The time approaches ten o'clock pm as we leave the prayer ceremony outside my neighbor's house. As I depart, I get word from one of my friends informs me that a group of thrill-seekers are going on a ghost-hunt on the grounds of my high school at midnight.
I return, spirited (pun intended) and armed with a camera at the designated time. The instructions are clear:
1. Take pictures of dark, spooky places where you believe a ghost might be present.
2. Do not look at the pictures. They will be investigated after the ghost-hunt is completed.
We spend the next hour creeping around dark alleys, abandoned buildings, and my school grounds, which are extremely spooky at night. Everyone in the group is very intent on finding ghosts, and their attitudes make the experience very genuine and creepy. As we walk around, they tell me stories of past ghost-hunts.
"Last year, I spotted a 'kuntilanak' (a dead mother with dark hair over her face in a white gown) right here. I ran away immediately."
There is no element of fraudulence in the hunt. No one pretends to see a ghost or pretends to be scared. This is no joke, for them it is serious business. And soon it became serious business for myself as well. As the night went on, I felt less like a tourist enjoying their silly ghost hunt and more engulfed in the possibility that there were ghosts all around us.
At one point, I hid in a dark bathroom behind the door and wait for my friends to come looking for me. I pop out and scare one of them. His reaction indicates that doing such things is not cool. I am shamed for m immaturity.
After sufficient pictures are obtained, we head back to a friend's house to analyze the photos. As we look at the pictures, I am informed that the bright spots in the pictures, which may or may not be due to the reflection of the flash off objects in the surroundings, are ghost energies. We shuffle through the pictures and I continually try to point out ghost figures. My suspicions are consistently denied. Silly foreigner, that's no ghost.
After going through all of my photos, no ghosts were seen. Proving two things:
1. I am a horrible amateur ghost photographer.
2. They do not fabricate ghost sightings.
After an amazing ghost-hunting experience, I decided to find out more about Indonesian ghosts, or 'hantu-hantu'. Here is some information that my students shared with me:
Hantu Indonesia
Pocong- a mummy ghosts with a scary face that hops instead of walking.
Kuntilanak- a dead woman with long black hair over her face wearing a white gown who may be pregnant.
Suster Ngesot- A hospital nurse with a broken foot who cannot walk properly, so she crawls. Lives in Jakarta hospital.
Pastur Kepala Buntung- ghost who carries his own head, has a ghost dog with a read eye. Stays on Jakarta graveyards. One must run around the graveyard 7 times to see the ghost.
Tuyul- a small, bald, dead boy.
Noni Belanda- beautiful Dutch girl with long hair and a long, white dress.
Pukang- flying ghost with one leg and a face full of blood who marches through the air like a military person.
I couldn't find a picture of this one.
It should also be noted that as a result of their beliefs, Indonesians LOVE scary movies. My first week here, I was invited to see The Conjuring 2 fives times by my students. I only actually saw it twice. Good movie.
