Shimla’s Haunted Chronicles: Unveiling the Terrifying Ghostly Side of the Queen of Hills – Part 1

1. Tunnel No. 33 (Barog Tunnel) – The Engineer Who Couldn’t Finish

Located on the famed Kalka–Shimla Railway, Tunnel No. 33—popularly known as Barog Tunnel—is among the most frequently cited haunted spots in Shimla. Named after Captain Barog, a British engineer entrusted with its construction in the early 1900s, the tunnel’s creation was a monumental challenge. Unfortunately, due to a surveying mistake, the two ends of the tunnel failed to align.

The humiliation and failure deeply impacted Barog. Facing disgrace, he is said to have ended his own life—the weight of his shame too heavy to bear timesofindia.indiatimes.com+6traveltriangle.com+6shimlamanalitravel.com+6. Ever since, eerie occurrences have followed. Rail workers, tourists, and night-time passersby claim to have heard footsteps echo through the darkness, mysterious voices asking, “Need help?”, and sightings of a solitary figure disappearing into the pitch-black entrance . Some believe these are the restless spirit of Barog himself, doomed to eternally traverse his failed masterpiece.

Key details:

• Location: Kalka–Shimla Railway near Barog

• Haunting reports: footsteps, whispers, shadowy figures

• Origin: Captain Barog’s suicide after tunnel misalignment

2. Charleville Mansion – The Officer Stuck Between Worlds

Perched among Shimla’s colonial rooftops lies the abandoned Charleville Mansion, with its high ceilings, grand balconies, and imposing Victorian architecture. Its story begins with Victor Bayley—a British officer who moved in early in the 20th century. Soon, unsettling incidents unfolded: glass shattered, furniture toppled, and eerie drafts swept through locked rooms. Staff whispered about glimpsing a uniformed figure drifting through the corridors—believed to be an earlier inhabitant whose presence refused to fade away hauntedplace.orgmyholidays.com+2traveltriangle.com+2thenewshimachal.com+2.

Locals continue to share tales of lights flickering after dark, sounds of footsteps when the building is empty, and an uncanny feeling of being watched—even during the day thenewshimachal.com+4indiahighlight.com+4traveltriangle.com+4. Once upon a time, Crown-sounding voices echoed through candlelit rooms; now, the mansion stands abandoned—its tragic silence even more haunting.

Key details:

• Era built: Early 1900s, Victorian/Gothic style

• Haunting reports: glass breaking, moving furniture, shadow figure

• Legend: restless spirit of a past officer

3. IGMC (Indira Gandhi Medical College) – Where Healing Meets Haunting

IGMC, Shimla’s largest and oldest hospital, is built on land marked by countless tragedies. It should be a place of healing, yet staff and patients recount frightening experiences that defy medical explanation. Numerous reports describe corridors where temperatures plummet suddenly, whispers trickle down empty halls, and unseen forces nudge individuals—even pushing them down stairwells liveakhbar.in+3traveltriangle.com+3myholidays.com+3.

One particularly chilling account involves a recurring spectral presence of a former orange vendor, killed along the road leading to the hospital. His ghost is said to wander the forest path at night, occasionally intruding into hospital grounds traveltriangle.com+2indiahighlight.com+2liveakhbar.in+2.

Many believe that the spirits of those who met a premature death in IGMC refuse to depart, their energies woven into the very walls. For hospital staff on late-night shifts, these unsettling reminders of past lives—and deaths—are hard to ignore.

Key details:

• Location: Lakkar Bazaar, Shimla

• Haunting reports: sudden cold spots, whispers, pushes

• Legend: spirits of deceased patients and an orange vendor