In a country like Indonesia, there just HAS to be a few haunted places, right? Well, there are, and I’m here to tell you that after living in the country for several years, I rate Indonesia as one of the most haunted countries in the world! In this article, I’ve listed some of the most haunted places in Indonesia that I’ve visited. I also, purposely, have left it open to update whenever I visit any new places, so make sure to bookmark it.
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A bit of background about haunted places in Indonesia. I found it strange that there were so many haunted places around the country. When I began to research though, I learned that the Indonesian people are a very superstitious lot. Because when it comes to lost spirits and ghosts, they have a belief, especially in Bali.
This is that spirits tend to find their way to abandoned places. Now, no matter where you are in the world, abandoned places are spooky. There’s no denying that. But in Indonesia, there seems to be a lot of truth to it. In this list of haunted places in Indonesia, many of them are abandoned places, and the vibes are seriously creepy!
Table of Contents
- Taman Festival – Sanur, Bali
- Benteng Fort Willem I – Ambarawa, Central Java
- Gunung Api Purba – Yogyakarta Special Region
- Lawang Sewu – Semarang, Central Java
- Coban Rondo Waterfall – Batu, East Java
- Ghost Palace Hotel – Bedugul, Bali
- Museum Wahanarata – Yogyakarta, Java
- Summary
Taman Festival – Sanur, Bali
Taman Festival is a place that is very close to the main tourism area of Bali, yet many don’t even know about its existence. This is a very creepy place, as well as being quite fascinating.
Basically, Taman Festival is an abandoned theme park from back in the 1990’s. It hardly even opened its doors before it was forced to close them again. It was left as is, and apart from shipping out the crocodiles from the crocodile pond in the center of the park (because why WOULDN’T you have crocodiles in a Theme Park?) the rest was just abandoned.
Entry to Taman Festival is a nominal fee paid at the gate, and you are free to pretty much explore at your will. It’s overgrown and spooky as hell in parts. There are buildings that seriously gave me the chills, and places that every fiber in your body screams at you not to walk into.
Also, be careful of the crocodile that they apparently missed and still lives in the park. Apparently…
Benteng Fort Willem I – Ambarawa, Central Java
Located about an hour drive from Semarang in a great little town called Ambarawa is Benteng Fort Willem I. Apart from being one of the most haunted places in Indonesia, it’s also one of the most fascinating to visit, especially around sunset.
An abandoned fort that was built in the early 1800’s, Benteng Fort Willem I gets most of its ghosts and demons from the time around the Japanese occupation in WWII. They used it as an internment camp for Dutch locals that attempted to reject the occupation, and became trouble makers. Treated as you would expect in a prisoner of war camp, the history of the Fort became very bloody and violent.
Today, although part of the structure is used as a prison, you can visit and explore the rest. Other than a small area that houses locals, the rest is completely abandoned. If you visit, head beyond the main structures and check out some of the outlying buildings that sit in isolated silence. Beware though, that you may not like what you find.
Or what finds you…
Gunung Api Purba – Yogyakarta Special Region
Gunung Api Purba, also known as Nglanggeran Ancient Volcano, is a short hike/mountain climb only about and hour drive East of Yogyakarta. Featuring some of the most incredible and unique views that you will find around the area, the mountain is also surrounded by a lot of creepy stories.
The climb itself is beautiful, but when climbing it myself some weird things happened to us. First, there is a slot canyon that looks only about 6 inches wide. Yet when we tried to go through it, it was suddenly a LOT WIDER. Then, looking back from the other end, we still couldn’t work out how we got through. The locals call it a “rubber” canyon, and other than that they have no other way to explain it.
Also on the hike, we were at a rest point and could hear a group of children behind us in the previous canyon. We never saw them, and when we asked at the ticket office upon leaving, they said no other hikers, especially children, had been on the mountain all day.
If you climb the mountain at night time, even stranger things happen, and this occurs regularly as people climb to the peak for sunrise.
Other than the sounds of children playing, or sounds of someone walking alongside you in the jungle, pacing you, which is creepy enough, the most common is the Jamu Woman.
Jamu is a traditional hot beverage that Indonesians drink. The Jamu woman “ghost” greets travelers and tries to have them buy the Jamu from her. It can be seriously freaky, causing one particular set of hikers to run from her, and when they reached the peak they found glasses of steaming hot Jamu waiting for them.
Freaky.
Lawang Sewu – Semarang, Central Java
Lawang Sewu, also known as “Thousand Doors” is one of the most historical buildings in Semarang, Central Java. This large, white building is located right in the center of town and is one of the most recognizable places in the city.
The building is 117 years old, and gets its name from the hundreds (not quite thousands) of doors throughout its 3 stories. Hundreds of visitors tour through the building every week, and it’s become a very popular spot for Instagram photos. Owned by the Indonesian Railways, it also has some great museums and displays about the history of the railways in Java.
What makes Lawang Sewu creepy though, is the prison in the basement and the atrocities surrounding both them and the building itself. Much like Benteng Fort Willem I, these come from the period of Japanese occupation in WWII.
Lawang Sewu is infamous for one particular incident where Japanese soldiers brutally raped and murdered female Dutch prisoners during the occupation. The ghosts of the victims, covered in blood, now wander the halls, along with the ghosts of Dutch guards.
Coban Rondo Waterfall – Batu, East Java
East Java’s Batu is a popular hot spot for locals on weekends and public holidays. Famous for its theme parks and nightlife, it’s also the beautiful waterfalls in the surrounding mountains that many come to visit. Of these, Coban Rondo is one of the most popular.
The waterfall features a long, thundering stream of water falling from the cliff above and smashing on the rocks below. It sees many visitors, especially locals, every day.
There is a legend that surrounds the waterfall though, that makes many think twice before visiting. Especially if you are a young, unmarried couple.
The waterfall, also known as the Widow Waterfall, is named after a woman that was left waiting behind the waterfall, while her newly married husband fought a duel for her hand with another man. Both men died, and she subsequently lived out her days waiting for him.
Her ghost can often be seen and heard at night time, crying loudly at the base of the Waterfall.
The legend also says that if you are a dating couple, unmarried, and visit the waterfall, then you are destined to break up. So beware…
Ghost Palace Hotel – Bedugul, Bali
The Ghost Palace Hotel in Bali is one of the most well known on this list. It’s hard to visit, as technically it’s closed to the public for safety reasons. But there are many stories of visitors managing to get inside by paying one of the locals that run stalls near the entrance.
This Hotel sits on the top of the hill above Bedugul right in the middle of Bali. It has wonderful views, and would have been a pretty awesome place to stay. It never finished construction though, as many, many construction workers were dying on the site.
This mostly happened due to cost cutting, lack of safety, and terrible conditions that the workers were subjected to on the project. It got to the stage that construction was forced to close down, not long before it was due for completion. Now, the hotel is closed off, and the jungle is slowly taking over the site once again.
If you do manage to get inside, beware. Not only is it unsafe, but it is known as being one of the most haunted places in Indonesia, with ghosts of the souls that were lost during construction still clinging to the site. Don’t stand too close to an edge whilst enjoying the views either, lest a ghostly hand in the back causes you to join them as permanent residents…
Museum Wahanarata – Yogyakarta, Java
This is a bit different from the other places when it comes to the most haunted places in Indonesia. But there are some creepy things that happen here.
Also known as Museum Kereta, Museum Wahanarata can be found right near the Kraton and Taman Sari in Yogyakarta. The Museum houses the Sultan’s collection of horse drawn carriages that have been used over many decades for all sorts of events, including funerals.
Now, I’m not sure that much ever happens in the Museum itself, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. The exhibitions in here are mostly quite old, and you can tell they have been sitting on display for a long time, even though they are very well maintained.
When you leave though, take a close look at your photos. There MAY be some people in the photos that were not in the Museum when you were there. At least, you didn’t see them.
I took a photo of one of the oldest carriages in the place. When we left, we were looking through the photos, and were shocked to see the unmistakable figure of a woman sitting in the carriage. My partner looked at her own photo that she took at the same time, with no woman’s figure. We couldn’t believe our eyes.
Later, when we showed friends, there was no figure.
Upon asking some locals in the know, they told us it is a very common occurrence, and there is even a photo in the Museum of the carriage that the woman sometimes appears in. Creepy.
Summary
There are some very haunted places in Indonesia. I’ve heard of some more that I haven’t personally been to, but will update this list as I do. Get along and check them out, because some are amazing places to visit just in their own right!
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