Sophomore Yash Rachepalli, standing at 6 feet with broad shoulders and long arms, may seem fearless to some. But even he is afraid of the supernatural and holds many superstitions.

Rachepalli said that his fear did not come from his family or culture, but rather of his own accord.

It all started when Rachepalli moved to Bangalore, India, in 2011, when he was 10.

“I heard about 20 ghost stories from my friends, and I started playing with the idea of ghosts when I realized the odds of all of these stories being a coincidence,” Rachepalli said.

Rachepalli recalls one of the frightening stories that his friends told him in India.

In the story, a man returns to his hometown after five years and reacquaints with a childhood friend on the streets. They talk for some time. The man later runs into his friend’s parents, who tell the man that his friend has in fact been dead for years.

Since hearing these supernatural stories years ago, Rachepalli has engaged in various methods of warding off the supernatural, such as throwing salt over his shoulder to supposedly “blind the devil waiting there” and even spitting when speaking about plans in order to keep the dark angel from interfering.

In fact, he never walks under ladders or purposefully breaks mirrors. He tries to avoid being awake at 3 a.m., saying he is afraid of the “devil’s hour,” the time when evil can easily transfer between the spiritual world, home of all paranormal activity, and the physical world, home of humans.

“Believing in ghosts has affected my beliefs, affected my choices and affected my actions,” Rachepalli said. “I’ll never be the same again.”