'Ghosts' Keep Indonesians Indoors & Away From Coronavirus

[Yithian]

KEPUH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Kepuh village in Indonesia has been haunted by ghosts recently – mysterious white figures jumping out at unsuspecting passersby, then gliding off under a full-moon sky.

The village on Java island has deployed a cast of “ghosts” to patrol the streets, hoping that age-old superstition will keep people indoors and safely away from the coronavirus.

“We wanted to be different and create a deterrent effect because ‘pocong’ are spooky and scary,” said Anjar Pancaningtyas, head of a village youth group that coordinated with the police on the unconventional initiative to promote social distancing as the coronavirus spreads.
Known as “pocong”, the ghostly figures are typically wrapped in white shrouds with powdered faces and kohl-rimmed eyes. In Indonesian folklore they represent the trapped souls of the dead.

But when they first started appearing this month they had the opposite effect. Instead of keeping people in they bought them out to catch a glimpse of the apparitions.

The organisers have since changed tack, launching surprise pocong patrols, with village volunteers playing the part of the ghosts.

Full Article:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...doors-and-away-from-coronavirus-idUSKCN21V0E4

 

[Xanatic*]

I believe they did something similar in the american south...

 

[McAvennie]

When I worked in Jakarta a couple of years back one of my interns told us she could see ghosts and that most around the old part of the city were Dutch colonial.

She said there was one which she had seem in the women's toilets where we were working.

One night out at a bar she went into more detail if what she saw and explained we all have a guide who is with us at all times, she said she could see mine and offered to describe it. She also offered to briefly give me her power so I could see what she could see.

I turned down both offers as it was a pretty creepy vibe already and the hotel we were staying in had quite AN unsettling aura.

Have often wondered if she was just pulling a Westerner's leg or if I would have seen anything!

 

[Yithian]

Follow up with terrifying video:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1249747929373392896

 

[Frideswide]

Nice example of a knotted shroud!

 

[Lord Lucan]

Malaysia too...

Coronavirus ‘ghost’ haunts city streets to keep people inside in Malaysia

If the novel coronavirus doesn’t get you in Malaysia, the ghost will.

A Malaysian man is moonlighting as a ghost during the COVID-19 lockdown in Terengganu in an effort to scare superstitious citizens into obeying government orders to stay indoors.

Muhammad Urabil Alias, 38, says the whole thing started as a prank to keep teenagers from breaking the lockdown, but it’s taken on a life of its own since a photo of him in costume went viral.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6761969/coronavirus-ghost-malaysia/

 

[Kondoru]

Oh, this made my day!