Gata Loops

Ladakh · India · Road

At the 21 hairpin bends on the road to Leh, no truck driver passes without leaving a bottle of water – for the thirsty boy who froze to death there.

The Gata Loops are a dizzying chain of twenty-one hairpin bends on the Manali–Leh highway, more than 4,000 metres above sea level. In the autumn of 1999 a truck is said to have broken down here just before the passes closed for winter; the driver went for help while his ailing cleaner stayed to guard the load – and died alone of cold, hunger and thirst. Ever since, drivers tell of a ragged figure at the roadside waving weakly and begging for water, and of bottles that fall straight through his hands. At the nineteenth loop there now stands a small stone shrine, forever stacked with water bottles from travellers who dare not pass without an offering.

FAQ

Where is Gata Loops located?

Gata Loops is in Ladakh, India.

More haunted places in Ladakh

• Lakhpat Ghost Town Gujarat · Abandoned site
• Kalpalli Cemetery Karnataka · Cemetery

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Kiran Jonnalagadda from Bangalore, India · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons