Hello Internet - welcome back to Most Amazing Top 5 - I’m your host Jack Finch, and today
we’re going to be delving deep into some horror stories - all the way from Vietnam.
Before we get started - make sure to hit that subscribe button, and leave a comment in the
box down below - let us know what you’d like to see more of on the channel.
Now, the war that happened between North Vietnam and South Vietnam occured between 1955 and
1975 - a staggering 20 years that saw military contributions from countries such as Russia,
China, the United States of America and South Korea.
An incredibly unpopular war historically, that left the country of Vietnam with a fallout
of horrific tales, war crimes and even supernatural occurrences.
On top of that, Vietnamese folklore is rife with creepy tales of ghouls and spirits that
roam the country - some of which, have a strong basis in reality.
Starting us off at Number 5 - we have the story of the Batutut.
The Batutut - or Ujit - are often referred to as the forest people - Vietnam’s own
incarnation of Bigfoot.
The first recorded sighting was in 1970, when Dr. John MacKinnon observed a number of tracks
that led him to believe that a large, upright mammal lived in the wilderness.
Locals confirmed the theory, and described sightings of the beast - a 7 foot tall creature
covered in hair, everywhere but it’s knees, the soles of its feet, its hands and its face.
Its hair ranged in colour from gray - to brown - to black.
The locals reported that the Batutut had been sighted incredibly often - hunting alone and
foraging food.
Sightings of the Batutut were also reported while the Vietnam War was raging on.
U.S Veteran - Kregg Jorgenson - reported sightings of a similar creature while he was deployed
there.
He referred to the creature as a rock ape - with a reddish tinge to its fur.
Two of the creatures were also reportedly captured by tribesmen in 1971 - the outcome
of which, has never been discovered.
Whatever it is - the Batutut has experts on both side of the spectrum, completely perplexed.
Hopping in at Number 4 - we have the peculiar tale of the /Meat Eating Grandmother/.
Now - some Vietnamese people swear that this cautionary tale is true - and if it is,
then it’s /absolutely/ terrifying.
A long time ago, in rural Vietnam - refrigeration was a difficult commodity to house - and keeping
meat stored safely required a little bit of creativity.
Because of this - to stop their steaks from going rotten - the townspeople would heavily
salt their meat and store it in a kitchen in the backyard.
That’s how things were done, and everything was nice and peaceful.
Until, that is - one night, when a housewife noticed that all of her household’s meat
had gone missing from the usual place.
Furious - she asked how had eaten it - but nobody would come clean.
The next day - she bought more meat from the market, but when she checked again - the same
thing had happened.
Determined to catch the culprit, she lay in wait at a window overlooking the backyard.
Everyone in the house was asleep, including the children.
As midnight crept in - she saw the figure of a strange person lingering in the shadows.
What she saw - was an old lady, the elderly grandmother of the family next door - ripping
apart the meat with her teeth and eating it raw.
The next day, the family were perplexed and /severely/ creeped out by what they had seen.
But, that night they’d had an important dinner planned, and so hired a babysitter
to take care of the children.
The evening went off without a hitch, they’d had a nice dinner and a few drinks - but when
they arrived back at home, they heard a blood curdling scream.
What they found, was the ravenous grandmother from next door - chewing on their young child’s
arm.
Yikes.
Next up at Number 3 - we have Ghost Tape No. 10.
Imagine you’re a Viet Cong soldier, out on patrol in the Vietnamese jungle - and you
start to hear eerie sounds of disembodied voices, wailing out into the jungle.
But there’s no one around to be seen.
They’re saying, “I am dead” - and, “Don’t end up like me.
Go home.”
Creepy stuff, right?
Well, these sounds were actually one of the more creative methods utilised by the United
States military during the Vietnam War, in an attempt to get the enemy forces to just
/give up/.
It was known as Operation Wandering Soul, and the Psychological Operations battalion
of the U.S Army - which sounds terrifying in itself - broadcast these insanely creepy
sounds in an effort to decrease Vietcong morale.
And, well - they’re pretty much fit for a horror movie.
You can /even/ listen for yourself, we’ll leave the link down below.
This severely hindered the Vietcong troops, capitalizing on their strong held Buddhist
beliefs - that the spirits of the dead are doomed to walk the earth in their own personal
hell if their bodies are not found and buried appropriately.
It is also a stark reminder of the psychological impact, and mental scars that war can inflict.
Coming in - at Number - 2, we have an incredibly bizarre story of the Bird Woman of Da Nang.
Told by Marine Corps Private, Earl Morrison, the story begins in the summer of 1969, with
Earl and two fellow soldiers sitting on top of a bunker near Da Nang.
The three were on guard duty, and so were tasked to keep a keen eye on both the sky
- and the wilderness ahead.
It was a slow summer evening - with not a lot happening - when Earl began to notice
a /strange glow/ in the sky.
As the glow got closer and /closer/ - Earl began to make out the shape of some sort of
flying, humanoid creature - with bat like wings.
As the creature approached Earl, he could make out the features of a woman with totally
black skin - and long, flowing hair.
The Bird Woman was completely silent - as if no part of her strange body made any noise
at all.
The whole encounter was reported to last a total of just 3 minutes, with all three of
the soldiers completely dumbfounded by what they had seen.
Interestingly enough, Vietnamese folklore speaks of, what are commonly referred to as,
Night Fliers - winged humanoids, always described as being women - and are said to swoop down
and brutally attack the unwary.
*Who knows*
Finally - bringing it in at Number 1 - we have the Ghosts of Ha My Village.
After the war, the residents of the central Vietnamese village of Ha My began telling
incredibly vivid stories about spirits that had began to surface.
In the words of the villages local Taoist priest, they began to share an entire /existence/
with their invisible neighbours.
And the weird thing is - different people had reported the exact same sightings, but
on completely separate occasions.
There was an entire series of apparitions that the villagers became familiar with.
The most common was a young mother with her two small children, who peacefully roamed
the village of Ha My.
Another common spirit was known as Head Down, Feet up - a figure that was often spotted
standing and moving on its head - with the locals believing that this was due to the
unconventional condition of its burial.
There was also a pair of perpetually hungry American servicemen, a heavily wounded South
Korean Soldier, and a young boy who would sprint into the woods.
The Ghosts of Ha My were a vivid reminder of the horrific massacres that took place
there during the war - where South Korean forces conducted a brutal attack on unarmed
citizens, in retaliation to Vietcong mortar fire.
The victims were 135 women, children and elders from over thirty households.
In December of 2000, a memorial for the 135 victims was raised in Ha My village, in an
attempt to heal wounds, and remember the ghosts of the past.
That’s all we’ve got time for today folks, you’ve been watching Most Amazing Top 5.
Make sure to hit that subscribe button - and leave a comment in the box down below.
I’ve been your host Jack Finch - and until next time, take it easy.