Ancient warriors guarding Wadi al-Salam. Are spirits protecting the largest and oldest cemetery in the world?

Modern people believe less and less in superstitions. Living in large cities, people have practically stopped encountering various devilry. However, indigenous and tribal peoples as well as residents of villages, communities and the population of countries in South America, Africa, Asia and Australia still regularly experience contact with something inexplicable. 

You can attribute everything to creative imagination and personal perception of reality as much as you like, but there are places where entities from another world actually meet.

In Arab countries, 96% of the population believes in parallel worlds and that entities and inhabitants of these dimensions can visit our reality. First of all, this degree of confidence was formed due to personal experience. There are places where it is better not for living things to go. For example, the Iraqi cemetery Wadi al-Salam. 

The presence of spirits and jinn is not just often seen or felt here. In this place, such contacts happen every day; moreover, people literally disappear in the cemetery.

The Wadi al-Salam necropolis is located in the south of Iraq near the city of An-Najaf, along the Euphrates River. Both Shiites and Sunnis consider the city sacred: it is the 3rd most visited annually by pilgrims after Mecca (where the Kaaba stone is located) and Medina. At the same time, the population of An-Najaf itself, about 850,000 people, is 6 times less than the number buried in the Wadi al-Salam cemetery. That is why this place is recognized (unofficially) as the largest necropolis on earth.

One of the reasons for such a colossal number of burials is religious. Many Shiites consider it honorable to rest their remains next to the fourth righteous caliph Ali ibn Abu Talib – his grave is located in the center of the necropolis. Imam Ali is a real person, he took part in the political and social life of the Arabs in the 7th century AD, and is considered a cousin, son-in-law, and also the closest follower of the Prophet Muhammad. Shiites revere him as the 1st of 12 imams, and also as the 1st male person to convert to Islam. 

Not only residents of nearby lands, but also cultural figures, scientists, artists, interpreters of the Koran and prominent politicians from Iraq and other Islamic countries specially came to An-Najaf to find their last refuge on Wadi al-Salam. In fact, the name of the cemetery itself translates as “valley of death” (peace).  

It is worth noting that the oldest burials on Wadi al-Salam are more than 1,400 years old. And throughout this time it has grown and continues to do so today. Due to frequent tragic incidents at the cemetery, the country’s authorities began to sell amulets, talismans and small books with spells against evil spirits. At the same time, the price is symbolic and has nothing to do with business. In the Arab world, it is strictly forbidden to take for free, so the distribution of amulets and similar ways to protect yourself is carried out for a minimal fee.

People who have visited here very often encounter health problems while being at the cemetery. In addition, they see silhouettes of translucent people among the monuments. 

Sometimes, under the guise of deceased relatives, they take them far from entrances and exits, and people wander around as if they are under someone’s control. There were also very strange cases when, after visiting Wadi al-Salam, the spirit of an ancestor entered a person. The possessed person acquired his voice as well as various personality traits and habits.

There are also known incidents where people simply disappeared. From the outside it looked as if the person was dissolving into a haze. At the same time, losses of this nature occur several times a month. 

Over the years, thousands of incidents have accumulated. Local residents believe that you cannot enter the territory of Wadi al-Salam without amulets, talismans and memorized prayers. All this can save a living person from the influence of the dead.

Gravediggers working at the Wadi al-Salam cemetery claim they are being haunted by evil spirits and with numerous testimonies that there are strange creatures in the cemetery, sometimes attacking people. They are called Tantal, Bzebza or Ghreria.

Having seen certain monsters looking for fresh graves at night, many of them have no doubt that there are evil spirits there that devour the flesh of the dead. Some of them resembled a huge worm.

But how can such phenomena be explained? Scientists from leading countries of the world believe that it’s all about experiences and personal perception. In addition, according to experts, you should not turn a blind eye to the heat, which can seriously affect the senses. This is just one of the theories, and a very subjective one but what do local researchers say?

Everything is much more interesting here. Almost 1,500 years ago, when there was no cemetery on this site, the area was called the Valley of Spirits. According to legend, great warriors were buried here thousands of years ago. Their souls became the protectors of the lands. 

The living were forbidden to settle here, but the dead found peace, as they were under the protection of the strongest spirits. Therefore, it was here that prominent imams were buried. Later, the authorities allowed ordinary residents to register funerals.

If we take into account the reality of this story, it is quite possible that the guardians of souls protect in this way their peace from the living. Since the territory of the cemetery has become huge, thousands of people visit it every day. 

The spirits of great warriors continue to remain in service to protect the dead from the living. Most residents believe that their ancestors do not want to harm them, so there is no fight against spirits, with the exception of basic protective measures in the form of amulets and prayers.