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Lothian Cemetery (India, New Delhi)

Netaji Subhash Marg, Priyadarshini Colony, Kashmere Gate, New Delhi, Delhi 110006, India

Headless spirit of Sir Nicholas

In very dark night, when everything is pin of silence, some people saw him. The most horrible and eerie experience one can imagine in life. One headless ghostly apparition roaming in the graveyard. It's walking in his own, aimless way.

He didn't have the head on his neck. The ghostly creature carries his head in hand. Those who survived after seeing this blood freezing sighting told this later.

He was confined there for search his love. At moonless night he wandered around the tombs searching for her girlfriend. According to the legends he was Sir Nicholas, a British soldier. Who fell in love with an Indian girl. But she refused her. After some days the girl was married to someone else.

This brought intolerable pain for Nicholas. He blew his head and died. Almost 100 years after his death too, he continued searching for the girl who refused him once.

History

Lothian Cemetery is located on Lothian Road that lies approximately half a kilometre from Kashmiri Gate very close to the General Post Office in Kashmiri Gate in Old Delhi. On the north eastern side of the Railway Bridge, one can get a glimpse of this ancient British Cemetery that homes many graves including the members of the Christian Community of Delhi who were buried here between 1808 and 1867.

As you enter the Lothian Cemetery, you will probably be taken back to an ancient moment in time when India was once thronged by the British people whose grave lie on this very ground bringing either a chill to your spine or maybe leaving you with a vibe of rustic ambience.

You will also be welcomed with a huge and ancient Celtic Cross which is a Cross shaped design structure that symbolises the crucifixion of Lord Jesus Christ and forms one of the main distinguished feature of this Cemetery ground.

This Celtic Cross was constructed to mark the place as a Memorial ground of numerous European Soldiers who were killed during the first battle of Independence of India in 1857 also popularly known as the Sepoy Mutiny.

The Lothian Cemetery is also seen with many graves that have marked tablets and unmarked tablets probably belonging to the British and European Officers and their families and maybe other people with unknown identities.

It is clearly evident that all the marked graves belong to British citizens of pre Independence war. British Officers of high ranks buried here have graves covered with massive Tomb stones and among these is the Grave of Thomas Dunnes who is buried under a building with a Dome shaped roof and supported by eight pillars made of red sandstone constructed by Colonel James Skinner in memory of his friend.

Today, the Lothian Cemetery is unfortunately seen in a dilapidated state and probably needs to be secured and recognised as a tourist site due to its historical significance and evidence. Encroachment has become an evident sore point in Delhi and it is alarming to see that even on a burial ground like this one, numerous families are seen residing within the grounds of this ancient Cemetery.

The British also constructed a Railway track around this area which was once a very serene place surrounded by thick dense trees and a carpet of greenery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM2b-h87cxM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxZWsNt8b3E