From museums to train tracks, urban legends remain alive

Jakarta not only offers the most sophisticated and modern urban lifestyle of any city in the country, it also offers a myriad of spine-tingling stories that have been told throughout the years to amuse and spook. Here are the five places with the most famous urban legends:

1. Jakarta History Museum, known as Fatahillah Museum, West Jakarta.

This museum carries the legend of the most gruesome events.

Built more than three centuries ago, the museum contains three low-ceiling underground water prisons, two for men and one for women, where the Dutch used to imprison Indonesian insurgents and Dutch rebels.

Many died of asphyxiation and disease in these cells.

At night, or on quiet days, people say apparitions of a man dressed in a colonial uniform, along with the pained shrieks of prisoners, can be heard coming from the dungeon.

“Some people say that they have seen ghosts in the museum, but I don’t believe it as I have never experienced anything strange or mystical,” said Sopyan, a kiosk owner near the museum.

One of the rooms in the museum was used as the location for a ghost reality show on a local TV station.

“But no ghosts were captured during the show, just a table moving by itself,” said a tour guide of the museum who refused to be named.

2. Ancol Bridge, North Jakarta.

A movie and a TV series were made based on what is probably the city’s most famous urban legend, about a dead young woman who is said to still walk the bridge as a ghost.

Residents nearby and drivers have claimed that they often saw a female ghost, known as Mariam, when they passed the bridge located on Jl. R.E. Martadinata, North Jakarta.

“Legend has it that in the 1960s, a young woman was raped by a man on a wooden boat and her body was dumped into the river that passes underneath this bridge,” said Afriyanto, an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver who has been living in Ancol for more than 20 years.

The film titled Si Manis Jembatan Ancol (the darling of Ancol bridge) was released in 1993, while the TV series that ensued was first aired on TV in 1996 and was dubbed one of the most successful in Indonesia.

The bridge collapsed in 2010 due to seawater abrasion, but has since been repaired.

3. Casablanca Tunnel, South Jakarta.

Those who frequently take this tunnel, be warned! Rumor has it that many accidents have occurred on this tunnel after drivers saw the ghost of a woman appear before them.

People say that the ghost is that of a woman who was buried alive by her boyfriend while she was pregnant.

Casablanca Tunnel used to be part of Menteng Pulo Cemetery, but the burial ground was split in two to make way for the road.

During the construction of the road, the story goes, an undamaged body was found in the earth. An incident that occurred in the late 1990s when a man hung himself using a banner has also made the tunnel, connecting Jl. Casablanca and Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, spookier for some drivers.

Drivers who believe in the story usually sound their horn before they enter the tunnel as a “greeting”.

Workmen of the new elevated road project take caution.

In 2007, the story was made into a movie.

4. Jeruk Purut cemetery, South Jakarta.

This is the story of a headless pastor who strolls through the cemetery carrying his own head while a black dog follows him wherever he goes.

It was said that a watchman of the Jeruk Purut cemetery in South Jakarta encountered the decapitated pastor roaming amid tombs looking for his graveyard decades ago.

The ghost tale has compelled movie producers to put the horror story on the silver screen.

The eight-hectare cemetery has been expanding, with the most recent extension located at the northern part of the Jeruk Purut main road.

5. Bintaro rail tracks, Tangerang.

In October 1987, a horrific train collision between a train leaving from Rangkasbitung and a train from Tanah Abang took place near Teluk Betung, in Bintaro, Tangerang, not far from Sudimara train station. The collision killed hundreds of people.

It was one of the worst train crashes in the country’s history.

People call the route spooky because the sounds of people crying and shrieking are often heard along the route. Some even say that they see strange figures clad in black sarongs moving around the rail tracks, as if trying to disturb the engine driver and the passengers. —JP