Beyond the Supernatural Horror of the Nishi Daak Ghost | Monstrum
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- Опубликовано: 5 июл 2023
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The lines between demon, spirit, and deity are often blurred in the cultures of the Indian subcontinent, where the clear “good vs. evil” dualism that is seen more commonly in the Western hemisphere don’t exist in quite the same way. The complex nature of a nocturnal entity called Nishi reflects this, although it does fall firmly into the malevolent end of the spectrum.
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Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Thomas Fernandes
Editor/Animator: Jordyn Buckland
Illustrator: Samuel Allan
Executive in Charge (PBS): Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing
Additional Footage: Shutterstock
Music: APM Music
Consultant: Dr. Sayantani DasGupta
We would like to sincerely thank Dr. DasGupta for her expertise and invaluable candor. Special thanks also goes to Dr. Suchitra Samanta for her wonderful translation and her knowledge of bhoots, both of which were likewise invaluable to this episode.
Descriptive Audio & Captions provided by The Described and Captioned Media Program
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.
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Bibliography
Banerjee, Rahul. “Nishir Daak: Haunting Legend.” Storymirror, storymirror.com/read/english/....
Basu, Helene. “Listening to disembodied voices: anthropological and psychiatric challenges.” Anthropology & Medicine, vol. 21, no. 3, 2014, pp. 325-342.
Bhairav, J. Furcifer. Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India. Blaft Publications, Ltd., 2020.
Hauntings: Bangla Ghost Stories. Translated and Edited by Suchitra Samanta. Katha, 2000.
Morton, Lisa. Ghosts: A Haunted History. Reaktion Books Ltd, 2015.
Imagine you see a spectral lady in a lake expecting a rad sword and all you get is an aggressive bath.
specter: hey boy wants some of this😉
me: hell no😒
friend: yeah pass😒
other friend: nope not today😒
random guy: HELL YEAH LETS GET NASTY🤪
Gamer mistake. When I play RPG I find myself fighting enemies i shouldn't have approached thinking i was finding a special item
She's a watery tart 😂
@@Prestonhltor a new NPC, such as Lost Girl in Terraria
Well, you get what‘s coming to you. After all, strange ladies lying around in ponds distributing swords is no basis for government… or indeed any other form of power
I am a Bengali and there are so many versions of Nishi.
In some versions, they don't necessarily only mimic the voice of a dead person, but an alive one as well. The person it is mimicking can literally be sleeping in the other room. The freakiest part is that nobody else can hear them other than the victim.
Another version includes a pair of owls (called pecha-pechi) where the female owl calls the victim and the male one kills him.
There is a version, where they call the ghost 'Stree (wife in Bengali)'. Here, they usually only target males and calls seductively, mimicking the voice of any woman that the guy has a crush on. Bollywood made the movie 'Stree' using this lore.
Finally, there is a version where it is literally no ghost or visible entity. In this version, it is literally the night that calls them. Yes, they believe that the night itself is something to fear.
But in all of these versions, one thing is common, the victim disappears with no trace. It is as if they vanished into the thin air.
Honestly if we look at this scientifically this might have been born out of a mental illness like schizophrenia. You hear a voice you know when you are alone and then if anyone stops you mentally you are like, "No I'm sure I heard it!" The dead Nishi talked about in the video seems very close to how people behave under extreme grief.
@@kid14346Schizophrenia is the explanation of so so many ghost and paranormal stories obviously. But Nishi is also related to sleepwalking as she said.
It also came from the fear of the darkness and night by rural people who can't have enough source of light at night.
stree is not a Bengali legend though is it ? I've only heard of nishir daak and pecha pechi so far. And there is a version where victim is simply found dead in their bed ( when they wake up hearing the call and answer immediately ). In this version nishi traps the life of the person and then uses it to heal another dying person in exchange of money or something else ( source: grandma )
@@ohmyumbrella Bro, Nishir daak is mainly a bengali folklore, yes, but obviously it extended to many parts of India also. Stree is basically the version popular in the western or middle part of Bharat, i believe.
There are so so many versions of this, some with little difference, while others with significant differences.
That's so spooky
I love that you guys cover these obscure, non-western "monsters" that we might have never known otherwise.
My friend Karen, an artist, does art of the Squonk and I need to get Storied to cover it somehow
Even some of the old local U.S.A. "monsters" would be interesting to hear about too... such as "The Jersey Devil" or such! 😀
Nishi translates to night in Bengali, and Daak translates to call. I am a Bengali, and I have been living in the city throughout my life, so I am quite unfamiliar with the village atmosphere, but I did hear fascinating stories from my grandma, who once stayed in the village in her childhood for a long time, and this Nishir Daak was the scariest of all. It is said it can mimic any voice, not just dead people, but living ones, so you can literally think it's your mom calling you from the other room. The moment you answer it, you are caught in the spell of the Nishi and fall in the trance. No victim of Nishi is ever found, not even the corpse, so there is no way to describe how it really looks like, most people can only assume. If you ever visit a Bengali village, it is just miles and miles of lush green fields, small huts and bamboo forests. No one is seen wandering in the night as it is easy to lose your way, and Nishi might just be only one of the many things to be the cause of it.
We have a similar legend in West Africa from my mom's hometown in Benin. If you hear someone calling you and you can't see the person, do not answer or they might steal your soul. Always be sure you can see the person calling you before you acknowledge them. I'm not sure what the spirit is called but this video brought back memories of that.
All the guest presenters are really interesting, this one drove home the point about passing the stories to the younger generation to build cultural identity for them. Fitting that she writes books for younger readers.
This is really great overall but I wish the title didn’t call the Nishi “Indian” but rather more accurately called the Nishi Bengali. It was even covered in the video that the Nishi comes from not only West Bengal in India but the nation of Bangladesh as well. And throughout the video, the Nishi is more accurately referred to as Bengali. By calling the Nishi Bengali, we acknowledge the region as a whole and avoid excluding Bangladesh, a nation that is often overlooked when the west considers South Asia.
Agreed, it also sounds more culturally sensitive in general
You make an excellent point. Changed!
@@pbsstoried nishi : Bangladesh nighttime jungle night spirit ghost woman hypnosis drown dragged boy
I love that you mention Bangladesh. Because all bengali ghosts and legends originated from bengal as a whole ( or the Bengal, Bihar, Odisha region ). And west bengal is such a small part of it.
@@pbsstoried 'daak' means call. So it's not 'Nishi daak' ghost. You may call it the legends of the call of the Nishi. Would it be possible to look into the matter? I'm extremely overwhelmed to see Nishi as an episode of Monstrum.
As a native bengali my mom always told me that the nishi calls thrice. If you don't come out by the third call it stops. But honestly as a kid I knew these were auditory hallucinations
Yeah, there are many versions. I also heard yours as a kid. But most versions say that they call twice.
@@notimetolive12the call twice
If it's a real human ask it to call once more
Supposedly people in heavy grief have "grief hallucinations".They heard their loved one's voice after their death. I wonder if these stories are linked to that phenomena.
Sometimes it said that after someone's death they heard the person's voice through Nishi Dak.
I keep meaning to read the rest of Dr DasGupta's series. The first one was right up my alley. The Aru Shah' series by Roshani Chokshi is a another good set kids' fantasy books based in Indian folklore. (Yes, I'm a grown up who likes to read kid-lit on occasion.)
Nothing wrong with reading kid-lit. 😊
I am 30, and just finished reading "where the Red fern grows", which is considered as children's book too...
You’re not alone! So do I,and I am way past the recommended age group. There’s a lot of great stories cleverly disguised as children’s books.
I love the statement near the end about folk stories are used within the diasporic community to keep its members tied to the roots of their motherland. As a second generation Filipino American, I've always had a fascination for the supernatural creatures of the Philippines (hence why two of my favorite episodes here are the manananggal and the tikbalang). I'm not sure how to explain it, but there is a sense of awe in learning about the creatures and stories that connected you to your ancestors.
This was fascinating, I know so little of the creatures in the mythology and folklore of the Indian subcontinent.
Edited for better accuracy.
*Indian subcontinent. These folklores are part of the country of Bangladesh too.
@@BigTuna-lt3sf oh. Thank you, I had no idea.
I love it when you talk about creatures from less talked about cultures. South east Asia in general has some really terrifying creatures.
Netflix has a couple good horror movies with monsters from South-east Asia. I wish there were more though. Korea also has some terrifying asf creatures.
Reminds me of the crocotta in Supernatural that lure people to their deaths and then eat their souls. And in that episode, they say that it used to be harder to lure people to their deaths because their communities looked out for them but now it was easy because everyone feels so isolated. Great video, Dr. Z!
Crocotta is actually a borrowed legend of some sort from the Indian Lakadbagha/Yuyukkhura, which is itself based on striped hyenas pestering villages
@@rockinflemingo3075 Cool!
Wow i love learning about new monsters from around the world, learning about these creepy nishi makes me feel a little fearful of the night
I would like all these chapters to be in the future seasons of Monstrum.
*Sea Serpents
*Leviathan
*The Headless Horseman ✅
*Phantom Vehicles
*Boogeyman
*Ghosts
*Possessed Dolls
*Shadow People
*Undead
*Goblins
*Bigfoot
*Man-Eating Plants ✅
*Creepy Clowns
*Killer Robots
*Swamp Monsters
*The Mummy ✅️
*Scarecrows
*The Invisible Man
*Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
*Merfolk
*Demons
*Skeletons
*Stingy Jack (Jack of The Lantern)
*Gnomes
*Sea Monsters that attacked Submarines
*Alien Abductions ✅
*Ogres
*Ghouls
*Lich
*Cyborgs ✅
*Witches
*Kaiju
*Cthulhu ✅
*The Rake
*Revenants
*Vampires
*Dagon
*Ogopogo
*Colossal Claude
*Spectral Carriages
*Kappa
*Flatwoods Monster
*The Flying Dutchman
*El Charro Negro
*La Santa Compaña
*Davy Jones & the Undead Pirates
*Mutants
*Beast People of Dr. Moreau
*The Picture of Dorian Gray
*Haunted Houses
*Jiangshi
*Ahuizotl
Dr. Zed? The hero we always need but never deserve.
THANK YOU FOR FEATURING THE BENGALI CULTURE! There’s SO much paranormal to unpack there, you’ll have a field day. Pishach, shakchunni, jokkh, and on and on
I am thrilled to see a mainstream folk tale channel I love address supernatural creatures from my culture. I am especially intrigued by the Nishi, because my maternal uncle and aunt have both claimed to have been called by it in their childhood. I remember the earliest warnings from my aunt asking me to not open the gates of my house when my parents weren't at home. I was to only open the door if the person called thrice. Thank you so much, Storied, for this segment. I hope you do more supernatural characters from India...
The Nishi seems to be the inspiration behind the terrifying monsters that are in the series "From". This series has terrified me immensely, but I can't stop watching it.
I just discovered the series yesterday, and have been binging a bit (only four episodes in). I thought exactly the same when I heard this story, and had to come down here to comment.
I thought they were wendigos which the Nishi also remind me of.
@@EdenHolder The appearing and posing as someone the victim knows is the point that hit home for me. I don't remember enough about wendigos to know how they present themselves.
That series is really awesome just finished watching the 2nd season
@@EdenHolder Wendigos are a different ballpark from Nishi. People who know can become a wendigo or a wendigo spirit can possess your loved one but a Nishi seems more psychic.
I have lost both of my beloved grandmothers this year.
And I hate to admit how easily this would probably work on me right now.
I agree, it would be worth the risk of death to contact a lost loved one.
I'm sorry for your lost
Bangladeshi here. Thank you so much for covering Nishi. I grew up so many stories of Nishi from my grandmother.
What I find terrifying is the element of familiarity. It sounds like a loved one. But it's not.
Oh boy! This reminds of my grandmother's anecdotes. I'm Sylheti Bengali, my ancestors were from the Sylhet region of Bangladesh (then eastern Bengal). My paternal grandmother was APPARENTLY haunted by these in her childhood in rural Sylhet (pre-partition). She said that this entity would beckon her at night using the voice of her loved ones and knock three times on the door, this used to especially occur in Amavasya/new moon nights. My grandma's family had a tradition of knocking 4 times after dusk, she maintained this tradition post-marriage too. My uncles would prank her by knocking 3 times randomly at night. My grandmother was a sweet woman but I think she experienced something. Thank you for this video, this really reminded me of my gran and its such a niche representation of my cultural beliefs. Us Bengalis also have other classifications of ghosts/bhoots.
Bengali has so many different female or feminine entities. The Shakchunni is the most popular. There is also the Sikol Buri (water hag), which is the spirit of women raped or tortured and drowned by the wealthy warlords of the time or their husbands for not being able to give the dowry.
Ugh used to know so many of these myths but don't remember now. Most of them from thakumarjhuli I think.
@@sakuranovaryan9261 Nah. The book, Thakurmar jhuli, is quite new to the scene; only published in 1907. The author, Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder collected many Bengali folklores and stories and wrote them in the book. But all of these stories are far far older than that. He was just a story collector, not the creator of them.
I heard so many stories of nishi daak. It always involved my grandfather and his deceased mother. It is so nostalgic. ❤️
Thank you to Dr. DasGupta for appearing on the show and for having your lovely looking books displayed on the shelf! I took one look at them and starting writing down titles to read later!
It's very good to see Bengali ghosts in this show. Hope to see many more Bengali ghosts in future as Bengal is full of these folklores ❤
Thank you for another fascinating episode. I hope that you will one day do one about the Scandinavian “Myling”. Its origins will send chills down the spine all the while giving us a whisper of insight into the hardship women faced back in the day (And still do in some places) For those who don't have sleep on the schedule I recommend diving into the literature. Also related is “Ängla makerskor” (Eng: Angel makers)
And the huldra
Other creatures from India you could do videos on are the Vetala or the Rakshasa. I love these two particular monsters from Indian mythology.
Vikram vetal was the best show.
Thank you Dr.Zarka! I'm so happy!!! Love from Bangladesh 🇧🇩
Great episode. Hopefully, the story of "Shakcunni" will also be discussed in the near future.
❤ from Bangladesh.
shakchunni is exactly what I thought of after watching the episode
Sounds interesting, the boy's story is similar to many Eastern European vampire stories of someone having their life force extracted by a dead relative (or something pretending to be the dead relative.
As Bengali I am too happy
Sei choto bela theke golpo suni bhooter ... Aj folklore hisebe dekhe besh gorbo hocche ... 😂
Haaa ei channel e banglar vut dekhbo vabi e ni😅
A Tantrik is the indian version of a voodoo priest. They are not magicians but are known to engage in practices that involve elements of black magic.
Voodoo is not only black magic though. 🙄
Better translation for TANTRIK is OCCULTIST.
I'm loving these videos :) shout out to the illustrator, the art looks fantastic.
Im only calling ghosts 'bhoots' from now on
I adore this series. Thank you for all the hard work.
I love everything Monstrum. Been in love with the channels since Monstrum was the channel’s name. It’s been helping me learn more about the world’s monster stories and culture when I haven’t been traveling.
Was super happy when the manananggal (aswang) was given a whole video. Can we get another Filipino monster one day? There’s a lot of lore that can be revisted one day!
There's loads of interesting ghosts in the Bengali culture. Petni are female ghosts that have backwards feet, boba is a creature linked to sleep paralysis and my favourite as a kid was the maal, a water demon
I found your tale of the Nishi Daak fascinating. It reminds me of a type of Eastern European vampire that preys on it's family. I love your channel. Great presentation Profesor.
What makes it unique is it doesn't have any body. It's only a voice. Noone has seen it's actual form.
In the Caribbean, lots of children ended up with play names or another given name that was never on their birth certificate but which everyone knew them , e.g, your registered name may be Jennifer but everyone knew you as Tricia for your whole life, by for a similar reason. It was felt that jumbies or douens may call children to their doom, so as a rule you never never answer on the first call.
As a Native to jangalmahal region of west bengal.
I would say that NISHIS are actually cautionary tales to dissuade people from travelling in night.
Cause forests in Bengal & in India were infested with Big cats such as Tigers, Leopard & Lions.
Also, thank you for the representation because my grandfather’s grandfather basically great grandpa three generations ago went through this petition. It’s still quite fresh within my fathers mind ! It is a chapter in my families history. That we don’t talk about for understandable reasons. The way I feel like it’s up to me to honor the sacrifice great grandpa made three generations ago.
Wow that's amazing
It is but it’s a sad part of our history
Good job bringing this story. Assamese and North eastern indian folklores has loads of such malevolent spirits. It would be great if you can show their stories too.
Yay! New Monstrous video! I always look forward to these. Please do a video on the King in Yellow or the Slit-Mouthed Woman one of these days!
Reminds me of the time I was wandering the woods after a friend of mine vanished, where we used to occasionally spend time together, and I heard her voice call my name but there was no one else around and it was not super close to the road either.
I hope you never run out of stories to tell us Dr Z
God bless you, Doc and crew.
These are fantastic. ❤
This is pretty cool, I'm from Cambodia and growing up we had a similar myth that was taught to us by the elderly.
This video definitely reminded me of those old and long forgotten scares these stories gave me as a child.
As a bengali from west bengal, it's a pleasant surprise to see this video. Great job, keep it up.
Thanks for covering myth from my culture .. love from Bengal
I genuinely love this series. What's interesting to me is that a lot of ghost stories in any culture is ghost result from improper mourning. Possibly I'm sensitized to this because I've been watching Six Feet Under, but, seriously: La Llorana is incorrect mourning because murder, nishi is incorrect failed mourning.
I'm a Bengali from West Bengal India and those are the stories of our childhood. The elderlies of our households will tell these tales like bed time stories or to make us have our lunch. These are different versions of Nishi but most popular one was Nishi can call three times only .. so you must not answer until the person calls you for the fourth time 😅 .
Thanks for another interesting video.
I Love your videos because i love mythology and folklore.Keep up the good work.💖🐉🐲
Dhannobaad to Dr. Sayantani DasGupta for her insights! Love seeing the Hindu/Indic Mythology reflected here. I love the call out to how "ghosts" are complicated by notions of reincarnation, and would strongly recommend fans of this channel to check out the movie Madhumati (1958), an Indian gothic horror piece which plays on that genre's traditional ghost tropes and touches on the idea of reincarnation and how it might play into that. (Also amazing to see Johnny Lever and hear Lata Mangeshkar from that time period, but I digress.)
I'm from the other side of the subcontinent, and we have a different type of ghost - a jhand - which haunts travelers at crossroads and can also grab by stretching distances or distorting space. They also can mimic the voices of familiar loved ones (alive or dead), though they are very different from the Nishi Daak.
The toughest part of the Nishi lore is that they haunt their victims and no one else hears their call. Definitely feels like it could be tapping into a different set of mental illnesses with that as well.
Thanks so much for covering a monster legend of our culture.....❤
This was a cool/spooky episode, thank you xoxo
Dr. dasGupta is a great expert, more from her would be great!
Zarka!!!!!! Missed you!
Somebody NEEDS to make a movie about this!
Excellent and spectacular video visuals 👀
Grand and delightful recital of the topic🎃
Chilling and entertaining content 👍
Terrific video!👻🔥☠
Thank you both for sharing a little bit of the culture with us
This is quite fascinating. Looks like I'll be using this for my next tale.
Can i read it? Nishi is one of my favourite ghosts.
@@notimetolive12 well, if you’re into Tarot, you'll be going for a little fun ride.😅 So far, I'm working on a short story that's inspired by 'The Star' tarot card. I have it in draft mode as of now but I hope to get it either online or published.
The Nishi has given me an interesting idea and one of the characters is tied with 'The Lovers' card and the tale takes place during the 1930s. I'll be doing some research when I have the motivation and ideas ready to go. May need some ideas/advice about Indian history. I barely know any and school didn’t help.😖
I stumnled on this by accident and I must say, I get this a lot. Very often at random, I hear someone calling me and there is nothing there. Been hearing it for years.....
Love to see folklore from my culture ❤❤❤
Fascinating! It is in someways similar in description to the Arabic Ghoul, the Scandinavian Draugr and the Scottish Banshee as well as the Hispanic La Llorona. Quite the interesting combination and comparison to say the least.
We need a dakini and yogini special, assistants to the Devi in the Smashan , true masters of tantra
I used to sleepwalk as a kid also. The most embarrassing incident was when I was 6. My parents were having a dinner party. Around 10 pm, I came walking into the living room and over to the trash can where I proceeded to relieve myself. I then “flushed” the trash can and went back to bed. My mom is now 84 and she still teases me about that.
Any chance you could do a video about the kelpie and the each-uisge?
A Mimic in any culture has Bad intentions .
Exactly
@@lizc6393 🙏🏻
As a Bengali I am grateful 😊
I love this channel
God I love this channel so much
Finally an Indian monster
This story is something that my great aunt recently told me. Though I’ve heard the story from another one of her siblings. It could be a folk story that is relatively popular from that particular part of colonized undivided West Bengal.
there's a very similar legend or urban legend (?) here in Egypt as well! Especially, in the rural areas and upper Egypt, it's called النداهة or the caller/seeker.
She calls on the people she used to know or has wronged her in a way, to lure them to their deaths eventually. Some stories say she traps them in a trance, till they die.
This was really cool. Not sure I can use this in my horror D&D setting but possibly in my detective fiction.
Thanks😊
Feeling the hair tingling on my neck even though I'm watching this episode on the bright daylight
Well, thanks for releasing this right after I watched a few videos on Fiddlesticks from LoL.😅
I m from Bangaldesh. I heard about Nishi Dakk as a kid. My aunt told me when we went to village, It's scary.
Please do a video on supernatural beings of tremendous power described as beautiful and terrifying: Angels.
Hi, I have a suggestion. Could you make a video about the Gashadokuro (giant skeleton)
and your videos are interesting, and it amazes me.
At the beginning of the video I thought Dr. Z said "benevolent" instead of "malevolent" and it took me a minute.
I’ve also heard this called the Indian banshee. I was at least from the village where my father lived in before he moved to the city of Calcutta when he was a small child. They also do the same job like banshees do. Calling families name until they’re supposed neither die pretty soon. Or like in this video actually leave them to their death. This could be the influence of the fact that we did have a pretty sizable Irish people marrying into the Bengali community
Really liked the episode, I learned something about a culture i know little about. Question though, i thought i heard the phrase "demonized exorcism," and it rang in my head as an oxymoron.
In India, excorcisms are performed by Tantrics. Possession and excorcism requires the same knowledge and thus can be performed only by a Tantric. And Tantrics use help of various demons and spirits to get their job done.
My grandma said she was called by Nishi when she was a little girl. Fortunately she woke up from her trance mid way through and went back home. We're from Bangladesh.
When my grandmother was still alive, she used to call for me when she needed help, or had errands for me to run. When I couldn't hear her, she'd be upset with me and yell.
My bedroom was on the second floor of the house, and it was harder to hear her the further away from the staircase I was. So I had to train myself to listen to her calling for me.
One night I heard her call for me, but it was in a dream. I called out to her saying that I'll be right down as I was trying to wake up fully.
My dad, who's room was on the same floor, told me to go back to bed, that my grandma didn't call for me.
For a year after my grandma's passing, I've dreamed of her being disappointed with me. As time went by, I forgot her voice so she'd end up just staring at me in the dream.
It's not hard for me to believe that I would've been lured by a Nishi Daak ghost, esp. so close to the passing of my grandmother if they had existed.
Hi, Dr. Zarka. Would you like to do a video about Nagas or Satyrs sometime later?
i'm so behind on monstrum, i'm gonna have to just binge these later lol
❤Love From Dhaka,Bangladesh 🇧🇩 🤟
Bengal mentioned!!!!
As a Bengali this was interesting. Some of the stories I was told as kid in hindsight just seem like things one would say to keep errant kids in check. For example, I was told never to stand under a tree at night coz that's where the spirits live. idk, as an adult it seems they just didn't want me out during a storm or something!
We have pretty much the same thing in Egypt! She's called "El-Naddaha" literally the woman who calls out.
I really enjoyed learning from this video but i kept having to turn up and down my volume when switching between Dr. Emily Zarka and Dr. Sayantani DasGupta :/
Can you please do a video on kelpies or boiata