With its beautiful turquoise waters, pathways absent of motor vehicles, and view over the dry mountains of Lombok, Gili Meno is the perfect island getaway. But by night, as Christopher Laursen experienced, you may not feel alone in the dark.
In July 2012, I visited the island Gili Meno off the northwest coast of Indonesia’s Lombok, home to the mostly Muslim Sasak people. Renowned for its pristine turquoise waters and beach – the best in Indonesia according to Lonely Planet - this small island of 300 people is the quietest of three Gilis.
Despite its relaxing beauty, there was something particularly uncanny about being on Gili Meno. I am not prone to feeling this way, but two nights in a row walking from one island to the other along the coast under the starlit sky, I felt like there was someone following my friends and me. But when I turned to look, there was no one there. It was a fascinating experience, but it did not make me feel ill at ease.
There is spirit lore on the island and I’m interested in learning more the next time I visit it. Going for a walk in the interior of the island, I came across Jalan Pocong (Pocong Street). This small street, according to the owners of the homestay where I was staying, gives people an eerie feeling if they walk on it at night. The pocong is a significant part of Muslim spirit lore in Indonesia and Malaysia. They are souls of the deceased dressed in the white shroud in which they are buried which is tied over the top of their head and around their neck.
Above: Jalan Pocong [photo by Christopher Laursen].
Below: To exemplify, some pictures of people dressed as pocong [credits: Right photo; left photo].
One of my friends who I travelled to Gili with, Florencia from Buenos Aires, Argentina, had a strange experience in the early morning hours in her bungalow at our homestay. She was sleeping on her side facing the sliding glass door of the bathroom, and suddenly she woke up. Standing about one and a half metres from her in front of the glass door was the silhouette of a woman. The room was lit slightly by the light from outside, but Florencia could not make out any distinguishing features, however she could tell it was a woman by long hair that fell over her shoulders. She couldn’t see the woman’s face, but she felt that the woman was staring at her. At first she thought it was our other friend, Monica, who was sharing the room with her. She looked to see Monica sleeping beside her and she looked back at the woman who stood there for a further few seconds before backing away to blend into the shadow of the wall. Florencia woke Monica up, and by then, the woman had vanished. She checked the time at it was precisely 4 a.m. This experience unsettled Florencia, who was alone in the bungalow the next night as Monica returned to Bali. She slept with the lights on for part of the night. She never had any such experience before, and never thought it would happen to her.
(Interestingly, on the other side of the world, another person who is close to me also experienced something ghostly and hard to explain last week. That story will have to wait until a later time.)
The bungalows where we were staying were quite new, and I didn’t ask the family that owned it about any related experiences. I may do so the next time I visit.
The last story to tell from Gili Meno comes with some great photographs. I came across an abandoned resort complex called the Bounty Beach Club Bungalows. According to the people who ran my homestay, this was owned by a Balinese gentleman who suddenly died three years ago, and when he did the resort shut down and was abandoned. It operated for around seven years and was quite an amazing complex as the below photographs show, and included many Balinese touches, including a temple and places to make Hindu offerings with each building on the resort. The abandoned resort consists of very beautiful double bungalows on stilts in a forest, with pools, statues, bars, and a long dock that has since disappeared. Online, I found out that “The Bounty Beach Club Bungalows consists of 26 air conditioned rooms. The Bounty Cruise takes you direct to the hotel from Bali.” It is named after a shipwreck off the coast of Meno.
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[All content © 2012 Christopher Laursen unless credited otherwise. Please contact him for permission if you wish to republish any words or images from this website.]
[Note from Editor: Comment reprinted from original article posted on christopherlaursen.com]
This is an excellent article and photographs – gives a great glimpse into the paranormal in Bali
Thanks so much, Sue! Gili Meno is just off the coast of Lombok, which although it is the neighbouring island to Bali, it is like a different planet. I will no doubt post more about Bali in the near future.
[Note from Editor: Comment reprinted from original article posted on christopherlaursen.com]
I agree a wonderful write-up of a very intriguing place. I have had the sensation of being followed before too, and also without alarm. Do we become accustomed to these things when our studies involve seeking them out? Really enjoying the photos and look forward to your next article!
Yes, because it’s something I study, I was simply intrigued by the feeling and carried on with my walk. It could be quite a different experience for someone who hasn’t read a lot of literature on ghostly phenomena.
[Note from Editor: Comment reprinted from original article posted on christopherlaursen.com]
Christopher, I had a similar experience about 20 years ago on Gili Air, no mushrooms consumed. I was with my husband and blamed the malaria medication for halucinations! We still talk about it, he nearly burnt down the bungalow leaping out of bed to get the people I could see and knocking over the lantern.
Now we are going back, and I saw your post and had a think about it. We have both been a bit resistant to going back to the island subconsciously, and will stay on the mainland. It was a place steeped in superstition, and fusions of different older religions with Islam.
Anyway, how funny!
Hi Lisa: Thanks so much for sharing your experience. Indeed malaria medication can be nasty. The side effects of the pills versus the chance of getting malaria – which is worst? When I was travelling through a potential malaria zone in 2001, I used a weekly pill called Larium, and whenever I took it, it had negative hallucinatory effects, particularly a feeling that other people were conspiring against me. I read that around 10% of people who use it have such side effects. Once out of the malaria area, I just stopped taking them. It sounds like you and your husband had a pretty strange experience, whether it was the malaria meds or not! I think the Gilis might be quite different than what you would have encountered 20 years ago – a lot of development and now highly accessible to tourists from Bali via a 90-minute fast boat trip. If you feel drawn to explore the islands again, I would highly recommend them. Revisiting a place years later can often help a person come to terms with the anxieties or fears they have from a past experience they had on it.
[Note from Editor: Comment reprinted from original article posted on christopherlaursen.com]
my partner and I returned from the Gili’s last week and found that Meno was by far our fav. whilst neither of us experienced any kind of the encounters above we talked about how we thought the abandoned resort came to an end, and funnily enough we both felt there was something particularly eery about the island. would be intrigued to learn more.
Very interesting that you had an eerie feeling on Meno. If I hear of anything new, I will definitely write more about it here.
[Note from Editor: Comment reprinted from original article posted on christopherlaursen.com]
Hi Chris,
I just wanted to let you know that the Bounty Bungalows has been abandoned for more than 3 years. My husband and I travelled there in Aug 2008. We came across the Bounty Bungalows while wandering around Gili Meno, and even back then it looked as is if no one had been there for years. I can’t believe you actually went in and took photos, it’s such a creepy place. Yet I was drawn to it. My husband, who is Indonesian, stopped me, and said that I couldn’t go in because there are lots of spirits in there. Still, 4 years on, I’m curious as to what happened. A grand hotel can’t have become in that state overnight.
Dear Stephanie: Thanks for your comment – so interesting! I actually just returned to Bali after some intensive research travel on other side of the planet, and I’m delighted to find your comment. I’m thinking of heading back to Gili in the next month or so for some sun and seaside. Perhaps I will find out some more information about the abandoned resort while I’m there. So far, all I know is that the owner died and the place was shut down.
[Note from Editor: Comment reprinted from original article posted on christopherlaursen.com]
Chris,
I found a website you will be interested in. Check out acouplevagabonds.com. These people have also taken great photographs of abandoned hotels on Gili Meno. Please let me know how your trip to the Gili’s go.
Regards
Steph
[Note from Editor: Comment reprinted from original article posted on christopherlaursen.com]
Hi Chris,
Great article, my girlfriend and I just came from Gili Meno this morning (Halloween!!). Last night we walked through the forest past the Bounty. Although it was a full moon the clouds were covering much of the sky at the time and it was pretty spooky but then what derelict hotel in the forest wouldnt be a bit eerie after dark. As for the reasons for its demise, we heard it just shut up shop some time after the Bali bombings in 2002 due to the adverse effects on tourism and the buildings were left to fall into disrepair. Apparently the same owner still owns the land and may be looking to rebuild sometime soon. What I found particularly interesting is that the owner is also apparently the owner of Ku De Ta in Bali along with dozens of high end resorts throughout asia. But thats another story and probably not ghost related.
As for Jalan Pocong iit would be good to know where about that is – maybe you could mark the locations on google maps and show us? I’ll be very interested to hear where your research leads. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if there were some great stories and peculior spirits on on that enchanting little island. Hopefully future developers will be sensitive and not ruin such a special place.
Hi Andy! Thanks so much for sharing more of what you learned about the Bounty. That’s very useful, especially since I plan on going back to the Gilis for a bit of a break and to do a follow-up piece. Ku De Ta is a pretty massive resort in the south of Bali, very well known, so it doesn’t surprise me that the Bounty sprung from the owner’s business interests. I sure do agree with you about overdevelopment; it’s something that unfortunately plagues Bali and from what I’ve heard the residents of Gili Meno have a great deal of control over what develops on their island, so let’s hope that remains sustainable. When I go back, I’ll try out the Google Map idea and pinpoint the location of Jalan Pocong and find out more about locals’ experiences with ghosts.