Gata Loops | Ghosts Of Gata Loops | Haunted Place | Leh Ladakh | Ladakh Stories
Channel: Trailblazer Mavens
Date: 01/03/2019

I have a story to tell: ref source from some article.

Several years ago [he couldn’t tell me exactly how many years ago], it was late October when a truck with its two travelers, the driver and a cleaner, crossed Rohtang and moved on its way towards Leh. It had already started to snow at a few places and the driver was warned but he had a time limit to reach Leh; which meant that it was too late for him to turn back and take the Srinagar Leh highway which was still comparatively safer.  It was the last truck to cross Rohtang as it snowed heavily the very same evening at the top and the pass closed. Kunzum Pass was already closed weeks ago and there were no vehicles coming from Kaza as well which means that it was the last truck plying on Manali Leh highway.




The driver managed to bring the truck safely all the way to Gata Loops but this is where disaster struck. On one of the loops, his truck broke down and came to a complete halt. After trying for hours, the driver couldn’t fix whatever was wrong with the vehicle. They waited and waited but no one crossed them by because they were the last vehicle on the route. so the driver decided to walk to a nearby village and get some help. Cleaner however was ill and not in a condition to walk. He was so terribly ill that he could barely stand up but what was he suffering from our narrator couldn’t tell.

To add to this, Truck was also loaded and could not be left abandoned with the cargo because of the risk of getting robbed hence the cleaner stayed back with the truck to guard it; and also because he was in no condition to walk. The driver walked and walked for miles until he found a tiny village but Alas, there was no mechanic there. He somehow managed to make a phone call to Manali to get someone to come and fix the truck but to his bad luck, while he was still waiting at the village, the weather closed in. It started to snow heavily and became impossible for the driver to get back to the truck.

It took several days for the weather to clear and all this time; he was stranded an the village. Finally help came from Manali and they all hurried back to Gata Loops; to the spot where the truck broke down only to find the cleaner dead. Poor chap was left alone on the road for several days; in freezing temperature, in poor health, with no water and nothing to eat and eventually died of thirst, hunger and cold. The truck was fixed but it was impossible to drive it either to Leh or Manali because passes on both sides were closed. So the driver drove the truck to the village he was stranded in; and waited there until it was possible to drive across Rohtang and return to Manali.

The body of the cleaner was buried at Gata Loops by the villagers, right at the spot where he died.  Next year when the highway reopened, people started noticing a strange thing. There was a beggar at Gata Loops who would waive at the passing vehicles to stop and begged them for water. Some people did not stop but the ones who did and offered the beggar some water saw the bottles drop right through his hands. The word spread and sure enough people were scared of the ghost who begged for water; thinking that it might harm them if they stopped or curse them if they didn’t. In order to pacify the ghost; the locals set up a small temple at the spot where he was buried and made offerings of water.

Since then, whoever passes by and is aware of the story leaves some water at the temple, as an offering.