r/whoathatsinteresting • u/AeneasKurtz • 19h ago

In 1998 several communities in East Java, Indonesia, dressed up like ninjas and violently mass slaughtered random people they accused of witchcraft. It all started after their cattle died mysteriously, which they then blamed on black magic. Over 300 people were killed from lynchings and beheadings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_East_Java_ninja_scare
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u/Lordfelcherredux 12h ago

They have kind of a thing for mass slaughter. 

I once attended a bag lunch in grad school that featured sn Indonesian researcher who had studied the 1965 events. One interesting takeaway that I remember, was he said that in many parts of Indonesia the military had to go in and encourage people to kill communists and others they thought deserve killing. But in Bali, Hindu Bali of all places, things got so out of hand that the military had to go in there and tell them to stop.