The Beach And The Ghost Town Of Dhanuskodi, TN, India

In 1964, a monster cyclone wiped off everything at Dhanuskodi town. An estimated 1800 people including a train filled with 115 passengers on board the Pamban-Dhanuskodi passenger train. With almost every one gone Dhanushkodi became a ghost town, nobody, except fishermen, call it home.

There is a very straight road of 7 to 8 kms from Rameswaram which ends at the beach. On both sides of this road one can still see ruined houses ruins of a church, railway station, post office and some more structures.

Since the beach is ‘off the grid’ there is not much of a crowd and you can have the entire place to yourself but no one is allowed here after 5 pm and no one is allowed to venture into the sea.

The sea here is the confluence of Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal and naturally very rough. Across the sea lies the island nation of Sri Lanka. Here is a link to a video that will give the reader an idea about the beach.

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Thanks for sharing @Gautamda !

I’ve never heard of this place or the tragic disaster that happened there. I’m glad to see that people are not scared to come back, and still visit this place to have a good time.

If the seas are usually pretty rough, I can see why no one is allowed in the water, but how come people aren’t allowed to go there after 5 pm?

Hi @MortenSI I am happy to see your comments on my post. Frankly there are many things and events in this world about which we have neither heard nor know. People tend to forget the pains of disaster and look at those sites as curiosity. They don’t visit them always to have a good time. As for why people are not allowed on the beach after 5 pm is to prevent smuggling. Sri Lanka is just about 20 kms from here and can act as a place to land contrabands.

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Smuggling never even occurred to me @Gautamda , I thought it would have something to do with the tides.

I hope the town can someday go back to what in ones was, and be a great home to other than just the fisherman. It really looks like it could be a great place to live.

Hi @MortenSI very happy to read your reply. Nowadays smuggling is not restricted to gold but also includes arms and explosives. There lies the danger.

India is an incredible place and you may find it amusing to know that there is a huge fort, namely, Bhangar fort ( see my post in Google Map) which is haunted and officially recognised as such. There are many stories but not enough local guide to write about them.

Warm regards.

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Hey! @Gautamda is it the real story that ghosts wander around the ghost town and trouble the visitors? and nobody is allowed to visit after 05:00 PM? I thought that it is a rumour.

Hi @MortenSI

A correction:

I wrote about Bhangar Fort in a blog and not in Google Map. However, you can check in Google map for posts written by others.

Thank you.

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Hi @FazeelUsmani

Hahaha no no no! There are no ghosts to scare you there. Actually it is an ideal place to smuggle contrabands. Hence no one is allowed there after 5 pm. Visit it without fear, in case you find a ghost please introduce him/her to me :rofl:

Warm regards.

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Haha… thanks @Gautamda for the clarification.

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A haunted fort sounds appealing @Gautamda . The thought of visiting notorious haunted sites has crossed my mind more than ones, but I’m not sure I have the guts for it.

I have heard about places where you can go and spend the night, but maybe I should start off a bit easier with a visit to Bhangar Fort.

Hi @MortenSI

Reading ghost stories is thrilling but chasing them is not! Those who do, often develop psychological problems. Let the ghosts stay in stories, I think they are happy there😊

Best wishes.

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That’s great advice @Gautamda !

Maybe I should settle for a nice beach and a week under the sun.

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