Mystery of Dead Goats in Unggahan Village

From: http://news.baliboulevard.com/2007/01/29/mystery-of-dead-goats-in-unggahan-village/

Jan 29, 2007

In 2006, Balinese, especially the Buleleng society, were surprised by the mysterious deaths of 15 goats in Unggahan village, Seririt sub district. It happened before the celebration of Galungan day on 29 November 2006. The cause of the death of these goats is unknown. These mysterious deaths generate disquiet among the villagers of Unggahan village. There is an opinion that the goats were preyed by beast and some other villagers believed that the goats were preyed by invisible spirits. The villagers, especially those who breed goats had tried to protect their goats by conducting security system and they kept awake at night. But the death of the goats can’t be avoided.

For the shake of investigation, the Seririt police officer which is helped by Bali Local Police on Saturday 9 December, made use of a trained dog to detect the ascertain dead cause of the fifteen goats. All of the clues found in the location of the tragedy such as footsteps, scratches on the goats cage are possibly to be left by their predator. However, it doesn’t make it easier for the dog to find out the predator of the goat. It was confessed by the Head of Unggahan village, Nyoman Suangsa that this condition had made the villagers believe that the animal (s) which preying the goats of the villagers is non ordinary animal.
There is some information gathered by the police officer after the investigation done to the villagers.

A villager who did not want to be publicized his name said that he saw an animal that looked like a dog flew while bringing a goat. This information was also supported by the other villagers. A villager said that he saw four animals which looked like dog were standing around his goats’ cage. The animals were small and the colors of the animals were black, white, red and black-white color. If it is true, there is a possibility that the animals come from the forest which is located near Unggahan village. The forest is wide enough and there are not many people have gone to the forest.

If their predator is human being, the case is so strange because all of the goats owned by the villagers are being attacked. There is no possibility that a person hates so much people. Furthermore, there are no bloods scattered around the dead goat. The fact that makes this case stranger is by looking on the condition of the dead goats. They were found dead with no heart and other inside organs.

This kind of strange occurrence had frequently happened in Bali. Since the appearance of ‘colek pamor” on the temples in Bali, then the strange case of carcass flower that are growing in the house yard of some Balinese, and now there is a strange case about the death of goat in Unggahan village. Like other bizarre case, the cause of the cases is not yet being found.

Balinese believe that there is other strength on earth which belongs to invisible spirit. They assume that these strange cases as signs that there will be other bigger occurrence. These also may be because the people had done something wrong. So, in order to ask the invisible spirit forgiveness the Balinese will usually held a special ceremony which is called “mecaru” or holy sacrifice. The purpose of the ceremony is to calm down the invisible spirits so they will not disturb human beings in doing their work.

The latest information found in local newspaper said that Seririt police officer made the conclusion that the goats were preyed by a wild animal, most probably, a greyhound. This is according to the laboratory investigation toward the dead goats. It was found that there were no viruses or bacteria in the blood sampling.
Even though the police had taken the conclusion that the goats were preyed by a wild animal, some villagers still believe that the goats were preyed by invisible spirits. The Unggahan villagers had done a “mecaru” ceremony in order to keep the village away from disaster.