The security guard and the apartment ghost

There is some weird shit that happens in Indonesia. One of them turned into a tragi-comedy recently.

It all began when a university student Mega Tri Pratiwi wanted to play a prank on her friend. So she dresses up as a Suster Ngesot, a ghost in the Indonesian pantheon of ghosts that dresses up like a nurse (Suster) and who crawls around on her hand and body (Ngesot = crawls around using only hand and body).

Then she parks herself in front of the apartment lift and arranges for her friends to bring the unwitting victim up. Unfortunately for her, the friend was accompanies by a security guard (stapam in Indonesian) who had pretty good security reflexes.

As the video below shows, when the lift door opens her friend jumps back in fright, but the Satpam jumps into action, kicking her in the face and breaking a tooth.

As things are in Indonesia where the rich often bully their way over the poor, the student’s father, a businessman has reported the Satpam to the police for assault. The Satpam is being investigated but online the video has gone viral and on liners, including a Facebook account has been largely unanimous in praising the Satpam and condemning Mega and her father for not taking responsibility for Mega’s actions.

What Unspun wants to know out of this incident, apart from the news that the Satpam would not be prosecuted and in fact rewarded for his actions, is by what feat of fecund imagination did such a ghost come into being?

Why a ghost dressed as a Nurse? Why is she ngesot-ing? Was she struck down? And how did the ghost get the Nurse uniform in the afterlife?

And what is the source of inspiration for the manifestation of other Indonesian ghosts such as :

Kuntilanak, a long haired woman dressed in white with a huge hole in her back

Pocong, a ghosts still in in a death shroud – when Muslims die they are wrapped in a shroud with the head and feet ends tied. Apparently they come back if you forgot to untie the top end when burying.

Tuyul – a little tyke. Indonesia’s equivalent to Chuckie.

All these ghosts have gone into show business with Indonesian filmmakers seeking a quick buck from the nation’s preoccupation to scare the pants out of themselves. The ghosts and videos from the movies are lovingly chronicled here.

You have to wonder about the psyche of the people who think up these ghosts though…