History Glitch

It is a classic example of "urban legend" or local folklore often found in Indian cantonment cities and Meerut is among the biggest cantonments of India That is a very specific and haunting piece of local lore which I have heard at least from 7 different elders! I hope you can figure out the year if you know when the big revolution happened in India because this Mazar was built approximately 60 years prior to that rebellion took place. Can you find out when was it built?

Another one out of nine I photographed

It is a large, cemented grave although there were many casualties that night, Finnis's grave is one of the few that has remained well preserved and identifiable over the last 168+ years. Even if I could not reach there, being in a cematary spread over a large area. However, the story of the beheaded officer remains a fascinating example of how a city's violent past can transform into a long-standing urban legend.

Every Thursday evening, there is a visible increase in visitors. Small stalls selling sweets and flowers usually set up nearby, although now the metro corridor has shifted its face from the road towards the east side. This Mazar often observes an annual Urs (death anniversary of the saint), where Qawwalis and special prayers are organized.

Visiting these two sites, the Mazar in Lekhanagar and the St. John's Cemetery, offers a complete picture of both the myth and the history. The distance now is a little more than one km due to the construction of buildings and roads, but back then these two places were side by side as you can see in this picture.

St. John's Church and cemetery are in Lekhanagar, close to Peer Baba Mazar.

​The locals claim that because the death was so sudden and violent, the officer's spirit (sometimes called a "Gora Booth" ("White Ghost") haunts the stretch of road or that the Mazar (shrine) nearby serves as a place of protection or a marker of the tragedy.

Resting Place

"Colonel Finnis, who fell while endeavoring to quell the mutiny in the 20th regiment, 1857, age 53 years."

Although I could not reach there easily as that place was closed due to too many monkeys and bluebuck in that area, so the caretaker warned me to not to go to that particular grave, but I took pictures of his grave and other graves of the same era.

​Meerut has a colonial history, being the starting point of the rebellion. This has left the city with many "haunted" spots and legends involving British figures. If you know about that year when India had its first army rebellion, you will definitely know the year immediately.

​Sometimes, these stories are passed down through "the elders," each telling that the vehicle was a truck and the "beheading by tin sheet" remains a vivid, terrifying incident. ​He is said to still roam this area at night.

Many locals visit the shrine to pray for health, prosperity, and the fulfillment of vows. ​Communal Harmony is like most Mazars; it attracts both Muslim and Hindu devotees, especially on Thursdays (Jummerat), which is considered a particularly auspicious day. Devotees offer green chadars, the ceremonial cloths, flowers, and incense sticks at the shrine.

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My personal experience:

It is located within the residential/semi-commercial pockets of Lekhanagar. If you are coming from the city, you would head on NH-58, where I was building a house 31 years ago in 1994. I was surprised that every time I passed through this Mazar, I felt like my scooter was skidding or the air pressure in my tires was not right. It always happened at the same point, so one day I asked another passerby to see if my scooter tires had proper pressure since it happened every day.

Then he asked me to bow my head to Peer Baba every time while passing this particular point. "From then on I never ever felt the same problem again. So, I must say, a person like me who never believed in such things now have faith in certain possibilities which you can say the past meets future in some way or the other.

Annual Urs: This Mazar often observes an annual Urs (death anniversary of the saint) where Qawwalis and special prayers are organized, as you can see; one is due on 10 February 2026.

Location

Peer Baba Ki Mazar	Lekhanagar, Meerut
GoogleMaps	Here
Atlas PIN	//:# (!steematlas 29.01329083 lat 77.70434475 long d3scr)
Place	Worship
Summary	Local Folklore

I welcome @muzack1 @aviral123 and @sushanta83 to take part in Geo-Quest Mystery by @kouba01

• Please note the site has slightly moved from its original position due to Metro Network