We all love a good spooky story, and nothing quite hits the spot like the tragic tale
of a ghost ship. There’s just something about these mighty yet small and vulnerable vessels,
adrift on a boundless ocean. The chilling story of the S.S. Ourang Medan is as fanciful
as Blackbeard’s headless body supposedly swimming around his ship before sinking beneath the depths.
Despite the intrigue, it’s a mystery that’s gone unsolved to this day!
According to the story, the S.S. Ourang Medan, a Dutch vessel, was passing through the Strait
of Malacca when it ran afoul of a mysterious tragedy. Nearby ships reported receiving a
horrifying distress call. “All officers including captain dead, lying in chartroom and on bridge,
probably whole crew dead,” it stated. Then there was an unintelligible frenzy of Morse code.
The radio operator had the final word: “I die.”
These chilling words were heard in a distress call picked up by numerous ships near Indonesia,
from the Dutch freighter SS Ourang Medan in February, 1948.
When the first rescue vessel arrived on the scene a few hours later,
they tried to hail the Ourang Medan but there was no response. A boarding party was sent to the ship
and what they found was a frightening sight that has made the Ourang Medan one of the strangest
and scariest ghost ship stories of all time. A CURSED CREW.
Rescuers who boarded the vessel, it’s said, found the stricken ship just as described. The crew was
indeed dead, their bodies strewn across the decks. Not only that, but they were found “teeth bared,
with their upturned faces to the sun, staring, as if in fear…” Even the ship’s dog was dead,
frozen in this ghastly state, mid-growl at an assailant or horror unknown!
An Abrupt Explosion: When nearing the bodies
in the boiler room, the rescue crew felt a chill, though the temperature was above 40℃.
They decided to tow the ship back to port, but before they could get underway,
smoke began rolling up from the hull. The rescue crew left the ship as soon as possible
and barely had time to cut the tow lines before the Ourang Medan exploded and sank.
The Mysterious Clues That SS Ourang Medan Left Behind:
A significant count of reports came from the sailors, sailing through the trade route of the
Malaca that while their ships were moving along the shores of Malaysia and Sumatra,
they picked a series of strange SOS signals, coming from some invisible ship.
There has been several instances, wherein sailors witnessed the mystical appearance
and disappearance of the cursed ship. Sailors who approached to extend support to
the ill-omened ship, discovered that the deck was stuffed with frozen Corpses of humans and dog.
The corpses, seen to lie on the deck were observed to hold their arms to some unknown assailants.
Their faces seemed like they encountered some kinds of terrific events while dying.
The dead body of the communication officer of SS Ourang Medan was
observed to be sitting intact on his Duty chair, with no signs of life in his body.
There has been clear evidences that the crew members of this ship have to
face extreme sufferings, though the exact cause of suffering was never determined.
It is a mystery as how the entire team of crew and captain could die at a go without leaving
any signs of foul pay or sabotage in the ship. The observers never found any damages to the
ship that might be the reason for the sudden deaths of the crew.
The only ship that tried to tow this ill-omened ship to the dock, the moment they attached the tow
line to the ship, found mysterious smoke coming out of that ship. This is a mystery as there were
no signs of the slightest damage to the ship or any serious malfunctioning of its components.
The rescue party went in shock as they witnessed SS Ourang Medan exploded with a terrible sound,
the moment they removed the tow line from the ship. Such a horrible scene they never forgot.
A few of the rescue team members claimed to hear some mysterious whispers in the ship.
They could never determined the source. As described by one of the members of the
rescue group, he heard a dreadful inhuman laughter from the deck.
Some even witnessed the sudden appearance and disappearance of strange lights,
while they were inside the Ourang Medan.
It is a big mystery as how the corpses, exposed to the sun can stay frozen.
The atmospheric temperature was above 40℃. The biggest mystery is about the very existence
of this ship in reality. No records have been found till date that can prove the
mystery ship SS Ourang Medan existed ever. There is a controversy about the origin of the
ship. Some claims it had its origin in Sumatra, while others refers to its Dutch origin.
As on date, no one has been able to determine as what exactly happened to this ship that resulted
in such large-scale deaths. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.
As for the unfortunate crew, various possibilities arise. A pirate attack certainly wouldn’t be out
of the question, but most accounts claim that the bodies were largely unwounded. The
circumstances hint towards a release of dangerous gases—another volatile and controversial, yet
familiar, cargo in the international climate. The possibility of a supernatural or otherworldly
incident has been raised, and that’s impossible to verify. There are so many loose ends here,
but one thing is for certain: the case is one of the most fascinating in nautical history,
and much like Jack the Ripper’s identity and countless other unsolved mysteries,
it’s precisely impossible nature that continues to capture our imaginations.