She calls your name at night

Before "Stree" there was another woman. Same description with the same approach. And this is her story.

I was in school that time, maybe in Grade 1 or 2. I remember my classmate Pooja telling me this story. She said that in the city there is a sighting of a mysterious woman. Nobody had seen her face. She comes only after midnight. Nobody knows where she comes from and where she goes. She stands outside the house. If it is a skyscraper then she stands in front of it. She calls out the name of a person. She calls out the name three times and then she leaves. She disappears in the dark. The real horror begins only after the mysterious woman leaves. The person whose name the mysterious woman called out three times generally falls ill the next day and then dies under mysterious circumstances in next few days.

Not only Pooja but a lot of people had shared the same story with me. The mysterious woman had become the reason for terror in the city. Everyone was scared because of this phenomenon. The city of Mumbai that never sleeps started sleeping early because of the presence of this mysterious woman.

This news spread everywhere like a wildfire. Everyone started believing that this was true and not a folklore. A lot of people had reported the sighting though they had never seen the woman's face. They claimed that they have heard of women's voice that was melodious enough to draw their attention. They had heard of women calling the name of a person three times. By the time the person goes outside to see who is calling them the woman disappears into thin air. Next day the person fell ill and shortly after they died. It was also said that if she calls and we respond she would abduct us and take us away with her. Though the occurence or mysterious events were always unconfirmed.

There was a student in our school who had boasted that he had seen the woman himself. He would say that he had also spoken to that mysterious woman. He told us that the women was extremely friendly and was only targetting those who were cruel. He had also alleged that he was friends with that mysterious woman. Later on everyone got to know that the boy thought the mysterious woman was a shopkeeper in his area.

This was the terror of mysterious woman. She had become a viral sensation or we can easily call her and "Urban Legend". She was the "Stree" before the movie made her popular. The mysterious woman met with the fate of most of the urban legends. Her identity began with a made up story. Her popularity started to grow as the rumours started spreading. Her fame dwindled after a few weeks. She took the whole city by a storm before disappearing into the void, soon to be forgotten. Suddenly nobody was hearing their names in the dark. The danger was over.

When the movie "Stree" released it brought back the memories of this urban legend. Looking back it feels that the stories are made up and made popular on a fly to scare off people. But only some stories have the potential to cross the boundaries and become viral sensations. The mysterious woman had earned her place in that coveted league.