5 Scariest Places in Indonesia

Scariest Places in Indonesia

Indonesians seem to have a preoccupation with the supernatural. Starting from the traditional folklores and elaborate burial rites to the current urban legends of haunted places and horror films, the Indonesian obsession for the otherworld seeps into many aspects of Indonesian life. Here’s our Top 5 picks for haunted travel destinations in Indonesia:

Walking Mummies, Tana Toraja

Performed every August to celebrate the harvest in Rindingallo or Baruppu, Toraja Utara, Ma’nene is an annual Torajan ritual for dressing and walking the mummies. Legend has it centuries ago, Pong Rumasek found a body of bones while hunting in the forests of Balla. To honor the body, Pong Rumasek dressed the body and housed it in a proper cave. In return, the spirits of the ancestors visit Pong Rumasek every time he hunts and guides him to good animals.

In the olden days, Torajans conquered the mountains of their homeland on foot. Sometimes someone in the band dies, and to honor the deceased, the living walks the body home so it can be laid in its final resting place in a catacomb that emits preservative substances. Today, the Ma’nene reenacts this phenomenon in honor of deceased relatives. While most people would not think of Toraja as a haunted place in Indonesia, the Torajan heritage of honoring the deceased make it a beautiful destination worth visiting.

Kampung Beting, Pontianak

Sultan Syarif Abdurrahman Al-Qadri, after whom the Masjid Jami in Kampung Beting is named, was the 18th century founder of the Pontianak Sultanate. While evangelizing Islam in his new territory, the Sultan and his disciples navigated the Sungai Kapuas to a haunted place called Pulau Batu Layang in 1771.

Legend has it the Sultan was attacked by an apparition of the puan mati beranak (woman who died in childbirth) while performing dawn prayers. In response, the band fired the island with canons to cleanse it from evil spirits. The band then navigated downstream to the delta where Sungai Kapuas meets Sungai Landak, built the Masjid Jami and a palace for the Sultan, and established a settlement around it called Pontianak. Today, the area is known as Kampung Beting, a floating tropical village where the sacred and the profane coexist side by side.

Lawang Sewu, Semarang

Originally opened in 1907 as the Semarang office of the Dutch Railways, the Lawang Sewu was home to a bloodbath between Japanese troops and the Indonesian army and police. Designed by Dutch architects JF Klinkhamer and BJ Ouendag, this L-shaped art deco building with many tall windows was restored between 2009-2011 after years of neglect.

Today, Lawang Sewu is considered an architectural jewel in the heart Semarang, standing stately in the Komplek Tugu Muda downtown. Sometimes night photo hunts are organised in this haunted place, where ghosts of the deceased are reported to roam around the halls and be caught on camera.

Waruga Sawangan, Minahasa

Located in Sawangan, Airmadidi (about 20 kilometres southeast of Manado), the waruga is the traditional grave of the Minahasa people. The roofed stone monuments house up to five deceased bodies in fetal position, and are decorated with the family emblem as well as images of the deceased’s profession.

Some waruga date well from the 1600s, but the practice was banned from around 1860 by the Dutch government due to a typhoid and cholera plague. Lack of government funding makes it difficult to maintain the otherwise beautiful gardens, grounds, and monuments, giving it the appearance of a haunted place. There is also a small museum within the complex, displaying objects that used to be buried along in the waruga.

Aikima Mummy, Baliem Valley

Deep in the veins of the Jayawijaya is the home of the Dani people’s centuries-old mummies. Situated about 5 kilometres northwest of Wamena, the Baliem Valley is surrounded by majestic mountains where the ancestral spirits are believed to eternally rest, and enchanted natural landmarks believed to be haunted places

According to tradition, only people considered as heroes by the local community may be mummified everyone else gets cremated in a 40-day ceremony and has their ashes stored in gourds as tokens for guardian spirits. There are seven mummies in Wamena, most which are open for visits and one which is guarded by its descendants as a sacred heritage.