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Mysteries & Monsters Interview

lordmongrove said:
Yes mate, fire away.
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A while back I read your excellent book about orang-pendek, and obviously I've watched the interview above, so I know you believe orang-pendek to be a form of orangutan. I'm sure I've read accounts of the creature and similar Indonesian 'little feet' that make them sound more 'human', with a language and tool use. What many of us would love is for it to be evidence of a surviving population of homo floresiensis. Do you think it's totally off the cards for some orang-pendek accounts to be h. floresiensis?
 
PeteByrdie said:
A while back I read your excellent book about orang-pendek, and obviously I've watched the interview above, so I know you believe orang-pendek to be a form of orangutan. I'm sure I've read accounts of the creature and similar Indonesian 'little feet' that make them sound more 'human', with a language and tool use. What many of us would love is for it to be evidence of a surviving population of homo floresiensis. Do you think it's totally off the cards for some orang-pendek accounts to be h. floresiensis?
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The natives in Sumatra talk of two different types of man-like creature. The larger, more hairy orang-pendek and the small more human looking orang-kardill (tiny man). Orang-kardill has long hair on the head but a mostly naked body. They live in tribes and hunt with poisoned tipped spears made of bamboo. Our late guide, Sahar Dimus told us that his father, now also dead had been trading rice for other goods in the area that is now Karinci Sablat National Park. This was back in the 70s. He and a friend would walk the forests to trade with remote tribes. They were camped out and cooking rice in a pot one evening. An orang-kardill came out of the forest and began to steal the rice from the pot. Sahar's father's friend killed it with a parang (a type of machete). Then many more of the small people ran out of the forest and killed the aggressor with bamboo spears. They did not attack Sahar's father.
Sahar says the the orang-kardill have not been reported since the 1980s whereas orang-pendek is still reported each year. Orang-pendek may hurl rocks or sticks but does not make spears. Orang-pendek is bigger and more hairy and less human looking. Orang-kardill may be related to Homo floresiensis or to the recently discovered Homo luzonensis. These last two were closely related so it would not be a surprise if other closely related hominins live on other islands in tropical Asia. In Sri Lanka they had legends of a race of tiny people called the Nittaewo who sound very similar to the Ebu-gogo.
 
Excellent response, thank you. I still hold out some hope for these hominids.
 
My Sri Lankan friend told me that when she lived there there were little dark men who came out at night.
Apparently they hated dogs and one of theirs had its back broken by a beating with a stick.
She also said you could tell where one had been by a pile of worms left there.
 
Iris said:
My Sri Lankan friend told me that when she lived there there were little dark men who came out at night.
Apparently they hated dogs and one of theirs had its back broken by a beating with a stick.
She also said you could tell where one had been by a pile of worms left there.
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Interesting. This resembles the Sri Lankan Nittaewo, mentioned in @lordmongrove's book Orang-Pendek:Sumatra's Forgotten Ape. It, too, had an aversion to dogs and used crude weapons. But they were apparently driven to extinction some time in the 18th century.
 
Iris said:
My Sri Lankan friend told me that when she lived there there were little dark men who came out at night.
Apparently they hated dogs and one of theirs had its back broken by a beating with a stick.
She also said you could tell where one had been by a pile of worms left there.
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A pile of worms? Maybe they were infested with gut worms?
 
Mythopoeika said:
A pile of worms? Maybe they were infested with gut worms?
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The worms are an odd detail. It feels more folkloric, as though the little people are used to explain a natural phenomenon.
 
Cracking interview :) . Paul B has a really good, consistent roster of guests and I believe there's some great stuff coming up.

And me, to lower the tone again.
 
Iris said:
My Sri Lankan friend told me that when she lived there there were little dark men who came out at night.
Apparently they hated dogs and one of theirs had its back broken by a beating with a stick.
She also said you could tell where one had been by a pile of worms left there.
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Wow this is very interesting. Are they still reported, if so where abouts on the island?
 
I must admit that Mysteries and Monsters is not one of my favourites. Paul Bestall won’t use 3 words if he can use 34, and some of his screeching guests seem like borderline lunatics, but he never challenges anyone.
 
Lordmongrove my friend has lived here for a long time now. She used to live on a tea plantation and I think any relatives left there live more in the cities,
I will ask her when I talk to her next.
I did wonder if there was any similarity to the ones in Western Australia that are supposed to live underground and come out at night?
 
Tempest63 said:
I must admit that Mysteries and Monsters is not one of my favourites. Paul Bestall won’t use 3 words if he can use 34, and some of his screeching guests seem like borderline lunatics, but he never challenges anyone.
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There are some very good episodes (Rob Gandy, Ruth Roper-Wilde, Danny Robins, Richard Freeman, Dr David Clark) in amongst some complete fantasists.
 
WeirdExeter said:
There are some very good episodes (Rob Gandy, Ruth Roper-Wilde, Danny Robins, Richard Freeman, Dr David Clark) in amongst some complete fantasists.
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Second I hear those screeching high pitched voices, usually American Ladies, I turn it off. As you say, complete fantasists.
 
Iris said:
Lordmongrove my friend has lived here for a long time now. She used to live on a tea plantation and I think any relatives left there live more in the cities,
I will ask her when I talk to her next.
I did wonder if there was any similarity to the ones in Western Australia that are supposed to live underground and come out at night?
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Thanks, that's great.
 
Tempest63 said:
I must admit that Mysteries and Monsters is not one of my favourites. Paul Bestall won’t use 3 words if he can use 34, and some of his screeching guests seem like borderline lunatics, but he never challenges anyone.
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This has to be my favourite:

"They were there and you would play with them..."

Chela Tyni, Mysteries and Monsters Ep. 24 Tasmanian Tigers.

Chela had never heard of thylacines, however as a child "they were there and she used to play with them". So, despite there being no evidence forthcoming for the ongoing survival of the thylacine beyond some reputable glimpses, this woman claims she has "lived amongst them for over 30 years'.

:bs:
:comphit:
:headbang:


I stopped listening after this preposterous opening statement. Why does he entertain such fantasists...? It only serves to undermine the decent guests on other episodes
 
WeirdExeter said:
This has to be my favourite:

"They were there and you would play with them..."

Chela Tyni, Mysteries and Monsters Ep. 24 Tasmanian Tigers.

Chela had never heard of thylacines, however as a child "they were there and she used to play with them". So, despite there being no evidence forthcoming for the ongoing survival of the thylacine beyond some reputable glimpses, this woman claims she has "lived amongst them for over 30 years'.

:bs:
:comphit:
:headbang:


I stopped listening after this preposterous opening statement. Why does he entertain such fantasists...? It only serves to undermine the decent guests on other episodes
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I can't imagine a situation where someone would play with a wild thylacine.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I can't imagine a situation where someone would play with a wild thylacine.
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An animal persecuted to near-extinction by humans, yet a few survivors get all cuddly with their human neighbours...? Then why not then pick a small one, pop it in a dog carrier, take it to a zoo and become the world famous finder of the 'extinct' thylacines...?

The whole premise that she used to play with wild thylacines is completely batshit crazy.
 
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