Look, I know this answer has been done to death probably, but there’s been new information concerning the case that makes it all the more stranger. Let us talk about something you probably have heard of if you delve deep enough into the internet’s conspiracy hole. Let us talk once again, about the mystery of the Dutch vessel, Ourang Medan.

Now for most people who don’t know, I shall elaborate on the story before getting to the REALLY interesting part.

To start with, the official date of the event is still vague. Some reports claim it occurred in June 1947 or February 1948. Whatever the date what happened next is the same.

It began with an emergency distress call picked up by several vessels in the Straits of Malacca. In Morse Code, a two part message was recorded by American ships City of Baltimore and Silver Star. The first part read

"S.O.S. from Ourang Medan * * * We float. All officers including the captain, dead in chartroom and on the bridge. Probably whole of crew dead * * *."

A series of unintelligible dots and dashes was then recorded before the final message was received.

“I die.”

Choosing to investigate the mysterious message, the Silver Star was able to decipher the coordinates and set off to its location. After finding and boarding the vessel (at that point adrift with no destination), the Americans found a horror show. The entire crew was dead.

The SOS was accurate. According to the sailors, the entire crew of the Ourang Medan was locked in a rigor mortis with looks of shear terror on their faces. Many seemed to have their hands up as though protecting themselves from…something. Rigor mortis also had set in earlier than it should have and everyone seemed like they had been killed with barely enough time to scream. Even the ships resident dog was reportedly locked in place, its face still snarling at some long gone predator. The captain, bridge officers and engineers below decks had all suffered a similar fate and were all frozen in abject terror. Lastly the radio man was found still at his station, having perished likely moments after sending the fateful SOS. Most mysterious of all was the still active boiler room which despite being reportedly a 140 degree temperature, the investigators felt a massive cold spot in this area.

The Silver Star’s crew was baffled. None of the Medan’s crew bore any sign of injury or physical harm. It seemed something had fell upon them and in a flurry of bloodless violence, slaughtered them all. Deciding to tow the ship to the nearest port for an investigation, the Americans suddenly noticed smoke billowing from some part of the Medan. With a hasty retreat they fled back to their own ship in time to see an explosion so fierce it was said to lift the ghost cruiser out of the water, before sinking it (and hopefully whatever caused the calamity) into the depths.

The story was repeated and published in various articles and over time became a legend amongst sailors and a source of mystery for anyone. Over the years numerous theories and new information have been put forth concerning the fate of the Medan and its crew.

* For starters, the ship was never listed on any registry at the time, Dutch, American, or anywhere else. Who built it, where it was built and what the ship’s purpose was remain unknown.
* Some claim the ship was carrying explosives and various other hazardous materials like potassium cyanide. While it accounts for the sudden explosion this wouldn’t explain the various post mortem states the crew was in.
* Others have claimed that the Ourang Medan was a giant cover, carrying materials, persons or remnants of the infamous Unit 731, a Japanese military unit responsible for human and biological experimentation as well as numerous atrocities during World War 2.
* The most unsubstantiated rumor is that is was all the fault of “Ball-Lightning”. An unexplained phenomenon where a ball of potentially hazardous electrical energy floats around, zaps everything before disappearing. Could it have killed the Medan? I do not know.

Now I know what some of you are thinking, of course why should we believe any of this? A ghost ship...