New Details About “Wild Man”
Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 20th, 2007
Fox News’ Nick Meo has written an article about the new search for the “Wild Man” seen with the “feral woman.” The following is the new info in that piece:
Villagers celebrating the return of a young woman 18 years after she disappeared into the jungle are planning to hunt the “wild man” who may have kidnapped and held her captive. The naked and long-haired man was spotted, apparently armed with a sword, along with the woman as they tried to steal food in a remote province in northeast Cambodia.
The villagers chased them both, catching her, but reported that he was able to escape into the trees. They now plan a manhunt for the mysterious figure, and also hope to find the woman’s younger sister who also disappeared 18 years ago, it emerged yesterday.
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Ro Cham Chanthy, the younger sister of the two girls, told Cambodia Daily that villagers were afraid of the “wild man”. She said: “He had a long sword and villagers could not capture him. He had tattoos and made his eyes very wide, so the villagers were very afraid.”
When the young women vanished the region was covered with dense forest but it has been steadily cut back in recent years for cashew and rubber plantations, leading to speculation that the “wild man’s” home is shrinking and perhaps forcing him to make foraging raids.
The region is one of the most remote in Cambodia, home to minority tribes, and has a long history of legends of people living in the forest, including wild men. The forest also provided shelter to refugees from the Khmer Rouge and the civil war that followed its fall.
The young woman was said to be becoming more responsive to her family yesterday, with whom she is now living, although she has made at least one attempt to escape back to the jungle. “This is my daughter, I am sure of it,” Ro Cham Soy, Mr Ksor’s wife, said.
Since she was captured the young woman has spent much of her time watching DVD movies. Large numbers of well wishers have travelled to see her and left donations but her family had to be vigilant after local police talked of exhibiting her in a cage and charging the curious to see her.
Many villagers believe that she was taken as a sacrifice by the jungle gods who have returned her for their own reasons. Buddhist priests have been called in to cleanse her of evil spirits. District Police Chief Mao San said: “They are praying that the jungle spirit is finished with the girl and will allow her to stay here.”
Ro Cham H’pnhieng may be traumatised as she is described as having “sad eyes”, is said to be afraid of people and refuses to touch rice or porridge, only eating meat or fruit.
Police in the area have responded to the case with bemusement. Mr Mao, the district police chief, told villagers that they could look for the wild man if they wanted to but said there were no plans for a police search of the jungle….
Source: Nick Meo. Fox News, Cambodian Villagers Hunt Mystery Wild Man Spotted With ‘Jungle Woman’, January 20, 2007.
Perhaps nothing to do with the Nguoi Rung, but interesting to watch this unfold, anyway.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Sword? Tattoos? Hmmmm….sounds more like a rebel still hiding out than a Nguoi Rung.
hey loren this is a wonderful new discovery of primative human or wildman. I saw a segment about this on news this afternoon very interesting. bill
Well, for those of you who are looking for an old fashioned girl I think I know where to find one. But seriously, I see this as being a huge ethical dilema. She no doubt wants to return to the wild. I would implant a GPS chip in her and follow her around the jungle. She may lead us to a treasure trove of primitives OR the Nguoi Rung as they may have contacts with them.
She “may be traumatised as she is described as having sad eyes”. No doubt she’s traumatised, she’s been captured and taken away from her environment and now priests are cleansing her of evil spirits, while she’s watching DVDs. I’d be having “sad eyes” too!
In the British news it says they are doing a DNA test on her, but her “father” insists she is his daughter because of a birth mark on her arm. He also said she is eager to go back to the Jungle.
Permission to do the DNA tests has been withdrawn by the family.
And the scar is from a knife accident that happened with her sister, who is still missing.
Why all the pictures of ape-men when the description is of a man?
Multi-choice answers:
1) There are no photos or drawings of the sighted “Wild Man” yet;
2) Mention was made of the Nguoi Rung;
3) To see if any tattoos could be seen;
4) A page without drawing is a boring page;
5) Compare to see if any swords can be seen; and
6) All of the above.
The swords, tattos, etc are making it look more and more to me like this is just a kidnapping albeit a very bizzarre one. I hope they find out who the “wild man” is because he may still be a threat to the girl. Really interesting watching this unfold, even though it is probable there is no cryptozoology link.
A pretty healthy looking woman for being missing in the jungles of Cambodia for 8 years…
If I’m supposed to believe this, I may a well believe that Bigfoot will be Hillary’s running mate for “08” 😉
I’m fine with Bigfoot as Hillary’s running mate as long as I get Hillary for president! (Provided it’s a native-born American Bigfoot 35 years of age or older, of course :} )
So are feral humans not interesting?
This story is fascinating, especially if the wildman turns out to be a member of some lost tribe – A Cambodian “Ishi”. He in turn may have had contact with Ngoui Rung.
Maybe the man they are talking about was a “Montagnard”. The Montagnards were the folks depicted in Apocolypse Now and are very mysterious forest folk who know no boundaries. I say they let her go back. Before you know it she’ll be working for Nike like they all do.
Yeah the “sword” is a bothersome detail, however is it possible something was lost in translation? Maybe he was holding a menacing looking spear or stick?
The Montagnards aren’t all that mysterious. They are Christians and are being heavily persecuted by the Vietnamese government for that reason.