Nale Ba


Nale Ba or Naale Baa is a popular folk legend which features prominently in areas across Karnataka. "Naale Baa" has been found written on walls of small towns and villages for years now. Villagers write this on walls to deter the entry of malevolent spirit into their homes. In some variations of the myth, the spirit is believed to be a bridal ghost who roams around the town in search of her husband. She is known to take away the man of the house who is often the sole earning member of the family, therefore, bringing bad luck to the entire household.
Naale Baa was an urban legend that went viral during the 1990s in Karnataka. The myth goes "a witch roams the streets in the night and knocks the door. The witch apparently speaks in voices of your kin so you would be deceived to open the door. If you open it then you will die." So the residents came up with a smart idea of writing "Naale Baa" outside the doors and the walls of their house. So when the ghost reads it and it goes back to come again the next day and the cycle repeats.

Origin

There was a renewed interest in her legend after reports of similar instances occurred same in a village in Thailand wherein healthy young men began to disappear right under their beds in the night.

Popular culture

The 2018 Bollywood film Stree, starring Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkumar Rao, is based on the 1990s Naale Baa tale from Karnataka. Horror and Thriller writer K.Hari Kumar has penned a story inspired from Naale Baa incident in his 2019 book India's Most Haunted - Tales of Terrifying Places published by HarperCollins India.