A Faceless Freak

During my stay at our native village, once I attended cremation of one of my relatives. Cremation happened in the evening and next morning we needed to visit the site again for some ritual. The place is near a beautiful temple and a pond which is made over land donated by our ancestors. There was plenty of time to spend and someone was telling stories about a guy who was living near the temple and being a matter of great controversy. 

The guy was actually the "son-in-law" of someone who lived near the place. He lost his mind, and not sure if after or before he lost his mind, his family threw him out of their house. He was poor, perhaps uneducated and had nowhere to go. So, he selected a small area near the temple and started living there permanently. Someone pointed out to us where he lived, and I could see a small enclosure made by a saree or dhoti supported by four wooden sticks at corners, with no roof on its top. He ate by begging whenever he felt hungry. We were informed that the mad man was dangerous and many times he had suddenly "slapped" men and boys and fled by swimming after jumping in the pond. 

While we were being told about this interesting story, we saw the very same guy coming the same way. We got careful while he was coming towards us. Out of curiosity, I tried to look at his face while he came towards us. He had put a towel around his face, and he must have some black beard on his face because his face was not being visible at all. He kept coming nearer and I kept looking into his face to get a glimpse. But I was shocked that he came and went past us, but his face did not become visible at all! How was that possible? I ran the images several times in my mind, trying to remember if I had noticed anything in his face, but I could not. He had towel around his face and there was just darkness instead of a face. I could not see his eyes or teeth or beard or moustache or forehead - nothing. 

It was a really strange experience, and I did not see him anytime afterwards. But I could not understand how his face was "invisible". The man telling us stories about him had never mentioned about his face being invisible to anyone, so I understood that it had not happened before. Although I can't understand why even his eyes were not visible, the only logical explanation I can think of is that he was a dark-skinned man and due to his face being surrounded by a towel, his face became invisible for me. Maybe he was closing or lowering his eyes while he walked. Otherwise, what else could be an explanation for the "magic"?

- Rahul