Almost every village in Bali has a tale of mysticism and intrigue. It's almost like a living legend among the villagers but for westerners, most of the stories are nothing more than nonsense or ridiculous. In many cases the story is hard to believe, but in fact, it happens and can be seen. Below is the story about a Puppet shadow performance in Petiles Village Temple, located in in Tumbak Bayuh, Mengwi, Badung.

Shadow puppet shows are one of Balinese traditional performances that can still be enjoyed until this day as a part of a ceremony as well as entertainment for the public. But the puppet shadow in Petiles Village temple is more like a high level illusionary performance without special equipment. In the middle of the night, when there is a festival which fall every Wednesday Kliwon Medangsia, in this temple, people can see the shadow puppet performance. The theme of performance is about Mahabrata and Ramayana Myth.

The shadow appears on kelir or white fabric as a screen. Like similar shadow puppet performances there will be shadow figure of a puppet but it is not so clear and the voice of puppeteer can be heard but that is more like whispering voice.

Do not hope that you can see the puppeteer, as many villagers try to see who is the man behind the screen - you will see no one. So the shadow plays without a puppeteer. Local villagers say the puppet is played by the Holy Spirit from the temple, even people with a spiritual high level cannot see the puppeteer.

Before the show starts, the local priest will place an offering, as common in shadow puppet performances. When the time does it start? No one can tell you, even the priest. So if you want to be a witness of this unbelievable performance you must spend the night in this temple.

Believe it or not, you can see it if you want.