The House of Dukhani is a pretty house that once hosted meetings and receptions for the British. The Dukhani house is also believed to be haunted by the ghost of an venerable man in a dress who is said to have shot himself in the house.
Shimla, with its enchanting cool air and mystical atmosphere, has always been a magnet for spooky tales from the mountains and forests and otherworldly phenomena in venerable colonial haunted houses and the ghosts of deceased British settlers and inhabitants.
Among these hills you can find echoes of the British colonial era, where magnificent mansions and bungalows once hosted British officers who used the area as a place to relax. However, some of these elegant homes still hold more than just memories, as they are believed to be inhabited by the spirits of their former inhabitants.
Dukhani House, an venerable and sprawling house situated in the pretty hills of Shimla, is one such place where the ghosts of the past still live.
Haunted night in the Dukhani house
This bungalow was once owned by an elderly British gentleman, known as Buck or Bucky, who lived mainly in Delhi but came to Shimla in the summer with the rest of the British to escape the worst of the heat further up the mountain. His home, Dukhani, was the place for his occasional weekend gatherings. Among the regular participants at these meetings was an English officer named Sir John Smith, a close friend of Buck's.
One night Sir John and his wife stayed overnight at Dukhani House. Sir John was assigned Buck's room with the host, located in one of the oldest parts of the house.
Despite being tired from the delayed night, Sir John had difficulty falling asleep due to Bucky's snoring. As night fell in the Dukhani House, he woke up to the curtains blowing in the wind, letting the moonlight into the room. He considered getting up and closing the window, but decided to go back to sleep. That's when he noticed an older man with silver hair wearing a bathrobe. Assuming it was Bucky, Sir John asked him to secure the window. However, to his surprise, he heard another thunderous snoring coming from another corner of the room where Bucky was rapid asleep.
Panicking, Sir John tried to approach the elderly man, who seemed to retreat out the window and disappear into the garden. When he went outside to investigate, the specter had disappeared, leaving only the memory of the venerable man's forlorn face in his mind. This eerie encounter haunted Sir John during the night.
Further investigation into the incident led Sir John to a surprising discovery. He learned that an elderly man wearing a bathrobe had tragically taken his own life in the same room where he had seen the apparition by shooting himself. It was obvious that he had encountered the spirit of this abandoned soul who had died some 40 years earlier that night.
Reference:
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Ghosts of Dukhani – Beautiful house in the hills of Shimla – Mysterious Himachal
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