The disappearance of three children in North Sumatra, which is controversial in Indonesia, sparked a clash between police and shamans until authorities banned all paranormal activities in the district to restore peace.
Police Sub-Inspector Sukadi, the head of the intelligence team that coordinated the search for the three children, said that many paranormal investigators across Indonesia visited the village of Naman Jahe in Langkat to assist in the search.
“We had three weeks of rituals, none of which produced results. The parents of the children were at risk of further psychological trauma as the shamans often recorded the events and uploaded them to their YouTube channels,” he said.
The three missing children are Alfisah Zahra, and Nizam Aufar Reza who are both seven years old, and Yoghi Tri Herlambang who is 8 years old. They have been reported missing after playing near their home since October 18.
“I went to get them so that they could come home and have a bath before lunch,” said Masdiani, Zahra’s mother.
When her daughter and the two boys were not found, she considered them to go to the lake where the children used to swim but were not found.
The three families and neighbors continued searching and called the police late that afternoon.
As soon as the news of the incident spread, a number of shamans from the district appeared to perform various rituals at the last location where the three children were seen including in oil palm plantations and lakes.
“They said that the children were taken by a bunian into the forest and hidden there,” said Susilawati, the mother of Yoghi.
“We believe that they may have been kidnapped, but we believe more in the bunian theory,” she added.
Initially, only local shamans or better known as dukun were involved in search activities.
However, as soon as the news of their disappearance was published in the mainstream media, many shamans from all over the country began to arrive in the village.
The village head, Jumaan said, too many shamans were in the area causing the locals to be uncomfortable.
“Every time they performed a ritual, the paranormal investigators asked for the children’s clothes so they could channel their spirits and find their whereabouts. In the end, the parents did not have any clothes left because of the rituals,” he said.
One shaman from the village, Supeno said that the rituals performed did not bring results because most of the shamans were not united, causing the local ‘spirit’ to be angry.
He said he also believed that the local creatures who ‘took care’ of the area, including bunian and other spirits, refused to cooperate because they were not happy when there was an increase in paranormal activity.
Sukadi said the authorities did not rule out the possibility that the three children were abducted or had an accident around the village which was covered by oil palm plantations and thick forests.
Another possibility, he said, was that they might drown in a nearby lake. However, the search in the lake has been done three times by divers from the Basarnas team and found no clues.
“Bodies usually float to the surface after a few days if people have drowned, so we would have expected to have found the children by now if they were in the lake,” Sukadi said.
“We are surprised that we have so few leads in this case,” he added.
The search for the three children is still ongoing and all parents also believe their children are still alive.
Source: SCMP