Friday, June 02, 2006

My Experiments With Bhooth

You will all agree with me when I say hauntings and possessions (by evil spirits) are a serious threat to mankind today. The problem is, the average person has NO clue how to fight off this threat. (Is garlic enough? Should it be roasted or raw? Does the Home Depot sell stakes?)

It was not always so. Back in my days, people knew. In the little town I grew up in, after the readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic were done and when it grew dark, we were given lessons on how to avoid ghosts.

A few sample lessons: if you were wearing a perfume or a cologne, you could not stand under a lemon tree (ghosts are attracted to strong smells.) If you saw the dusty funnel of a whirlwind spinning towards you, walk, no, run the other way (or the "dayan" would pull you in.) Then of course, there was the woman with ankles attached to the front of her feet - you simply had to stay away from her. (Nasty, but I wonder if Bata was serving the "Chic Chudail" demographic back in those days?)

But I was totally unprepared for this recent phenomenon: ghosts hiding in music. I mean, they could just come floating out of the speakers (or headphones) and grab you by the throat (or the ear-lobe.) Most listeners keep their eyes closed, making them especially vulnerable to such paranormal attacks.

So when three of my favorite bloggers warned me about such wicked happenings, I was relieved. Sharing knowledge is a good thing. It can save lives.

Some of you might know that I am somewhat of an expert on "back-masking". But what we are dealing with here is a different kind of evil. This evil actually lives in the music.

To confirm this fact, I decided to "flip" the song in question. I must say, I was not at all prepared for the results of this experiment. I will say it again. I was not at all prepared for the results of this experiment.

The first clip that I've made is plain scary, but the second clip - a result of negative back-masking, sound filters, altering some ADSR parameters and applying an old technique called "leguminization" - is hair-raising.

Ooooh.

9 comments:

scout said...

you're tagged, sweety. details on my blog. come now, make a sad little girl happy. :D

wildflower seed said...

:) - well done!

kundalini said...

LOL. btw, where i grew up, you could avoid ghosts by running really fast between rooms at sun down, making sure all the while that you never stepped on the lines in the floor tiles. god help you if did that. :D

himace sir comes out of every radio station. its incredible.

Alok said...

Himesh Reshammiya is the savior of bollywood, make no mistake about it. :)

J said...

you given lessons on how to avoid ghosts?

km said...

Kundalini: so tiptoeing around the house at sundown need not look weird anymore :)

Alok: the blogerati have dubbed him "Himace" and Himace it is. Savior, eh?

J: It's the only part of my primary education I still find handy (other than counting and alphabets, of course)

Anang said...

Did everyone forget about the banyan trees or was that just me? Bhoots apparently live in them, but of course its because of the white-ish color of the branches.
And what about (god help me with the spelling) chudails? That used to be a fervent topic of discussion when i was little among all the kids. Keep the damn door shut real good otherwise she comes in and steals the kids.
Personally I think the chudail thing somehow filtered in or is a part of the baba yaga legend from russia.

km said...

Anang, I grew up with Pipal trees around my house. Those were the real deal. Damn things "held" more ghosts than Casper's basement. I didn't know we were supposed to avoid banyan trees too? (them being holy and enlightening and all that...) Interesting, I never thought of the Baba Yaga influence (and I love Baba Yaga stories!) Chudails and dayans..the evil ones were always female, eh?

Anang said...

Yeah you're right about the pipal tree, i keep mixing those up. I definitely think that baba yaga and our legends of chudail come from the same source or were derivatives of the russian legend. Its the same story, baba yaga demands children, she's a witch, she flies around in a pestle and mortar thingy, her house has skulls and stands on chicken legs. Only in our legend it is the chudail who has reverse legs.
Mike Mignola, him of hellboy legend also incorporated Yggdrasil the world tree into his take on baba yaga and certainly for hindus the banyan tree is the world tree. Also the peepul is a subspecies of the banyan tree so it all comes together.
If you wanna see a really good and accessible story involving baba yaga then read mignola's hellboy comics.