Jenglot

The jenglot is a creature that Wikipedia calls an actively believed myth, one many people hold to be real. A 2009 study in the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences found jenglot hair unlikely to come from any animal species.

Wikipedia reports that in 2008 scientists in Malaysia examined hair and DNA from four jenglots that a businessman had carried to Kuala Lumpur from Irian Jaya, Indonesia, for display in a local museum. Each sample appeared to be human, and the DNA suggested a single person. Zafarina Zainuddin and Sundararajulu Panneerchelvam, writing in the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences in 2009, used microscopic and molecular methods and concluded the jenglot hair was unlikely to be from any animal species. Wikipedia dates the examination to 2008; the paper appeared in 2009.

Wikipedia adds that many jenglots were found to be hoaxes, skilled taxidermy made from monkeys and fish, though only some specimens were examined, and that the jenglot is a myth still actively believed, with many people holding it to be real. The hoax finding in this entry covers the specimens those examinations looked at.

In May 2010 Kompas reported two jenglots and a mermaid found in Pecatu, Kuta Selatan, Bali, a find that stirred up local residents. Fearing they would bring disaster, people cast all three into the sea. In September 2010 Kompas reported a shoebox holding something like a jenglot, left about 3 metres from the fence of Museum Lambung Mangkurat in Banjarbaru. The find stirred up residents there too. A passer-by noticed a strong smell, and residents and Satpol PP officers took the object.