Is There A Luxurious Apartment Under Borella Cemetary?
A Colombo Urban Legend and The Dark History
Hi, I hope everyone is doing well in these days of social isolation. I have not posted anything new on my Medium blog recently, so I guess this would be a good time to write a blog post.
Everyone has seen or at least heard about the Borella Cemetery, the final resting place form celebrities, politicians, and people from the top of the social hierarchy in Colombo. Not to mention it is the largest Cemetary in Sri Lanka.
I’m going to write regarding an urban legend about the Colombo Borella Cemetery. I first heard this couple of years back from my partner, but today, someone else told me the same story, so I decided to write about it.
The Story
There are two versions of this story, but they are almost the same, both stories tell about a lavish underground apartment built under the Borella Cemetery.
And according to one version, it was built and owned by some wealthy foreigners, probably dating back to the pre-independent era.
The current owners would visit Sri Lanka around once a year, stay at their lavish apartment, host some luxurious parties, and leave the island. The story goes on to say that they do this as a ritual every year.
According to the second version of the story, the underground apartment with catacombs. The catacombs contain bodies of the deceased of a wealthy family from Sri Lanka that lives abroad.
The family members are said to visit Sri Lanka, once a year. They will host a party there at least once a year, as a gathering of the family, and also remember their deceased family members.
However, there is no evidence to prove whether such an apartment exists under the Borella cemetery. But now that I heard this story again, I will try to dig again to find if the story is real, or what started this story.
The dark history of Borella Cemetary
No matter what you want to believe, the Borella cemetery is a place with a dark history.
On November 13th, 1989, Rohana Wijeweera, who lead two unsuccessful coups to overthrow the Sri Lankan government, was assassinated and secretly cremated at the Boralla Cemetary.
The Borella Cemetary is also a place for a mass grave during the Eelam war, where it was used to bury a group of Tamil Tiger rebels. (I was unable to find the source about this story, but I read it on a Sunday Newspaper, several years ago.)
So what do you believe? Is there an apartment under Borella Cemetary?
Enjoyed reading this post? If you enjoyed it don’t forget to share it.
