Looking for King Kong in Thailand

A little over a year ago, I moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand to try retirement living. Shortly after arriving here, I met a lady named Nung who is now my wife. About six months ago, I was trying to explain to Nung and her older daughter Joy about my interest in Bigfoot. When I showed them a video of the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film and some of the online artist drawings of Bigfoot and Yeti, Joy said "Oh, you look King Kong". But it still did not register, at least with Nung, until a few nights ago. There was nothing of interest on TV, so I was showing Nung some of my Evening Hike videos I did in California before moving to Thailand. Out of the blue, she told me a story her father had told her. Nung was 10 years old at the time, so this happened about 38 years ago.

Nung's family was living about an hour (by car) south of Chiang Mai. Some of Nung's relatives still live in the area today. When Nung was young, her family, 9 kids in all, did not have much money. Sometimes, Nung's father would go to a nearby mountain to gather wood (maybe bamboo) to make things to sell. Nung did not remember exactly where this was, just that it was nearby. My guess is that it was a little south of Thailand's highest mountain Doi Inthanon. As Nung's father neared his destination in the forest, he noticed another person sitting up ahead and called out a greeting, asking if the stranger was there working as well. Although a little puzzled why the stranger did not reply, Nung's father continued walking. As her father got nearer, the other person stood up. It was then he realized the stranger was not a person at all, but something covered in hair, taller than himself with a human looking face. Fear took over and Nung's father ran away as fast as he could. When her father returned home, he said his arms and legs were covered in period. Nung meant her father's arms and legs were scratched badly from him running through the bushes.

The next day, Nung's father with a gun in hand, one of her brothers who was 13 at the time, along with 2 dogs, returned to the mountain to retrieve her father's stuff. They found large barefoot prints in the mud near a stream close to where the unknown creature had been the day before. As Nung told me the part about the footprints, she held her hands out much bigger than her own foot.

After telling this story, Nung's father warned her to never go to that mountain location, to just stay away. Unfortunately, Nung's father and brother have both passed away, so there can be no direct follow-up to this story.

Nung's story is only the second time I have heard about a possible Bigfoot type creature being seen inside Thailand. Last year, I found this other story on a travel blog about the Mae Charim area in Nan Province: The yetis of Northern Thailand.

I have found a new life and family here in Thailand. And just maybe, I will find King Kong here as well.

 

Update October 3, 2015:

One of Nung's other brothers was with their father on a different trek to their nearby mountain where they again encountered something unusual. Here's my interview:

 

Looking for King Kong - Oct 3, 2015

 

Update May 7, 2016:

We had a new house warming party in Chiang Mai and my wife's brother attended, so I took the opportunity to show him some cryptid ape drawings off the Internet to see if any were the creature he saw some 40-50 years ago near Doi Inthanon, Thailand. He picked a drawing found on the Bigfoot Lunch Club of Orang Pendek with it's left arm raised above it's head:

 

http://www.bigfootlunchclub.com/2013/07/new-ish-art-from-history-channel.html

 

I showed him other depictions of Orang Pendek and cryptid apes from around the Internet, but he said no to them. We also tried to identify the smaller creatures he saw with the larger one that day, but could not find a match. Although, I did verify again that the large creature walked on two legs and had no tail. The smaller creatures walked on four legs and had a tail.

 

  Facebook Group:

Ape-Men in Thailand

 

Bigfoot Drawing by Brook

My friend Oscar's granddaughter gave me this drawing of bigfoot she made:

Bigfoot Discovery Museum on TV

Following below are my videos for a few of the stories from this week's Finding Bigfoot TV program called "Surf's Up, Sasquatch". I signed an NDA prior to filming last July, so couldn't talk about what they did till the episode aired. I think spotlighting the Bigfoot Discovery Museum, their large tooth and some of the local stories is great.

 In 1999, there was a sighting one mile from downtown Santa Cruz.

In 2012, there were two sightings in a Felton area where I've been hiking each week for the past year and a half. The first was on April 25 about 8:30 pm by a mother and daughter out driving. They saw an adult and a juvenile standing beside the road next to a tree. The second was on July 16 about 4:10 pm by my friend Ray. He saw an adult sitting in the bushes by a pond. These two sightings happened about half a mile from each other, so that's why I've focused so much time on that Felton area.

 

The day of Ray's sighting it was just luck that he tagged along and luckier still that he happened to go in the bushes beside the pond. It never occurred to me that there would be a creature that close to where people were. Since then, I only look in the bushes off trail, lol.

 

I already have a Bare Stick blog page devoted to these two 2012 sightings, so please go there to learn more and watch my investigation videos: Ray's Sighting.

Two other areas where the Finding Bigfoot team visited were Big Basin Redwoods State Park and The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. Both these areas have had multiple sightings either inside or nearby reported over the years, but here's two I was involved in investigating.

Big Basin Field Trip

 

Nisene Marks Day Trip

 

A few weeks after the Finding Bigfoot team had left, I found these two items near the pond in Felton.

I recorded these Howls and Knocks during two Night Ops near Boulder Creek.

 

This is what the Boulder Creek location looks like in daylight.
(The full story is in my comment pinned below this video)

 

Dark Poop Found Near Felton, California

I've been going to an area near Felton, California to hike and look for signs of bigfoot. This area has had two sightings in 2012 (click here for blog article).

After the second sighting which was in the bushes beside the pond, Mike Rugg (Bigfoot Discovery Museum) found dark poop nearby. Since then, other similar looking poop has been found in the area. Following below, are screen stills from various videos shot at the time each poop was found. Click on the Photo to see a bigger view, click on the Title to watch the video.

UPDATE: I learned in October 2013 that there is a 1200 pound wild cow in this area that no one has been able to catch for 3 years. It only comes out at night or early morning and bolts at the sight of humans. The large poop below is probably from this cow. The smaller poop is either from deer or other small animals.

Evening Hike - Bigfoot Sighting Investigation (1:45:30)

 

      Evening Hike - Bigfoot Sighting Investigation (1:49:11)

 

In September 2012, I started finding similar poop in another secluded spot half mile from the pond. Some may have been there for awhile, but at least one was fresher because I stepped in it by accident one evening when I was there later than normal and couldn't really see where I was going. I walked around for a week not knowing it was embedded in my right heel.

Evening Hike - September 22, 2012 (9:04)

 

Evening Hike - November 12, 2012 (19:26)

Evening Hike - November 26, 2012 (9:33)

Evening Hike - November 26, 2012 (19:03)

Evening Hike - November 26, 2012 (21:52)

 

Photo below found a couple hundred yards from the pond.

Evening Hike - January 11, 2013 (39:30)

Photo below might be horse, riders certainly walk through here.

 

Evening Hike - January 18, 2013 (34:21)

Photo below found about quarter mile from the pond in another direction.

Evening Hike - February 15, 2013 (1:13)

Photos below found about 100 yards from the pond.

Also possible they could be horse?

Evening Hike - February 15, 2013 (26:54)

 

Photo below found on the approach to the secluded area half mile from the pond. This might be compacted deer, although there's usually other loose pellets around also?

Evening Hike - March 4, 2013 (4:20)

Photos below found in the secluded area half mile from the pond.

Evening Hike - April 5, 2013 (13:04)

Evening Hike - April 8, 2013 (11:35)

Photo below found beside the pond.

Evening Hike - July 8, 2013 (6:00)

Photo below found 100 yards from the pond.

Evening Hike - July 19, 2013 (24:50)

Photos below found on the grass near the pond.

Dark Poop Found Near Felton - July 25, 2013 (0:17)

 

Photos below found on the grass near the pond.

 

Evening Hike - August 2, 2013 (0:57)

Evening Hike - August 5, 2013 (1:24)

Photo below found in the secluded area half mile from the pond.

 

Evening Hike - August 9, 2013 (10:43)

 

Photo below found in the secluded area half mile from the pond.

 

Evening Hike - September 2, 2013 (8:03)

 

Photo below found 100 yards from the pond.

 

Evening Hike - September 6, 2013 (14:58)

 

Here is a video I did showing the Felton poop along with poop from 5 other areas.

 

UPDATE: On my final hike before moving to Thailand, I found the Wild Cow.

 

 

Memory

I'd like to talk a little bit about people's memory...

In my younger days, I served 4 years in the US Navy. As is true today, the United States was at war, but back then the war was in Vietnam. There was an active draft. I had flunked out of college, so my choice was either wait around to be drafted and probably end up fighting in the jungle or join and maybe have some say in where I ended up, so at 19, I joined the Navy.

After my 4 years obligation had ended, I got out on June 1, 1970, when my second boat TJ returned to Long Beach, California from South East Asia and Vietnam. I was 23.

As the years rolled by, I became a computer design engineer.

At 50, I joined my second Veteran organization, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). In those days, VVA was very active speaking in the local schools, especially to 11th graders about our experiences during America's war in Vietnam. I even wrote down my talking points for a student in 1999. All those experiences I remembered without a problem then. If you're interested, what I wrote down is here: Students

I turned 66 earlier this week. About 10 years ago, I noticed I no longer remembered exact details like I did back in 1999. I suppose partly because we aren't very active speaking in the schools anymore and also I'm just getting older.

Which brings me to the point of this article.

I think it's important to actively seek out as many bigfoot stories as possible before the details are lost forever to fading memories. If possible, record them on video or audio, so that the expression and body language of the witness is also captured rather than trying to imagine the happenings from a written page alone.

It's been 45+ years since the Patterson-Gimlin film, longer for other encounters. In some cases, not only have the witnesses passed, but also the original investigators as well. Once that happens, first hand knowledge passes with them.

I encourage people who have never spoken of their experiences to find someone who will listen, understand and record them. You don't have to serve in combat to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or survivor's guilt, you just have to experience something traumatic outside your normal everyday living, like an encounter with something strange and unexplained. Keeping something like that bottled up inside will take a toll in time. It helps to talk about it.

"The Thinker"
Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California,
Carol M. Highsmith Collection, Library of Congress

Possible Bigfoot Near San Francisco Airport

In the summer of 1977 or 1978, four young men in their late teens or early 20's were riding their skate boards about 11pm at Coyote Point, California, located near the San Francisco Airport. They chose this spot because there were no cars or people around at night, so they had complete access to the roads for skate boarding. They heard a low growl and looked over to see an upright figure silhouetted by the dim porch light coming from a nearby ranger building. It was shaking a small tree which it then pushed over to the ground. They couldn't see any specific details, but they immediately left the area never to return.

This Coyote Point Brochure shows a map and a few photos of the immediate area at Coyote Point.

The Google Map below shows Coyote Point in relation to the surrounding area.



View Larger Map

History for the major areas of Coyote Point...  Poplar Creek Golf Course 1933
- Marina -
U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet School 1942
College of San Mateo 1946
County Park established 1962
- CuriOdyssey Museum -
San Mateo County Junior Museum 1953
Coyote Point Museum 1974
New 8,000 square foot museum building opens 1981
The person who experienced this encounter wishes to remain anonymous.

Rock Apes

During the War in Vietnam, some of the American troops told stories of encounters with creatures they called Rock Apes. In some stories the animals had long tails, while in others no tail. The descriptions seemed to differ depending on where the encounters occurred, yet still known by the general name of Rock Apes by the troops.

A few months ago, I began collecting stories about these Rock Ape encounters.


From Bob J
(this is a second hand story, friend of a friend)

An Army unit was out on patrol when they heard screams from their rear guard guy. Fearing the worst from the enemy, they rushed back to find a large ape or monkey on top of him beating the crap out of him. The creature ran away as the other soldiers approached.

From Tom H

(1) We had them often when we were in the jungle. Especially when in triple canopy. Freaky stuff. Hear them outside the perimeter and try to get rid of them by throwing rocks at them, they'd throw the rocks back!  I guess they were baboons or some other primate. I think they had red hair. I'm sure my buddies in the company may have stories. 

(2) I remember what we called Rock Apes being in our perimeter wire defenses when we were on top of Hill 214 in the Que Son mountains in December '68. This is a pretty vivid memory, but after reading the other stories I don't know if what we experienced was what the legend became. Some sort of primate was out there, we knew it wasn't Charlie and we'd throw rocks at them to get them to leave. They'd throw the rocks back at us - which I though was the basis for the name "Rock Apes." I never gave it much thought as having any Big Foot connections, but that was so long ago and I've never discussed it much - other than with my wife.

(3) It would be interesting to see a story on the Rock Apes that I remember, to better explain the experiences. I know a lot of my Vietnam experiences are foggy/incomplete - my guess is it is partially due to so many years of hiding it all and not discussing it; guess I did pushing it back in the old gray matter a bit too well. But I do remember vividly one particular night (may have been the first night on watch after settling in) the Rock Apes (for lack of a better term - but what we called them) messing with us. We had cleared fields of fire, put out concertina wire and claymores, etc. In triple canopy jungle we'd pop an illumination flare in suspected areas of activity, it was VERY dark there! I swear there were primates of some sort in the trees - no Charlie. Throwing rocks didn't deter them, and they began to throw them back. We didn't want to shoot them, or have them get caught up in the wire. We were in a semi-permanent position, security for an artillery support base so our emplacements and perimeter were pretty elaborate. I had not, as I said, spoke too much about them except to my wife. So when I saw your mail it piqued my curiosity.

From Dave L

(1) My 2 rock ape stories are true. (short tho, so may not be worth much).

First, YES there were rock apes in the mountains around Da Nang. My pal (Marine) Capt. M had one. He was marine liason to Navy Security/Intelligence. The marines found it abandoned as a tiny baby and took it for a pet at the Navy Security base. Somewhere I may be able to dig up a pic of it - it was so small it fit sitting in 2 hands. BUT in a few months time it grew A LOT - and they had to take it to the mountains and let it go before it got completely out of control. His name was WILLIE. The year was 1969.

The other rock ape I just saw on Monkey Mountain, where my Harbor Security boathouse was located, just south of Da Nang city. It was CALLED Monkey Mountain because of the little rock apes that inhabited it. My idiot division guys would sometimes throw old fruit into the trees and see if a critter would come out. After being scared by random gunshots, I put a stop to people whacking away at the occasional ape with M16 fire. The apes were quick and my guys were fairly bad shots so they never hurt one. But they were made to move pretty fast the couple times I saw them. Mostly, they were wild and the adults (esp males) were very strong so we pretty much ordered the troops to stay away from them.

(2) No tails. The only one I saw up close was the baby, which was darker than the one in your picture. The ones in the bushes were typically moving so didn't get a real clear look. If I can ever find the picture of the baby, I'll send you a copy.

(I had sent Dave the photo Jack W sent me from his summer 2012 trip to Vietnam).

From Jack W

There are a bunch of monkeys on top of Ba Na Mountain. In the 1930s the French built a resort on top of the mountain to escape the summer heat in Danang. It was destroyed probably during the 1950s during the French Indochina war. When the Marines were in Danang there was a permanent radio relay station and recon outpost on top of the mountain. It has been recently rebuilt for tourists and is called Ba Na Hills. The new tramway that goes to the top is the longest continuous tramway in the Guiness Book of Records.

Here's a photo Jack took of a monkey at Ba Na Hills on his summer 2012 trip to Vietnam:

From John W

I was with B. Co. 326th Eng. 1st Bde, 101st Abn Division and arrived in country 12 September 1967. After jungle training at Phan Rang I was shipped north to B. Co. 101st Base Camp. They informed me that they had no need for my MOS 62B4p Engineer Construction Supervisor and that I would have to be transferred to a leg outfit or I could stay with the 101st but would have to be converted to a 12B4P Combat Engineer. I opted for the latter. BIG mistake! They issued me all my gear and told me to get ready as my platoon was to deploy to an infantry unit in three days.

I knew NOTHING about being a Combat Engineer; demolition’s, arming and disarming mines and booby traps, tunnel exploring etc. so I assigned the most experienced man in my platoon to be my teacher and sidekick to teach me everything he knew. Anyway I learned very fast as we were assigned to an Infantry Unit that was green and just off the ship and never in combat. Within 90 days we lost 63% of our battalion and they had to retire the colors of the unit and of course my platoon was reassigned to another Infantry unit.

Finally we ended up with an Infantry unit and we were traveling in the mountains in the Central Highlands. It would take us days to get up one mountain and then back down we would go and then back up another one again. Such torture those mountains were. I never would have believed the human body could endure such hardships. I carried 13 canteens of water as I sweat a lot and many times I have seen men beg for one mouth full of water. I actually saw one soldier sell one mouth full of water for $40 to another soldier. Could not believe it but water was more precious that gold. Anyway, a few months had passed and I had gotten my comfort zone as a combat engineer and whenever we would encounter the enemy we combat engineers were automatically reorganized as infantrymen and deployed to the side of the perimeter wherever needed the most.

Since we were assigned to a non-airborne infantry unit that was green we engineers took it upon ourselves to begin walking point. We were always the third or fourth man in line anyway in case we ran into a booby trap or anything unfamiliar or suspicious. So we began walking point most of the time with one of our own engineers as our “slack-man.”

One day we had just descended from a big mountain and were walking along the creek edge and were heading for a knoll to set up for the night as it was getting late in the afternoon and we had to set up, dig in, eat, and prepare for the night. We were about half a mile from this small mound that we could see on the map that we had chosen to spend the night on. I was walking point and I was rounding a curve in the edge of the creek and out of the corner of my eye I saw something black move. I froze immediately turned my eyes towards the black object(s), I thought it was VC in black pajamas at first sighting, my weapon of course was on rock-n-roll, and something very strange was happening with these black objects. They were taking bamboo by the side of the creek and breaking the stalks of it as though it were toothpicks and throwing it to the side grabbing another stalk breaking it and throwing it. My heart was beating out of my chest I would not flinch for I did not want to be detected by them. Then all of a sudden, they must have gotten my scent, it was like chaos with them, I have never seen such thrashing, screaming, barking, running, scrambling in a furry across the stream toward the mountain we had just come down off of and they all started climbing up different trees. I started moving on down the trail as they were moving away from me and I had determined that they were apes and that they were fearful of us and were running away, or so I thought. 

It was the strangest thing because they all climbed up different trees and it looked like there must have been thirty of them, maybe more, I would say they were 4 1/2 feet tall and weighed 150-175 pounds each, four feet but walked on two mostly, black, no tails, but they moved across the tops of the trees and moved all the way up the mountain. It was like watching a tidal wave move up the mountain as the tops of the trees were moving in unison. They got almost to the top of the mountain, probably 600-700 yards away and then they all spread out across the mountain in a somewhat straight line and remained in the tops of the trees.

We made it to the knoll and set up camp and had two men assigned with night vision binoculars to keep watch on them. As it got dusk we watched them start moving back down the mountain towards us which made us very uncomfortable as we thought they might attack us during the night. They moved all the way back down the mountain in the line formation and stopped just on the other side of the creek, which was about 75 yards from us. We were on 100 percent alert that night and everyone was edgy. 

The next morning as dawn started to break they started to retreat again back up the mountain and by daylight there was no sign of them and we saw no evidence of them after that.

When we departed the knoll we did go by the creek where they were breaking the bamboo and it was exactly as I described it above. I cannot imagine the strength required to accomplish such a physical feat.

Sorry I do not have any photos.

End of that story!

One more!

We were bedded down in the jungle somewhere, don’t remember where, but the jungle was very thick and we had to cut our way through with machetes. During the night there was some kind of ape or baboon that would climb down the tree and just knock the crap out of a soldier and then run back up the tree. This happen twice that night and of course no one shot at it for fear of giving our position away. But no one could figure out what it was. It was kind of funny but at the same time could have been really serious as those animals can do some serious damage with their paws and teeth.

End of that story!