Indonesian culture has various ghost legends, and Ancol Bridge is considered to be the most haunted location in the city of Jakarta, where a number of tales of seeing a female spirit are still famous today. But to know the story of this spirit, we have to step back into history. Ridwan Saidi was a paranormal researcher who conducted an investigation on this legend from 1955 to 1960.
In the 18th century, Jakarta was called Batavia and during that time there lived a beautiful girl named Ariah. When Ariah grew up, she married a man. But her husband was completely trapped because of taking too much debt and the debtors had even threatened to kill him. Legend says when he could not return the money, a rich man living there offered him to give her wife Ariah in exchange for money. Ariah's husband made this deal without even thinking about what would be the result. Immediately the rich man sent some of his thugs or men to capture Ariah.
Upon learning of everything, Ariah ran away from home to save herself, but they caught her at Ancol Bridge which resulted in her death. It is believed that after this incident, the spirit of Ariah is still visible on the bridge at night and often makes men her victims. Some locals are so afraid of her that they call her Maryam the Sweet Maiden, so that she would never come near and harm them. Time progressed, but Ariah's sightings didn't end there. So far, many people claimed to have seen Ariah's spirit near the Ancol bridge, and dozens of dead bodies have even been found in the water under the same bridge.
Many drivers say that they often encounter Ariah's spirit, as they recognize her from a distance and turn their vehicle back. In 2003, H Mohammad Husni had seen the spirit of Ariah, initially, he had no idea that she was a spirit, but after going a little closer, all his doubts disappeared. Husni also made a painting of the Ariah and many people who saw her spirit claimed that Husni's painting depicts the Ariah as accurately as possible. Well, Ariah's legend is so famous in Indonesia that there has also been a TV series and a mainstream movie based on Ariah.
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