Fire Creature

When you’re lost in the forest at the foothills of the Himalayas, a light in the distance is not always good news.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05Glynn Washington?

  They've lost their homes to the fire that burned. I'd bring them warm blankets with care and concern. If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask. Then I'll walk past the corner and pull out a match. You've crossed over Spooked. Stay tuned.

• 0:41Glynn Washington?

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• 1:24Glynn Washington?

  Spooksters, you have spoken. We want more spook, you said. We want to support the show, you said. And can we please, for the love of all that is holy, please get rid of those ads? Well, prayers answered. Spooked Plus has risen. Ad-free spook, the entire library, no interruptions, just you and whatever's lurking in the shadows. Exclusive bonus stories every month, fresh nightmares you won't hear anywhere else. The Spooked Plus community, listen together, chat in real time because no one should face the darkest alone. And, and, ask me anything for yours truly.

• 2:08Glynn Washington?

  If you've got questions, I've got answers. Maybe. And we're just getting started. Spook says, "We are a small team chasing down the big mystery. Your support keeps this flame burning, so come on in. The door is open. Spooked.supercast.com. That's spooked.supercast.com. Spooked Plus. Don't turn out the lights.

• 2:49Glynn Washington?

  Okay, so from the thermometer hanging outside the window, it's the kind of freeze that only happens after the blizzard. Coldest day of winter, fourth gradish. And I know. I feel that if I stay inside this trailer with my pops, something very bad is gonna happen.

• 3:15Glynn Washington?

  So I put on long johns, on top of my long johns, socks on socks on socks, my coat with the hood. And I step out into the blinding whiteness. Cold light. The face of the moon cold. Everything's snow. No trails into the woods, no paths. I walk slowly because you can't mess up here. No wrong steps. Winter doesn't care. Still, every move I make, deeper into the woods.

• 3:57Glynn Washington?

  The more the fear falls away. The more the tear inside the house fades.

• 4:07Glynn Washington?

  No destination, just movement. Cold crackles and snaps, limbfuls of snow. I walk, making a game of how quietly I can move.

• 4:19Glynn Washington?

  If how slow I can breathe.

• 4:22Glynn Washington?

  Silent as shadow, deeper into the lost. Gonna hear it.

• 4:29Glynn Washington?

  Something, someone else in this thunder. I turn toward the almost sound. It can't outstealth me, outstep me.

• 4:41Glynn Washington?

  Slowly, I push forward.

• 4:45Glynn Washington?

  Fearless.

• 4:48Glynn Washington?

  Then I see it.

• 4:51Glynn Washington?

  Closer than I would have imagined.

• 4:55Glynn Washington?

  A deer. Fourteen point buck magnificent antlers. If you are very, very lucky, you see this kind only once in your lifetime.

• 5:07Glynn Washington?

  He glares directly at me.

• 5:11Glynn Washington?

  Hot red blood drips from his muzzle onto the white snow. And I'm thinking it's hurt. Probably shot. And I'm angry. It is not deer season. No one can legally shoot anything, not on our property, and not leave it wounded and suffering.

• 5:31Glynn Washington?

  And I, ah. I don't understand what I'm seeing.

• 5:39Glynn Washington?

  At its feet? A rabbit. Steam rising from its freshly ripped open belly. The deer glowers at me.

• 5:50Glynn Washington?

  Protective of its prize. Then it bends his head down. Bites. Pulls, tugs a stretch of bloody viscera into its mouth and daring me to take a step forward toward the red stained snow.

• 6:12Glynn Washington?

  Feet on the carcass.

• 6:17Glynn Washington?

  No, no, no, no, no. I take a step back, then two, because deers, they don't eat flesh. Deers are ruminants. Four-chambered stomachs made for plants, only for plants. Every Michigander knows this, so this, this ain't a deer. This is some kind of deer-shaped monster. I don't even realize that I'm running, until a low-hanging branch knocks me down. I scramble back to my feet, frantic, sprinting, crashing, pushing away from that creature, that abomination. No more careful steps now, running wild. I hear it. I hear something.

• 7:00Glynn Washington?

  Crashing through the woods beside me, behind me, running, running, knocked back down, climbed back up, and finally, finally, I see our trailer in the clearing, sprinting toward it. I see it!

• 7:16Glynn Washington?

  The dread leaking from the trailer, like blood on snow, the fear that pushed me out of the warmth into the cold, radiating like sick. I stop in front of my door. The hungry cold gathers, sweat freezes on my lips, my forehead, my ears. I listen for footfalls following me. I listen for warning inside the house. I listen, I listen.

• 7:48Glynn Washington?

  And finally, I turn,

• 7:52Glynn Washington?

  terrified,

• 7:55Glynn Washington?

  back into the woods.

• 7:59Glynn Washington?

  Spook starts.

• 8:44Glynn Washington?

  There are many, many ways to walk the forest. And now let's meet Cheethanu Razdan. Just seven years old, living with his grandparents in the beautiful city of Jamun, India, the foothills of the Himalayas. Now his grandfather would always tell him stories, but there is one story that he had kept to himself

• 9:08Glynn Washington?

  until right now.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  One day, I was in the front yard of my house, playing with a ball while the sun was setting.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  We had this house that was surrounded by farms and fields, and I could hear the birds chirping and going back to their nests. I loved living there.

• 9:51Speaker 01

  My grandmother was inside the kitchen, preparing supper for the whole family. And my grandfather was sitting on the veranda. That's where we used to sit in the evening and have a cup of tea and watch sunset.

• 10:06Speaker 01

  I went to grab the ball, I bent down, and as I got up, I saw a light blinking in the horizon.

• 10:18Speaker 01

  It looked like it was a bulb or a fire floating in the air, six feet above the ground. It's in the middle of the field, very far away from our house. The light was there for just few seconds and then all of a sudden, it disappeared, it was gone.

• 11:13Speaker 01

  My first thought was, there's never a light on that side of the house. There was no electric pole, there was no road on that side where you could see a bike or a car or a bus or anything.

• 11:28Speaker 01

  I turned to my grandfather. I used to call him Papa G. I said, Papa G, did you notice that? I just saw some light on the other side of the field. Did you also see that?

• 11:44Speaker 01

  The expression on his face, it suddenly changed. He looked startled and surprised. He said, if you ever see a light in the forest at a far-off distance, never approach it or go towards it. Just make sure you follow your path.

• 12:05Speaker 01

  The immediate question was like, but why? It's just a light, right?

• 12:11Speaker 01

  He said, okay, sit in this chair right next to me and he started narrating his story.

• 12:23Speaker 01

  In the early 1950s, my grandfather used to work for Food and Supplies Department as an inspector.

• 12:31Speaker 01

  His primary role was basically going around to different parts of Kashmir to check the quality of the food grains before they could be distributed within the province.

• 12:43Speaker 01

  One fine day in the fall season, my grandfather had to go for an inspection to a very far off village in the middle of the mountains.

• 12:54Speaker 01

  So he prepared for the trip. He put everything that he usually used to carry in his bag, a spare set of clothes, a shoe horn, a knife that he would use for protection if needed, and some food that he could eat on his journey.

• 13:13Speaker 01

  He caught the bus in the city of Srinagar at around 10:30, 11. His plan was up to get off the bus around 5:00, 5:30, and then another one hour of journey on a horse carriage, and tea at his end destination before it started getting really dark.

• 13:36Speaker 01

  After a few hours into the trip, the bus broke down. So he ended up reaching his first stop at 8:00 PM, and it was already dark.

• 13:49Speaker 01

  My grandfather stepped out of the bus, expecting a horse carriage to be there. There was nobody there. He was in a very small town, everything was closed. But then he thought, he has been to that village so many times, maybe he can just start walking towards the place. It might take him just two hours.

• 14:15Speaker 01

  So he started walking away from that town towards the forest.

• 14:21Speaker 01

  He could barely see the path in front of him.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  He could hear crows, wild dogs barking at a distance.

• 14:34Speaker 01

  He was not afraid, he was used to going to places like these.

• 14:41Speaker 01

  All of a sudden, he notices a small light flickering at a distance.

• 14:49Speaker 01

  It looked like a ball of fire, dark orange in color. It was few feet above the ground, like hanging in the air.

• 15:00Speaker 01

  He thought, why is a flame there? I've taken this journey so many times, there's supposed to be nothing in that direction. He thought, maybe it's a shepherd, usually they take their animals for grazing in the mountains.

• 15:17Speaker 01

  But then the light disappeared.

• 15:20Speaker 01

  He thought, oh, maybe he is imagining it. So he kept walking.

• 15:29Speaker 01

  Around thirty to forty paces ahead, he notices something from the corner of his eye.

• 15:37Speaker 01

  He turned his head to the left and he noticed, there's another light there.

• 15:46Speaker 01

  This light is at far off distance on the other side of the mountain, hanging in the air.

• 15:53Speaker 01

  He was surprised. Is this the same light that he saw earlier? Was that light moving and following him? Or it's a new light?

• 16:04Speaker 01

  And then, he turns around and he sees four lights, right behind him, at a distance.

• 16:16Speaker 01

  They were very close to each other, as if it was four lanterns together. And they are getting slightly brighter, which means the distance is getting shorter.

• 16:31Speaker 01

  My grandfather was wondering, is somebody following me? Are there any thieves or docu-ites that are following his lead?

• 16:40Speaker 01

  He's scared. He turned around and he started picking up pace towards his destination.

• 16:49Speaker 01

  My grandfather looks ahead and he notices the first lights. They were all changing directions.

• 16:57Speaker 01

  Some were moving left, some were moving to the right, few feet above the ground.

• 17:04Speaker 01

  It's as if the lights are circling around him. They are following him from different directions.

• 17:13Speaker 01

  He starts thinking, this is supernatural.

• 17:21Speaker 01

  My grandfather was a devout Hindu. He had heard stories from his grandparents about spirits. Some of those mystical beings, they take possession of your soul, they take possession of your body. Some of those try to kill. And it is said the forest is full of those kind of creatures.

• 17:44Speaker 01

  He thought, I better get out of this place as soon as possible. He started running.

• 17:55Speaker 01

  The trail moved to the right along the mountain. And as soon as he turned right, what he saw was out of this world.

• 18:11Speaker 01

  In the horizon in front of him, there were fifty, sixty lights glowing, floating above the ground, moving from one side to another, crisscrossing, jumping fifty feet in irregular patterns.

• 18:29Speaker 01

  Some of them were coming closer, some of them were moving further away. Some lights would go off and they would start glowing in a different direction altogether. It was like a dance of those lights.

• 18:45Speaker 01

  My grandfather started rubbing his eyes. It was something that he had never seen or imagined. His hands were shaking, his legs were shaking. And he starts running at his full speed.

• 19:02Speaker 01

  Then he noticed that the lights were kind of following him, they were also moving in the same direction.

• 19:10Speaker 01

  He was scared so much that he thought this is the end of his life.

• 19:18Speaker 01

  He realized that the village was still far ahead. He couldn't run that far. And he suddenly remembered that his parents and grandparents had told him when he was a kid. "If you are ever in danger, you should chant Hanuman Chalisah and Lord Hanuman will come and save you. He is the monkey god, the savior of all."

• 19:46Speaker 01

  The lights are immediately behind him.

• 19:49Speaker 01

  So he hurriedly sat down, opened his bag. He took out his knife and also the metal shoe horn that he would always carry with him. It's a common belief in some parts of India that having a metal object with you saves you from anything supernatural.

• 20:08Speaker 01

  He put that shoe horn on the ground. He sticked that knife into the ground. He crossed his legs, closed his eyes and started chanting Hanuman Chalisah loud and clear.

• 20:26Speaker 01

  He's just sitting there praying.

• 20:30Speaker 01

  He doesn't dare to open the eyes, he just keeps chanting.

• 20:35Speaker 01

  And he's just praying, pray, pray.

• 20:47Speaker 01

  Finally, he gathers the courage to open his eyes.

• 20:54Speaker 01

  He could not see any lights. He looked behind him, he turned left, he turned right. But there were no lights to be seen anywhere.

• 21:06Speaker 01

  He thanked God, he grabbed the knife and the shoe horn in his hand and he started running towards the village.

• 21:41Speaker 01

  He ended up reaching the village at 11 o'clock.

• 21:45Speaker 01

  My grandfather straight went to the village head's house. The village head was a very good friend of my grandfather. The village head came and he opened the door. He said to my grandfather, "What happened to you? Why are you so late? Are you okay? Why don't you come in?"

• 22:05Speaker 01

  So my grandfather comes in and he sits on the ground on the carpet, also known as kalin.

• 22:12Speaker 01

  He told my grandfather, "Okay, so what happened in the journey?"

• 22:18Speaker 01

  After my grandfather explained it to the village head, he had very concerning look in his eyes.

• 22:26Speaker 01

  He said, "You know what? You should consider yourself very lucky that you made it to my place tonight. Not everybody's been so lucky."

• 22:39Speaker 01

  My grandfather asked him, "Why?" He's like, "What you saw there, it's called a rachok. Some people also call it brahmarachok.

• 22:50Speaker 01

  They say that a rachok is a humanoid creature on two legs and it has a light on his head, it has a fire on his head.

• 23:01Speaker 01

  It's so bright that you cannot see his face." He shows himself to people who are travelling at night.

• 23:10Speaker 01

  It creates an illusion, makes you take the wrong road. People usually tend to follow the light, thinking there's a human dwelling there or a village.

• 23:23Speaker 01

  My grandfather is like, "Yeah, I have heard about Rachok when I was a kid." "I thought it's a, you know, story you tell your kids and then when you grow up, "you kind of forget about those stories." "So is it real?" And the village had replied, "Yes, it is real." "There have been people we never found again." "In the past, we had to send search parties to find people." "Some of them were lucky, we found them." "But some people, we have no clue about what happened to them."

• 23:56Speaker 01

  "You are lucky that you did not leave the trail and start following those lights." "Otherwise, who knows, tomorrow morning, we might be looking for you in the forest."

• 24:11Speaker 01

  My grandfather was shocked. He said nothing. But he also felt a sense of gratitude towards the Lord. Probably it was some of his good karma that helped save his day.

• 24:26Speaker 01

  After that, he made it a point that he did not travel anywhere by himself at night.

• 24:39Speaker 01

  My grandfather finished his story, he went quiet. Then I was silent. I had goosebumps and I was also scared a little bit because I had just seen a light.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  My grandmother had actually come out and she was also listening to this story, probably maybe twentieth time or fiftieth time. My grandma says, "Okay, let's go, let's have dinner now."

• 25:10Speaker 01

  I am forty now and I still remember all the details of this story. It left an everlasting impression on me.

• 25:20Speaker 01

  I do believe there are still Rachok somewhere in those mountains.

• 25:27Speaker 01

  I still have an iron ring that was given to me by my parents. I have never taken that ring off my finger. It's been a part of my body for the last thirty years. Just keeps me safe. Let's put it that way.

• 25:57Glynn Washington?

  Thank you, Razan, for sharing your grandfather's story with Spooked. The original score for that story was by Clay Xavier. It was scouted by Aditya Matu and produced by Eric Yanez. Now then, 1868, London, in front of several witnesses. A man by the name of Daniel Douglas Holm flew out of a third-story window and flew back in through another window. Naturally, folks were both amazed and dubious.

• 26:35Glynn Washington?

  Daniel later allowed himself to be tested by multiple skeptics, including eminent scientists. After a thorough examination, one of these esteemed souls finally concluded, and I quote, "I have seen him rise completely from the ground on several occasions." Daniel never charged for his performances. Even after his death, no concrete evidence to dispute his miracles ever arose. So, I guess what I am asking Spooksters is, can you fly? Can you?

• 27:18Glynn Washington?

  Seems unlikely, but if you can, I really need to know about it. No funny business. [email protected]. Let us know. Why? Because there's nothing better than a Spooked story from a Spooked listener. [email protected]. And if you want to see Spooked come to life a whole new way, follow Spooked on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. It is on. Spread the word. Spooked is brought to you. By the team that still returns home before the streetlights come on. Except, of course, from Mark Ristich. Mark shot out his streetlights a long time ago.

• 27:59Glynn Washington?

  There's Davy Kim, Zoe Frigno, Ann Ford, Eric Yanis, Taylor Decot, Marissa Dodge, Miles Lassie, Doug Stewart, Paulina Kriki, Elizabeth Z. Pardue, Aditya Matu, Lulu Jemima. The spook theme song is by Pat McCDillan. My name is Glynn Washington, and it feels like our consciousness is expanding to consider ideas that we may have dismissed as absurd or fringe even a little while ago. Mainstream thinkers speak about Gaia, the collective unified consciousness of the

• 28:40Glynn Washington?

  planet, which I think is progress, but it's hard to get my mind around. Planet? What about this place? What about this forest, this valley? Can it have its own consciousness? Can it love? Can it hate fear? See, the ancients didn't just build temples to their gods. They built temples where gods already danced. Those standing stones aren't placed at random. Those sacred groves don't flower by chance. Our reverence is a dialogue with that which is already here.

• 29:23Glynn Washington?

  A communication that demands we approach with offerings, with respect. In return, some places give blessings, others spit curses. They are no more the same than we are, each speaking its own tongue. When you think you feel that whisper of rain on your skin, when the buzz of the swarm presses against your daydream, listen.

• 29:55Glynn Washington?

  You may be standing exactly where the ancients would have built a temple.

• 30:02Glynn Washington?

  You may be standing on a temple where the mystery still dwells, still watches, still waits. Do you imagine that you cannot hear the scream of a place and it is being murdered as we kill our own gods? This is not just madness.

• 30:22Glynn Washington?

  This is darkness.

• 30:27Glynn Washington?

  And it's why we plead,

• 30:31Glynn Washington?

  it's why we beg.

• 30:34Glynn Washington?

  Never, ever,

• 30:38Glynn Washington?

  never, ever, never, never, ever,

• 30:43Glynn Washington?

  turn out

• 30:46Glynn Washington?

  the lights.