The shocking story of SS Ourang Medan

“The Mystery of the Ship Frozen in Time”

SS Ourang Medan

The shocking story of SS Ourang Medan begins in February 1948, this is the date that distress calls were received by several different ships near Indonesia, the source of the signal being the Dutch freighter SS Ourang Medan.

The broadcast the radios captured carried a chilling message it went, “All officers including the captain are dead lying in the chartroom and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead.”

After the frightening message ended a string of Morse code bleeped over the airwaves the series of dots and dashes carried the short sentence “I die.” Answering these calls, the first rescue ship arriving at the struggling SS Ourang Medan came upon a confusing scene, they attempted to hail the “Ghostship” but their calls failed to get a response, so a boarding party was then organized.

Climbing onto the vessel they found a horrifying sight, a scene that would forever put the mystery of the SS Ourang Medan into the pages of books about all things mystery, paranormal, and strange.

The entire crew of the ship was deceased and looked like their final moments were spent in absolute terror. Their eyes were frozen wide open, arms outstretched as if reaching for an invisible threat, and their faces were twisted and contorted showing the agony they had endured before passing away.

Strangely whatever had happened to the human crew members also happened to the animals aboard the doomed ship. The ship’s dog was discovered in the same horrific state and with a snarl on its lips as if it had died growling at some unknown threat.

As the search party approached the bodies of the dead crew laying in the boiler room of the boat, they noticed that the temperature was nearing 110°F.

Very confused at what they had found a decision needed to be made as to what they were going to do with the ship and its dead crew members, the decision was to tow the SS Ourang Medan back to port and hand it other to the authorities was made.

The ships were strapped together, and the engines of the tug engaged but no sooner had they attempted to get underway, than smoke began to bellow from the hull of the stricken vessel, and without a second to spare all ropes between the ships were cut as the Ourang Medan exploded and sank.

When investigating the strange sinking many mysterious stories about the ship were uncovered. The ship had been reported to have been broadcasting its SOS for some time with reports coming from ships that had been sailing along the shores of Malaysia and Sumatra hearing the broadcasts, when they went to offer assistance they could not find the source of the messages. Other ships and sailors had said they had seen the vessel only for it to vanish with a second glance.

After finally being boarded and the scary discovery of the many ‘frozen in fear’ corpses of the crew, the question of who had been sending distress calls crossed everyone’s minds as the communications officer of the SS Ourang Medan was found sitting lifeless on his Duty chair, very incapable of sending any message, let alone the repeated broadcast heard by so many.

Obviously, the biggest question is what had killed everyone. There were no signs of foul payor sabotage damage that had been caused to the ship. Some may suggest that the smoke seen when the attempt to pull the ship was made could indicate that there was some hidden damage, but that offers no explanation for the terrifying dead bodies all over the Anurag Medan. Also, what made the vessel explode?

Another strange phenomenon reported by those that had boarded the “ghost ship” was the whispering voices heard as they searched for survivors.

Described by one of the members of the rescue party, as having scary inhuman laughter that struck fear into his heart. Those watching the search from outside of the vessel cabins and rooms reported mystery strange lights, moving around the boat.

A mystery still lingers for those who attempt to solve the maritime tale as finding the origin and official identity of the “Ghostship” is impossible, they cannot find any records which prove that this ship had even existed. There have been claims made the mystery ship was from Sumatra, but others think it to be of Dutch origin.

Those that speculate on the mystery suggest that maybe the vessel was on some secret mission. They suggest that this could offer an answer to both the hidden identity and the mysterious deaths. They think that the ship may have been carrying deadly secret substances that may be chemical or biological weapons and that these weapons were accidentally or possibly through sabotage released killing the crew.

However, the ship which responded to the distress call does not make mention of anything that could indicate that this theory is fact. There has been another suggestion as to what happened to the ship and its crew and it links to another maritime mystery, The Philadelphia Experiment.

The Philadelphia Experiment is an event that many have heard of but here is a quick recap if you haven’t. Some say that this is a military urban legend while others claim it to be 100% fact. According to the legend, on Oct. 28, 1943, the USS Eldridge, a Cannon-class destroyer escort, was participating in a top-secret experiment. An experiment designed to win command of the oceans against the Axis powers.

It is said that the government was working on creating a technology that could make a naval ship completely invisible to radar, this experiment occurred at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, this is where the name for the conspiracy is derived. Those that Witnessed the testing of this new technology claimed to have seen a series of the green-blue glow surrounding the hull of the ship as her generators spun up and then, suddenly, the Eldridge vanished.

The ship was then seen in Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia before disappearing again and reappearing back in Philadelphia. The legend states that classified military documents reported that the Eldridge crew was affected by the events in many disturbing ways. Some went insane. Others developed a mysterious illness.

But others still were said to have been fused together with the ship; still alive, but with limbs sealed to the metal. They all had absolute looks of terror across their faces something that sounds like the crew of the SS Ourang Medan.

The Tale of the SS Ourang Medan has grown in legend over the 75+ years it has been retold, and over the seven decades new “facts” have been added to the story. One in-depth retelling of the story and look at the facts of the “Ghost Ship” was published In the June 1953 (Volume 6, No 6) issue of fate Magazine.

Frank Edwards and Robert V. Hulse wrote the article “Death at Sea”. Other Authors like Morris K. Jessup have quoted the article and then put their own speculations onto the story. The 1955 book “The Case for the UFO” a book that also discusses theories on The Philadelphia Experiment suggests that the crew might have been the victims of a UFO attack.

It also talks about mysterious paranormal forces that may have interacted with the ship’s crew before their deaths. To support their claims the authors point to circumstantial evidence that includes the apparent absence of a natural cause of death, the reportedly terrified expressions on the faces of the deceased, and rumors that some of the dead were “pointing” towards an unknown enemy. Was this an enemy from the stars?

In yet another strange twist to the tale there are letters in the CIA Archives that make mention of the ship and the incident, In December 1959, C.H. Marck Jr. of Scottsdale, Arizona sent a letter to the assistant to the Director of the U.S.’s Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) Allen Dulles.

The letter was classified as “top secret” by the C.I.A. and would not be released to the public until May 5, 2003. While the letter and its sender were known, the person to whom Marck wrote the letter remains redacted by the C.I.A. to this day.

Could this letter and the secret CIA files be the smoking gun that is needed to finally answer this mystery, would it show that the vessel was carrying secret weapons, maybe it would prove that not only are aliens real they are attacking ships, or could provide tangible proof of some kind of supernatural force?

What Does Think Happened to This Ship and Its Crewe, Was This Some Kind of Experiment Gone Wrong? Are UOFS Attacking the Vessel or Something More Paranormal? Let Me Know What You Think in the Comments Below.

Originally posted 2020–07–14 15:47:00.

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This Post was previously republished on eosty.com

About Abhijit,

I’m a content Creator, freelancer. Visit My Blog: Eosty