Unexplained encounters in India
45 famous cases and 22 stories shared by people from India: 12 sky, 5 visitors, 12 creatures, 14 voices & sounds, 24 places. Famous cases set out what was reported and the explanations offered, without taking a side.
By state or region
Famous cases
Chir BattiUnexplainedBanni grasslands, Kutch, India · Reported for generationsJatingaMostly explainedDima Hasao, Assam, India · Every autumnMagnetic HillExplainedNear Leh, Ladakh, India · OngoingThe Bengaluru BoomExplainedBengaluru, Karnataka, India · 20 May 2020KuldharaMostly explainedNear Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India · Abandoned in the early 1800sBhangarh FortMostly explainedAlwar district, Rajasthan, India · Founded 1573, empty by the late 1700sLonar Lake Turns PinkExplainedLonar, Buldhana district, Maharashtra, India · June 2020Kodinhi, the Village of TwinsUnexplainedMalappuram district, Kerala, India · OngoingThe Hanging Pillar of LepakshiMostly explainedLepakshi, Sri Sathya Sai district, Andhra Pradesh, India · Temple built in the 1500sMande BarungDisputedGaro Hills, Meghalaya, India · Reported for generationsThe BuruLegendApatani Valley (Ziro), Arunachal Pradesh, India · Accounts collected in 1947–48The Red Rain of KeralaExplainedKottayam and Idukki, Kerala, India · July – September 2001The Ladakh LightsExplainedThakung, near Pangong Tso, Ladakh, India · August 2012 – early 2013The Musical Pillars of HampiMostly explainedVijaya Vittala temple, Hampi, Karnataka, India · Temple built in the 1500sThe Sounds Under HasoriUnexplainedHasori, Latur district, Maharashtra, India · September 2022The Konark LodestoneMostly explainedKonark, Puri district, Odisha, India · Temple built in the 1200sThe Floating Bricks of RamappaExplainedPalampet, Mulugu district, Telangana, India · Temple built around 1213The Chandrapur FireballExplainedSindewahi, Chandrapur district, Maharashtra, India · 2 April 2022The Iron Pillar of DelhiExplainedQutb complex, Mehrauli, Delhi, India · About 1,600 years oldThe Kailasa TempleMostly explainedEllora Caves, Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, India · Built in the 700sThe Shadow of the Big TempleExplainedThanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India · Temple completed in 1010The Rain Temple of BehtaUnexplainedBehta Bujurg, Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, India · OngoingThe Lights Over Punjab and JammuExplainedPathankot, Punjab, and Jammu, India · June and December 2021The Musical Steps of DarasuramMostly explainedAiravatesvara temple, Darasuram, Tamil Nadu, India · Temple built in the 1100sThe Whispering Gallery of Gol GumbazExplainedVijayapura (Bijapur), Karnataka, India · Completed in 1656The Clap at Golconda FortMostly explainedGolconda Fort, Hyderabad, Telangana, India · Fort built from the 1500sThe Seven Pagodas of MahabalipuramPartly confirmedMahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India · Legend from at least the 1700s; ruins found in 2004The Golden LangurConfirmedAssam–Bhutan border, near the Sankosh River · Confirmed in 1953The Whispering Walls of the BhulbhulaiyaExplainedBara Imambara, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India · Built in the 1780sThe Purple FrogConfirmedWestern Ghats, Idukki, Kerala, India · Described by science in 2003The Bugun LiocichlaConfirmedEaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India · Described in 2006The Rediscovery of AjantaExplainedAjanta Caves, Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, India · Carved 2nd century BCE – 5th century CE; seen again in 1819The Drowning Church of ShettihalliExplainedShettihalli, Hassan district, Karnataka, India · Built in the 1860s; submerged since 1960Tansen and the Raga of FireLegendGwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India · 16th centuryThe Whistling SchoolboyExplainedWestern Ghats, near Agumbe, Karnataka, India · Heard every morningThe Rock Gongs of Kupgal HillExplainedKupgal, near Ballari, Karnataka, India · Used thousands of years agoThe Mukundpura MeteoriteConfirmedMukundpura, near Jaipur, Rajasthan, India · 6 June 2017The Dhajala Meteorite ShowerConfirmedDhajala, Surendranagar, Gujarat, India · 28 January 1976The Forest Owlet's ReturnConfirmedToranmal, Nandurbar, Maharashtra, India · Lost after 1884; rediscovered 1997Jerdon's CourserConfirmedLankamalla hills, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India · Lost after 1900; rediscovered 1986The Arunachal MacaqueConfirmedTawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India · Described in 2005The Ramgarh CraterConfirmedRamgarh, Baran, Rajasthan, India · Formed hundreds of millions of years ago; confirmed in 2020The Floating Islands of LoktakExplainedLoktak Lake, Manipur, India · AncientThe Carvings of UnakotiMostly explainedUnakoti, Tripura, India · Carved between the 7th and 9th centuriesThe Search for ShambhalaLegendNaggar, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India · Legend for centuries; expedition 1925–28
People's stories
Upper Lake2010Every night, someone whistled from the middle of the lake. Three notes. Always the same three.Sahastradhara Road2014At two in the morning my mother called my name from under the window. She was in Lucknow that night.Banni grasslands2016There was no moon over the Rann that night. Something was still carrying a light across the ground.A village above Chamba2009Its head was above the top of the doorframe. Our door is not a small door.Forest trail near Agumbe2018There were footprints in the mud. Every one pointed backwards, and each stride was longer than the last.A bend on NH-442011Same bend, same woman, three different nights. Three drivers who had never told each other.Hanle plateau2019The sky over Hanle was so clear the Milky Way cast shadows. One star stopped, then moved the wrong way.Rooftops of Mansarovar2021The whole street was up on the roofs. Everyone counted together. Seven lights, and not a single sound.A coffee estate2005Three people were standing between the rows of coffee. None of them came up past my knee.An old tram line, north Kolkata1998At night we heard a tram bell. The trams on that line had stopped running years before.Ghat road to Sinhagad2017The drive up the ghat takes twenty minutes. That night it took two hours, and we never stopped.Brahmaputra near Majuli2013Something was swimming alongside the ferry. River dolphins don't get that big.Farmland outside Nashik2020A man was standing in the field. Where his face should have been, there was only smooth, empty skin.Backwaters near Alappuzha2016We were singing on the houseboat. Someone out on the water sang the next line.Fishing coast, Kanyakumari2008A light rose out of the sea. The water around it didn't move.Above Munsiyari2015There were footprints in the snow. Each step was ten feet from the last.Last local to Kasara2012On the last local, everyone in my carriage was staring at the same spot. There was nothing there.Fog road near Sohra2019Four people were walking in the fog. They cast five shadows.A village outside Gaya2003The whole village was awake. There was a triangle in the sky, very low, making no sound.Mollem forest road2022Two eyes lit up in the headlights. Six feet off the ground.Chilika lagoon2007There's an island in Chilika you can only see on a full moon. I saved its location on my phone.Sugarcane fields2001An old man stepped out of the sugarcane. His clothes were from my great-grandfather's time.