For the past few months, Gundalapatti, Mottangurichi and other villages in and around Dharmapuri of Tamil Nadu have been wearing a deserted look after 6 pm every day. People confine themselves indoors and no one steps out after sunset for fear of a ghost attack.
As bizarre as it may sound, the villagers believe blood-sucking vampires (Ratha Kaatteri) have been attacking their cattle and could harm them as well.
For some strange reason, the cattle have been dying one after the other. The villagers have painted holy namam signs outside homes and written messages on doors asking vampires to spare them for the day.
Amused, members of Dravidar Kazhagam have announced a Rs 1-lakh reward to anyone catching a vampire in the villages.
“It is a big hoax. Anti-socials whose illegal night activities such as bootlegging and liquor brewing have been disturbed are spreading rumours and killing cattle,” said O. Jayaraman, who announced the reward.
“Since people are not willing to believe us, we have challenged them with this reward,” he said.
Source: DeccanChronicle
Reading this article is like sharing a witchcraft mindset from 17th century England or America. The usual excuses appear, such as `cattle dying in mysterious circumstances`, and of course, there has to be someone looking odd in the area who could be the `vampire`.
And there lies the problem. Despite living in the 21st century, a large part of the world are still beset with ignorance and superstition. Whatever is killing those animals is more likely to be seen under a microscope than something that appears in the night. I just hope scientists or the police are able to show the real cause, and not for the people to end up in a violent mob hanging an innocent.
As bizarre as it may sound, the villagers believe blood-sucking vampires (Ratha Kaatteri) have been attacking their cattle and could harm them as well.
For some strange reason, the cattle have been dying one after the other. The villagers have painted holy namam signs outside homes and written messages on doors asking vampires to spare them for the day.
Amused, members of Dravidar Kazhagam have announced a Rs 1-lakh reward to anyone catching a vampire in the villages.
“It is a big hoax. Anti-socials whose illegal night activities such as bootlegging and liquor brewing have been disturbed are spreading rumours and killing cattle,” said O. Jayaraman, who announced the reward.
“Since people are not willing to believe us, we have challenged them with this reward,” he said.
Source: DeccanChronicle
Reading this article is like sharing a witchcraft mindset from 17th century England or America. The usual excuses appear, such as `cattle dying in mysterious circumstances`, and of course, there has to be someone looking odd in the area who could be the `vampire`.
And there lies the problem. Despite living in the 21st century, a large part of the world are still beset with ignorance and superstition. Whatever is killing those animals is more likely to be seen under a microscope than something that appears in the night. I just hope scientists or the police are able to show the real cause, and not for the people to end up in a violent mob hanging an innocent.
No comments:
Post a Comment