A 19th century curse that lingers

Right in the heart of Chennai, in a by-lane tucked away from the bustling St Mary’s Road, people say ghosts dwell. Taxi drivers who park their vehicles on the deserted road do not venture there after sundown and rag pickers frequenting the area wind up before dusk. Of course, the row of derelict houses, graffiti on walls, and the huge bats hanging from the creepers provide the ideal setting for spooky stories: the locked door of a house that mysteriously opens and the pet dog that strayed into its premises never to be seen again.When this reporter, posing as a prospective buyer of a house in the ‘haunted’ De Monte Colony, made enquiries, a slew of stories on paranormal activity tumbled out. “For years the properties had no guards. When one was posted some years back, he was dead the next day on duty,” claimed Mathivannan, a peanut-seller near the Corporation Park attached to the colony.Residents living near the colony have more stories of unusual activity. “You see the front house with the big lock? On certain days, the door suddenly opens and then closes by itself,” says a resident of St Mary’s road.People point to John De Monte, a 19th century businessman and the original owner of the entire stretch, who they say had a miserable personal life. “Evil spirits afflicted his family. His wife apparently became mentally ill and his son disappeared. This is the story we hear from the old timers,” say auto drivers near the colony.However, some residents, who have occupied a couple of houses in the colony, dismiss the stories as pure “mischief.” They say these horror stories began doing the rounds only after the Roman Catholic church, to which the properties were bequeathed by De Monte, decided to lease the buildings out a few years ago.