My Mysterious Adventure in Garut

 

I’m going to tell you all about my mysterious journey in Garut.
I tried various ways to explore every aspect of tourism there. After experiencing nature, history, and culinary adventures, this one turned out to be the most thrilling for me.

This time, I tried to explore a place with a very strong aura of mystery and mysticism—so strong that I was even visited by an astral being guarding that place. It was terrifying. You might not believe this, but it really happened. If you don’t believe me, you can try it yourself.

Let me start from the beginning.
I asked a local man—let’s call him Mr. Ujang, a Garut dodol (traditional sweet) maker who happened to be making dodol with me at that time.
At first, I casually asked him,

“Excuse me, sir, what is the most mysterious place around here, and what are the stories behind it?”

He replied,

“Don’t mess around, kid. There are haunted places here that even the locals wouldn’t dare to visit.”

I responded and asked again,

“Why, sir? Is the place that scary? What makes people too afraid to go there? Where exactly is it?”

Mr. Ujang just smiled and shook his head.
I thought he might be joking, so I said,

“If there’s really a mysterious and mystical place around here, I want to go there. I want to see it for myself whether it’s true or not. I’m not scared like the locals!”

To my surprise, Mr. Ujang’s face suddenly turned red. He replied in a high tone, using the local Sundanese dialect that I couldn’t fully understand. I still remember his words:

“Ai maneh netreg tong sok wawaniannan bisi maneh teu bisa balik tong sompral kamna wae ngomong teh.”

Until today, I still don’t know exactly what that means.

Long story short, after finishing my culinary trip in a village called Cipatujah in Garut, I started heading home around 11 p.m. That’s when I finally realized why the locals never go out or do any activities at night.

As I was traveling along a road called Jalan Gunung Gelap (“Dark Mountain Road”), everything strange began to happen—things that defied logic and reason.
But it was real.
I saw it all with my own eyes.

When I entered the Gunung Gelap area, everything seemed fine at first.
But soon, things started to change. There were no other vehicles passing by—no lights, no sounds—nothing but darkness surrounding the road.

Even the driver of the car we rented began to feel uneasy. He said,

“Sir, maybe we should turn back. It’s getting really late—what do you think?”

But foolishly, I replied,

“Just keep going! What’s wrong, are you scared? Don’t be like that, be a man!”
I laughed, thinking nothing bad would happen.

Not long after that, something I never wanted to experience began to unfold.
There’s a spot along that route known as Jalan Empat (“Road Four”).
That’s where everything happened.

Our car had barely made it halfway through the stretch when suddenly, the engine died.
It completely stopped and wouldn’t start again.

I was still calm at that point. The driver quickly got out, opened the hood, and started checking the engine, trying to figure out what went wrong.

Then something strange appeared in the distance —
a faint white shadow passing above us.
At first, I thought it was just a bird — maybe a swan — and I brushed it off without much thought.

But then came the truly terrifying part.

On the left side of the car window, as I turned my head,
I saw a face — pressed right up against the glass.
Its face was covered in blood, with no eyes,
just a flat, hollow surface where the features should have been.

I saw it clearly — too clearly —
and before I could process what I was seeing, I screamed hysterically,

“Oh my God… what is that?! Aaaaaaaa!!!”

My driver came inside and asked,

“Sir, what happened? Are you okay?”

I said,

“It’s… it’s the window, sir.”

He replied,

“What? On the window? What is it?”

Not long after, the car suddenly started again.
But the ordeal was far from over.

During the rest of the journey, I didn’t dare look at the left side of the car or the side mirrors,
because I felt like something was following me.

As we neared the exit road, I saw a giant star-shaped figure, like a massive cat,
bigger than a bus, crossing the path.
I screamed again. The driver didn’t see it, but immediately asked,

“Sir, what is it? What’s happening?”

I replied,

“Drive faster, sir! I’m scared!”

Eventually, we arrived at the hotel. The driver asked,

“Sir, sorry about earlier, the car broke down…”

I said,

“It’s okay, sir.”

Then he asked,

“Sir… did you see everything just now?”

I nodded,

“Yes, I did.”

He smiled and said,

“I’m sorry, sir… I didn’t tell you before, but that creature was behind the car.
I couldn’t explain because I knew you were already scared.”

I asked him,

“Sir, why were they in the car? How could this happen?”

He answered politely,

“Because it was Friday night. I already advised you to turn back, but you insisted… forgive me, sir, you challenged it.”

It was then I realized what Mr. Ujang had meant earlier that afternoon when I was learning to make Garut dodol.

The driver continued,

“Sir, Mr. Ujang is not an ordinary man. He is a spiritual elder of Cipatujah.”

We ended the conversation there, and I thanked the driver for his help.

That was my mystical travel experience in Garut, something I witnessed with my own eyes.
Even now, I still feel the memory of it and can’t forget what happened that night.