In 1964 the united states entered into the conflict in Vietnam
in an attempt to prevent the spread of communism foreign policy economic interests national fears
and geopolitical strategies were also major factors for the invasion of Vietnam
during the war U.S. and communist Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army forces stalked each other
in the jungle, but they were not alone; something was stalking them
what mysterious creature was witnessed by both sides and feared by the locals?
Are these accounts credible?
What similarities are there between this creature and other legends around the world? Hello i'm Colin
Heaton, former soldier, Marine Corps scout sniper history professor, historian, and book author
and we'll answer these questions and other issues on this segment of Forgotten History
as long as man has had language there have been stories, oral histories of time and of primate-like
humanoids from every country on every continent. While north america has Bigfoot or the Sasquatch
the Himalayan regions of India, Nepal and Tibet have the yeti also known as the Abominable Snowman
Australia has the Yowie and there is a similar creature in southeast Asia in the Kontum province
of Vietnam as well as Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia. There are many reports from locals and U.S. troops
of a human-like ape-hybrid creature the locals called Nguoi Rung or the "Forest People" in Cambodia.
The mysterious creatures are called Tek Tek. It is said to live in the far northern parts of the
national park, frightening and bizarre creatures to behold with a healthy appetite for humans.
All the reports from these respective countries and witnesses all follow a similar theme, where
the creature appears to be bipedal and covered in grayish red hair. Reports are that hideous
roars are often heard at night as hungry Tek Teks start biting their own flesh, or perhaps
feeding upon unfortunate people. One story is that the Tek Tek could imitate human voices
and then lure humans into being killed by calling out to people in the area. This story
is very similar to the legend of the Rakshasa in India, a shape-shifting human-like demon
that can appear as anyone a person would trust to bring it close enough to kill and devour the
person. Or the Yeren in China like Australia's Yowie the Orang Pendek in Indonesia, the Vrykolaka,
or a type of werewolf in Finland, all creatures steeped in myth and folklore. Sometimes science
can explain those mysteries, but not always. Similar stories were told for centuries about the
wild men of Borneo until science identified the orangutan as being the culprit. Could this creature
just be a new species as yet uncategorized? The discovery of the mountain gorilla in Africa which
Europeans had heard of and believed was simply folklore took place in the Virunga Mountains
and it was discovered on October 17th, 1902 by German explorer Robert von Beringe. Even more
recently was the Batang Toru in Sumatra, a species of Orangutan rediscovered in 1997. One eyewitness
in the late 1960s claiming to have seen the beast known as the Mountain Man was Army Sergeant Gary
Linderer who is the publisher of Behind the Lines, a magazine that specializes in the history of
U.S. military special operations. Linderer served in Vietnam with the long-range reconnaissance patrols
of the 101st Airborne Division and was once on a six-man patrol with the unit in Vietnam. While
moving through the thick jungle he claimed to have looked into deep set eyes on a prominent brow five
feet tall with long muscular arms. He stated that the creature walked upright with broad shoulders
and a heavy torso. The others with him said that what he saw was a rock ape, but being familiar
with the species he was certain that this was not a rock ape. Another report came from Army Sergeant
Thomas Jenkins, who reported that his platoon was attacked by these apes throwing stones at them.
Even the Viet Cong and the NVA soldiers reported sightings of the reddish-brown
hair covered in Nguoi Rung on a scale that forced the communist party secretariat to order
scientists to investigate. Many accounts exist of these reddish-hair-covered primates standing
between four to six feet tall living in the jungle. Some soldiers on both sides claimed to have killed
a few of these creatures. In 1969 naturalist john MacKinnon, who was well known for his discoveries of
previously unknown mammal and exotic bird species in Asia, as well as in Vietnam discovered similar
odd footprints in Borneo's jungles which the locals call Batatut or Ujit. in 1974 one such
investigator Dr. Vo Quy a naturalist, ornithologist and environmental researcher from Hanoi
discovered a suspected Nguoi Rung footprint on the forest floor and made a plaster cast of it.
The cast was wider than a human foot and too large to belong to any species of ape. While much of the
evidence surrounding the existence of these apes is not scientifically proven, falling more
into folklore, MacKinnon believed that there was a strong possibility that a previously unknown ape
species did in fact exist. the account of Nguoi Rung meeting american G.I.'s in Vietnam was first
published in Craig P. J. Jorgensen's "Very Crazy G.I.: Strange But True Stories of the Vietnam War."
Today these stories still exist but many locals believed that the population of these creatures
has been greatly reduced due to conflict and massive deforestation. Do they exist or
are they just fictional creations or mythologies? Perhaps one day we will know one way or the other.
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