Orang-bati
The orang-bati is a winged cryptid rumored to inhabit the Indonesian island of Seram. According to local folklore, the bat-like or somewhat monkey-like creatures abduct children and carry them away to be eaten. Other accounts sound more like encounters with living Pterosaurs.[1]
It is said that islanders of Seram were faced with this creature when it raided villages to abduct infants and children to its home in Mount Kairatu.
Encounters
- Missionary Tyson Hughes, an English man who became a believer in Orang-Batis was originally skeptical about "Orangutans with wings", but later claimed he actually encountered one.
- Missionaries on Seram as long ago as the 15th century were told about the beast and how it raided the town of Uraur.
- In the episode "Winged Assassin" of the Nat Geo Wild documentary series Man v. Monster, presenter Richard Terry goes to the Seram to check out the villagers' legends of orang-bati haunting their jungles. The locals claimed that the orang-bati could carry off a baby human being and people who came into contact with the creature would die. The creature turned out to be a large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus), the largest species of bat inhabiting the Indonesian archipelago. While it is not big enough to carry off a baby, the flying fox is a carrier of the deadly Henipavirus, which could potentially kill a human being and can be transmitted via contact with the flying fox's saliva. This likely accounts for the villagers' stories of how human beings who come into contact with the flying fox will die.[2]
See also
- Ropen, a Pterosaur-like beast reported from Papua New Guinea
- Kongamato, a bat-like beast reported from Zambia
- Ahool, a giant bat like an Orang-Bati, reported from the Indonesian island of Java and in Vietnam.
There are no records of Dutch missionaries from those parts of Seram at that time for the simple reason that the complete population of western Seram was wiped out by the Dutch for illegal clove-growing in the seventeenth century and missionaries went there much later.
The village of Uraur is not that old. They are living isolated without much contact with the other regions. The claim that the coastal inhabitants of Seram are fearful of this animal as is stated in Shuker's book is simply not true: they know nothing of it. The Orang Bati they fear are a tribe with that name in eastern Seram who claim to be able to fly and the story goes they abduct children. The French adventurer Jean Raymond visited and photographed them in 2005 attracted by the stories of the orang bati. These photographs are published in his book Les Molucques (2007). Needless to say they could not fly and did not abduct children; this was a myth they spread to protect themselves by means of fear.
In the only source there exists of the myth about this animal - the book of Karl Shuker - Tyson Hughes does not claim to have encountered one. So he was not stunned by the sight of it.
In her book,[3] Shirley Deane, who taught English at Ambon University, tells about her encounter wirh an Orang Bati; a normal human being, who does not confirm he can fly.
According to the chief of police who is present at the meeting, he could not do that because he had to kill a human being in the inauguration and could hardly confess to a murder in his presence. The chief of police also confirmed that the villages of the Orang Bati are invisible.
References
I
- ↑ It is said islanders of Seram in Indonesia was faced with this creature when it raided villages to abduct infants and children to is home in Mount Kairatu. Shuker, Karl P N (2003). The Beasts That Hide From Man. Paraview. ISBN 1-931044-64-3.
- ↑ "Winged Assassin". Man V. Monster. Season 2. August 15, 2012. National Geographic Channel.
- ↑ 'Ambon, island of spices' (John Murray, London 1979)
Further reading
- Newton, Michael (2005). "Orang-Bati". Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 354. ISBN 0-7864-2036-7.