India has always been famous for its mythical stories and creatures including the one that grandmother tells the stories about to their grandchildren. And this is one of those horrific stories which might just make you close the door, this is the story of folklore legend ‘Nale Ba‘ which translates to ‘come tomorrow’.
It dates back to the 1990s, when the streets of Banglore city, India were not as busy as are now and before it became the Silicon Valley of India. The story of a witch spread like a wildfire that it is visiting random houses throughout the city at night, knocking on the door and calling out the men in the house, horrifically, in a familiar voice of their loved ones especially the woman they are in love with.
As soon as the doors are opened, the men will either disappear or die within the next 24 hours.
Men in the city started disappearing and people started shutting off their doors before the dawn, nobody would dare to open the door on the knock even if it’s not the spirit luring out the man from the house.
A lot of stories were build up about this spirit roaming in the city, like how she is looking for her husband and would abduct only men to marry them and later kill them. Panicked people had no idea how to make the spirit stop, everybody was seeking a solution that could make the spirit go away or not visit their home to knock the door at night.
Some even claimed to witness this horrific spirit and told the story of how it appears wearing traditional bridal clothes, covering half her face and would float above the ground before dropping near a house to knock.
As strange the story sounds itself, the solution people came up with was even stranger. Someone just decided to write ‘Nale Ba’ (come tomorrow) on the door and on walls to ward off the evil spirit, and it worked.
Apparently the Witch upon reading it would leave the house without knocking on it and this came out to be the only way the send her back.
This soon became a tradition in the city, and every wall on the street and doors of the house had the chant written over it, most of the time in red color. The spirit will then visit each house only to see the chant and leave the house without knocking.
The cycle of her coming back every day went on and people kept playing their part of not letting the chant removed from the doors. As time went by, the story died out and possibly, so did the witch, the tradition faded away with the new generation not believing in these folklore legends at all.
The story of Nale Ba has been told for 30 years, but since now the time has changed and everybody seeks for an explanation, Nale Ba doesn’t seem to exists for many, while some keep the tradition alive by passing the stories to their descendants.
Surprisingly this folklore legend gained renewed interest in Thailand, when similar cases of young man being disappearing were reported, mostly in village area. So is it possible that the legend moved from India to Thailand?
Ultimately you will have to keep your eyes open and ready to defend yourself in case, something crawls out on your door, knocking! Wait, there is someone on the door …
Since you have read about Nale ba, you might like reading about this similar Japanese Urban Legend which is an 8-feet-tall Lady, lurking for children in the dark!
Follow Us