In almost every country, there are certain railway tracks and stations that are well known for being haunted by some insatiable souls. From bizarre suicides to terrible accidents, these places have witnessed uncountable macabre incidents, and the ominous pasts seem to still haunt them. Indonesia has too such haunted railway sites that have earned enough infamy, giving terrific experience to some people.
Considered to be Indonesia’s most tragic railway accident that took place on Monday, October 19, 1987 – as two trains, due to an internal miscommunication, collided head-on in the morning of this day, in Bintaro, South Jakarta. Hundreds of passengers met their horrible fate. Some were thrown out on impact, while others bled to death as they were crushed in between pieces of metal.
It was a gruesome scene, and it took almost two days to completely evacuate the bodies. Since this devastating event, the number of accidents on the exact stretch of railway has oddly increased, especially on Monday! Increasingly widespread were stories of drivers who did not notice warning signs of an oncoming train in time. There was also a spike in the number of pedestrians who walked onto the railway tracks, right in front of a speeding train, and they were believed to be possessed by the Deaf Spirit or Hantu Budek.
The most recent major accident took place in late 2013, when an oil tanker was struck by a train, causing a huge explosion taking seven innocent lives. Regarded as Tragedi Bintaro II, the accident reminded the people of the railway’s dark past.
The story doesn’t end there – for decades, the wrecks from railway accidents around Jakarta are brought to a ‘train graveyard’ at Manggarai Station where they are put to rest. Unfortunately, although the trains have stopped operating, the same can’t be said for souls attached to them. Besides the apparitions reported on this site alone, trains have also been seen to be travelling way past operational hours with no one on board.
One of the most bizarre stories is that of a college student who saw what looked like victims inside the train he was on late one night. Surprisingly his legs became sore when he reached his destination. He talked about what happened with the security guards duty, only to find out that there was no train all along and he had run the whole way.
