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Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion practiced by the Parsi people, who were once common in parts of the Middle East and India, though are a vanishing minority in the 21st century. Among the unique aspects of Zoroastrianism are its Towers of Silence, large, cylindrical buildings on the flat tops of which corpses are laid out to be eaten by birds (usually vultures). This 3000-year-old tradition, known as dokhmenashini, is both ecologically sound and believed to help souls ascend to the afterlife.In the '90s and early 2000s, a now-banned livestock drug killed 95% of the vultures in Mumbai, India. They were feasting on cow corpses, and the drug, which had permeated the flesh of cows to which it was administered, was highly poisonous to the raptors. This presented major problems for Zoroastrians, whose corpses were no longer diligently consumed by vultures. Disused Towers of Silence became a point of contention; they sat in areas with skyrocketing real estate prices and weren't being used, but who wants to live on a site where countless corpses had been consumed by giant carnivorous birds?  The roads on, and areas in. which the Towers of Silence sit have been the site of many reported "spectral forces" in Mumbai, and locals recommend you don't visit the place after dark, as it projects a strong air of creepiness. Perhaps the spirits of those deceased Zoroastrians whose culture collapsed have returned to haunt their sacred areas. Or maybe the ghosts of those Zoroastrians who cannot ascend, because there are no vultures left to eat them, are wreaking havoc. 

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