BackOpinion | Now showing: Close encounters with the paranormal
The murkiness of coronavirus has turned many of us to the dark side, or 'the great unknown' that is the paranormal world, as they hope for a miracle, or some form of deliverance from anxiety
PremiumThere’s a “psychic medium" called Steve Huff who’s been in the news recently. He’s an American who engages with spirits—mostly those with a celebrity tag—via a contraption he’s set up, using radio waves in a dark room, while his associates film these sessions and put them out on his YouTube channel.
Huff has become a talking point ever since he claimed (and displayed) that he’s conversed with the late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who passed away in mid-June. What’s more, he has uncovered clues that have added fuel to the raging fire of debate: Was there foul play involved in the untimely death of the 34-year-old star of hits such as Kai Po Che! and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy?
Now, I have no idea whether or not there was foul play, but when a friend invited me to join a (very robust) social media group that is seeking justice for Sushant Singh Rajput, I did. And yes, Huff’s paranormal investigations have found their way into it.
I did, like legions of others, for two reasons.
One, I am curious about how the case devolves. And two, the ambient murkiness of coronavirus has, I suspect, got to me and I now have an accentuated fascination for the dark side—“the great unknown", as they call it.
The latter is possibly the reason why I am game watching many “supernatural" videos on loop. If I go to Steve Huff’s YouTube platform—at least half of my WhatsApp contacts have been sending me forwards with links to it—I am helpfully guided to other such spooky sites in the guise of “recommended for you".
I’ve always been intrigued about the paranormal—who isn’t? Ghost stories around a forest campfire may have eluded me, but I’ve been a sucker for dark tales on rainy nights; of course, I’ve ensured there is “alive" company alongside, else I’d be scared witless.
None of us is entirely sure of whether psychics, astrologers, numerologists and tarot-card readers—all those tellers of fortune—had predicted the viral effect of covid-19 in 2020, but many of us do sneak a peek at their ramblings on when its trail of devastation might be cut short.
People are turning to prayer, hoping for a miracle, or deliverance, or some form of absolution. The world over, while the vulnerable human race has been clutching at straws, the fear of something beyond our control (and comprehension) has set in. “I saw my grandfather in a vision while I was dozing off at the writing table," a friend messaged. “He asked me to stay strong, this too shall pass." When I called her, she repeated the same story.
My brother, who has been living on his own since the pandemic broke out, told me he feels like he’s co-habiting with a ghost. “You know, there’s something lurking around, can’t put my finger to it… maybe it’s the virus—or maybe, just maybe, it’s a ghost. The fact that it’s so eerily quiet is adding to it. Am I losing it?"
I hastened to recount an exchange I had with a soul sister who’s in the US. “I now sleep with all lights on," she said. “The other night, I thought I heard a floorboard creak, like someone was tiptoeing around. I reckoned it was my mind playing tricks, but I’m not taking chances, I’ve heard ghosts don’t show up when there’s light."
Clearly, you’re not alone, I informed my brother. And in this case, there’s safety in numbers.
A former team member, now based somewhere in the Middle East—one of the brightest, most rational women I’ve ever known—has been having endless discussions with me about the topical phenomenon of Sushant Singh Rajput’s voice being heard from the other side by Huff.
She’s agitated about the subtext of the death, she says from time to time, so she’s been researching Steve Huff’s credentials.
“Can you imagine, here we are, discussing a spirit’s communication?"
She puts it down to the dark places she’s been led into in the aftermath of Sushant’s demise. I put it down to corona making us read the tea leaves. As Stephen King put it, “Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win."
Over this #StayAtHome phase in my life, I have been invariably drawn to doses of the paranormal whenever I’m on a streak of pretend-leisure: in between playing Candy Crush and/or watching Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hotstar, I Google stuff like “Do spirits actually exist?" or “Is the pandemic a doing of an evil force?" It becomes a cycle. Google picks up “evil force" or “spirits", and starts tossing more cues at me. The smart TV cottons on to my spectral leanings and begins to throw up like-minded shows and movies. Soon, I am inhabiting a virtual repository of the paranormal.
I am jolted out of my Rosemary’s Baby mindscape whenever I hear a rustle in one corner of the room. Could it be a spirit, I wonder fearfully, before scooting off to look for company, someone who’ll tell me reassuringly, “Forget spirits, it’s the virus you should be scared of."
Sushmita Bose is a journalist, editor and the author of ‘Single In The City’.
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