We're all familiar with stories of Big Foot and Sasquatch sightings and even the tales of the Yeti of the snow-covered mountains of Tibet. Now it's time to introduce you to the Vietnamese version of Big Foot.

They were taking a breather. The six-man patrol from the 101st Airborne Division's LRRPs was set up in a protective wagon-wheel position--heads facing outward, feet pointed toward the center --as secure a formation as the terrain would allow. And it wasn't allowing much.

The behind-the-lines patrol had taken them into a remote and difficult stretch of mountainous jungle in the Central Highlands. The terrain was rugged and steep, and at night, the LRRPs had to wedge themselves between trees to keep from slipping or sliding downhill.

Wiping the sweat from their eyes and leaning against their heavy rucksacks, the tired LRRPs tended to loosen straps or realign equipment as they rested--all the while watching and listening to the jungle around them.

On quiet guard, the six soldiers were facing out against the wall of green-and-brown underbrush, guarding against any Viet Cong who might have tracked them or who might happen upon them by chance.

The combined weight of their rucksacks, weapons, and LBE--the load-bearing equipment harness that held their web gear--was one hundred pounds or so, and climbing the steep hills with that kind of load took some doing. So the break was a momentary but necessary respite.

Gary Linderer was thinking that the surrounding jungle was quiet and deceptively peaceful. The forest noises--the occasional rustling of the wind through the trees, the grunts of an animal in the distance, and the sound of birds--could easily lull a soldier into a false sense of serenity even though the war was very much around them. However, if anything was out of the ordinary, there was no indication. That is, until the small trees and underbrush just fifteen yards uphill began to shake violently.

Linderer's attention and the frenzied focus of the other team members turned to the commotion. On guard, the LRRPs brought up their weapons and waited. Linderer was the closest team member to the hubbub, his heart was jumping in his chest as he watched and waited for the intruder.

While he was ready for a VC soldier, he wasn't ready for the face that peered through the underbrush. If it was a Viet Cong soldier, then it was a damn ugly one! An oblong head framed the hair-covered face. Dark, deep-set eyes lay beneath a prominent brow, and they did nothing to complement the heavy jowls and angry mouth. As it stepped into a small clearing, Linderer could see that matted reddish-brown hair ran down the creature's neck and covered most of its body. Whatever it was, it stood at least five feet tall, had broad shoulders, long thick muscular arms, and a heavy torso. It walked upright. In the small clearing, it stopped and studied the Americans.

"What the hell is that?" someone called out from behind Linderer.

"It's a rock ape," said another team member. Another team member disagreed. "No, it ain't," he said. "I've seen rock apes, and that sure as hell isn't a rock ape!" "It's an orangutan, isn't it?" Linderer asked while the others kept their eyes glued on the strange creature. "Well, if it is, then he can't read a map. There are no orangutans in Vietnam."

The apelike creature soon lost interest in the six LRRPs, turned back the way it had come, and easily climbed back up the steep rise. "It's an ape of some kind," one of the LRRPs said. "It has to be." But then, maybe it wasn't.

In the Central Highlands region of Vietnam in the remote province of Kontum where the country bumps up against Cambodia and Laos, there is mounting evidence of the existence of strange, humanlike creatures the locals call the nguoi rung --"The people of the forest." Big Foot.

While the montagnards and other tribal peoples have believed that the nonhuman species have inhabited the region for centuries, scientists now say there may be something more to the folktale and legend.

Toward the end of the American war in Vietnam, numerous sightings by Viet Cong and NVA soldiers of apelike creatures walking upright became so overwhelming that the North Vietnamese party secretariat ordered scientists into the region to investigate the nguoi rung while the war was still going on.

In 1974, as the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong pushed south to overrun the country, Professor Vo Quy of the Vietnam National University was sent into the region to conduct an investigation.

Vo Quy discovered a nguoi rung footprint on the forest floor and made a cast
of the impression, which was analyzed and studied by Vietnamese academics. It was wider than a human footprint and too big for an ape. The unusual find added credence to the folktale. It also set off debate in the scientific arena. Other expeditions were mounted but yielded few results. Chance sightings of the nguoi rung continued, ranging from small creatures to larger ones. Eyewitnesses had differences of opinion as to the exact color of the creatures' body hair. Like those sighted earlier, these latest nguoi rung walked upright and were described as having human characteristics.

In 1982, Professor Tran Hong Viet became the second scientist to discover nguoi rung footprints, and while scientists debated the actual existence of such creatures, many of the critics' arguments went up in smoke when zoologist John MacKinnon and a team of scientists discovered three previously unknown mammals in the Vu Quang Mountain rain forest in 1992.

The discovery of the new mammals demonstrated that the remote regions might well hold other new discoveries, including clues that might solve the riddle of Vietnam's Bigfoot.

Ironically, it was MacKinnon who, in 1969, came across manlike footprints in the jungles of Borneo, ascribed by locals to the Batutut. MacKinnon wrote that "the toes of the creature looked quite human...' and that the tracks would have been about the right size for the Asiatic black bear. However, the only bear known in Borneo is the sun bear, which is considerably smaller.

To this day, the controversy continues even as international teams of scientists scour the remote mountain jungles looking for what the local villagers say have always been there.

Excerpt from "Strange but True Stories of the Vietnam War --Very Crazy G.I." (Page 33 -36)
© Kregg P. J. Jorgenson 2001 Ballantine Book Publishing Company

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