Anita's Notebook

Remember the story of Colonel Barog and how he’s said to haunt the train tunnel that lead to his death?

Well though the tunnel he was working on was never completed, after he died a new tunnel was built. They named it the Barog Tunnel in his honor and the people who built it took great care in making it as free from problems as possible since the original tunnel ended in such tragedy.

A local shaman named Baba Bhalku was brought in to make sure no more tragedies befell the project, and the tunnel ended up being built with such precision that it became known as “the straightest tunnel in the world”. But despite the precautions the new Barog Tunnel apparently has attracted a group of ghosts in the years since it was first built. One of the most interesting of these ghosts is the Woman In The Black Sari.

Let’s face it, it can be scary to have to walk through a spooky tunnel, or ride through on a slow moving train, leaving the daylight behind you and plunging into darkness. For people who visit the Barog Tunnel a welcome distraction often comes in the sight of a woman standing by the train tracks.

Dressed in a beautiful black sari dress and with long, flowing hair, the first thing people notice about her is her stunning beauty. In her arms is a baby and this is where things start to get very strange. She is clutching the baby in a way that’s definitely not normal, and the closer you get the more you can see that there is something odd about the baby itself. It seems to be extremely small even for a baby and it’s skin is a dull grey color.

If anyone tries to approach or talk to her the woman will stare desperately but not say a word. Some say that she seems confused, and often looks down at her baby in a bewildered way. Whatever she’s thinking though it’s what she does next that makes her memorable to all that see her.

After looking down at her baby the woman will let out the most piercing and anguished scream you’ve ever heard in your life and run down the train tracks towards the Barog Tunnel shrieking the whole way. Once she’s inside the tunnel she will run straight towards the tunnel wall …and simply vanish. After such a scene the silence is deafening, leaving the crowd in front of the tunnel stunned at what they’ve just witnessed.

After experiencing such a haunting scene it’s hard not to wonder who Woman In The Black Sari is or why she haunts the Barog Tunnel and screams such a bloodcurdling scream. It’s said that she’s the ghost of a local woman who was killed nearby when a car hit her and left her on the side of the road. After her body was found they discovered that she had been pregnant. No one knows for sure, but the description of the dead woman is eerily similar to the Woman In The Black Sari.

Many people believe that because she died so suddenly that she doesn’t quite understand that she’s no longer alive. Others say that it’s the death of her unborn child that she can’t cope with, keeping her spirit trapped in the area, and that’s why she’s always seen holding a baby in her arms. Whatever it is, there’s something about the Barog Tunnel that keeps her lingering there year after year.

Maybe someday the mystery will be solved, but in the meantime it would be hard to go through the Barog Tunnel without thinking about the haunting story of The Woman In The Black Sari.