True accounts of encounters with an unknown creature that lived in a well in my father's village.
Reading time: 12 minutes.

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XTales.net has always been about horror fiction, until now. With today's tale, we are stepping into the world of true events. All the stories based on true events will be tagged as so. You can find them in the sidebar menu under 'Categories'. Keep reading.

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It Lived in the Well

When I started writing my blog, it was just horror fiction. I never wrote anything from my real-life experiences. The main reason was that I never had any real-life experiences involving the mysterious or the unknown, never encountered anything unnatural. Since I had to go with my imagination, I was always looking for inspiration. Recently, I started asking all the people I know if they ever had any such experiences. Following are the events my father narrated to me. It includes his and others' accounts of encounters with an unknown creature. It lived in a well of the village where my father spent his early childhood.

I had started asking people because I was looking for inspiration, but when I listened to the events, I decided to write them just as they are. I just arranged them so that they would interest the readers and keep their adrenaline flowing.

...

There were rumours that someone or something used to lurk at the boundary that separates the forest from the fields of the farmers. There was an ancient well just near the boundary. This well had quenched the thirst of many generations and provided life to their crops.

The first account goes back to when my father wasn’t even born. He grew up hearing this story.


1

It was way past sundown. Back in the days, there used to be no electricity in the village. It wasn’t rare though. Many villages in my country won't see a light bulb for many decades. A man was coming home from his fields. Now, my father doesn't remember which season it was. The man had either been ploughing his field, sowing or irrigating it. It was late, and he was alone.

He passed the said well at a reasonable distance, and he saw a woman. It was quite late and unusual for a woman to be alone. She sat just by the well, tucking her knees under her elbows, staring into nothingness. The man stopped and tried to recognise the woman. It was a small village, so there was a pretty good chance that he would already know her. It was dark. He couldn't see her face clearly. He got a little closer, and that’s when he saw that the woman wasn’t wearing any clothes.

Now, this story has been retold so many times that there are a few versions of it. In some versions, it was a night of the full moon. Her skin glowed in the silvery light. I think that part is made up, but again, I’ve heard enough myths and folktales. Many creatures hunt on the night of the full moon. Whatever the case was, moonlight or no moonlight, this woman was trying to enchant the man, enticing him with her beauty. The man, however, was not some young and eager fool. He had aged hearing all sorts of stories, probably had lived some of those stories too. He kept his distance and asked her if she was in trouble. The woman did not reply; she did not utter a word and laid back on her side, and she gestured to the man to come closer to her. That’s when the man saw her face. Again, there are multiple versions of the story. In a few of them, she had glowing eyes of different colours. In others, she either had a disfigured face, an evil grin on her face, or no features at all like the Slenderman. Whatever it was, the man got scared. He screamed and ran towards the village as fast as he could. The most terrifying thing about this story is that the woman chased after him. The man heard her footsteps and a wild growl like that of a hungry animal. He did not dare to look behind, nor did he stop until he entered the village while screaming and looking white as a ghost.

...

The second incident happened when my father was about nine years old.

2

A farmer had lost one of his buffaloes. Many farmers of the village used to have cows or buffaloes. Cattle farming was one of the sources of their income. Most of the families were not wealthy enough to own a herd. They usually only had one. Understandably, the cattle become a member of the family, even receive a name. The family members would get attached to it.

Often, one of these cattle would go missing. There's no need to put stress on how much a cow or a buffalo would cost. Anyone could make a fortune by selling one of those, so it naturally could be the case that some thief would steal them.

Whenever someone’s cattle would go missing, all the members of the family along with friends and relatives would go out in the forest to search for them. Sometimes, they’d find them. When they could not find them, they would conclude that somebody had stolen them and go to the police station to file a report. That would be it.

This one time, when the buffalo went missing, the members of the family searched for her and found her in the well. It was back when there was no protective wall around the well. The poor animal must have slipped and fell. Miraculously, she was still alive, so the family members called everyone for help. It was broad daylight. The whole village gathered around the well, including kids, men, and women. My father was among them.

Everyone gave their suggestions. Ideas were discussed. There was no animal control and rescue department to call, so the villagers tied one end of a thick rope to a tractor, a few villagers came in to pull too, and a young fellow descended into the well. He had barely only touched the water when he started to scream like a maniac. He started to throw his hands and feet in an attempt to get out of the well as fast as he could. When he got out, he refused to speak, or maybe he couldn't. The people calmed him down and asked him why he acted the way he did.

He revealed that there was a hole in the inner wall, just above the water level. As he lowered into the well, he saw someone. It was dark in the hole, so he couldn't see clearly. What terrified him the most was the fact that this figure was chewing on something which looked like a leg of an animal.

Nobody believed him, but they still had to get the poor animal out. The next time, two older men dropped into the well. They did find the hole, small enough to barely fit a man. They also found a half-eaten leg, several human and animal bones but no one else. There was a small tunnel too in the wall that went somewhere under the ground. The sight sent a chill down their spine. The young boy was right.

They finally pulled the buffalo out, and that’s when they saw that she was missing a leg.



3.

The next incident is around the same time. An annual fair was held in the nearest town to the village. My father told me that it was like Christmas for the kids. The incident happened to my grandma. She took her eldest son, and two youngest sons: my father and my uncle, to the fair. Since her eldest son had grown up enough to take care of himself, she didn’t care much for him. Her main concerns were my father and my uncle, so she held their hands tightly throughout their trip to the town, the entirety of their visit to the fair, and their return.

It had gotten dark on their way back. The eldest son led their way a few feet ahead of them. My grandma, my father, and my uncle were behind. When they reached just outside the village, my eldest uncle ran towards the home and soon disappeared. My grandma slowly followed with her two youngest sons. They reached a bifurcation, one path leading to the village, the other to the forest. That’s when they heard my eldest uncle. He was running through the fields towards the well, calling my father and my uncle to play with him. Had my grandma not held their hands tightly, they would’ve followed him. People of the village had not yet forgotten the buffalo incident. She knew better than to fall for this trick. She turned the other way and came back home. My oldest uncle was already there.

...

When my father reached adulthood, more rumours started to spread across nearby villages. Many stories of encounters with the thing in the well surfaced, but most of them were made up. Even the rumour of the entire village being cursed came up. My father did not recall many of them. He did tell me one or two though. I chose not to include them, but one of them had the legend that sometimes you could hear a train of bullock-carts passing by the village but not see them. The rest were the same whatsoever.

The next incident is the highlight of this story. It’s my father’s own experience. He and a friend of his came face to face with this creature.

4

My father and a friend of his used to wake up early when it would still be dark. They would go to their fields to irrigate the crops. Usually, my father’s friend would wake up first and then go to wake my father up, but that day, my father woke up early and went to call his friend. It was pretty dark, so the friend had a lantern. They both reached the well and split up the jobs.

Before I go further, I should explain the irrigation system. Back then, they didn’t have any motorized sprinkler or drip irrigation system. They simply used to make canals to each of their fields and fill them up with water. So, one of them would make sure that the canals were deep enough to hold the water, and the other would fill them with water. They had a spade which they used to dig. The friend had the spade in his hand. My father offered to dig, but he refused. It was strange that he insisted on doing the harder part of the job. While working, he would stare at my father for a few seconds before turning away, but he didn’t say anything. He never even came close to the well, kept his distance.

After about an hour of working, they decided to take some rest. The friend put down the spade but immediately picked up the lantern. My father asked him to just relax and sit, but he refused. There was something eerie about the whole situation. Now, at this time usually, the sun would’ve risen. They would start to see the orange-red hue at the horizon, but it was still pitch black.

Before something horrible could happen, someone came running from the village. It was my father. Upon seeing this, the impersonator took its real form and crawled back down the well. It did not jump but crawled into its hole like a spider.

My father and his friend told each other what had happened, and the events became clear.

The friend had sensed something on his way to the well. They usually went talking and joking around, but that day, they were quiet. The doppelganger didn’t even come into the light of the lantern. The friend suspected something sinister, so he always kept an eye on him, even while working. He never put down his spade. If he did, he picked up the lantern.

My father, on the other hand, woke up and waited for his friend. When he didn't show up, my father went to his house. He learned that his friend had already gone to the fields, and more importantly, himself had come to call him. My father realised what had happened and ran as fast as he could. He managed to get there in time; otherwise, something horrible would've happened.

They both came back home, and then, about an hour later, the sun came up.



...

My father moved out for studies, but upon his return, he would hear a rumour or two about the creature in the well. It was hard to tell which one was true and which one wasn’t. People started giving their theories about what it could be. Some old folks would call these stories an ‘uchhav’. It’s a term of the regional language related to the Hindi word ‘utsaah’ (English: Excitement). These folks said that all these events were nothing but the products of excited brain activity. The young fellas used to smoke weed or abuse other substances, so it was natural that they would start to hallucinate. It was a little hypocritical on their part though because all they used to do was nothing but smoke and play cards themselves while sitting under a tree.

Some people came up with the idea that the entity in the well was a djinn. Today’s last incident is an old woman’s account of her meeting with this said djinn and his wife in the well.

5

An old woman lived in the village. She was an obstetrician, so it was literally in her job description that she could be called at any hour of the night. In old times, most babies were delivered at home. It’s still a very common practice in many villages of my country.

One night, a tall man knocked on this old woman's door. Her services were required. It came across as a little strange to her. She was usually informed beforehand, so she could keep her schedule free. It was even stranger that she didn't even know any woman in the village who was pregnant at the time. Anyway, she took her paraphernalia and went along with this man. He said that his wife was in labour. The old woman noticed that the man was leading her out of the village, but she didn't say anything.

Back at the time, toilets weren’t a thing in the villages. I know, I know, that’s unhygienic. Now, things have totally changed. People are educated and aware now, but back then, people used to go out.

The old woman did not suspect a thing. For all she knew, the pregnant lady must've gone out to relieve herself, and her water broke. It was only when the man turned in the direction of the well, she got a little worried. The man took her to the well and stopped.

The old woman claimed that the ‘djinn’ carried her into the well and his home. The most interesting thing about this story is that she claimed that there indeed was a pregnant lady. She helped in the delivery of the baby. Both the mother and the baby survived.

Later, the 'djinn' carried her back out of the well and gave her a small sack filled with something for payment. When he had left, the woman opened the sack. It was filled with pieces of coal. She cursed under her breath and started walking back towards her home.

The next part made me think that the story was made up. She didn't throw it all away. Instead, she dropped it all piece by piece on her way back. By the time she got home, only a few pieces were left. She claimed that she did it this way because she got scared that the 'djinn' might consider it an insult and harm her.

The following morning, she woke up and found out that all the remaining pieces had been converted into gold. She cried and ran back the way she had walked. She did find a few pieces, but the rest were gone. People passing by must've picked them up. She cried and cried but to no help.

...

I did not think that this story was true because many details didn't match the previous events. Also, when people asked her to show them the rest of the gold pieces, she made excuses. My father told me this story because it was the one story that was retold the most.

After a while, people stopped bothering the old woman, but it made some other theories rise. People got really hooked on this 'djinn' theory, so they started worshipping him in secret. Rumours started to spread that if the djinn is pleased, he rewards his worshiper. If anyone in the village made a fortune overnight, people assumed that the person was a djinn worshipper and got rewarded.

Whatever it was, djinn or something else, nobody got hurt or went missing. Soon enough, the village got electricity. People installed their own tube wells, so they never had to go near the well. And in enough time, the rumours died. The new generation was educated, so they didn’t believe in the supernatural. Then, the television came along. Technology and media made people more invested in movies and TV series instead.

Some people still believe in this though. A rumour or a story pops up now and then. Many of them still beat around the idea of a supernatural entity living in the well, but nobody cares anymore. Whatever lived in the well, if it did, shall always remain a mystery.

Share your thoughts, leave a comment.

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