Bhangarh Fort

Built around 1573 by Bhagwant Das for his son Madho Singh, Bhangarh Fort now stands as a ruin in the Aravalli hills of Rajasthan, and the Archaeological Survey of India officially forbids anyone from entering after sunset or before sunrise. Local legend explains the ban through the curse of a tantric ascetic, Guru Balu Nath, who had granted permission to build the settlement only on condition that no structure's shadow ever fall upon his hermitage; when a later ruler's palace grew tall enough to cast that shadow, the story says the guru cursed the town to ruin and decreed that no roof would ever again shelter the living there. A second, more romantic legend adds a sorcerer's fatal love spell aimed at a princess. Villagers describe hearing anklet bells and women's laughter drifting from the empty ruins at dusk, and pilgrims and ghost hunters alike still gather at the fort's edge at nightfall, careful never to cross the boundary marker.