ORANG PENDEK EXPEDITION 2016: The Tall One And Other Strange Tales From The Recent Past

Before being asked to leave the plantation by park rangers, over half a dozen villagers came to visit us to discuss their encounters with Orang Pendek or Orang Itam as they called them. Most of the reports were very recent which was excellent news, however I was also related two very fascinating stories that took place over forty years ago.

The first event occurred on the plantation around 1973/74 when large 20-inch footprints were discovered. A few days later a massive and hairy hominoid was seen walking through a grove of cinnamon trees by one of the locals. Based on the height of the trees the eyewitness estimated the creature to be a staggering 13 feet in height or more. Unfortunately it was never seen again and the locals dubbed it Orang Tinggi, or the tall person. In other parts of Sumatra these elusive giants are sometimes referred to as Orang Gadang. Interestingly its size and description corresponds very closely to the Orang Dalam/Mawas of southern Malaysia and it's highly likely that these creatures are of the same, albeit extinct,species.

The other story occurred a few years later in the same region but the exact location could not be remembered. Apparently during the height of the rainy season an Orang Pendek lost its footing and fell into a raging river and was swept downstream. Its body was then deposited in a large irrigation ditch or small canal near a plantation and the remains were viewed by dozens of locals for a period of several days.The decomposing corpse was then suddenly removed and its fate is unknown to this day. The most probable scenario is that it was buried, or does some individual in the Kerinci Valley posses its skeletal remains?

ORANG PENDEK EXPEDITION 2016: Into The Fray Radio Podcast

 I recently had the opportunity to discus my ongoing research into Orang Pendek and other anomalous primates with Shannon LeGro, the host of Into the Fray Radio. This is only my second podcast since I began investigating relict hominids some eight years ago, and I hope to do them on a more regular basis. You can listen to the show here:

https://intothefrayradio.com/Episodes/itf-43-international-cryptids-orang-pendek-yeti-daniel-antal/

THE MANY RETURNS OF ORANG MAWAS

Discussing animal tracks with wildlife officials on a plantation in central Malaysia that was said to be frequented by an Orang Dalam. The tracks turned out to be those of a large solitary tapir.

The very first cryptid that I investigated was the anomalous primate historically called Orang Dalam ( Interior Man ). More commonly known today as Orang Mawas or the Johor Hominid,this creature is said to inhabit the lowland rain forests,or what's left of them in the southern Malaysian states of Johor and Pahang.

Virtually unknown to the outside world until stories of enormous tracks and jungle giants began trickling out of Orang Asli settlements in the late 1960s. It then  made international headlines when writer and adventurer Harold Stevens and photographer Kurt Rolfes found and photographed possibly the most convincing hominid trackway to date on a riverbank near the headwaters of the Endau river in 1970.You can see these amazing images here :

http://www.haroldstephens.net/node/258

http://www.rolfes.net/argosycover.jpg

In the years since there have been sporadic reports of tracks and sightings but nothing of real significance.The following is a collection of photos from various investigations which I have conducted over the past eight years. Unlike my research into Orang Pendek I have yet to organize a proper "full blown" expedition into the heart of the jungle inhabited by the "Man of the Interior". However,that may change in the very near future.