- Batutut
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Batutut (Ujit, Nguoi Rung) Creature Grouping Cryptid Sub grouping Hominid Data First reported 1947 Country Vietnam, Laos, and Borneo Region Vu Quang (Vietnam) Habitat Jungle and forest The Batutut or Ujit, sometimes also known as "forest people", is a proposed hominid cryptid, reputedly similar to the bigfoot, thought to inhabit the Vu Quang nature reserve and other wilderness areas of Vietnam, Laos and northern Borneo. The Vu Quang has been the source of a number of newly discovered mammals by Dr. John MacKinnon. Mackinnon claims to have first observed tracks in 1970 that led him to believe that a hominid similar to the Meganthropus lives there (instead, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman believes that the Batutut are a surviving population of Homo erectus or Neanderthal.[1]). Mackinnon's 1975 book In Search Of The Red Ape describes his experiences and findings.[2] A 1947 sighting by a French colonist refers to the animal as a L'Homme Sauvage (wild man).[3] Vietnamese scholars refer to the animal as the Người Rừng ("forest man").[4]
It is described as being approximately 1.8 m (6 ft) tall and covered with hair except in the knees, the soles of the feet, the hands, and the face. The hair ranges in color from gray to brown to black. The creature walks on two legs and has been reported both solitary and moving in small groups. The creature is most often sighted foraging for food from fruits and leaves to langers and even flying foxes.
In Borneo, witnesses describe it as four feet tall and very aggressive, occasionally killing humans and tearing out their livers.[5]
Contents
Sightings during the Vietnam War
In his 2001 Ballantine book Very Crazy G.I. - Strange but True Stories of the Vietnam War, veteran Kregg P. J. Jorgenson relates a sighting of such a creature by a team of LRRPs. The men refer to it as a "Rock Ape" reporting it as being small in stature, about 5 feet tall, and having a reddish tinge to its fur.[6]
Two Người Rừngs were reportedly captured by tribesmen near Dak Lak Province in 1971. In 1974 a North Vietnamese general, Hoang Minh Thao, requested an expedition to find evidence of the creatures, but it was unsuccessful.[5]
Footprints
A professor Tran Hong Viet of Pedagogic University of Hanoi, a researcher of Người Rừng, reported in 1982 finding similar footprints to those of MacKinnon in 1970, measuring 28x16 cm., of which he made casts.[7] He had been making an extensive post-war inventory of natural resources, and while collecting specimens near Chu Mo Ray in Sa Thay District, he came across the prints. A photo of the cast of the print was later published by Fortean News of the World (Japan Fortean Information Society).[8]
See also
References
- ^ *The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates (NY: Anomalist Books, 2006, ISBN 1-933665-1-22)
- ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/0345245253
- ^ http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~vern/wildman/kontum47.html
- ^ http://www.bigfootencounters.com/creatures/pj.htm
- ^ a b Newton, Michael (2005). "Batutut". Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide. McFarland & Company, Inc.. pp. 39–40. ISBN 0-7864-2036-7.
- ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/0804115982
- ^ http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~vern/wildman.html
- ^ http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~vern/wildman/j-fis.html
External links
- Hairy Hominids: Batutut
- The Nguoi Rung..a GI's Story by Kregg P. J. Jorgenson
- Nguoi Rung, Vietnamese Forest People, Wildman: mythical or missing ape
Categories:- Hominid cryptids
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