In the year 1830, in old Uttarakhand, there lived a man named Bhairav Dutt in a village called Jajar.
He belonged to the Brahmin community. He was known as a Puchyari—a man who saved people possessed by ghosts or masans.
Bhairav Dutt was very good at his work. People used to come to him from distant villages for help.
He lived with his family and was the eldest member of the household. He had a wife, one son, and a daughter-in-law. His son was newly married.
---
One winter night, when the whole village had gone to sleep, Bhairav Dutt was lying in bed, waiting for the right moment.
Around 1 AM, he got up, walked into his holy room—the same room where he treated the possessed—and opened a wooden box. He took out his holy bangle and a packet of sacred ashes.
Then he stepped onto the balcony, picked up a lantern, and started walking toward his fields, which lay below the village.
The night was pitch dark and silent. The temperature had dropped to freezing cold, but Bhairav was only wearing a thin cotton blanket and a dhoti.
He held a rudraksha mala in his hand and chanted, "Om Namah Shivaya."
When he reached the fields, he sat on a large rock near the crops and drew a circle around himself using the holy ashes. It was a ritual circle, meant to summon spirits.
He placed the lantern in front of him, sat in a meditation posture, and began chanting:
"Pretam Masana Avahanam" — he repeated it three times.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew through the valley, and shadows began to appear.
A group of dark figures stood before him, like they were waiting for his command.
These were ghosts—controlled by Bhairav Dutt. As long as they were under his control, they posed no danger to him.
He ordered them to work in his fields and collect wood from the nearby forest.
---
Meanwhile, his wife Janki suddenly woke up and noticed that Bhairav was not beside her—as usual.
She knew he must have gone to the fields again, but she had no idea how he got so much work done in just one night.
Whenever she asked him, he would simply say, "My friend Raju helps me."
After about two hours of ghostly labor, Bhairav performed another ritual to send the spirits back to their realm and returned home.
---
The next morning, when Janki and her daughter-in-law Geeta went to the fields, they were shocked.
Three days' worth of work had been completed overnight.
Geeta asked, "How is this even possible?"
Janki replied, "Your father-in-law did all this with his friend Raju."
"Oh, I see," Geeta said, though she didn't believe a word of it.
When they returned home, Geeta asked Bhairav the same question.
He gave the same reply. Curious, Geeta asked if she could join them next time and help in the fields.
But Bhairav got nervous and warned her strictly, "Never follow me when I leave at night. It's not safe for women. Stay inside the room."
Geeta nodded quietly and said yes, but from inside she was so curious to find out the real truth.
Two days later, Bhairav woke up at midnight and got ready to leave again.
But Geeta also woke up. At first, she was scared—thinking it was a thief—but then she realized it was her father-in-law heading toward the fields.
She heard his footsteps from downstairs and, driven by curiosity, forgot his warning.
She decided to follow him quietly.
Just outside the house, there was a small vegetable patch and a large mango tree. Geeta hid behind it, peeking through the branches.
By the time she arrived, Bhairav had already summoned the spirits.
From behind the tree, Geeta watched in amazement. Bhairav was sitting on the rock, surrounded by nine shadowy figures, working tirelessly in the fields.
She felt suspicious and kept watching—but she had no idea how grave a mistake she had made.
---
While working, the ghosts were under Bhairav's control—like his slaves.
They wouldn't harm him, but they were extremely dangerous to anyone else.
One of the ghosts sensed someone hiding behind the tree.
He approached Geeta.
In the darkness, she couldn't recognize his face. She assumed he was one of the men working in the fields.
He stood about ten meters away and asked in a hoarse voice,
"I'm very hungry. Can I eat some mangoes from your tree?"
Believing him to be Bhairav's friend, Geeta smiled and said, "Yes, sure."
One millisecond later, he leaped at her.
With his long, sharp claws, he killed her in an instant—ripping her soul apart and devouring it—before calmly returning to the field.
---
The sound of that brief conversation woke up Geeta's husband, Devendra.
He noticed Geeta was not in the house and rushed outside to look for her.
Following the faint echoes, he reached the field—and saw her body lying lifeless on the cold ground.
He screamed, "Geeta!"
He ran toward her, trying to wake her up, but she was already dead.
---
In the field, Bhairav heard his son's scream and panicked.
Without thinking, he broke the ritual and ran toward the house—forgetting to send the ghosts back.
The moment he stepped outside the circle of holy ashes, he lost control over the spirits.
Now, the ghosts were no longer bound.
They were free in the human world.