Main Piece: “So my mom said when she was a kid, she never use to go to Kuldhara, a abandoned town in India because it was haunted. She told me a story that there use to be, Salim Singh, then minister of state, who fell in love with a pretty girl of the village chief. However, Salim was super irritating so he threatened to steal the villagers money if they didn’t get him married to her. The chief of the village felt like Salim wasn’t the right man for his daughter and saw his request as ludicrous along with those of the nearby 83 villagers. So, they decided to abandon their village of Kuldhara. My mom said people also say that the villagers cursed the village that no one could ever inhabit the land.”

Background Information: The informant learned about this through his mom who lived in India until she was ten years old. The informant describes this story as “freaking him out” when he was young. This story also taught the informant that it is never good to make demands and instead it is always better to negotiate.

Context: In a restaurant in San Diego

Thoughts: This is an interesting type of horror/ghost story, because it does not have traditional elements like a ghost or “evil spirit”. Instead, the village is deserted and the reason why has to do with marriage and asking a girl to get married. It seems like the elements of tradition especially when it comes to marriage are important in the Indian culture, since Salim did not ask the girl to be his wife in a proper way.