An Indonesian TikTok user had to deal with the police after she posted a video implying that a neighborhood in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan was haunted.
The TikTok user, identified by her initials NB, recently posted a video in which she’s driving through a decrepit, unkempt neighborhood featuring houses with overgrown foliage like a scene taken right out of The Last of Us. As she did not notice a single inhabitant throughout her drive, NB theorized that the neighborhood had been abandoned because it’s either haunted or a crime haven.
It turned out that the neighborhood was not abandoned. After NB’s video went viral, inhabitants of the neighborhood complained to the local police, prompting the latter to post a copy of NB’s video and labeling it a hoax.
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“In this neighborhood, there are 15 to 20 households. The neighborhood is still active. So the video that said that it’s abandoned is false,” police officer Setiya Pramono, who heads the area’s public order unit, said.
Setiya added that the neighborhood is a safe place thanks to regular security patrols conducted by the police and citizens.
On Monday, local police invited NB to meet with inhabitants of the neighborhood and apologize for her video.
“The owner of the [TikTok] account has promised to be wiser in using social media,” West Banjarbaru Police Chief Andri Hutagalung said.
NB has since uploaded a follow-up video of her more recent drive through the neighborhood, this time showing that there are indeed people living there.
The inhabitants said they were worried that any rumors about their neighborhood being haunted or unsafe could drive down real estate prices. Because that would be spookier than actual ghosts, to be honest.
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