The Ghost Train of Bintaro

So it's December of two thousand and three and an electric train mysteriously comes to life. By the way, this happened in Indonesia. It leaves the station, travels at sixty five miles per hour, and it makes its normal stops, but the doors kept closing before any of the passengers that were waiting to get on could actually enter the train. And still during one of these stops, a railway employee actually was able to jump in and the door shut and he went up to the driver's compartment, but it wouldn't open. The employee could tell already there was nobody inside, and yet the train kept going. It left the hills in Java and went into the Jakarta suburbs of Indonesia, and although it eventually did stop, it actually stopped on a hill in the city center. No one was hurt, but people were scared. Railway officials stated that the train was simply on an unscheduled journey, but it was happening because of technological problems. But the people in Jakarta, well, they did not believe this. You see, if they had their reasons to believe that this may have been a haunting, and it wasn't their first time dealing with a ghost train. In this episode, I'm going to talk to you about the Bintato rail incident. It was a tragic accident that marked the city of Jakarta forever and one of the reasons why they thought about this incident, the one I just told you about, to be something paranormal. My name is Edwin and here's a horror story. You see, Jakarta has a railway that has been used for a very very long time, and along with it come ghost stories. And it makes sense the railroad has seen some tragic accidents. But I'll tell you about these first and then go into some of the ghost stories. Nintato is a district in the heart of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city. It sits on the Jakarta Korda and year Kidol railway. This part of the line has been electric and has for a very long time. It's part of the country's very large train system, which happens to be one of the busiest in the world. And on the morning of October nineteenth, nineteen eighty seven, this was no different. Sodimara station was completely packed with commuters that were heading for work in school and at this time, all the tracks were one lane, meaning only one train traveling at a time. There were three tracks at the station, and at around sixt thirty in the morning, one train came in from Jakarta and was waiting on track number two. There was a row of freight cars on track three, and then a dispatcher from the next station gave train KA two two five the ok for departure. It was heading northbound to Jakarta. But the thing is that the dispatcher never got permission to let train KA two two five go. We're just referred to this one as train number one. So now this train, Train one was using the last open track at Sudi Mara station, not knowing that there was already a train heading out over at Kebayran station. Trained KA two twenty, which will refer to as train number two, also left heading to Sudi Mara station. Luckily, the dispatcher realized his mistake and called this co worker immediately. At Kibayron, he asked for train two to wait there so that train one had time to pass. The coworker agreed and used a signal lantern to tell train two to wait. He sighed in relief. He sent the signal just in time, so he thought, you see, despite the lantern, Train two departed and went straight to Sudi Mara. Another worker ran as fast as he could after it. He waved a red flag back and forth and held a lantern in his other hand, but he wasn't fast enough. The train did not stop, so then they kept thinking of what else do we do? So a different co worker runs to a motorbike. He hops on and follows the train to get it to stop. Unfortunately he was too slow and the train kept going. A different switcher was able to get on board, but on the very very last cart, and he tried to make his way to the driver, but it was too crowded. People were shoulder to shoulder inside. In fact, it was so packed that there were also people sitting on the top of the train. That this was done a lot. They even have a name for them, train surfers. And as a switcher desperately tried to push through the crowded train, and as a train surfer sat on top. Train one was going thirty one miles per hour. Train one reached the curve part of the railway that went through the woods, and that's when the driver saw the train approaching was heading straight for him. The other train was too close. There just wasn't enough time to pull the emergency stop. The driver of KA two two five jumped off the train and the driver of KA two twenty threw himself on the ground. At exactly three or five in the morning, the two trains crashed into each other head on, and when the crash it created a telescoping effect. The underframe of one car swallowed the other, which ended up looking like tubes of a telescope. Basically, the trains went through each other instead of crumpling or zigzagging, and as the trains crashed together, people were crushed to death. In total, one hundred and fifty three people died, and most that were dead were train surfers. Another two hundred and fifty four people were injured, including the driver of KA two two five. The immediate aftermath of the crash was terrible. People were going from hospital to hospital looking for their injured loved ones, and it took two days to recover the dead. In fact, those who died would put in a line that the crash site and their families had to go through and identify them. There was blood and missing body parts everywhere. There was an investigation to get to the bottom of the tragic accident, and it turns out neither driver was supposed to leave their stations. When they did, they just didn't want to get behind schedule, so they left without waiting for proper clearance. The conductor of train two claimed that he had permission, and the driver of train one claimed that he hadn't seen the red flag that was trying to stop them from leaving. There were just too many train surfers. He asked the passengers inside the train and they said that it was okay for him to go. Both the conductors of K two to twenty five and the dispatcher from K bayra On station were arrested and put on trial. KA two to twenty five's driver was sentenced to five years in jail, the conductor of the other train was sentenced to two years and six months, and the dispatcher received ten months in jail. They were charged with criminal negligence for the accident, but even then they were still haunted by what happened that day. But they would not be the only ones. It seems like the site of this tragedy remained cursed forever. The Indonesian Railways did make changes to try and prevent more accidents. To build a new station between Kebayra and Sudimara. They also installed the proper communication system, and these changes later proved to not be enough. On December ninth of twenty thirteen, the second Bintarho tragedy took place. A KRL commuter train crashed with a gasoline tanker at the same location of the first crash. It was a Monday morning, just like a nineteen eighty seven. The tanker was carrying twenty four thousand liters of fuel and was heading straight for the train. The train's technician ran into the front carriage, warning everyone that there would be an accident. Thankfully, most of the passengers were able to move back, but then, instead of going with them, the technician went back to the driver's cabin. He shut the door with the drive and conductor still there. They knew they would die, but they shut that door to prevent even more flames. Upon impact, the train car overturned and exploded. The passengers all fell over and onto each other. They broke the windows to escape. Seven people died in eighty four were injured. This had been the most fatal accident since the nineteen eighty seven crash, but it hasn't been the only one since then. There's been countless on the exact same spot, and always on Mondays. In twenty nineteen, a tour company was conducting their regular Mystical tour session. They were taking a group picture and they were standing on those very same tracks when suddenly a train came barreling toward them. No one was hurt, thankfully, they were very lucky, but the tour company did cancel all tours there and were fined for being on the tracks day. Most of the forty seven tour members believe that this was part of the curse. So that's not all. And this is where it gets very creepy. You see. Since then, passengers on Binaro Railway have seen disembodied arms and legs moving across the tracks. Sometimes a train is passing through Bintaro and they smell like there's something burning. Many have also reported seeing a boy and a girl that quickly disappear. Some passengers also feel the touch of a small hand on their lap. Others have reported hearing a train coming, but when they look, there's nothing there. Some have even heard the crash happening. But the most bizarre sighting is probably of the ghost train itself. There is this really creepy story that we found while we were researching. Bimo was a student and he accidentally left the college library later than he meant to. Finals week was coming up and he was cramming as much as possible. Realizing that he's going to miss the train, he runs to Mangaai station, hoping to catch the last train from Jakarta to Depic. Unfortunately, he didn't make it, and so he sat there hopeless, just kind of waiting around, wishing that another train would appear. He knew the schedule though, it was just before midnight and nothing was scheduled past this, and so he sat down and pulled out a book. And then he was surprised when another train pulled up. It had only been twenty minutes, and so he hopped in and looked for a seat. All of the passengers inside the train were pale and silent. He was tired of studying, but didn't want to fall asleep. No one seemed to be in a chatty moon. He asked the man in front of him for his newspaper, and the man handed it over without a word. The man didn't even look at him. Bimo said thank you, but the man didn't say you're welcome or anything. Forty minutes went by and the train stopped. It finally arrived in Depic and when he left the train, Depek station was dark, it was still closed. Confused, Bimo looked around searching for the exit, and that's when he was approached by a station master who was also very confused. Station master asked Bimo why he was walking on the train tracks at that hour of the morning. Now Bimo was even more confused. Here. He asked the station master for the time. It was just before five in the morning. It had been five hours since he left Mangarai station. Turns out he wasn't actually riding the train. He had been walking on the tracks that whole time. He told the station master this, but of course he just thought Bima was crazy. And then Bimo remembered something. He still had the newspaper from the man in front of him, and so when they looked at it, it was dated from nineteen fifty three. Since the accidents, many have reported a ghost train that leaves Mangarai and heads to where accidents kept happening Bintaro Railway. The Donesians believe Hantu's haunts not only the railway, but all of the surrounding stations too. There are tales of spirits that makes its victims temporarily deaf. Supposedly, it sneaks up behind them and covers their ears while crossing the train tracks, and this lead to their victim getting hit by a train. Indonesia is notorious for being superstitious. It's many stories of spirits and hauntings might explain some of the things that baffles its citizens. But with a railway surrounded by so much tragedy and death, those who are getting to work or school every day travel through it and sometimes unknowingly cross places where people took their final breaths, just like places you might be traveling through and are completely unaware. If there's a haunted place or a mystery that you'd like me to talk about, make sure you send me a message. Huge shout out too to our Scary Plus members that are supporting this and our other shows. Links to how to join and everything are in the description of this episode. Thank you very much for listening. Keep it Scary everyone Soon