cremation ground. The baby’s face was so sweet and so beautiful that one look could make you forget everything. As he carried it, the baby was smiling prettily and playing. By the moonlight he could see that the baby was playing in his arms. After going a little way, a voice came to his ear, “Hey, where are you taking me? Put me back where I belong.” He looked in every direction, behind and ahead, but could see nobody. After a few more steps, he heard the same voice again, “Hey, I am talking to you, can’t you hear? Put me back where I belong.”

Then he noticed one thing. The baby he was carrying was gradually growing so heavy that he could no longer hold even a small child. He looked at his hands. He saw that the baby’s body was the same shape, but its face had grown bigger, like that of a full-grown man. The eyes were burning like fire, looking at him. In fear, he dropped the baby and ran. After running he did not look back at anything.

The Dogs and the Brother

After coming some way from there, he was out of breath and stopped for a while. He looked behind and saw nothing. He thought everything was fine. He began walking forward again. After going a little way, he saw many dogs standing together blocking his road. He was not afraid. He took a stick from beside a field and said, “All of you dogs, move away.” He chased them all with the stick. The dogs got frightened and ran far away. Slowly he began to walk again.

As he walked, someone called to him from behind. It was his younger brother. “Dada, you came away so late at night? You could have stayed.” He turned and saw his brother. He said, “Why are you here?” He said, “I came for some work and got held up. Come, let us go together.” They walked together. They talked about many things. Then his brother said, “You did something. You brought me, and then instead of putting me back, you threw me down and came away. What kind of thing did you do?” Hearing this, he understood who he was walking with. When he turned and looked, he saw the most terrible and horrifying thing of his life. He saw that this brother was about twenty to thirty feet taller than he was. His teeth stuck out far, huge teeth, big eyes, very long hair. He said, “There is no escape for you today. Today I will finish you.” Saying this, when he reached out a hand toward him, my grandfather ran. In one dash he came almost to the house.

The Warning

When he was near the house, a voice came from behind. “Go, today I have saved you. If I ever find you alone again, I will not let you go home alone.”

My grandfather ran into the house, screamed once and fainted. Water was sprinkled on him to bring him round. When he regained consciousness, everyone asked what had happened. He told everyone everything. Slowly he got reasonably well. For about two or three days he had a fever. Then slowly he recovered.

This was my story.