Rumors that became legends

I was in Grade 3 win this incident took place. I had just returned from the school. It was 12:30 in the afternoon. Me and my mother were at home when the phone rang. The call was from Mrs Joshi, our next door neighbour. She had called to tell my mother that she heard that the idols of Ganpati Bappa are drinking milk. She did not provide any further details and quickly hung up because she was in the office. My mother and I, both of us where surprised to hear that. But being religious and devotees of Lord Ganesh we placed a bowl of milk in front of the idol in our home.

Later a neighbour also came to our home. She told us the same thing. However there was one difference. She had instructed us to take the milk in a teaspoon and hold the spoon at the trunk of Ganpati Bappa. Then Bappa will drink milk. We tried that but we did not succeed.

By the mid afternoon the news had gone viral. Every temple had long queue of devotees who wanted to offer milk to Ganpati Bappa. With every passing hour we were getting news from various people that the idols in their home were drinking milk. There was a family in my society complex. We heard that at their home the idol of Ganpati Bappa is drinking milk. Me and my mother hurriedly went to their place. The aunty told me to offer milk to Ganpati Bappa saying that Bappa is accepting milk from children in large quantity as compared with the adults. She insisted that it is because children are innocent and hence gods always prefer the offerings from children. As per her suggestion I offered milk to Bappa however I was not sure whether it was consumed. This went on for the entire day. At least I know that every person in Mumbai was trying their luck with multiple idols of Bappa so that they can feed milk to their favourite god.

This was such a widespread phenomenon that the news companies had also been covering the events. Reporters from various news companies were stationed at the major and prominent temples of Mumbai. They had been reporting live from outside of the temples. They were talking with the devotees and were asking about their experience in the temple. News channels had also arranged group discussions and debates on this topic. The panelist were mainly the self proclaimed godmen and people representing science. The discussion went on for the entire day.

Somehow the events, occurrence, and discussions frazzled with the end of the day. The next day became just like any other day in the city of Mumbai. There was little discussion here and there but the phenomenon had diminished within 24 hours itself.

When I was studying science in the college I realised that the phenomenon of Lord Ganesh drinking milk was nothing but a capillary effect. It happened back then and it would happen even today. There was nothing special about that day and it was just a result of a very established scientific phenomenon.

Irrespective of how we see this today I can say one thing for sure. It became a sensation even without internet or social media. It became "viral" when the term "viral" was not even used in practice. It definitely was a rumor that became a legend.

Before "Stree" there was another woman. Same description with the same approach. And this is her story.

I was in school that time, maybe in Grade 1 or 2. I remember my classmate Pooja telling me this story. She said that in the city there is a sighting of a mysterious woman. Nobody had seen her face. She comes only after midnight. Nobody knows where she comes from and where she goes. She stands outside the house. If it is a skyscraper then she stands in front of it. She calls out the name of a person. She calls out the name three times and then she leaves. She disappears in the dark. The real horror begins only after the mysterious woman leaves. The person whose name the mysterious woman called out three times generally falls ill the next day and then dies under mysterious circumstances in next few days.

Not only Pooja but a lot of people had shared the same story with me. The mysterious woman had become the reason for terror in the city. Everyone was scared because of this phenomenon. The city of Mumbai that never sleeps started sleeping early because of the presence of this mysterious woman.

This news spread everywhere like a wildfire. Everyone started believing that this was true and not a folklore. A lot of people had reported the sighting though they had never seen the woman's face. They claimed that they have heard of women's voice that was melodious enough to draw their attention. They had heard of women calling the name of a person three times. By the time the person goes outside to see who is calling them the woman disappears into thin air. Next day the person fell ill and shortly after they died. It was also said that if she calls and we respond she would abduct us and take us away with her. Though the occurence or mysterious events were always unconfirmed.

There was a student in our school who had boasted that he had seen the woman himself. He would say that he had also spoken to that mysterious woman. He told us that the women was extremely friendly and was only targetting those who were cruel. He had also alleged that he was friends with that mysterious woman. Later on everyone got to know that the boy thought the mysterious woman was a shopkeeper in his area.

This was the terror of mysterious woman. She had become a viral sensation or we can easily call her and "Urban Legend". She was the "Stree" before the movie made her popular. The mysterious woman met with the fate of most of the urban legends. Her identity began with a made up story. Her popularity started to grow as the rumours started spreading. Her fame dwindled after a few weeks. She took the whole city by a storm before disappearing into the void, soon to be forgotten. Suddenly nobody was hearing their names in the dark. The danger was over.

When the movie "Stree" released it brought back the memories of this urban legend. Looking back it feels that the stories are made up and made popular on a fly to scare off people. But only some stories have the potential to cross the boundaries and become viral sensations. The mysterious woman had earned her place in that coveted league.

Looking back I feel that most of the rumours or urban legends involved women. Another such rumour that I heard in my childhood was about a woman who had the heads.

That time I believe I was in Grade 3 or 4. Out of nowhere, a rumor started doing rounds. Someone somewhere had seen a woman who had three heads. It was not known who had seen the woman with three heads. It was also not even known that where this unique entity was spotted. Yet there had been discussions towards this new entity in town who apparently was a woman and shr had three heads. Additionally this was a biological anomaly and hence it was assumed to be a paranormal entity.

I had heard this rumour in my school and I decided to ignore it. The discussions were everywhere making it hard not to pay attention to it. Every person was talking about the woman with three heads. About this woman it was not even known if she was harmful. Still the existence of such an entity had installed fear in the hearts of people.

Just like any rumour or folklore this story continued to grow out of proportions. Someone would tell the story that they had spotted the woman with three heads in their locality. They would tell that she was roaming freely in their area. While someone else would say that the three headed woman was seen in their area and she was laughing hysterically. Some other person would say that the women with three heads was combing her hair in their locality taking turn with each head. While someone else would say that this woman was trying to abduct children from their area and hence adding a new threat to the already existing fear. With each person the story of the three headed women was differing. Yet there was no concrete sighting of such an entity. Everything was based on a hearsay.

The stories of the three headed woman were definitely scary. All children were terrified of the three headed woman. Some mothers had also used the entity for fear mongering. They would tell their children that if they do not behave then she would call the three headed women. Yet the stories of three headed women also scared the grown ups as well. For a few weeks everyone was terrified that somewhere they would see the three headed women. People would go everywhere in groups so that day felt safe. Everyone was avoiding to go out in night for the fear of seeing the three headed women.

This phenomenon was not only limited to the day to day lives of people. It was also covered by various newspapers. Each day there will be a news about unconfirned sighting of a three headed woman. That is how popular it had become at that point.

Today looking back it feels really absurd. It is unbelievable how easily people were getting scared back in the days. It is also really surprising that without internet, social media, or with limited means of communication how the rumours travelled so quickly. To me it just tells one thing: rumours are easy to spread irrespective of which era you are living in and people are easy to scare.

Anither story from my adolescent age that was enough to give shivers even to the grown ups.

I remember that time I was in school. It was the year 2001. The new millennium had just begin. With the new millennium a chaos erupted in the capital city of India (Note: As a Mumbai resident I was not affected but was really curious). This time the culprit was not a woman but a primate. The name of the culprit was "Kala bunder" also known as the Monkeyman.

I remember watching a news story about Kala Bunder on the national news. The news reporter had been interviewing a person was supposedly attacked by the primate. The victim had been sleeping on the street. He was attacked by a tall creature who had black, thick fur on the body. The creature had long canine teeth and sharp claws. The victim had shown the scratches on his body to show how the attack had been brutal. This what the first news report where the chaos of Kala Bunder was identified. Later every night there would have been more and more attacks. These attacks would be covered in detail by the national news channels.

The creature was never recorded on the camera, yet the witnesses had provided different descriptions. Some had reported that the creature had red glowing eyes as if we can see fire in them. Someone mentioned that the creature's claws were not like any animal but rather they were made of iron and they were sharp like knives. Someone had also mentioned that the creature was wearing a black hoodie and bikers helmet. The description of the creature was not consistent across the witnesses and victims. However every witness had confessed something similar: the sight of the creature was terrifying. If the creature had seen a human, then the creature would definitely attacked them.

And then the precautionary measures began. Residents were instructed not to go on galvanting after the sunset. They were told to not sleep outside there homes. All the doors and windows should be locked at night. Even the access to the terrace was restricted because it carried the danger of being attacked by the ape. People were told to lock there terraces at night. The government had special forces deployed in the capital to protect the citizens and prevent any attacks by the primate. The attacks went on for a few months.

Recently I decided to go down the rabbit hole to understand the phenomenon of this urban legend. I visited various chat forums where I could see a few similarities. The attack of primate was predominant in the areas where there where people with low income groups. The attacks were mostly on the labourers, farmers, and blue colour workers. Additionally the victims were visiting specifically government hospitals and not privately owned hospitals. The victims had been reporting attack by the Kala Bunder to claim compensation from the government.

After 25 years from its occurrence the phenomenon of Kala Bunder is still popular. The topic of Kala Bunder is often discussed when we refer to the Urban Legends which originated from India in the recent times. Not only that Kala Bunder found its own place and recognition in the pop culture with a movie called Delhi-6.

Undoubtedly Kala Bunder is a phenomenon that started with a rumor and has become a popular and well recognise Urban Legend.

I was in school that time. It had started becoming a trend to have statues of Santa Claus at the Christmas. Generally in society complexes they would keep a statue of Santa Claus on the day of Christmas till New Year eve. After the year would begin the Santa Claus would be burnt to ashes. This this trend had been newly started around that time. Along with this trend a new rumour started floating around. It was about scary Santa Claus. At some places it was called The Evil Santa Claus.

According to this rumor the Santa Claus watches everyone from the Christmas is till new years eve. He carefully observes the behaviour of each and every person. If the behaviour is good the Santa Claus would peacefully depart. But Santa Claus notices bad behavior, he comes to life. He chases the person who had behaved atrociously. He torments such person. This is how the legend of Evil Santa Claus or scary Santa Claus was born.

I heard about the evil Santa Claus for the first time from my cousin who was just a couple of years elder to me. He had called me to tell me about the legend of the Santa Claus. He told me to be on my best behaviour till Santa Claus is around. When he was telling me about this Legend I could hear the terror in his voice. He was frightened of what the outcome would be on the new years eve. He insisted that children were his Prime targets but also mentioned that he may also chase grown ups.

Later in the school I had would similar stories from my classmates. They were frightened as well. Since I had been hearing the same stories again and again from different people I started believing that they must be true. Everyone was warning each other about the Santa Claus and the scary outcome if he finds us misbehaving. Everybody made a promise to be on the best behaviour during the last week of the Year.

Initially I was not scared but as the stories started spreading and everybody kept warning about the evil Santa Claus I too got frightened. Whenever I would pass the Statue of Santa Claus placed in my society Complex I would look at it. Sometimes I would feel as if the Santa Claus is staring back at me. Sometimes I would feel that his eyes where glowing. Sometimes his eyes would appear red. Of course none of it was real but at that age everything used to appear mysterious.

The Legend of Evil Santa Claus continued that year and the even the year after that. But the year later the story did not sound scary at all. Maybe the one year in between has made us rational thinkers. That year made us question everything we hear. Or simply we can say we had grown up it. Hence the story did not sound believable at all. The terror of the Evil Santa claus was on decline. Eventually it faded.

However even today I hear some people scaring their children with the phenomenon of Evil Santa Claus. That makes me believe that urban legends sometimes exist only made up to scare the children and to make them behave there best.

This was a local phenomenon however it definitely was significant enough to be included in this series. I used to live near a maternity hospital. Similarly my school also was in vicinity of another maternity hospital. At my society complex as well as at school I used to frequently hear the same rumour again and again: A monster is born.

My first exposure to this rumour was when I was at school. A friend came to tell me about the news that she had heard earlier that day. She told me that in the nearby hospital a monster had been born to a woman. My friend went into describing the monster even further. She told me that the suppose it monster was as black as charcoal. The baby was much bigger than the newborn babies. It had thick black for on its skin. Also the baby had pointy horns. The eyes of the baby were red and glowing. The baby also had a prominent long tail like a monkey. The baby also was frightening to look at. She also told me that the mother is distressed and decided to abandon the baby. The entire hospital staff was terrified because of this incident. I asked her if she had seen the baby - the so called monster. My friend told me that she had not seen the baby but someone she knew had seen it. This is how the rumour had begun.

Soon after this rumour got spread everywhere. A lot of people were flocking to the hospital to see the monster baby. The hospital would be so crowded that it had become difficult for the real patients to get in. Finally the hospital had to take strict action against these rumours. They put up a notice board outside the hospital informing everyone that there was no birth of a monster baby in that hospital.

Unfortunately this was not an isolated incident. These rumours kept making rounds after every few months. Each time the name of the hospital would change. The description would slightly differ. In some stories the outcome would also be different. Yet the impact of rumour was intact. The rumours would still garner a lot of attention from the locals. Some unknown local newspaper would also cover this rumour as a news to mint publicity and popularity from it. The hospital would get free publicity because of the rumour (any publicity is good publicity). The rumour would go on for a few days before it would get shut down by the hospital staff.

Looking back today I still wonder how people could so easily believe such rumours. I could have understood it if the rumours originated from rural area where people did not have access to education. However these rumours arose from an urban area which had highly educated people as residents. I believe either it was something that people were really afraid of or the rumour was serving a mean for entertainment. It is still amazing and unbelievable to realize how easily rumours could spread even without internet or with limited means of communication.

In my opinion rumours do not require a lot of means to get spread. Rumours find their own way to become viral and sometimes they are significant enough to become Urban Legends.