Monday, April 8, 2024

Ghosts of the British Raj | M.P. Pellicer

In 1903, Colonel Barog, a British engineer made a mistake in the building of Tunnel No. 33 on the Kalka-Shimla train route. Subsequently he was fined for wasting government money and publicly reprimanded, which humiliated him deeply. He rode his horse to the dark entrance of the unfinished tunnel, and shot himself in sheer desperation near what now is the state government-run Barog Pine Wood Hotel. He has never left the place since.

He was buried in front of the tunnel, and a signboard giving details about the sad end of Colonel Barog was put up near his grave, but that too has now disappeared. As a result, it is now even difficult to locate the whereabouts of his grave. Sightings of the engineer riding his horse from one end to the other, started almost immediately after his death. It is said that he tried to have conversations with those who see him.


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