“When I think about the most spooky ghost story, I only remember what happened during the shooting of the movie “Büyü” (Dark Spells) and what happened at the premiere of the movie. Some may say that it is just a consequence, but some, including me, can say that there was something more. Let me start from the beginning. Even though this story is well known in Turkey because of the news, I, as an intern at the shooting of the movie, should tell you every single detail that happened. First of all let me give brief information about the movie. “Büyü” is which stand for spell in English is a movie that sets in one of the village in east side of Turkey. There is a belief about newborn girl babies as unlucky child. That’s why they bury them live. One of the fathers hinders this burying and an old lady makes a dark spell for that man and because of the spell he kills his own child. And after that he hangs himself on one of the trees. Because of this story they believe that the village is cursed. They believe that this story takes place 700 years ago. And in the movie it’s present. One of the main characters gets a digging job that she always dreamed. They search for a book while digging. And there is a woman who is in love with her friend’s boyfriend. So hi goes to an old lady to make a spell to get him from her friend. That moment the old dark spell also appears and the whole village is cursed again.

When you look at the summary of the movie it is very silly and one of the most unsuccessful movies of all time. But since it takes place at eastern part of the Turkey, where religion is very important, some problems come in to present. There are some major accidents that I personally saw during the shooting of the movie and some that I just heard from my friends. Even though some may says that these are just a consequence, I found it very interesting and scary maybe because of the setting and the mood that is created in the set or maybe there are some real unseen ghosts, especially jinn.

First of all, all the actors and actresses are far away from their homes and we stay at an old hotel because there are not any good hotels at that village. So where we are staying is very scary. And of course because of the movie every other single thing is scary and there were lots of spooky jokes while we were shooting. One time everyone was concentrated for a part where the old lady was doing the spell and everyone was watching the actors. Suddenly one of the main lights fell and it was broken! There were lots of broken glasses and the women’s, who plays the old lady, hand was bleeding because of the lights broken glasses. I swear it is impossible for that light to fall because we brought it by a truck and arrange with the help of 4 people. Everyone was in shock! Everyone was looking each other and trying to learn what could be the reason for this accident. And there wasn’t any! We stopped shooting the movie for that night. Me and my roommate talked about a jinn could be the cause of this accident because we couldn’t find any explanation for it. The other they, we found out that no one had any sleep that night.

The next day during the shooting of another part where there was the old women doing her dark spell, one of the assistants went to arrange the well for the next shooting. Couple of minutes later we heard a scream. Assistant fell into the 6 meter deep well! He has taken to the hospital because of the coups. I know these things can sound to you fiction and you may think we are all exaggerating what happened during the shoots, they were not regular shooting accidents. There were couple of accidents which I can not remember but one day, one of the main actresses woke up with scratches on her face and her arms and she said that she was something weird in her dream but she cannot remember what that was. And she said that she would like to see a physiologist. So they found a new actress for this role.

I can swear there was something wrong with the movie. Maybe the dark spell was so real or maybe because it was very religious village and we were shooting things that are wrong according to the Kur’an (sacred book of Muslim).

So, despite all of the things that happened during the shooting the movie was finished. One part where there were jinn was sent to a production company to Istanbul, for editing. When that part went to Istanbul someone from the company called us and told us that the part that we sent was empty! There wasn’t any scene! And it was shot and got ready by 70 people. It is impossible for that part to be empty. They decided not to put that part on the movie and finally the movie was over and was ready to meet with the audience.

The premiere of the movie was held in a well-known shopping mall in the heart of Istanbul, Turkey. The movie had a very bad reputation because of the actors and the scenario. But the premiere was quit full and because it was a scary movie they put some candles as decorations. The movies premiere started and after 3 minutes there was a huge fire in the saloon. Everyone left the shopping mall very quickly but there were some serious injured people. Most of the shopping mall burned. Next morning everyone was talking about how the movie is cursed.

I also think that this movie is cursed! Because of this kind of event that happened during both the shooting and the premiere everyone wanted to watch the movie. Some said that it is really scary to watch the movie because they believe that the movie is cursed. I personally think that there was some abnormal stuff going around. I don’t want to say that it was jinn or other things but I believe that there were. And this is the scariest story that I ever have.”

In Turkey, everyone knows what happened in the premiere of the movie “Buyu” but everyone thinks that it is just an accident. One day I was talking with my friends about this incident and I found out that my friends brother was an internship in the movie and he told us what exactly happened during the shooting. I remembered this story and asked him again for him to tell me story. For him this is a real ghost story because he saw every single thing that happened during the shooting. They all believe that there was something abnormal with this movie. When they finished the movie they were all relieved but the premiere of the movie was also another unfortunate thing that they faced with. Some say that it was just a consequence and an unlucky movie while some like my friends brother founds it very scary. Whenever I ask him to tell me story he has goose bumps, and I saw his face turn pale and he gets into the story and just remembers what happened there. More over he always says that he is glad that he is not taking part in any other ghost story. He finds it real that is the reason why he is scared a lot.

In my opinions, I believe that, they can be in the mood for getting scared because of the shooting. Since it is all about the dark spell and jinn, and how they are opposite with the sacred book of Muslims sometimes I believe that there could be non-human things. It is spooky if I imagine myself at the shooting and the premiere. I would have been one of the people who can find this story real. However, now I find it little exaggerated about the part where there were lots of accidents that he can not even imagine but I also find it very spooky because of the broken main light and the women being scratched. Over all I believe that these thing happened because my friends brother is not kind of person who is going to believe in ghosts and spirits, that is why I believe this story.

“When I was very little my nanny used to tell me scary stories and she always told be that if I don’t go to sleep the time that she wants, scary ghosts will haunt me in my dreams. There was a story, which I remember now because it was very scary. One night I didn’t want to go to sleep so she told me that she has to tell me a story about a family where she used to live. She cam from a village that is located at the southern part of Turkey called Adana. It is one of the biggest cities in Turkey but she used to live in a village near Adana. There are many small villages around Adana because all most of the countries agriculture is made there. She started to tell me how the village looks but I don’t remember anything about the village. I just know that there was a tree with full of robes that tied to its branches. She said that everyone knew that tree because it is very famous in the village. So whenever someone visits that village they tie a robe on that tree’s branch. When I first heard of this tradition I asked her if she could take me there because I also wanted to tie a robe on that tree. She said that this is not a tree that you just go and make a wish; there is a story for it. I was very nervous because she was acting weird and I new that there was a scary part of this story. The lights were off because her aim was to make me go to sleep, but it was impossible for me to sleep because I was very nervous about the story. So she started her story but very unusual she did not said ‘once upon a time’. I had a feeling that this story may be true. She started with ‘ long time ago’ and she continued ‘there was a family with 7 children. Most of them were girls and they had a dog. They were working in the agriculture that’s why they had a dog to protect them. Girls were exactly same as you; they played all they long and when it was time to sleep they didn’t want to go to sleep. They lived in that village where the tree is located. Because it’s a village they didn’t had a big house they only had a small house so most of the girls slept together. One night when they were trying to go to sleep one of the sisters wished that they never had to sleep. And they fall asleep. When they woke up they tried to live their regular life but they found that that everything has changed! Their parents no longer exist. Currency of the money has changed, machines everything. And everyone was looking at them very strangely. They found out that they were sleeping for 700 years! The 7 siblings were sleeping for 700 years! Not only the 7 of them but also their dog was sleeping as well. They found out that they turned into a stone for these years. Couple of years later they have died. Everyone in the village was aware of this family. So when they died they turned that place to a shrine. They call that place the 7 sleepers house. In that village 7 is a very unlucky number. More over they also believe that when ever a children does not want to go to sleep they saw the ghost of the 7 siblings.’ I was in shock because I believed that story and I was afraid that I was going to see the ghosts of the siblings. That night I couldn’t go to sleep. One night I forgot about that story and I didn’t want to go to sleep. And in my dream I saw 7 siblings ghost! You may think it was just a dream but the moment I found out it was dream and I tried to woke up I couldn’t! It was like something tied me to my bed! But I don’t believe in ghosts so I get it over with very quickly. I was very nervous about learning if that story was real so I made a couple of researches. And I found out that there is the 7 sleepers house and there is the tree with full of robes! I learned that everyone goes there and ties a robe about the things that they don’t want it to become real. So its like the opposite of wishing and in that village they believe in the ghosts of the 7 sleepers. Also when they hear the dog bark they say that ‘the ghost of the 7sleepers dog has arrived’. For me it was really scary when I was little and sometimes I think about the night when I saw the ghosts of 7 siblings in my dream and believe that maybe they could have come. I was very relieved that I learned the story exists but I’m not sure to believe this or not. I just know that there is a village that they think they are haunted by that 7 siblings and dogs spirits.”

My idea about this story is that, I also heard about the 7 sleepers and they’re dogs. I personally don’t believe in 7 sleepers but I can understand her thoughts about this story because she was very young when she learned about this story and her nanny tried to scare her. Her nannies aim was to make R. go to sleep. She may have been affected by the story, which can be the reason for her to see the 7 siblings in her dream. She also talks about the sleep paralysis which is known in Turkey and some people sees doctors because of what they have faced with when they tried to wake up in the morning. If I were living in that village in Adana, I would probably be the one of the believers of this story.