Indonesian village seek help from ‘Ghosts’ to keep people indoors

A 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.Kepuh village in Indonesia thus have mysterious white figures jumping out at unsuspecting passers-by, then gliding off under a full-moon sky.

Indonesian folklores have elaborate descriptions of ‘pocong’, the ghostly figures, typically wrapped in white shrouds with powdered faces and kohl-rimmed eyes. “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.

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.