Evidence Of The Orang Pendek, Sumatra’s Apeman Cryptid

Evidence Of The Orang Pendek, Sumatra’s Apeman Cryptid

Deep in the jungles of the Westernmost island of the Indonesian archipelago, lies the home of one of the world’s most elusive cryptids with the greatest likelihood of legitimacy. The Orang Pendek, Sumatra’s famed cryptozoological wonder, is a small, bipedal primate seen by natives and foreign researchers alike.

Orang Pendek Sightings

In the Indonesian language, Orang Pendek translates to “short person,” and it is believed to be an undiscovered primate species, that could potentially be of the homo genus. Over the years there have been a plethora of Orang Pendek sightings by travelers, locals, and researchers who have come in search of the cryptid, or stumbled upon it by chance.

The most common characteristics confirmed by these numerous sightings depict the Orang Pendek standing between 30 and 60 inches in height, or about 2½ to 5 feet tall. These creatures are described as being covered in golden, brown, or grey hair and are bipedal, walking erect in the same manner as humans. But what’s even more bizarre is that they are said to have human-like facial features, differing in appearance from most monkeys.

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This human visage has led some to believe these beings could be a lost cousin of humans, sharing a common ancestor. One archeological research group found the remains of a small human-like species in the area, reporting their findings as Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the real-life Hobbit – could this be Sumatra’s cryptid?

According to local Indonesians, the Orang Pendek is an intelligent creature with an uncanny ability to avoid detection while watching humans, causing Sumatrans to fear the creature and its clandestine nature. During one native’s encounter, he said the creature put its arms in the air to make itself look bigger and more threatening – a classic ape intimidation instinct. Other encounters have reported similar signs of aggression, though it’s unclear whether one of these creatures has ever attacked.

One of the most famous researchers in search of the Orang Pendek is a former British journalist, Debbie Martyr. While investigating the cryptid in 1994, Martyr sighted the Orang Pendek herself in the jungles of Sumatra. Unfortunately, she was unable to snap a photo in time but knows that she witnessed a bipedal primate, unlike anything she had ever seen before.

Another sighting came from a former military helicopter pilot, who spotted the creature while flying through Kerinci Seblat National Park – the epicenter of Orang Pendek sightings. There he said he witnessed the cryptid in a tree and flew closer to get a better look. He said the head was shaped differently than a human’s and had more of an ape-like structure, but the face was distinctly humanoid.

Orang Pendek Evidence

Though there is a dearth of definitive Orang Pendek pictures, there has been one video that stands out above the rest. In it, a small pygmy-like being darted out of the woods in front of a group of dirt-bikers. The creature runs off into the jungle, just before one biker catches up to it, capturing just a few seconds of fleeting footage of the elusive cryptid.

The creature falls over, before picking up a long staff and running off, appearing to be wearing nothing but a loincloth. This creature appears to be the size of a small human, though height is hard to judge due to the varying angles of footage.

But the creature in question appears less hairy than one might imagine when comparing it to the majority of descriptions of a hirsute Orang Pendek. In the video, the creature appears to have very little hair on its back, adding to the possibility that it could be a hoax.

Another researcher tracking the Orang Pendek is a man by the name of Adam Davies. Davies made a plaster cast of what he believes is the creature’s footprint that he stumbled upon in the jungles of Western Sumatra.

What he found was that the cast matched descriptions of the Orang Pendek having a divergent toe, much like monkeys. But there was one striking difference: the toes weren’t long like monkeys, rather they were short and wide like humans.

Orang Pendek photo

A model of Orang Pendek

Researchers like Richard Freeman have been exploring areas like Western Sumatra for years, photographing species that have never been documented before. According to Freeman, he’s taken images of up to 60 never-before-seen species, making the chance that an unknown species of primate exists there relatively high.

Cynics have said that sightings of the creature are just misconstrued sightings of orangutans, but there have been a number of confounding factors to dispel this skepticism, namely that orangutans have never been spotted in that area of Sumatra. Orangutans also use their arms and knuckles for balance when they walk, not moving fully upright, like most claim to see Orang Pendek in its stride.

For now, the Orang Pendek remains at large, but with all of the evidence of its existence, as is, it seems that these researchers may find definitive evidence soon. Could this bizarre species shed light on some of our ancient, primitive ancestors, or possibly the ever-elusive bigfoot?



UFOs and Bigfoot; Evidence of an Inter-Dimensional Connection

John Keel, the prominent ufologist and paranormal researcher, famous for the Mothman Prophecies, once proposed the idea that there are “window areas” throughout the world, connecting our reality with parallel dimensions. These areas, Keel imagined, may help elucidate some unexplained reports of entities that are too fleeting or confusing to later detail or prove. With the increasing plausibility of the multiverse theory and infinite neighboring universes, maybe we should be asking ourselves; are UFOs and Bigfoot interdimensional travelers, and could there be a connection between the two?

Interdimensional Bigfoot Theories

For hundreds of years, people worldwide have reported encounters with monsters, fairies, demons, and cryptids. To this day those experiences persist, while many of these same entities have also been encountered through the use of psychedelics.

Now, it would be easy to say these are simply archetypal figures; beings our collective consciousness conjures in our minds with anthropomorphic features based on fears or subliminal functions of our psyche. Or we could entertain the ostensibly bizarre possibility that these are entities from another dimension operating on higher realms of existence.

Keel referred to these entities as ultra-terrestrials; beings capable of crossing dimensions at will, often acting as “cosmic pranksters.” Daniel Pinchbeck says he experienced prankster entities from a psychedelic realm cross into the real world after encountering them during and in the subsequent weeks following a psychedelic trip.

When it comes to Bigfoot, Sasquatch, the Yeti, or whatever you want to call them, there is often a playfulness and/or spookiness described in their actions. Tree knocking or eerie screams alert us to their presence until we get close enough where they might offer a glimpse, before vanishing seemingly into thin air.

Their appearance could be considered another form of prank, embodying a primitive, ape-like creature that exudes a noxious odor. Yet, they’re able to evade contact with us despite thousands of reported sightings over hundreds of years. Is Sasquatch cosmically trolling us?

An intriguing account tying UFO’s and Bigfoot together comes from an 1888 meeting between cattle ranchers and a group of Native Americans in Northern California. The natives described three “crazy bears” that descended from the sky in a small moon, leaving them in the woods before taking off.

In another instance, in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1973, a woman named Reafa Heitfield and her daughter were awakened in the middle of the night to a beam of light extending down from a bulbous umbrella shape in the sky. Tracking the light to where it landed in the nearby woods, the two noticed a grayish, simian creature wandering toward the beam. Before they knew it, both the ape and the craft disappeared.

Though these stories may be apocryphal in nature, it’s reported that at least 20 percent of Bigfoot sightings coincide with UFO events.

Jack Cary, a cryptozoologist who has studied Bigfoot for decades, says he believes it’s alternatively plausible that Bigfoot is being abducted by UFOs in much the same way humans are, to study its DNA and physical attributes.

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