A few months ago I asked readers to forward real-life experiences of paranormal and anomalous activity that occurred in Vietnam & Indochina during the war and beyond. In the past I have reported on the Rock Ape phenomena and a very unusual Reptilian encounter by a US Army squad. I received several personal accounts, observations and suggestions. Albert Rosales was kind enough to forward several interesting reports as well. I hope you enjoy the post:
THAI EXORCISM
When I was serving in Thailand during the Vietnam War I was stationed in a little town on the Thai-Laos-Cambodian border. I was living with my soon to be wife in a bungalow in town when our neighbor, a Laotian girl, became possessed by an evil spirit, or so I was told. She was so bad they had to call in special monks in white robes to pray over her.
My girlfriend/wife wanted to go over there and see the exorcism but before she went over she told me “don’t come over there for any reason.”
Instead, since I was on a day off I sat on my porch drinking whisky and getting drunk as I used to do in those days, as there wasn’t much else to do. Later, a friend of her’s came by and asked for her and forgetting what I was told, I went over to the house where the exorcism was going on. As I went up the steps to the upper floor bungalow I walked up to the screen door and looked in and heard the girl, who was standing naked on her bed screaming, stop screaming and point to something just inside the door! She said, “There it is!” In perfect English! I was standing there with my face to the screen door and suddenly I felt as if my face was stuck in a freezer and something was standing there looking at me! The hackles rose on my neck and arms and my wife who was sitting just inside the screen door screamed, “run”! To this day I know something had left the possessed girl to come take a look at me and I was stone cold sober when I got back across the street. This happened in Korat, Thailand in 1969. I had a lot of strange things happen to me in the three years I was in Thailand!
I believe I have lived many lives because I also reported for duty in Thailand in 1968 and instead of experiencing culture shock like the rest of my outfit I felt right at home and content. I also learned to speak Thai in about 10 months! Name withheld
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B-52 ENCOUNTER
Location. Over South Vietnam (exact location not provided)
Date: 1966 Time: night
The crew of a B-52 during a nighttime mission over South Vietnam encountered a craft that measured approximately ¼ mile in diameter, and was estimated by the crew to be 700 feet high, with 23 levels located in the upper dome. The crew made reference to seeing “windows” on each “floor”, and identified the outline of possible “beings or humanoids”. The craft departed at an extremely high rate of speed and opened up a local space/time “hole/window” exposing blue sky and clouds.
Source: www.openminds.com
Rosales Comments: Did this object create a rift through time and space in order to leave the air space over Vietnam?
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AMPHIBIAN CREATURES
Location. Can Tho,Vietnam
Date: June 18, 1978
Time: Night
The witness, Dai Nguyen, a child at the time, remembered being warned by his grandmother not to go near the river because a strange “living creature” had been seen there by others in the neighborhood, there was even a report of a child having been abducted by the creature. Mostly the witness ignored such warnings and one night while sitting on a coconut tree looking at the river he saw a very bright star-like object shoot out of the river and into the sky. The night of the full moon the witness had asked his grandmother to accompany him to the river in order to use the restroom facilities.
As they approached the river both witnesses spotted two strange creatures sitting on a coconut tree by the river. The beings appeared to be talking to each other and pointing at the stars. The witnesses stood only about 10 feet behind the creatures which had not noticed them yet. His grandmother was terrified and attempted to scream but nothing came out. She grabbed the witness’s hand really tight and was shaking. However the young man felt no fear since he knew somehow that the creatures were not ghosts as he could see their shadows under the moonlight. The creatures appeared not to be wearing any clothing as they sat on the coconut tree with their legs hanging down. They had an air of friendliness and relaxation. The young witness noticed that their skin was very white and slippery looking like that of a fish. They had large hairless heads, their body was totally hairless. Their eyes were large and dark but shiny, their mouths and noses were small, and the witness noticed that their fingers and toes were long. The witness thought that the creatures were much taller than his grandmother. Suddenly his grandmother uttered a very loud scream causing both creatures to turn and look at them. Immediately after that both creatures stood up on the coconut tree and dived into the river,“exactly like professional Olympic divers”. The witness did not see a large splash on the water, and did not see the creatures come up for air. Other family members had by now arrived wondering what had happened.
Source: MUFON CMS
Rosales Comments: Rare humanoid report from Vietnam...especially amphibian
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THE WITCH
A friend of mine who was in Vietnam, told me this story years ago. His name was Mike. His platoon was on recon, I believe, when they came on a hut believed to be a Vietcong outpost. The men burned the hut down. The old women who lived in the hut told them that she had cursed them and told them that if they didn't rebuild the hut that for everyday that went by, one of the men in the platoon would die and it wouldn't be combat related. Well after 5 days and 5 men died from unexplained forces, the men in the platoon went back and rebuilt the hut and the deaths stopped. Mike told me that a person in the next village told them that the woman was a witch. After that everybody in the platoon believed that she was a witch.
Andy
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BRIGHT YELLOW GIANTS
Location.Vietnam, just north of the DMZ
Date: December 17 1974
Time: 01:30 a.m.
A group of heavily armed soldiers had gone out in a search and destroy mission and had gone along a river bank by a heavily wooded area and had reached a clearing. When they began spreading out, their leader sensed something peculiar about the area. There was a strange eerie silence all around with the normal animals sounds totally absent. A scout went ahead and reported finding no tracks of any kind around. The silence continued. Strange fecal deposits were located then sounds from the nearby brush were heard, several huge figures then came into view just ahead of the soldiers. The figures were almost eight-foot tall and bright yellow in color, as they came closer, large three digit hands with what appeared to be long claws could bee seen on the creatures. They had large eyes,nose slits and flat faces. The figures passed near the men apparently without noticing them. The men then decide to turn back, as they walked into the bushes they began hearing loud crashing noises and realized that the creatures were running behind them. The men all ran towards the river where their boat was located with the creatures in hot pursuit. Several times the men fired their high caliber weapons at the creatures without any apparent effect. At one point one of the men fired several armor piercing rounds at one of the creature’s chest area, this also without any apparent effect. The men finally reached their boat and left the area, before leaving they saw a strong powerful glow on the riverbank as if dozens of the creatures had gathered to watch them leave.
Source: Natural or Supernatural?: A Casebook of True, Unexplained Mysteries
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PRAYERS ANSWERED
Location. Saigon, (Present day HoChi Minh City) Vietnam
Date: September 1974
Time: 03:15 a.m.
Jack Woosley was “broke”, jobless, and married to a Vietnamese girl who was pregnant. He didn’t know what he was going to do but he had read that praying was “like asking the question” and meditating “was like waiting for the answer”. So every night he would wake up and ask for help from the “Master”, indicating that he really wanted to be of help to others as well, that were far less fortunate than him. Then one night while he meditated, a being of some sort appeared before him. It was a beautiful female dressed in a long white and satin blue flowing church-like gown and she only said one thing to him (mentally, he thinks) and that was, “Are you sure that is what you want to do” and then disappeared. Woosley reported that in the course of the next few days his financial troubles evaporated. He was able to buy an airplane ticket to Los Angeles and on December 24 1974 his wife and newborn son arrived in the USA to be with him.
Source: www.ufoevidence.org
Rosales Comments: Quasi-religiousapparition?
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GLOWING BAT WOMAN
Location. Near Danang, Vietnam
Date: Summer 1969
Time: 01:00 a.m.
A soldier on guard duty in Vietnam saw an illuminous figure approaching slowly in the sky. When it got close, the figure was seen to be a naked woman with bat wings, her skin and the wings completely black, but glowing. The body was covered with the glow. This apparition passed only 6-7 feet above the witness' head and flew away, having been visible from 3-4 minutes. The witness PFC Earl Morrison is the step-nephew of the investigator.
Source: Don Worley, FSR Case Histories #10
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LAOS UFO ENCOUNTER
In response to an earlier email requesting UFO information during the Vietnam conflict, I'm placing my father's experience during this time at the end of this email. My Dad was stationed in Thailand but flying missions in and out of Vietnam during the conflict. On one occasion he was flying a mission over Laos when he encountered the UFO. The following is as he told it to me. He also did a drawing of the craft which I have with my other photos regarding this anomaly. The phenomenon seems to run in our family covering at least three generations so far:
There was an incident in 1967 involving my father. He was a full Colonel at the time and a veteran pilot of WWII as well as the Asian military conflict. He was flying a mission over Laos when he was approached by a UFO. He said he was flying a C130 at 25,000 feet in a 70 mile orbit, (fly 70 miles, make a turn, and fly back, staying parallel to the equator), when the object approached. He said he normally sat on the left but, on this occasion, and he didn’t know why, he was on the right. The co-pilot on the left is the one who first noticed it and said, "Hey, Ed. What’s that?" At this point my father looked in the direction the co-pilot was pointing.
His description of the incident is that it was metal colored, shaped like the hull or prow of a boat, and that it was flat on top as if it had been chopped off. There were no windows so they couldn’t see who or what was piloting it. There were no visible lights but that wouldn’t have been apparent anyway as it was a perfectly clear day. It came directly at his plane and "scared the hell out of" him. Duration was only a few seconds as they were traveling at a speed of about 350 mph and the craft was traveling at an unknown speed. He also stated it passed within a few feet below his aircraft but no mention was made of whether or not there was any turbulence and I didn’t think to ask at the time.
I did ask if he was debriefed and what took place on the ground since it had been seen on radar. He said the co-pilot suddenly changed his mind and said he saw nothing. (At the end of this is the drawing made by my father of how the UFO as it appeared to him. The arrow indicates direction.) People in the military are afraid to report such things as it would go into their Ers, (Efficiency Ratings), and would affect their ability to get promotions.
Sincerely,
Vivian Walker
State Director/Senior Investigator, E.P.I.C. Louisiana
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BLACK SPHERE
Location. Near Cao Bang, North Vietnam (at the time)
Date: August 12-13 1968 Time: night
A group of Soviet engineers working in this isolated region in the hope of building a hydroelectric power plant suddenly heard a rumble of engines overhead and thinking that it was American B-52 bombers they all ran out of their tents but were surprised to see a black angular diamond shaped object approximately twice the size of the moon and which emitted a greenish-blue light. Moments later a fiery comet shaped object emerging somewhere on the earth struck the diamond shaped object, immediately their was a bright flash which blinded everyone, and then a powerful shock wave knocked the Russian hydrologists down and tore their tents apart, sweeping away their equipment, fortunately no one was seriously hurt, but the explosion produced deep concern amongst those present. They even thought that a small nuclear device had exploded. During several hours neither the radio or other communications equipment worked, producing only severe static. Only in the morning it was possible to contact their central base and report the incident. The scientists promised a full report of the events and visited the closest village where strangely there was no sign of destruction or explosion, the inhabitants only thought that they had heard a very “loud thunderstorm”. After about 2 days the scientists found at about 1km from their base camp a black half sphere shaped object about 3 meters in diameter. The surface of the sphere was completely black; it seemed that light did not reflect from its surface. Moreover the sphere did not cast a shadow; the rays of the low evening sun seemed to go around the strange object, falling on the high grass around it. By touch the sphere seemed cool and a bit slippery, as if doused with soapy water. One of the men attempted to scratch the surface of the sphere with a sharp knife to no avail. They then notified their central base about their enigmatic finding. Soon after the group received instructions from their main base, to set up a protective perimeter around the object and guard it until a “special group” arrived at the site. They were strictly warned not to approach within 20meters of the sphere, thus the entire group of five men camped at exactly 20 meters from the sphere. They had no idea what the sphere could be and guessed it was some kind of new weaponry either of Soviet or American origin. After building a small bonfire the men began to rest. The men stared at the bizarre object with bizarre fascination and fear.
One of the specialists, Boris Ivanov wrote in his dairy that the men rested uneasy staring at the object in the light of their bonfire with their carbines ready just in case of any problems, waiting for the Special Forces group to eventually show up and take control of the situation. Soon one of the men, Viacheslav G, rose and went into the brushwood; the rest barely noticed and thought that it must be a prosaic reason for his outing. When in five minutes he did not return, the men began to nervously call out his name, but he did not return. Searching the area with flashlights in the direction of the sphere the men could not find Viacheslav. Concerned and afraid the rest of the men decided not to look any further and returned to the bonfire. After about an hour another man, Peter K, silently rose and also went into the brushwood exactly in the same direction that Viacheslav had taken. He seemed to move uncomfortably, rocking back and forth, apparently very drowsy. A kind of anxiety suddenly enveloped the rest of the men and they remained sitting by the bonfire, unable to intervene. Peter K never returned. This time the remaining men did not search for Peter, but simply sat and waited. A feeling of predestination filled the men. After two more hours to the sphere went Vladimir M., it was obvious that he could not resist whatever force beckoned him, he also never came back. Now only two men remained, Boris and Sergey T. both torpid with fear and refusing to move from their position. But suddenly Sergey’s face became distorted; he arose like a weak-willed marionette and meandered away into the dark, in the direction of the strange sphere. Moments later Boris found himself able to move again, terrified he grabbed his carbine and shot himself on the leg in an attempt to disable himself so he wouldn’t walk away to an uncertain faith. As a result of the pain, he passed out. This action possibly saved Boris. He woke up in the morning when the specialists arrived. They found him half-conscious by the now extinguished bonfire, having lost a lot of blood but still alive, by this time the sphere had disappeared along with his comrades. He was soon evacuated from the area, but not before Boris convinced himself that he and his friends had encounter some type of extraterrestrial probe which had somehow taken his friends with it to places unknown.
Source: Solomon Naffert, “Black sphere in the jungles of Vietnam” NLO May 17, 2004
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DISINTEGRATE
Location. DMZ, Vietnam
Date: summer 1968
Time: 02:00 a.m.
The main witness was in the “North Country” with a Ranger Recon Unit. Across from them was an NVA unit on the other hill. Late at night they all saw a fluorescent blue object come towards them and then stop completely about ¼ mile from them. It then moved closer, suddenly across from them the NVA opened up with 12.7MM machine guns and light weapons. They saw the tracers heading for the strange object and it seemed to take a lot of hits, but nothing appeared to happen to it. Then a bright light emitted from the object and suddenly the machine guns and small arms fire stopped immediately. The next morning the witness’s team went over to the NVA location. An incredible sight greeted them. The 12.7MM machine guns were melted like butter and there was no one around, all they could find were several black patches of “ashes”. One of the team members took several photographs. At base camp he wrote a report and had the photos included with the report. That same day he never returned to the unit and when asked about him they were told that he had been transferred to another unit. When asked about the report and photos the men were told that there was no such report or pictures. Each individual member of the team was then interviewed by high ranking military personnel and threatened with prison if they talked about the incident.
Source: www.alien-ufos.com
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GREY-HUMAN HYBRIDS
Location. Jungle area near North Vietnam border
Date: October 12 1967 Time: 01:45 a.m.
The main witness was at the time a team leader on a LRRP unit (Long Range Recon Patrol) which consisted of a team of 6 men. He was out with his team in the IV Corps in a jungle area and after humping through the boonies all day had set up an NDP (Night Defensive Perimeter). The men took turns sleeping and keeping watch. At about 0145A, the witness heard movement ahead. Another man (Levin) heard it also, they woke up the other 4 men and they all readied themselves for the upcoming contact. Suddenly they saw what appeared to be an “alien”. The witness described it as resembling the modern grey-human hybrid with a long face and large black eyes. It gave off an eerie glow. One of the men named Boltach raised his weapon and fired. He hit the being in the head with a short controlled burst. A brilliant blue syrupy fluid splattered the trees behind the alien. Just then they saw a dull light in the sky. Back then they had a device called a “Starlight Scope”, which only special operations teams had. It was a lot like night vision. The main witness focused it on the light in the sky and at that moment two more lights appeared. They formed the shape of a perfect triangle. The light at the top circled the two below in a figure 8 and zipped off. The remaining two seemed to collide and both zip off in the same direction as the first. That night two other LRRP teams in their AO (area of operations) reported in the same activities. The men called their headquarters and were informed that there was radio trouble and would be offline for the rest of the night. The linked up with the other 2 teams for security reasons and shared their encounter with them. 4 of the other men with the main witness that night were later killed in various engagements in the war. Only himself and Levin are still around.
Source: NUFORC
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DIVINE INTERVENTION
Location. DMZ, Vietnam
Date: late 1966
Time: afternoon
At a landing zone called “Oasis” the witness was working as a door gunner. On that date he was pulling perimeter guard duty. As they came under attack, a C-130 gun ship called “Puff the Magic Dragon” flew just outside their position and was working out their guns. It looked like fire coming from a hose in the dark. The next morning the other gunners and the witness decided to rearrange out-linked ammo to have all the tracers together to give the same effect as the night before. That afternoon they went out on a reckon mission. As they approached the landing zone they opened up with their machine guns. The LZ (landing zone) was large and mostly clear waist high dried grass. As they landed they received enemy fire. Small fires started all over from their tracer rounds. He heard on the intercom that a helicopter behind them was down with main rotor problems and fires had them enveloped, his captain ordered him to go back with a “fire bottle” and see if he could help. The witness grabbed the bottle but did not think to take his rifle. As he ran to their position the crew chief waved him back. It seems like the rotor was fine and they were about to take off. As he ran back he became disoriented, and became lost. As he ran around looking he heard someone shout “Dung Li” which means stop or halt in Vietnamese. He looked around and saw a North Vietnamese soldier pointing his AK at him. Feeling helpless, since he was completely unarmed he dropped to his knees, hands up. At the same time the soldier spoke to him things that he could not understand. As the soldier backed up, the witness knew he was going to die. From fear he then felt overwhelming sadness.
As his whole life past in front of his eyes, he just hoped that it did not hurt so much. Suddenly a total peace came over him, a feeling he could not describe. He then heard a loud crack. He jumped up thinking that he had been shot. He heard a thump and saw the enemy soldier fall to the ground. As he looked up, he saw the tallest person he had ever seen. He saw what appeared to be a GI about 7 or 8 ft tall. He just stood there motionless, perfect in dress, incredibly with no soil marks or sweat, a perfect looking figure. His eyes shaded by the helmet showed through; an aura appeared to be all around him. He then spoke to the witness clearly. He told him that it was Ok that he was going to be safe. He added: “Thomas, go back to your bird.” The witness realized that the stranger’s lips never moved, apparently he had communicated with him telepathically. Thomas jumped up and ran to his “bird” (helicopter). As they lifted up, he looked down to see the dead enemy soldier, but no sign of the giant figure. He never mentioned what really happened to anyone for over 30 years.
Source: UFOs about.com, Paranormal stores archive
High Strangeness Index: 8
Reliability of Source: 7
Rosales Comments: Do we have here some kind of divine intervention? The height of the stranger is significant. Was the witness somehow not meant to die on that fateful day?
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NEW FRIEND
I am not the teller of this tale. I have no first hand knowledge of it. It was told to me by a Vietnam veteran who once worked in a hospital of the U.S. Indian Health Service. He no longer works there, and I don't know where he is. He and I are of the same American Indian Tribe. We were not close in any sense, but I knew him as very dependable and a nice guy. He served in the highlands of that horrid war in which so many I knew (one is too many) died.
Anyway, he and his platoon were bivouaced, nose-to-nose with Viet Cong fighters or NVA soldiers. One night, during a lull in the fighting, a guy literally rolled into his shelter. Scared my friend, thought at first the new guy was enemy. The guy asked for water, stayed awhile, and they talked. Then the enemy began a mortar attack. My friend, as do most everyone I knew who served there, said that a mortar attack will turned you into a frightened little kid. He said
he and the new guy grabbed each other and waited for the fire to lift.
Either during and shortly after the attack, my friend was told to see the Old Man. The new guy went with him. They walked to the Old Man's dugout, and my friend was ordered to run a message to the company command post. My friend figured he was a dead man. Lone runners often didn't last too long on the jungle trails of Vietnam. But the new guy said he'd go with him. He made their way carefully back along the trail, didn't inadvertently find any trip wires or find any ambushes. He delivered the message, then he and the new guy decided to grab some chow before making their way back to the platoon. They got rations, grabbed water for their canteens and left for the platoon area.
Somewhere along the trail, he and the new guy became separated. My friend never saw his new friend again. And when he arrived back, he got the usual backwash from other guys in the platoon about his vacation, his desertion, his cowardice in the face of enemy fired and so forth. He asked around to see if anyone had seen his new friend, who maybe had come back alone. No one, including the guys who were in dugouts around his, guys around the Old Man--no one--had seen anyone with my friend the previous night.
My friend has thought over the years about the new guy, hoped he was all right, and that he came home, is now
fat, happy and has the life he wants. But he's still not sure about the new friend he made, whom he touched, carried on lengthy conversations with, touched, and ate with, ever existed.
Jim Porter
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WAR AND SHADOWS
Just stumbled upon your entry about Vietnam. Reminds me of a book I read which you possibly don’t know since you don’t mention it: War and Shadows: The Haunting of Vietnam
The author conducted research into hauntings and strange, tortured and aggressive manifestations of spirits of people who died in the Vietnam war. She talked with many people from all walks of life, about really strange things that are happening in their lives, traditional people as well as very modern and young ones who were not yet born when the war was happening.
What intrigues me most is that these ‘vengeful ghosts’ are not coming to haunt Americans – at least not in the way described in the book, but torture their own family. Which makes me wonder if the way spirits manifest is connected to the way they are treated in a culture. The Vietnamese have, like many Asian peoples, a strong religious connection to their ancestors and the dead are treated with lots of ritual care and respect, in case they are not satisfied and come back to haunt you. All these war victims had to do without, and their death was often horrible.
But so are the deaths of all war victims, in every culture. But the dead from, say, WWII never behaved like the hungry ghosts in Vietnam, who inflict physical harm on their relatives. Is their afterlife world different from ours? What is the connection between belief, ritual and spirit behaviour?
It would be interesting to conduct more of these surveys in once war torn countries, like Cambodia, or African countries where belief in spirits is strong.
So much fieldwork to do for parapsychologists – when they finally decide to come out of the lab.
I hope you get reactions from readers.
Thanks a lot for your very interesting Phantoms and Monsters, which I read daily, often printing articles for further reference.
Keep it up!
Best wishes,
Loes Modderman, a Dutch Fortean
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VERY CRAZY, G.I.
Kregg P.J. Jorgenson has a book called Very Crazy, G.I.!: Strange but True Stories of the Vietnam War
that outlines some paranormal experiences. He is a solid source that has written about his experiences a a soldier in Vietnam. As former Army Officer specializing in public affairs, I can attest to his accuracy of battlefield experiences and tactics in his other books (Though I wan't there, he is 20yrs + older than me). He also has an outstanding sense of humor.I think some have rated this book unfairly. His standard style of writing deals with some intense conflicts and battle weary soldiers from a first-hand perspective. I think this book, written relaxed sense, took many people aback. People looking for blood and guts didn't get their fix.
Enjoy your site. My wife and family have been part of, and followed, paranormal work for years. Under the radar of course. As a former officer and now a professional in the mental health Field, people tend to raise an eyebrow when broaching the subject. (If they would only subjectively listen to my catalog of EVP's and view a few photos...and get my take on some diagnosed with questionable mental illnesses...)
Keep up the good work.
Bruce
NOTE: Here are a few links to other accounts that I had previously posted:
Reader Inquiry: Vietnamese Flying Woman
Lizard Beings: Encounter & Engagement
Rock Ape Encounters