Djinns: My supernatural housemates

I woke up at midnight hearing the wailing sound as if somebody is crying in pain. The voice was painful yet attractive. As I started listening carefully the voice grew louder and clearer, I can sense that someone is sitting beside my bed. I hesitated for a moment but seeing the possibility of no presence at this hour I gulped and shouted, “Whose there? Are you alright?” And the sobbing stopped. I kept looking around without turning on the light but there was no one, and it can’t be as my room was locked. This was a weird thing but I refrained from telling this to my parents and, to some extent, I was over the top brave regarding these paranormal events.

This was a newly built house which we had rented during our stay in the city of Khanewal. The owner was a Dubai-returned trader and constructed this lavish house for his family in the posh area of the city. The reason we picked this house to rent was the renovation and furnished look of the double-story house. The ground floor had two rooms, a TV lounge, and a guest lounge along with the kitchen. A wooden staircase leads to the first floor where three rooms along with attached washrooms were built. A veranda leads to the balcony which gives a beautiful view of the suburban area. These three rooms were given to the siblings; one for me, one for my sisters and one for my younger brother who never had the privilege to stay in the house as he was living out of the city at that time. The second story had a servant’s vacant quarter and a storeroom with a roof spreading over land measuring 1 Kanal.

One day I was walking outside my newly rented house when some lads who were my neighbors approached me and after some formal greetings and chit chat, they asked me about our stay at the house. They were asking as if we have had any trouble during our one week stay. My answer was a simple ‘No’ with a mixed emotion of curiosity and confusion. In the next few days, I kept telling people that everything’s fine and we don’t have any problem here and the house is quite peaceful and worthy of a comforting abode. My sisters used to sleep with my parents on the ground floor and I was alone on the first and most troubling floor. This was the second week when I heard the sobbing sound again and that’s when the chain of events started. After three days, I was entering my room when I felt as if somebody is standing behind me and tapped my shoulder; I shrugged and ignored it as there was no one.

The awkward thing during all paranormal activities is that you don’t suspect that you have been trapped because you ignore the small details owing to invisibility and no logic in those events. The next night was more intriguing as suddenly all the water taps and shower of the three washrooms were open and I can see water leaking in my room. I ran and closed all the taps who were manually opened by someone. I closed the taps and returned in my room when suddenly I heard the splashing sound of water and again the taps were open and they were gushing out water and they were manually opened. I was freaked out because this was too much. I told my neighboring friends about the incidents and they too were freaked out. For some days I kept waking up hearing the sound of a scream or footsteps approaching my bed and running away. I decided to make a protective circle in my room and recited some verses from the holy book and made a circle covering all four corners of my room. After doing that I could feel the stillness and weird pacific atmosphere for a couple of days.

Meanwhile, my y cousin came and stayed for some days, one night we were smoking on the rooftop when he saw a shadow standing next to the servant quarter and he shouted, whose there? He ran towards it and saw nothing. He said he must have gone inside the servant quarter. I went inside to search for the person when the door was suddenly slammed shut. I banged the door and felt unable to open it. The door was jammed. I can feel cold spots around my neck and shoulder and a cool breeze passing through my body in that dark room as there was no electricity.

I realized I am in deep trouble and started reciting the verses from the holy book. My cousin was pushing the door when it unexpectedly opened and I was free again. We were terrified. We came downstairs to our room and locked it. Around midnight my cousin heard someone chatting outside our room. He had mixed emotions of anger and fear. He moaned, whose there? We heard a woman’s voice asking for help, I told him to keep the door lock and call my father who was sleeping downstairs on the ground floor. He was so furious and fed up with the uncertain events that he ran towards the door and opened it. We felt our entire floor was jolting with a storm owing to the cool gusty wind and we could hear screams as if hundreds of women were crying and screaming. We ran downstairs and told our father about the paranormal events. He checked the rooms but there again stillness and silence.

We belong to the Bani Hashim tribe (from the bloodline of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH) and our ancestors have this ability to exorcise and summon the demons through the recitation of holy verses. So my dad started the ritual the next day and summoned the entity. We were told that a clan of djinns was living in the house for the last 5 years. They terrorized the two families who rented the house in the past to keep the house vacant. Finally, an accord was made with them and they were given one room on the first floor and the rooftop on the condition that they will not harm or haunt anyone from the family or other people who plan to stay here. For the next few months, we stayed there peacefully with the djinns and it was an exhilarating experience knowing that you are sharing a space with the supernatural beings. I still visit the house and offer sweets and taffies to the fierce housemates who don’t even say thanks in return. (Laugh)