All of us love an excellent spooky tale, and nothing hits the spot like a phantom ship’s narrative. There is nothing about these vulnerable and yet little boats adrift on an infinite sea. The terrifying story of the S.S. Ourang Medan is as fanciful as Blackbeard’s headless body supposedly swimming around his ship before sinking under the depths. Despite the intrigue, it’s a mystery that is still unsolved to this day!

This impossible event is thought to have occurred in the 1940s. According to the narrative, the S.S. Ourang Medan, a Dutch boat, was passing through the Strait of Malacca when it encountered afoul of a mystical disaster. Nearby ships reported getting a horrifying distress call. “All officers like the priest died, lying in the chartroom and about the bridge, probably the whole crew dead,” it said. Then there was an incomprehensible frenzy of Morse code. The radio operator had the last sentence: “I die.”

A Cursed Crew

Rescuers stated, found the ship that was stricken just as described. The team was dead, and their bodies strewn across the decks. However, they were also found “teeth,” with their upturned faces to sunlight, staring, as though in dread…” Even the boat’s dog was dead but suspended in this grisly nation, mid-growl at an assailant or terror unknown!

That is just the beginning of this Ourang Medan’s puzzle. Reports continue to indicate that after the boat had been staged, a fire broke out, forcing individuals who had come to flee. The ship exploded with such force it had been lifted from the sea.

This leaves us with not just one but two mysteries to think about: what led to the death of this Ourang Medan’s team, and what triggered the ensuing explosion? We are getting ahead of ourselves, though, because there’s an additional thing to think about.

It is stated that because it was enrolled in Sumatra, the boat’s registry was not discovered. The boat’s name translates to “Person in Medan”–Medan being a Sumatran island. More than a German writer has been pouring through the fascinating case for around half a century. Professor Theodor Siersdorfer found an old German publication from 1953 called Das Totenschiffin der Südsee or The Death Ship from the South Seas. Some people believe the courtesy of scholar Otto Mielke, this little booklet to prove as its tragic fate, that the boat was authentic. A fascinating possibility is offered by it concerning the origin of the explosion that delivered the Ourang Medan to the depths.

If that’s the case, this could clarify the nature of any documents joined to the episode and the boat and the boat’s sudden accidental destruction. From the tense climate at the end of World War II, those were super sensitive substances to be transported and would spark an episode should they be utilized interchangeably. Maybe the facts of this S.S. Ourang Medan are so tough to locate because someone wants them to become, all this time later.

Ready to start your gateway to Medan? Visit Wonderful Indonesia, and don’t miss out on the magic!