Kokuabhaya ---The Fear Of Unknown

It is 16th September 2023, almost two months after my accident. Laying in the hospital bed in room number 607 of Fortis Hospital, New Delhi, I am always recalling the incident that led me to this hospital, I am paraplegic down from my waist, unable to move my legs as doctors have operated on both legs.

I am waiting for the nurse to change the drip in my left hand. The sister is a beauty so the wait is worth every minute. I have no interest in watching television so I call the sister from time to time to chat with her. I hate these private rooms in hospitals, there is absolute privacy, and you can get complete luxury and ultimate care but you feel lonely if there is no immediate family member to attend. 

My friend Gopal is with me but he has gone to visit his family in Odisha. Therefore, I have no one to talk to, other than the hospital staff who visit me from time to time enquiring about my health. 

Sometimes Dr. John, the resident doctor visits me and it's a pleasure to talk to him. Now it's time for him to visit but I don't know why he is late.

"Good evening Mr. Nayak! How are you feeling today?" Dr. John asks while entering my room.

His presence is a breeze of fresh air because he listens to me eagerly when I talk and I have been waiting for his visit all evening for the last two months in this hospital. 

"Good evening, I am fine just a little pain in my left leg. Why are you late today? It's already 6:45" I say as he looks at the health card on my table.

"Are you waiting for me? Sorry to keep you waiting. Yes, two bones have still not joined on your left leg. One more operation is needed. We have scheduled it for this Sunday."

"Will your friend be back tomorrow?" Dr. John asks

"Yes, he is coming back tomorrow."

"Doctor, Will I be able to walk?" I ask with doubt.

"Your positivity inspires all of us. Why are you in doubt? Yes, You can and you will."

"I know, you are Dr. Kamesh Nayak, one of the best primatologists, and ethologists in India. You must have some great experience dealing with animals. Can you please share it with me? My shift is over at 7 so I can stay and listen to you." The enthusiastic doc says.

This eagerness in his tone gives me a sudden mood uplifting.

"Why not? It"s a pleasure. I am going to tell you about the incident that led me to this hospital with my both legs crushed to dust. The mystery of the mass killing of livestock in Odisha. Have you heard about it?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I am not sure." the doctor says

"Okay, open that bag and bring me the blue file inside it please," I say pointing toward my belongings.

The nurse just near the door listening to our talk brings the file from the bag to me.

I take some newspaper cutouts and give them to the doctor. 

"Read aloud, please. I have placed the news in chronological order."

The doctor reads one by one.

 

 

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Mysterious Killing Of Sheep Continues In Odisha's Niali

CUTTACK: Villagers have alleged that since last Saturday an unknown animal has started killing their sheep in the area. On Tuesday night, at least 14 sheep were attacked and killed in Nua Babaja and Adaspur villages of Niali in Cuttack district.

Despite the efforts of state forest officials, the killing of sheep by a mysterious creature continues unabated at Niali. On Friday, carcasses of two more sheep were found in Baharana village in Niali following which tension prevailed in the entire area. June 30, 2017,

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"Please read the next one"

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Mysterious animal' back in Odisha; a herd of 12 goats killed in Deogarh district 

Deogarh: After a gap of two years, the 'mysterious animal' surfaced again in Chakadihi village under Barkot block in Deogarh district, late Sunday night.

A herd of 12 goats was found dead in the village Monday morning. The 'unknown' animal had fed on the intestines of the goats. June 25, 2019

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"Wow, never heard about this mysterious news. Another one is also there." the doctor says.

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Yet again, 40 sheep were killed by a mysterious animal in Odisha!

Dhenkanal: In a shocking incident, yet again as many as 40 sheep have been killed on Friday night in Dhenkanal of Odisha by a mysterious animal.

It is alleged that an unknown animal entered the cage of sheep on Mahani Das's farm last night and killed the sheep. There has been panic among the local people ever since. The sheep were attacked in the neck and stomach by a mysterious animal. July 15, 2023.

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"OH, it's a recent one on July 15th this year." the doctor says.

"Yes just two months before I went to Bhubaneswar. My friend Gopal Das, an ethologist himself, called me urgently to investigate these killings. I am going to tell you bit by bit about my strange experience there." I say and begin my storytelling.

"'I reached Bhubaneswar on an Indigo flight at 7:30 on 17th July morning. My friend Gopal was waiting for me.

When I comfortably settled myself I began to enquire about the purpose of my visit. Gopal handed me these newspaper cutouts.

'Why is it urgent? The mysterious animal has been attacking livestock for the last several years. Now why have you called me in such a hurry?'

'There were more incidents which have not come into the limelight. A similar incident took place on March 17, 2023, where as many as 29 sheep were killed in four days in an unknown animal attack again in Niali. It has not been circulated in the news. Tension prevailed in the entire area and angry villagers detained the forest officials' team which had gone to the spot to take note of the situation. Villagers have alleged that the mysterious creature has also started attacking humans. And you know rumors spread like fire.' Gopal said not giving scope to full stops.

'But the investigation is going on. I don't doubt your capability. My involvement isn't necessary' I said looking at him.

'You are the best in our field. I wouldn't call you in urgency if I could solve this.' he answered. 

'Yesterday Mrs. Swain of Dekhanal called me to see her CCTV footage of the previous night. What I saw in the footage was something I hadn't seen in my life. I bet if you see, you will be curious to solve this case' He added.

We drove for about one and a half hours on NH 55, Cuttack-Sambalpur road to touch Dekhanal. The town is surrounded by beautiful wild forests. We went to a standalone house having high walls around it on the national highway. The compound was surrounded by large trees. Dekhanal forest range started around 800 meters from the house.

We met Mrs. Swain who was around 55 years old with a medium build. She lives there alone with a maid.

'My husband was a ranger in the forest department so we built this house near the forest. Having spent our entire life in forest area it is difficult for us to live inside the town.' Mrs. Swain said signalling us to sit on the chairs.

'As I live alone I have installed CCTV cameras everywhere covering the house and the compound also.' She said opening the TV to show us CCTV footage. 

 

'It is the visual of 15th July night. That night, just twelve kilometres from here forty sheep were killed in Mahani Das's farm. So, I thought of calling Mr. Gopal.' Mrs. Swain showed us a video clip.

It was a twenty-second clip. Something like a monkey or more like a five-year-old boy having long ears, long hair, and a tail jumping on the compound. It jumped over the high walls and vanished in the darkness. 

I sat there perplexed at what I saw. 'This is certainly not a human. I have not seen such strange animals either. We have to investigate this creature. If this creature is responsible for all livestock killings it must be caught immediately.'

 There was a sparkle in the eyes of Gopal.

 'Yes, it is my case, a mysterious and challenging case.' I said in excitement.

I was very excited to investigate this new creature. I couldn't take a rest at the hotel. In the evening, I called Gopal and asked him to arrange for at least ten sheep and told him to meet me at Mrs. Swain's house along with the sheep.

I reached Mrs. Swain's house at 8:30 . Gopal was already in front of her house with ten sheep and two villagers.

'Why are you not inside the compound?'I asked him. 

 'Mrs. Swain didn't allow us to enter. She is telling us to keep her away from our experiments.' Gopal answered. 

'She has CCTV so I wanted to use her compound. Anyway, we are going to do it today only because already two days have passed and the strange animal may not stay in one place for long.' 

'What are you going to do?' Gopal asked in curiosity. 

'We will tie these sheep in front of this house as this area is lighted and any movement we can see from a distance hiding behind a tree.' I said pointing towards a big tree just below the tube light on the compound wall. The distance between the sheep and us might not be more than twenty-five feet.

'The house is behind this area, and the sheep are in the front between the house and the national highway. It will be easy to know how the strange creature is attacking' I added.

'You are forgetting if, only if it attacks,' Gopal said smiling. 

In front of the house, we marked a dim spot. Then, we drove a heavy iron rod deep into the ground. With the help of two villagers, we tied all the sheep to the iron rod with ropes.

When the villagers left after finishing all the arrangements, it was around 10:30.

We were both seated behind a large tree, keeping a close watch on the sheep, while they were sleeping on the ground.

It was a hot night, with a lot of mosquitoes, but I managed to wait until 12:30 before dozing off. 

When I woke up, Gopal was shaking me vigorously.

 'The sheep are behaving differently and are making a lot of noise.' he said.

 I noticed that they were tugging on the rope attached to an iron rod.

I said, 'Let's go' and ran towards them.

By the time I reached them, half of them had already broken away and were running toward the highway, I grabbed one of the ropes to stop them, but they were already drawn towards the highway as if something had drawn them there.

I looked at the highway. Across the road, among the trees I could see a little creature's shadow, It wasn't a monkey's shadow or a small boy's shadow. Before I could decide, I felt an attraction pulling me towards the shadow. Unknowingly I was pulled on the road looking at the shadow beneath the tree.

As if I was hypnotized by the shadow. At that instant a truck came rushing on the road I could have been crushed by the truck but fortunately Gopal pulled me to his side and I was saved. The next instant after the truck crossed us there was no shadow, the creature had vanished. Gopal didn't believe me as he hadn't seen any shadow. We rushed to the tree opposite the house and found four dead sheep all with slit bellies, there were no intestines in their bodies.

I was convinced that the strange animal or whatever thing it was, was responsible for all livestock killings.

I was sure the strange thing must not be different from other animals. I had interrupted his activities, he was certainly going to take revenge, it's animal nature. The next day I convinced Mrs. Swain to use her compound, I wanted to capture everything on camera as proof.

'Don't call me in the middle of the night. I am not going to open my door at night. People are saying the animal is eating humans too' Mrs. Swain said.

We promised we would cause no harm to her.

So, at night again Gopal arranged ten sheep and we tied them in the middle of the compound to an iron rod with ropes.

Everything was perfect, hiding in the compound, we waited for the strange animal, midnight passed but nothing happened. Hours passed and we both became restless. We lost hope that the strange creature would appear.

Suddenly at 4 a.m., or maybe 4:20, all the lights of the house went off and the sheep started bleating. This situation was not in my planning, I was not prepared for this type of incident. We both opened our mobile phone's torch light and ran towards the sheep. In a hurry, my phone fell on the ground I bent to pick up it and when I was about to get up I saw two red shining eyes just about ten centimeters distance from my eyes. The creature, that creature was standing in front of me, face to face. 

I couldn't straighten up, my whole body was numb, it was not because of terror for sure, but maybe the creature had a hypnotizing power. The next moment I was in the air and the last thing I remembered was falling on the ground straight on my legs. I could not recall what happened next. But according to Gopal, he turned around listening to my cry, and saw me falling on the ground from the sky. I stood on my legs for a couple of seconds before collapsing to the ground. I immediately lost consciousness. Gopal rushed towards me but he also slipped on the dry ground breaking his one leg.

Mrs. Swain rushed to us hearing all the commotion in the compound. But neither Gopal, Mrs. Swain nor the maid could see the shadow figure that night except for me. Mrs.Swain took us to the nearest hospital in the morning. She described her compound as a war zone, full of blood stains and carcasses of sheep.

 Gopal recovered after one month but my condition was much worse. Gopal took me to SCB Medical in Cuttack first, but for better treatment, I was shifted here."'

"So the creature is roaming freely and no action has yet been taken?" the doctor asks me after recovering from my story.

 "I wish I could walk shortly soon so that I again search it and catch it," I say impatiently.

" OH, Why not? Just one more operation, then you can walk." The doctor says.

"You will certainly be successful in solving this mysterious killing." the Doctor says encouraging me.

"Yes, this case is not going out of mind. Sometimes I visualize the shadow in this room also.

" Really! What are you saying?"

"Yes, it is now sitting on that chair near you" I point towards a chair near the doctor. 

The doctor gets up with a mixed feeling of disbelief and shock.

"It's half past 12. You must take a rest. I am telling sister to give you medicine to calm you down." the doctor tells the nurse while going out of the room.

"But I can see it. It is now moving towards the washroom. Why won't anyone believe me? " 

I keep shouting till I close my eyes due to the sedative.

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