Discover Haunting Ghost Stories and Supernatural Legends from Bali

[Bali] In Bali, the local Hinduism holds that all things possess spirits, even the statues in hotels might come alive under the moonlight. This mystical belief is what gives Bali its nickname, the Island of the Gods. When you’re here, it’s hard not to ponder the spiritual world that seems to intertwine with the physical.

[One] Normally, I’m a deep sleeper when I travel, not fussy about the bed, and I can drift off as soon as my head hits the pillow. However, last night was different. I tossed and turned until around 3 AM, my sleep light and restless. I faintly heard a series of soft footsteps. Could it be that the giant tree next to my room (see image 5), so large it envelops the entire building, had a new visitor? Perhaps, as a newcomer, it was coming to greet me?

[Two] A classmate, navigating his way back to his room one dark night, accidentally stepped on a sapling near a massive tree. The lighting was so dim, he barely saw it. That night, he had a vivid dream where a middle-aged man appeared, carrying an injured child. The man said the child was hurt. The next day, my classmate asked a local colleague to perform a ritual, walking around the tree with a square box. After that, the dreams ceased.

[Three] Tree holes. If trees truly have spirits, then whispering into a tree hole would mean they could really hear us, wouldn’t it? And when someone comes to confide in the tree, the spirit within would pass on the secret, keeping it safe and silent.

[Four] I once stayed on an island in the Maldives that locals claimed was haunted. The eerie atmosphere there felt strikingly similar to the spiritual presence in Bali.

[Bali] There’s an intriguing question: why do ghost stories seem to flourish more in tropical regions? As you move closer to the tropics, the tales of spirits and the supernatural become more abundant, while in the polar regions, such stories are less common.