Jakarta is one of the liveliest cities in Asia. Continuing from previous episode, Li Kim visited a few haunted attractions of Jakarta. One of the most haunted places she visited is Jeruk Purut Cemetery. Located in the Kemang, an affluent region of the city, the cemetery has become a tourist attraction. Another famous location is the railway track of Bintaro in the outskirts of the city.
The highlight of this episode is a well-known ustaz named Sholeh Pati. He is famous for painting unseen entities blindfolded. He brings Li Kim to find out who are the entities that reside in one of the warehouses of Sunda Kelapa, Jakarta’s oldest port.
The highlight of this episode is a well-known ustaz named Sholeh Pati. He is famous for painting unseen entities blindfolded. He brings Li Kim to find out who are the entities that reside in one of the warehouses of Sunda Kelapa, Jakarta’s oldest port.
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TVTranscript
00:00 It is a wet and gloomy day.
00:01 I am standing here in a cemetery called Jeruk Perut.
00:05 Personally for me, I find cemeteries to be peaceful.
00:09 But to many passerby, that's not the case.
00:12 Because Jeruk Perut, the cemetery over here, is known to the locals as one of the most
00:18 haunted locations in the whole of Jakarta.
00:21 I start this episode here because in this episode, we're going to cover the most haunted
00:26 locations here in Jakarta.
00:28 [music]
00:30 [laughing]
00:32 [music]
01:01 Jakarta has its own fair share of haunted locations that have become even folklore to
01:06 the city's population of over 9 million people.
01:10 Cemeteries have always been a hot spot for such hauntings and the Jeruk Perut Cemetery
01:15 in southern Jakarta is at the top of the list.
01:19 Not many know when the first grave was dug in this cemetery.
01:23 There are some really old graves here.
01:25 But most people consider the modern cemetery of Jeruk Perut to have started in the year
01:30 2000 when the government sanctioned the land for cemetery use.
01:34 Today the cemetery is over 9 hectares in size.
01:38 But it is these few acres here that is said to have the most haunted sightings.
01:43 We met an elderly man who lives near the cemetery and who is very familiar with the hot spots
01:48 here.
01:49 I heard that in this cemetery, there are three very haunted locations.
01:55 And the Twin Trees is quite famous.
01:59 Can you tell me more about it?
02:01 There are two vampires there.
02:04 Each tree has one vampire.
02:06 You have been here for many years.
02:09 Have you seen the kuntilana?
02:11 Yes, I have seen them.
02:14 Once, nearly every night during my shift.
02:18 What do they look like?
02:19 They look like normal humans.
02:21 Usually a female.
02:23 And they talk.
02:24 Do they disturb passersby?
02:26 Yes.
02:28 They will disturb visitors who come here.
02:31 Especially those who are not brave.
02:34 They will disturb.
02:36 And also, they will disturb women who come here when they are menstruating.
02:41 Which is why we don't allow women who are having their menstruation to come here.
02:47 That's a big taboo.
02:48 How do the spirits or the kuntilana disturb people?
02:52 It gets into somebody's body.
02:57 They will be possessed maybe for 10 minutes.
03:00 And they will leave.
03:01 Not that long.
03:02 Except if it's a jinn.
03:05 Which takes a longer period to make them leave the body.
03:10 Really long time.
03:11 It depends on what the jinn is.
03:16 It could be gandurubo, a big monster.
03:19 But if it's a vampire, it goes away quickly.
03:23 I've also heard that there is an old well that is extremely haunted.
03:32 Can you show me where it is?
03:34 Yes.
03:35 There is a well.
03:37 A very old well.
03:39 Over there.
03:40 Pak O'Ock took me to the old well, where the caretakers of the cemetery pull up water
03:47 for the plants.
03:49 According to him, there are many wells in the cemetery.
03:52 But it is this one that is particularly haunted.
03:55 The well looks old, creepy and deep.
03:59 According to the residents around here, the spirits that appear around the well include
04:03 a group of ghostly Japanese soldiers.
04:07 When asked why, they said that the well was once used to dump the dead bodies of the Japanese
04:12 soldiers.
04:13 Then, Pak O'Ock took me to a huge old tree, about 200 metres away from the well.
04:21 And it is said that the tree was home to a female vampire, or what they call kuntilanak.
04:27 The vampire stays on the branches and would come down to haunt people walking in the vicinity.
04:33 According to Pak O'Ock, hauntings usually occur on Wednesday nights.
04:41 I have been working as a grave digger in this cemetery for nearly 20 years.
04:47 And yes, in this cemetery there are always reports of strange sightings.
04:53 Like over there near the big tree, there is supposed to be an entity there.
04:59 And over there, near the twin trees, usually a kuntilanak or vampire is seen there.
05:06 Or an old person.
05:09 And once in a while, you can even see some ghost children.
05:12 And sometimes, near the stall over there, people give these ghosts some offerings to
05:17 appease them.
05:19 Yes, I usually sleep here alone, sometimes with a friend.
05:24 And if you ask me if I have felt anything, of course I have, all the time.
05:31 But I personally have not seen the famous ghost pastor with my own eyes.
05:39 I believe it is just a myth.
05:44 So at least two people have confirmed that the sightings do happen in Jerukpurut, though
05:49 both of them have never seen the famous headless pastor supposedly haunting this cemetery for
05:54 the past 30 to 40 years.
06:10 The Paranormal Zone is on a quest to visit the most haunted locations in Jakarta.
06:15 Earlier, we visited Jerukpurut Cemetery, reputed to be the most haunted destination.
06:21 But my guide, Mas Iwan, is taking me to another location.
06:25 This is the infamous Casablanca Tunnel.
06:28 On certain nights, a female ghost, dressed in red, appears looking sad and forlorn.
06:35 Another supposedly haunted building is the Saedah Building in the city centre.
06:40 Why is it abandoned?
06:41 The whole 28-storey building has been closed since 2007.
06:46 And whilst officially the reason for the abandonment is said to be for structural reasons, others
06:52 say that the tenants could not stand the harassment by ghosts residing in the building.
06:57 By the very fact that many Jakarta residents believe in the existence of ghosts, it would
07:02 not be strange that we would meet another celebrity ghost hunter, Ustaz Solepati, a
07:08 religious guru who has the third eye and the ability to paint spirits even when blindfolded.
07:14 Ustaz, can you tell me, when did you realise you had this gift and when did you start drawing
07:20 the spirits?
07:23 It all began when I died at the age of eight, or maybe nine.
07:31 When I came back to life, I started drawing on paper and canvas.
07:35 That's how it began.
07:38 Ustaz Solepati keeps all his paintings of ghosts that he has seen throughout Indonesia
07:42 in his own gallery near his house.
07:45 There are thousands of paintings.
07:47 And once in a while, he would invite children from the village and teach them how to paint
07:51 the unseen, and teach them not to be afraid of the paranormal world.
07:58 Now I want you to draw, not colour what you have seen.
08:04 Or if you see any ghosts here, just draw them.
08:12 Ustaz, can you please explain to me, how do you see these entities?
08:23 Or shall I say, how do these entities show themselves to you?
08:29 Yes, like I mentioned before, I was told that I died when I was a child and then came back
08:35 to life.
08:36 Ever since then, I have been able to see objects and entities from the astral world.
08:42 And the first ghost I saw was a toyo, or an imp, followed by a genderubo, and then many
08:48 others after that.
08:51 In my village, my house is a typical Javanese house.
08:56 And in that house, there lived a large genderubo.
09:00 When these beings expel any sort of matter, it is physical.
09:04 And I would have to clean my house every day of this dirty matter.
09:10 From then on, I decided to learn more about these beings.
09:15 I always had a talent for drawing and painting, and could have inherited it from my grandparents.
09:25 And since I have these two talents, to paint and also see the astral beings, I combine
09:32 them so it enables me to transfer to the canvas what I see in the astral world.
09:40 I personally think this is an extraordinary talent.
09:43 I think no one in the world has this talent, to both see and paint astral beings.
09:49 What rituals do you practice in order to prepare yourself to see them and then to draw them?
09:55 There are no specific rituals for me to see these astral beings.
10:02 But if I find difficulty putting them on canvas, I will meditate and pray.
10:09 I will try other methods in order to visualize the images, and paint them in detail for the
10:14 benefit of my viewers.
10:18 To show them that these are the entities that I see in front of me.
10:26 Having the gift to be able to see and to paint them is what I would call perhaps a secondary
10:34 gift.
10:37 What do you do with these drawings?
10:40 There must be a deeper purpose for this gift of yours.
10:44 Can you explain that?
10:48 If I were to evaluate what I have in me, this ability to paint these manifestations, manifestations
10:58 that before this many people only knew about or could not see clearly.
11:07 With my gift, which is maybe from God, I am able to clarify these images, these manifestations,
11:19 so others can see it for themselves through me.
11:24 So that they have a better understanding and therefore reduce their fear of what their
11:30 eyes cannot see.
11:31 Would that be correct?
11:33 That can be answered in two ways, but both have similar meanings.
11:38 Firstly, education.
11:42 And the second one is to give information to those who don't understand what these beings
11:46 are.
11:48 Has Ustaz compared yourself with another Dukun who has the same ability to see, and perhaps
11:58 both of you go to the same place and draw separately?
12:03 Do you draw the same thing or is it completely different?
12:07 Yes, there was one time when I went for a ritual with a friend to exercise a location.
12:13 The house was haunted and the owners were always disturbed.
12:17 My friend and I both painted.
12:19 Luckily both images that we saw and painted were similar.
12:23 If there were any differences, they were just in the colours.
12:27 The ratio would be about 30 to 70.
12:30 30% different and 70% similar.
12:34 The challenge is that the jinns or these astral beings have the ability to show themselves
12:39 in any form they want to, including that of our loved ones.
12:44 The trick is when I paint, I need to be able to ensure they don't change their form or
12:50 shape.
12:51 And if this happens, either the entity will change or my painting will change.
12:57 What I find most intriguing about Ustaz Soleipati is his ability to paint what he sees.
13:04 Because most of the time, I am told what they see, but I can't see it.
13:09 At least we have what he sees on a piece of canvas.
13:15 If nothing at all, it gives you an impression.
13:18 Is it real?
13:19 Is it a fact?
13:20 Like I always say, what we see may not be real and what is real, we may not see.
13:28 We leave Ustaz Soleipati and his ghostly paintings for the moment and we'll meet him later in
13:33 the show.
13:34 But now, we're taking a train and heading to a small suburb of Jakarta called Bintaro,
13:40 where its reputation challenges that of Jeroboam Perut as the most haunted location in Jakarta.
13:46 What's more interesting is the tragic origins of this location.
13:57 I am now standing at the crossing of Persang Rahan here in Bintaro.
14:03 Two hundred metres down that way after the bend was the tragic train crash in 1987, early
14:11 morning of October 19, where 156 lives were lost.
14:16 Until today, that is the most tragic train accident here in Jakarta.
14:21 This location has been infamously labelled as one of the most haunted locations here
14:26 in Jakarta.
14:28 People have had sightings and have heard screaming and crying.
14:34 Female spirits have been wandering.
14:37 How much of all this lingers from the restless souls of this tragic accident?
14:45 The railway crossing in Bintaro is a very busy one.
14:49 In between trains, hundreds of people and vehicles cross it without fear.
14:54 Even when the crossing alarm is blaring, people still rush across.
14:58 As long as the train is not inside, it is safe to cross.
15:01 And as usual, most crossings like this have guards and Bintaro is no different.
15:06 We asked this guard about his experiences working near the deadliest train crash location
15:12 in Indonesia's history.
15:13 During my early days as a rail guard, I was usually disturbed.
15:18 My legs would be shifted, my seat would be moved by a strong gust of wind.
15:23 Once during a night shift, it was drizzling and about half past two in the morning, the
15:28 crossing bell was sounded.
15:30 I got up and saw a girl near the gate at the crossing.
15:40 But for the residents of Bintaro, sightings like this are not strange anymore.
15:45 It happens all the time.
15:49 We met another resident who reported similar incidents.
15:55 I once saw a group of people walking towards the crossing facing this way.
16:01 Suddenly, they vanished from my sight.
16:05 And on another occasion, I saw a lady dressed in white crawling down the tracks.
16:11 Even now as we talk, I can feel the tragic atmosphere of the day the accident happened.
16:17 I can hear and feel the pain of some of the victims.
16:22 A tragic footnote to this story is that on December 9, 2013, near the exact spot where
16:28 the original crash happened, another fatal train collision occurred.
16:33 Fortunately this time, only seven passengers lost their lives.
16:37 The question then remains, is this place haunted or cursed?
16:41 Sunda Kelapa is centuries old and it is the birthplace of Jakarta as one of the most
17:07 important ports in this region.
17:09 It is still operational today and one unique aspect of this old port is that only wooden
17:14 ships are allowed to dock to load and unload their goods.
17:19 In fact, some of these ships are also hundreds of years old and still operational even until
17:24 today.
17:25 Given the old history of this port, there have been stories and legends told.
17:32 The famous one being the sighting of a white crocodile ghost or is it a monster?
17:41 Just a short distance from the Sunda Kelapa port is the Bahari Maritime Museum, constructed
17:47 from an old shipping warehouse.
17:50 Here one can learn how Jakarta or Batavia as it was once called by the Dutch, grew as
17:55 an important maritime station.
18:05 This building was originally a warehouse before it was renovated to become a museum.
18:11 As you can see from the walls, there is history and probably stories to tell.
18:17 Tonight we invite Ustaz Soleipati to come and see if there are restless souls or entities
18:23 in this vicinity.
18:27 We wait as darkness falls on Sunda Kelapa and meet Ustaz Soleipati near the old ships.
18:43 How do you feel about this environment?
18:46 I see an invisible gateway here.
18:48 It has a strong aura and feels mysterious.
18:53 And over there, there is a pathway that will take you to a village of the unseen.
19:01 He also introduced us to an assistant who is easily possessed by the spirit of a woman
19:06 named Putri.
19:08 He suddenly falls to the ground and wakes up supposedly possessed by this mysterious
19:12 teenage girl.
19:13 Assalamualaikum.
19:30 We began to set up our equipment for the evening and Ustaz Soleipati prepared his painting
19:49 tools.
19:50 Tools that my team bought for him at his request.
19:53 We also checked the blindfold that Ustaz Soleipati was to use.
19:57 The blindfold was thick and to further ensure that he cannot see the canvas while painting,
20:02 a black hood goes over the blindfold.
20:08 While Putri was on her own painting a portrait of someone named Catherine, Ustaz Soleipati
20:13 began to paint his visions whilst being fully blindfolded.
20:32 When I
20:59 started painting the big tall entity that I had seen, it sprayed its hideous odour
21:04 that hurt my eyes very much.
21:10 It also had a very negative energy.
21:13 My view was blackened and I could not paint.
21:16 I could not see through it and was unable to paint on the canvas.
21:24 Ustaz Soleipati continued his painting to show us what had attacked him but this time
21:29 without his blindfold.
21:31 And what he painted showed a strange man beside a huge fanged monster that locals called the
21:38 Gondorawo.
22:05 Most cities have haunted locations.
22:07 Jakarta with a historical past is no exception.
22:11 We have visited several of the known most haunted locations from the Bintaro railway
22:16 crossing to the Joropurit Cemetery.
22:19 A place is a space which records emotions and events thus creating history.
22:26 As time passes, the space can change or not depending on the subsequent events, time and
22:34 place.
22:35 So what is a haunted place?
22:38 Is it merely a label that us human beings have created?
22:43 Or do the spirits really occupy the place waiting to haunt us?
22:50 I am left now thinking about this.
22:53 Are these places truly haunted?
22:55 Or are they myths and legends and tales perpetuated by human beings?
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