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Monday, January 10, 2011

INDONESIAN FOLKLORE: Ibu Gogo

These little guys were sighted in Flores, Indonesia, from ancient times to the 19th century. They’re described as hairy and short with big guts. They walk like humans. They are said to have mimicked the words people said to them.

Australians and Indonesians found skeletons of a new species of human at an archaeological site. They were believed to live over ten thousand years ago. The skeletons were about a meter tall.

These skeletons were thought to possibly be the Ibu Gogo of Indonesian folklore. The Ibu Gogo have been used by Indonesians as a scare tactic to get their children to behave. The term “Ibu Gogo” means grandmother who eats anything.

Legend has it that the ebu gogo and the people lived in peace… for a while. The Ibu Gogo started killing crops and the humans’ animals. They fled to caves when the humans started killing them. These caves were eventually set on fire after the Ibu Gogo stole a baby. Some were said to have fled to the Liang Bua caves, which is the cave where the archaeologists found the small skeletons.

6 Comments:

Jerick said...

this thing quite looked scary.

eyronn said...

when i saw the picture, i remember the tv series 'planet of apes' hehe.

if they found some skeletons, it must be real. the legend becomes a fact.

Mnason said...

I wonder if there's already a compilation of Asean Folklore?


I wonder what Pisanu is doing right now. I miss reading his ranats. hehe.

Mon said...

Hi, I have been reading your blog for almost a year now, this is the first time Ill be leaving a comment.

Great that you guys are back. :)

About the article, I've read about this creature from another blog, listverse.com.

apparently many known species today were thought to be mythical creatures in the past - like the Gorillas. :)

flitz said...

are they the first men of indonesia? just like the "taong tabon" of the philippines? or maybe they're another species of apes that haven't documented yet..

caesarJ said...

It seems like folklore mom always told to me when I was 5-7 years but with different figure. In my region, south sulawesi, the name is nenekpakande....

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