Batutut
In folklore, the Batutut or Ujit or Người rừng, sometimes also known as "forest people", is an entity said to inhabit the Vũ Quang nature reserve and other wilderness areas of Vietnam, Laos and northern Borneo. A 1947 sighting by a French colonist refers to the animal as a L'Homme Sauvage (wild man).[1]
Two Người Rừngs were reportedly captured by tribesmen near Đắk Lắk 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.[2]
A professor Tran Hong Viet of Pedagogic University of Hanoi, a researcher of Người Rừng, reported in 1982 finding footprints in 1970, measuring 28x16 cm., of which he made casts.[3] He had been making an extensive post-war inventory of natural resources, and while collecting specimens near Chu Mo Ray in Sa Thầy 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).[4]
On the 5th season premier of Syfy's Destination Truth, host Josh Gates and team go to Vietnam in search of the Batutut. Gates interviews a local primatologist, Vu Ngoc Thanh, and examines his casting of a footprint. Later in Ke Bang National Park, Gates's team find several large humanlike footprints and make a casting of their own which is taken back to the U.S. and examined by noted Bigfoot researcher, anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum. Meldrum called the print "a significant discovery" and one of the best pieces of evidence he has seen.
References
- ↑ ""L'Homme Sauvage" De Kontum" (in French). Coombs.anu.edu.au. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ↑ Newton, Michael (2005). "Batutut". Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 39–40. ISBN 0-7864-2036-7.
- ↑ "Nguoi Rung, Vietnamese Forest People". Coombs.anu.edu.au. Archived from the original on 15 June 2004. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ↑ "Nguoi Rung footprint". Coombs.anu.edu.au. 1996-08-29. Archived from the original on 5 February 2014. Retrieved 2012-01-25.