A few years ago, I requested anecdotes from readers who had personal
experiences or were told of cryptids / anomalous encounters in Vietnam
and other parts of Indochina. I received a particular narrative that was
much different than the others that had been forwarded to me...so I
decided to publish it separately. The post is a compilation of 3 emails,
which included answers to a few of my questions. The man who provided
this information was, at the time of the incident, a U.S. Army
corporal...who has since retired from the military after a lengthy
career. He did not give me specifics as to his unit and mission...but
felt strongly that his experience should be told. He provided two
identification references, which checked out. Overall, this man served a
distinguished military career and his reputation is quite admirable from
what I have seen. Some of the information has been edited at the request
of the witness:
In 1970 I was serving as a corporal in the U.S. Army – deployed to
South Vietnam in an region about 30 miles south of the DMZ. At the
time I was second-in-command of a squad of soldiers. We had setup a
bivouac in a jungle area that had a few steep hills. That evening my
section was ordered to patrol one of the small valleys west of the
encampment. We moved out led by our sergeant.
Not long after
entering one of the small valleys we detected movement ahead of us.
It seemed to be scattered activity, so we doubted it was VC but we
weren’t positive. We hunkered down for about 15 minutes getting
occasional glimpses of something moving within the trees and brush.
There wasn’t enough light to detect what we were observing even
though the moonlight was bright that night.
After awhile the
activity halted, so we continued to move slowly through the valley.
As we approached a sheer wall on the hill it looked like someone or
something had stacked large stones and boulders in the pass in front
of us. There was also an opening in the hill side that looked like a
cave entrance – approximately 5 foot high and 3 foot wide narrowing
at the top. When observing the passageway, it appeared to have been
cut away by machinery – the edges were smooth with small even-spaced
grooves.
We were puzzled by this because we had never seen
enemy caves like this – just underground tunnels. The sergeant
suggested that it may be a VC supply depot, so we started to assess
how we were going to investigate the cave.
About this time,
things got very strange.
We began to notice a putrid odor
emanating from the cave entrance – the only thing I can compare it
to was rotting eggs and human decay. It was so revolting that a few
of the soldiers were becoming ill and started to back away into the
jungle – including the sergeant. I was directing a light into the
entrance in order to observe anything, but there was a haze that was
impossible to see through. We had no idea what was before us.
The entire squad took a position in the heavy brush
approximately 150 feet from the entrance – far enough not to be
detected but close enough to observe the cave entrance. We quietly
remained there for what seemed like forever. The jungle was
strangely calm though we heard rumbling sounds coming from the
distance. It was really eerie. The sergeant was sitting near me
talking to himself - it was obvious that he was frightened. I was
looking at the rest of the squad – each had wide eyes and scanning
the area. No one was going to doze off during this patrol.
After several hours, dawn was approaching and it started to lighten
up. I checked my watch – it was just before 0500 hours. Just then we
noticed movement in front of the cave. A being (I first thought it
was a man) moved through the entrance into the clearing in front of
the cave. As it stood up from a crouch it stood at least 7 foot high
and started to look in our direction. At that time, another
similar-looking creature was moving out of the cave. They were
making hellish ‘hissing’ sounds and looking directly at us.
The only way I can describe these beings is that they looked like
upright lizards. The scaly, shiny skin was very dark – almost black.
Snake-like faces with forward set eyes that were very large. They
had arms and legs like a human but with scaly skin. I didn’t notice
a tail – though they wore long one-piece dark green robes along with
a dark cap-like covering on their heads. I never noticed if they had
anything on their feet.
No one gave the order – it seemed
like the entire squad opened fire at once. Every piece of vegetation
between us and them was quickly sheared away. I yelled out a
cease-fire order – at the same time I was looking in the direction
of the cave. There was nothing there. We immediately checked our
flank in case these things circled around us – but there was
nothing.
As we approached the cave, ready to resume action if
needed, it became apparent that the beings had escaped – most likely
back into the cave. It was soon decided to set charges and close the
cave entrance.
When we returned to camp we all seemed to be
in a daze. There was little discussion of the incident and we were
never debriefed – so I know the sergeant never filed a report. Then
again, if he did, it was kept quiet by the brass.
Source
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