Written by: Elias Snouci
It is said that graveyard jinn do not like to be disturbed, and that their spirits, formed from the darkness of the earth and the dust of bones, remain vigilant to guard the boundaries of their dark world. So what happens when the sanctity of these sacred places is violated? Or when someone, in a moment of weakness or recklessness, steps into their domain and awakens its eternal inhabitants?
My name is Samer, and I am 27 years old. I spend most of my time at home because my parents think I have lost my mind. Let me take you back in time so you can understand why. It all started in 2010. At the time, I was in my final year of secondary school, and thank God, I managed to get my baccalaureate certificate. After all the hard work, I decided, along with my friends, or rather my brothers Khalid and Saad, to go on a trip. We have always been reckless, doing whatever came to mind since we were children. We loved travelling and camping, and that summer holiday was the best opportunity to have fun. We were unsure about where to go; we wanted to get away from the noise of the big cities and head for the mountains and forests. In the end, we decided to go to the Mamoura Forest near Rabat. We agreed on how much money each of us would need, and luckily Khalid's father allowed us to use the family car for the trip.
We went to the market to buy everything we would need for the following week, and agreed that Khalid would come to pick us up the next morning. Indeed, when morning came, my mother was awake. She hugged me and asked me to be careful, and told Khalid to drive slowly on the road. We then picked up Saad, and as soon as we set off, we started planning what we would do. We agreed to leave the car in a nearby car park and look for someone who knew the area well to show us suitable places to camp.
At exactly 8:30 a.m., we arrived in Rabat, had breakfast at a café, and then headed to a summer camp to ask the manager to let us leave the car there. That man also referred us to someone named Raed, who knew the forest like the back of his hand.
We called Raed, and half an hour later he came to meet us near the camp. He was a young man of twenty-five, and we agreed on a price and set off together towards the forest.
The first day was wonderful in every way. Raed was a cheerful young man who quickly got along with us and showed us beautiful places that people don't usually know about.
That night, we gathered around the campfire and decided to share scary stories. Each of us began to tell our story, until it was Raed's turn. He said:
"What I am about to tell you is not just a story, but the truth. Because of it, many people lost their minds and others died. It is the story of the cursed cemetery in the middle of the forest. It is said that anyone who approaches it goes mad or commits suicide because they see things that humans cannot comprehend. It is also said that every year, specifically in July, creatures in the form of beautiful girls appear and seduce woodcutters, and those who follow their desires are taken to the graveyard and begin to lose their minds, haunted by these creatures for the rest of their lives." I laughed at him then because the story sounded like something out of an old movie, and then we went to sleep that night.
The following days passed peacefully, until the day came that I will never forget as long as I live. We had planned to swim in a river in the forest. It was four o'clock in the afternoon when a thick fog covered the area, preventing us from seeing our surroundings. Suddenly, everyone disappeared, and I found myself lost and alone in the middle of the forest. I started shouting and searching for my friends to no avail, until I noticed that the sunlight was beginning to fade. Thoughts of the cemetery story that Raed had told me came to mind, and I felt afraid. I sat where I was, waiting, and took out my phone, only to find that I had no signal.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw a beautiful girl. I felt relatively relieved. She asked me what I was doing there, so I told her that I had gotten lost in the forest and lost my friends. She said she had seen three young men a little while ago and asked me to follow her so she could lead me to them.
I remembered Raed's warning, but I ignored it and decided to follow her. After walking for a few minutes, we arrived at a dark and terrifying place. She suddenly told me that she wanted to "have sex with me"!
Unfortunately, I gave in to my desires, and what happened happened.
I woke up the next day to find myself sleeping near one of the graves! I was terrified, got up quickly, and headed towards the cemetery gate, where I found Khalid and Saad in a state of panic. I realised that they had gone through the same experience. We decided not to tell anyone what had happened and returned to the city. Silence filled the car throughout the journey.
When I arrived home, my parents welcomed me and asked me to have breakfast with them, but I refused and went to take a shower. After I finished, I stood in front of the mirror, and suddenly I couldn't see my reflection! I screamed and rushed out. My mother came running, terrified, and when I returned to show her, my face reappeared... Perhaps I was beginning to lose my mind.
My mother asked me to perform ablution and pray, so I did, but on the following nights I began to have terrifying nightmares, and I would wake up to find strange scratches on my hands and feet. I started wearing long clothes in the middle of summer to hide them.
I contacted Khalid and Saad, and we arranged to meet at the café. On my way there, I passed through a dangerous neighbourhood, and two men attacked me with knives. I ignored them, but when one of them touched my shoulder, he started screaming and ran away! The other one fell unconscious without me even touching him!
I ran in terror to the café, went upstairs and found my friends waiting for me. I told them what had happened, and they admitted that they had experienced similar things. We decided to call Raed. I said to him, "Hello, Raed, we need you." He said, "I miss you guys, I can come next week." We agreed and decided that Khalid and Saad would stay at my house until we found a solution.
That night, we slept upstairs after my mother had prepared it for us, saying she was going to visit my aunt for a week. After midnight, I woke up to go to the bathroom and found the door closed and the light on.
I turned to my friends, who were asleep, and then the door opened by itself. I went in and was shocked by the gruesome sight: a severed cat's head and blood on the walls with the words "Death is coming." I froze in my tracks, and suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw a woman with long black hair covering her face, saying to me in a strange voice, "I am your new wife." I fainted immediately.
I woke up in the morning next to my friends and thought it was a nightmare. But when I washed my face, I noticed a yellow henna-like mark on my hands. I tried to wash it off, but to no avail. Khalid said fearfully, "Samer... that's henna for brides. It looks like you married a jinn!"
I rushed downstairs to tell my mother, but she had already left. I sat on the floor in shock, not knowing what to do. I had no idea that what awaited me next would be worse than I could have ever imagined.
The thought of suicide crossed my mind, but I knew it wasn't the answer. Two hours later, I turned on my phone and found several messages and calls, most of them from Khaled and Saad asking where I was. I sent them a message saying I would be back in half an hour. That night and throughout that week, we lived in unbearable terror; immediately after the call to evening prayer, the furniture in the house would move, and the lights would turn on and off by themselves. This continued until Raed called us on Sunday and asked me to meet him at the bus station. After picking him up, we returned home and told him what had happened. He said that there was one person who could help us, a scholar in an area near the city of Essaouira. At that point, I was ready to go anywhere, as long as we could get rid of this nightmare.
We set off the next morning, and by ten o'clock we had reached our destination. All we could see were mountains and open spaces, with only the occasional house or two. I was uneasy, but there was no time to worry. We parked the car near the house of Raed's cousin, who welcomed us warmly. His name was Samir. We spoke with him and agreed that he would guide us to the house of the scholar we had come to see.
When we arrived, we found that he lived in a small mud house that looked frightening just to look at. We entered the house to find some women waiting their turn, so we sat down to wait as well. After a while, it was our turn, and we entered the room where the cleric was sitting. It was filled with smoke and the suffocating smell of incense. What stuck in my mind was the shock on his face when he saw us. He asked us to sit down and tell him our story, so we told him everything that had happened. He said nothing but, "Good... good..." When we finished, I asked him for a solution, and he said we must return to the forest!
We all fell silent, and none of us wanted to go back, but there was no other solution. We accepted the situation, and the cleric said he would meet us in two days to go together. After we left the house, my phone rang, and it was my mother. She asked me where I was and if I was okay. I wanted to tell her the truth, but I couldn't, so I reassured her and hung up.
The first day passed peacefully, but the second day was completely different. We were sitting in one of the rooms in Samir's house when, in the middle of the day, we heard the voice of a little girl. I looked at my friends and saw that they had heard it too. We didn't know where the voice was coming from, as the nearest house was half an hour's walk away, meaning it was impossible for the sound to reach us. We ignored it and went out with Samir to explore the area. When night fell, we returned, had dinner and went to sleep, but I suddenly woke up to the sound of a little girl crying. It seemed that I was the only one who could hear it. I looked towards the door of the room and saw a little girl dressed in white running outside, and without thinking, I started chasing her.
I don't know exactly what happened, but I found myself walking away from the house until I reached an empty area. I asked her who she was, but she didn't answer me. Then she started approaching me, and suddenly she turned into the girl I had met in the forest! She said, "Finally, I've got you. Come with me and you'll get everything you want." I thought about everything I had been through and said to her, "No, I can't go with you. I'm human and you're a fairy!" As soon as I said that, her features changed into a terrifying form that almost stopped my heart, and she said, "I will burn your heart as you burned mine."
Suddenly, a bright light flashed, and I thought I had lost my sight, but after a few moments, I realised I was standing in the middle of a road, and I saw a lorry approaching at tremendous speed. I froze in my tracks, closed my eyes, and heard a voice saying: "Samer, watch out!" I felt something push me away, then I lost consciousness.
I woke up the next morning with pain on the right side of my body. I saw Saad beside me, but Khaled was not there. Saad told me that what happened was not a dream, but reality. He said he heard me when I left the house and followed me, but I went deep into the forest until I stood in the middle of the road and almost died if it weren't for Khalid, who saved me from the truck.
I thanked him when he returned, his arm bandaged. Then we continued with our plan, said goodbye to Samir, and Raed drove the car, passing by the cleric on our way to the forest. All the way there, I kept thinking about what the fairy had said: Would she kill the one I loved? When we arrived, I noticed that the cleric was stammering, which made me even more afraid. He was carrying a large bag and led us to the cemetery as if he knew the place better than Raed.
He told us we would start at sunset. At dusk, he asked us to get ready, opened the bag, took out a stick and three hoes, distributed bottles containing a red substance to us, and asked us to pour it over our bodies. I asked him what the substance was, and he said it was pig's blood! I was angry, but he said it was the only solution, so we did as he said. We sat in a circle, and he drew lines around us, then took out a snake and asked me to slaughter it and pour its blood on the lines, which I did. Then he began to read the Qur'an in a strange voice and asked us to dig.
Suddenly, thick fog covered the place, and we began to see spectres moving around us and screaming. The scholar gave us a small bag and then disappeared. We opened it and found inside it a human hand, a knife, and two pieces of paper: the first contained instructions, and the second contained strange symbols. We were instructed to stab the hand with the knife, read the words, and then dig. We did so, and suddenly the screams grew louder, and the spectres began to approach us little by little. After half an hour of digging, we found a box, and as soon as we pulled it out, we heard a loud scream and then lost consciousness.
We woke up after a while and found ourselves in the same place, with Raed lying a few metres away. The scholar had disappeared. When Raed woke up, he said that the scholar had hit him on the head and stolen the box! We realised then that he needed possessed people to extract the treasure, and he didn't ask for money because he only wanted the box.
We returned in a pitiful state, bathed in a nearby lake, and then left for the city. We thought it was over, but a few days later, Raed called and said that Samir had told him that the cleric had been found slaughtered in his home! We realised that the curse was not over, and that we might be the next targets.
I called Khaled and Saad and asked to meet them, and told them what had happened. They were frightened by the news, and I agreed with them that we would keep in touch if anything strange happened. Life returned to normal for a while, but after a while I dreamt that Khaled said to me, "Goodbye, Samer." I woke up terrified and called him immediately. He said he was fine, but I asked him to be careful.
The next day, I received shocking news: Khaled had committed suicide! I couldn't believe it. I cried throughout the funeral. Months later, I was returning home when Saad called me and said, "Samer, this has gone too far... Goodbye," and hung up. I ran to his house and saw him standing on the edge of the roof, preparing to jump. I quickly climbed up to try to stop him, but he spoke in a voice that wasn't his own and said, "Do you remember? I told you I would burn your heart and kill the people you love most, and here I am, killing your second friend."
I screamed for him to stop, but he jumped, and fell dead before my eyes. Since that day, I have been confined to my home, living in constant terror, unable to go out or sleep peacefully. I have visited all the doctors and scholars, but to no avail.
That was the story of the graveyard... It began with recklessness and ended in death.
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