Thirty minutes past the witching hours the boys of the 17th block in the MIT Campus witnessed a hair-raising incident on the 5th of August 2019. The night turned out to be spookier when heavy rains lashed onto Manipal which were accompanied by thunder and lightning. Three bizarre wails of a woman woke up the lads and petrified the ones who were awake.
To learn more on this unanticipated series of whoops we got in touch with one of the students from block 17 who is an engineer in making from the department of computer science. Pratyksh Sarda who has just moved into Manipal was extremely unanimous throughout the interview.
Pic by Srushti Kulkarni
He exclaimed that the first screech was heard around 12:30 AM leaving everyone astonished as the voice was very clamorous and throbbing. “It sounded like women yelling ” was their first and common reaction. The staff of the swing shift thought the mysterious voice originated from in and around the food court as moonlight did not provide enough visibility to spot someone. Post first wail most of them assumed it to be a prank and settled back into respective activities. While the staff kept thinking on the possibilities of students being outside the hostel premises an hour and a half beyond their curfew to play the prank.
Just when everyone in the hostels were trying to convalescent through the hoop their peace of mind was disrupted by the second one around one o clock which spooked the residents on a large scale and also forced the hostel caretakers and other faculties to take a few decisions regarding the safety of the students. The hollers echoed and reverberated in several minds until the campus patrol was called for a security check while the hostel care takers scrutinized every single room of the block. The boys were scared out of their wits therefore were called down to the lobby were everyone sat together in fear and despair. There were a set of brave boys as well who did not pay any head to the happenings and choose to stay back in their rooms.
The campus patrol strolled in search of the midnight macabre hollers all along the campus and sealed the walkway that connects food court 1 and food court 2 which is famously known as Temple Run by the students. The walkway is sheltered but goes through a lot of greenery that feels like a forest walk which many students would not prefer at night. After hours of forage the campus patrol got no clue of the happenings. Some students informed the patrol that they caught a sight of two bikers leaving on the arrival of campus patrol but could not be identified as they had their helmets on.
Pic by Rohan Johnson
One of the students from block 17 also shot a video of the third scream on his smart phone but ended up getting frightened in the process when he heard the screech half an hour past the second one. The video went viral on the college groups and various Instagram pages. Students all over Manipal woke up to the video and discussed vivid number of theories to solve the case that it could probably be a rape but there was no clue to support this theory. Another set of minds assumed a woman to have got stuck inside food court 2 which was deemed void because the voice echoed from outdoor near the shed areas of temple run while some went with their superstitious brains to think it was the result of some paranormal activities in the campus. There were a few people who were the least bothered ones who restricted their thoughts to believing it was prank.
Photo: Sitanshu Sah
A couple of lads were traumatized due the incident and security was increased but the exact reason behind the mysterious macabre still stays undiscovered. The MAHE staff also warned their students to locomote in groups and stick to their hostel perm time as they feared the safety of their students as well. The matter had just begun to vanish out of memories, but the midnight hollers returned with two more screams on the night of 11th of August,2019 and yet again there is no sign of the mysterious woman haunting the peace of the MIT campus.