If you visited Hill Park many years ago, you may remember the presence of a haunted house inside Meraj amusement park. It was a small igloo shaped structure covered in bougainvillea and on the entrance there was a plaque displaying just two words: Bhoot Bangla (The Ghost House). When I first heard of this haunted house’s existence, my friends and I became very excited and we decided to check it out soon.
On a fateful evening in 1981, we reached Hill Park around dusk time. At the entrance of the haunted house, we saw a 6-feet-tall, 3-feet-wide, and 2-feet-deep human being who issuing entry tickets. He had six inch long moustaches and with a sinking sun in the background, his silhoutted image appeared like a complete ‘bhoot’ (ghost) in itself.
I was only 10 years old at that time and to me this 6 x 3 x 2 = 36 cubic feet voluminous guy looked like a ghost mountain. My friends and I immediately gave him the nick name of Mr. bhoot. (Mr. Ghost)
After issuing tickets, Mr. bhoot placed us in a straight line and for some unknown reason or logic he told me stand in the front of the line. This action reminds me of this ‘sher’
But my situation was such that I was shivering with anticipation of an impending horror. He then told us to enter the haunted house one by one but only after we start hearing some scary music. All of us solemnly moved our heads in affirmative. The eerie set up had already starting to get on to us.
A dark night, fear of unknown and a giant ghost-cum-human were looking scary all right. After giving us instructions, Mr. bhoot suddenly disappeared behind some curtains made out of torn ‘bori’ (jute bag). We heard a distinct click of a cassette player button and the place started rocking in a blast of theme horror music. The supposedly horror music was not scary at all. It was more like a sea storm making a land fall like:
khooo khooo shooo shiaaoooN shapar chiaaoN and repeat.
As soon as we got the queue of scary music, we entered the horror house. At first we couldn’t see anything because of the darkness. As our irises expanded and we got used to the light, we started walking very cautiously and in a line according to Mr. bhoot instructions. Suddenly from left side something came flying in the air and hit one of my friends right on his face. It was a human arm, torn apart from the shoulder blade and soaked in blood. All of us shrieked in horror, but my friend who got hit was so scared that he grabbed onto this flying object as a reflex action and didn’t let go of it. While we were still checking on to what had just hit us, Mr. bhoot suddenly appeared from the darkness and in ultraviolet lit room, showing his large purple teeth he ordered us:
“choRo bhuee choRo ! haath ko jaane do!”
(Let go off the hand guys!)
That torn-apart human arm was actually made of cotton soaked in red color or may be red Ink. It was made to slide across the room by pulling on a string. That string was pulled by none other than our Mr. bhoot himself from some hidden corner. The timing of rope pulling was so perfect that the arm had hit my friend right on his cheek. Mr. bhoot must have perfected this art over time. After my friend let go of the arm, Mr. bhoot disappeared in the darkness with as much swiftness as with which he had appeared.
We cautiously moved further. Wooden planks that made the passage were creaking under our feet. There were some gaps or holes in wooden planks too where our feet were getting stucked.
We were too scared to look down while walking incase some other flying object decided to come our way. We saw some fake human skulls, bones and a few fake dead bodies lying around. The dead bodies had colorful Zero-watt bulbs glowing under them, so instead of looking horrifying they actually looked hilarious in the colors of green, red, blue and yellow.
One dead body was however, wrapped in a white sheet (kafan) and was moving slowly from lying-down position to sitting-up position, on the beat of the same old stormy music.
Shooooooo (lie-down), khoooooo (sit-up), shiaaaaoooN (lie-down) chiaaaooN (sit up again) and so on.
I can’t help it because another ‘sher’ now comes to my mind on this up-and-down motion of dead bodies.
Since there was no Zero-watt bulb glowing under this dead body and the approximate dead area of this body was 36 cubic feet, we guessed it must be the same Mr. bhoot pulling yet another stunt on us. So we acted cool and didn’t give him any reaction. The anti-climax of that moving arm scene earlier had removed all fear from us and we knew if any thing moved, it was probably Mr. bhoot himself. The bhoot guy probably gave up on trying to scaring us any further as very soon the ‘cyclone’ music stopped and it was the queue for us to get out. I bet after getting us out, Mr. bhoot must’ve gone back to drawing board to polish his skills further for future clients.
The management of this haunted house was probably very poor because the same guy who had issued us entrance tickets, operated the music player, pulled the string to hurl the arm across visitors and then wore a white sheet to become a dead body.
The total time we spent inside haunted house was probably 5 minutes but that fun memory has lasted with me fore more than 25 years now and I recall every detail as if it happened just yesterday.
My goodness….wonderful writing. so personal and touching. I remember the Bhoot bangla…and taking my little sister there. I probably scared her more than any of the opeerators. I remember the operator moving a sack (boree) behind some bars but in the process get tangled up and fell to the ground. That was just hilarious.
Your post also reminded me of the years long past us when my uncle would come over, we would rent a horor movie (such as evil dead) and watch it in a dark room….mamoon could always scare the living bejesus out of us by throwing something at us at the climax moments. Now his son is how old we were back then…Maybe its time for me to pass on the tradition.
Hill Park amusements always remained under the shadow of a better equipped ‘fun land’ at Clifton therefore the rides of Hill Park are lesser known. I visited Hill Park last time in 2005 and found the ‘Meraj’ amusement park closed (I visited around 7 p.m.). The Hill Park however, now boasts a brand new ‘ride’ park towrds the northern end of the park and everybody goes to the new rides park. In Short I don’t know whether ‘bhoot bangla’ is still operational or not. Can anyone confirm ?
What a nice post! you reminded me of my childhood days. I’ve been there once when I was 5 or 6 yrs old, with my cousins and our moms. I remember I held my mom tightly and kept crying throughout the bhoot bangla journey, while my brothers, sister n cousins kept messing up with the ‘bhoots’ putting fingers in their eyes and making fun of them :) It was an experience!
Hill park’s long ‘slide’ was quite thrilling at that time..
Believe it or not … I went there just for the heck of it at age 15.
The only thing I actually reacted at was actually a bridge that when I stepped on felt like it was gona break. I asked the guy later … wasnt part of the act.
Im like ok …. :o …
Dogs scare me more :P
Have you been to ‘The Darkness’ in St. Louis? I was there a month ago and had a great time. It’s considered to be one of the best haunted houses in the US.
It is not a Joke, What I saw in my Old City MirpurKhas.
There was really a Haunted House in which I saw a Cat is CLIMBING upstairs and one moving round object was following. It was just a single sight but I remember it yet …
Many other incidents were also attached with tht house.
My Lord Allaah! Awesome! Great stuff! May the Almighty bless you yaar you really reminded me of the past and the old memories brought tears in my eyes. That old days were golden and really I miss those days infact those days were really really awesome. InshaAllah we will be there in Jannah and the Almighty will bring us more excellent stuff that we can’t imagine. Ameen.
Oh Man ! It was so well written and hilarious !!
Thanks for a refreshing post after gruesome post of “dakoo jalao”
Fun stuff. Very nicely written as always. One day (Inshallah) when pakistans economy and brains will get better, these fun memories can be registered in a movie.
I wonder who would play the “bhoot” part. Is moviestar “Anjuman” still available? (Just kidding)
Alas this place is now no more but in our memeories , Mairaj Amusement Park management lost their case to whoever was incharge and it’s now broken down , no more Bhoot Bangla ( I remeber the guy asking me to look at him and seeing his teeth glow in the UV light I ran out of the place screaming ) , no more tall slides which used to make me feel I’m flying at th bump . I often go to Hill Park in the evening , before as a kid now with my kids but the fun we had is no more, the Sindbad @ HP is good but no match for the childhood joys and freedom I experienced . I’ll try to get the pics of the broken down place this weekend
Farhan
If you could share the recent photos of Mairaj park then it will be great. We can post them here.
Wonderful post, Owais!
>
This post brought back my memories of bhoot bangla, we use to go to Hill park quite often, but once we tried that bhoot bangla (around 83/84) and that flying arm mentioned in the story was for us a long tied hairs (Gut) of a women, probably the ink dried and the cotton was readjusted to mak it look like that, and that hit me on my back may be I was walking too fast for Mr.Bhoot’s timing. the rest of the details are same.I remember there use to be a Boat Ride, Go Cart tracks, and a movie theater also in addition to some games stall and restaurant.
does anyonne has any pictures of that time? and can post it here that would be awsome.
im sorry but the sher’s after every 5,6 lines are very irritating…had this been written in urdu,those sher’s would have made a different impact altogether…
but here they really got on the nerves
Wonderfully nostalgic! Reminds me of all the times we’ve spent discussing horror stories as kids and exploring empty apartments within our complex, which we thought were haunted.
“I was only 10 years old at that time and to me this 6 x 3 x 2 = 36 cubic feet voluminous guy looked like a ghost mountain. My friends and I immediately gave him the nick name of Mr. bhoot. (Mr. Ghost)”
Reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes quote, I read on a friend’s profile and which I think is so true.
‘One of the joys of being a kid is that experiences are new and therefore more intense.’
@ Now I understand why the area was infested by
Zarbhutts even at that time since late 60s till 70s.
Maazi kay bhutte, Pir-e-ta’vizia’n ko attay nazar kehein,
Phir dekhtey PP ki siyyasat kay wo bhutts, sar-charhay
Rafay Kashmiri
Rafay Sahab, where are you seeing PPP’s hand in this post on Hill Park and a totally non-political event.
wow this event is very carfully set not that its not true but i wasnt there to see it.
if i see it than i may belive it
I could understand when you were a kid to use such words for a human being but I do not think it is inappropriate to look for a resemblance of “ghost” in someone’s physical appearacne when you are grown up.
“He had six inch long moustaches and with a sinking sun in the background, his silhoutted image appeared like a complete ‘bhoot’ (ghost) in itself.”
correction in previous comments:
I could understand when you were a kid to use such words for a human being but I do not think it is appropriate to look for a resemblance of “ghost” in someone’s physical appearacne when you are grown up.
“He had six inch long moustaches and with a sinking sun in the background, his silhoutted image appeared like a complete ‘bhoot’ (ghost) in itself.”
Aik saccha waqia..
Careful! Its Halloween!
There will be some ghosts visiting to this website.
Owais, you thought i will not find you..
you can run but can’t hide …..boooohaha….boooohaha.
Very interesting article about bhooots.
this shld be called halloween post..
Owais, you have a good sense of timing (Halloween) combined with memories of good times in Karachi. This discussion has taken me back four decades when life was reasonably peaceful in Karachi, kids went to various places in Karachi without fear of getting in harms way. There were parks in various parts of Karachi where students could sit with friends and study for exams. The planners of Karchi had considered recreation areas for kids and youth and realized these outlets are necessary for good health and well being of the populace.Mairaj Amusement park provided that innocent low cost outlet for kids and youth. Occasionally there were music programs and various celebrations on Eid, Baqr Eid, 14 August, 23 March etc. Those days are gone. Land grabbers in various disguises and our society’s continually growing shift to new definitions of morality have finally seen the demise of one the source of entertainment for kids and youth in Karachi. So sad.
Dear OM,
Nice post, infact excellent post … BUT… its a “Nashr-e-Muqarrar” :)
For a follower of ATP like myself, the absence of any reference to the original post in August 2006 is just a bit of a disappointment (actually thats heavier word than what I would have preferred).
Anyway, interesting to note that the original post has been removed even for the archives :) … you are thorough…
However, I did find a little reference here…
http://pakistaniat.com/2007/06/20/mumtaz-mahal/
You mention it in your June 2007 post on the subject of Mumtaz Mahal – The Foxy Lady of Pakistan.
Anyway, great post, nostalgic and very readable.
Adil Mulki, yes this post was nashr-e-muqarrar. I wanted it to coincide with halloween and also it happens sometimes that despite our best efforts we are not able to write/find new post. It was one of those busy days
hehe.. so Owais it was self-plagiarized! :P anyway nice post.. Do I miss the pre-cellphone and internet days or what !
AOA FRIENDS
NICE POST
Nice post Owais…
It seems Karachi, and the whole of Pakistan for that matter, has now turned into a Bhoot Bangla….with “Mr. Bhoots” appearing at every nook and corner scaring people out of their breaths and ‘droning’ them out of their lives.
Let us pray the dreadful Bhoot Bangla goes back to its original location and these ‘Bhoots’ leave Karachi and our beloved Pakistan alone.
sincerely,
Sohail
Please email me ur stories or haunted places in pakistan.
We are the first formal Ghost Hunting and Paranormal Scientific Investigation organisation in Rawalpindi/ Islamabad. We are giving our services for free to any body who really is experiencing any paranormal or ghost/ spirit activity in his/her premises.
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