Living in a secluded hilltop house, Nandini, her husband and
her son was a happy family. They had been living here for five years. Over
time, Nandini had build her art business wherein she created sketches for
people and companies. But as orders and commissions started pouring in large numbers,
she had no choice but to hire a housekeeper to relieve herself of the household
duties. Her husband too remained busy in his bakery business. So they hired a woman
named Dibbuk to do the housework. Dibbuk was a charming lady except that there
was an evil twitch in her eyes that sometimes frightened Nandini’s son Ashish. One
day, both Nandini and her husband were out of the house, attending meetings.
They had left Ashish in the care of Dibbuk. Inside the house, Ashish was slumped
on a sofa watching television and eating snacks. Outside, thunder was crackling
loudly. As stormy clouds gathered, the orange sunset sky turned into dark grey,
something that could creep out even the bravest adult. Meanwhile, Dibbuk was
cooking dinner for the boy. About two hours later, heavy rain was pouring down
from the sky. Both Nandini and her husband had to wait in their offices as it
was too difficult to drive their cars in such a gushing rainstorm. When they
reached home, it was already 11 pm. Rain had stopped but a light drizzle was
still trickling down. As they parked their car in the driveway and unlocked the
front door. They were thinking that Dibbuk would have put their son to sleep
and locked the door with the spare house key. They stepped inside and walked to
Ashish’s bedroom to see if he was sound asleep. But as Nandini entered his
room, the boy appeared to be awake. He was sitting on his bed, staring oddly at
the wall. She patted his shoulders and suddenly he flew upwards and started
screaming in ghostly voices. His parents became worried at his unusual
behaviour. Even when they tried to calm him down, he kept on screaming,
sometimes even scratching and biting them. His body appeared weak and sweaty,
and it seemed something had possessed him. Distressed by this behaviour,
Nandini’s husband called a friend who was a priest. The next morning, this
priest arrived in their house. Dibbuk was brooming the floor as usual and
Ashish was sprawled on the sofa with his eyes open. His eyes were reddened by
lack of sleep, yet a monstrous force was disabling him to control himself. The
priest looked at the boy and gasped. He told the couple that their son was
possessed by a very powerful demon. He rummaged inside his bag and pulled out a
string carrying the pendant of a holy bead. As he was about to touch the holy
bead to boy’s forehead, the string suddenly slipped from his hands and fell on Dibbuk’s
back who was now squatting on the floor, mopping it. As the holy bead came in
contact with Dibbuk’s body, she yelled out a deadly shriek. Fire erupted in her
body and burned her into ashes. Meanwhile, Ashish revived into his normal
personality and soon fell asleep. Everyone was puzzled. But when Nandini, her
husband and the priest visited Dibbuk’s house, they were shocked to realize
that Dibbuk was not an ordinary woman. She was a worshipper of devil. She
extracted children’s souls and sacrificed them on a tree where this demon would
gulp the souls down and become more powerful. Dibbuk was diablerie. Diablerie
means “sorcery, black magic, or witchcraft connected with devils.”
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