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if it ever happened then the medan was most likely a smuggling vessel that got renamed and the theory with the incorrectly transported dangerous cargo is the most likely one.its the easiest explanation and therefore if the story is true the most likely correct one.
Finally! It was about time somebody took a factual approach to that story. Some opposition to that clickbaity crap is much needed! That’s why I love this channel
@@OhioFanatic97 But they didn’t even mention the source situation. They just said that since people “dedicated their careers” to it they just assumed there was some truth to it.
You mean the SS Cotopaxi *didn't* mysteriously get wrenched from the sea floor by a storm to sail the Caribbean as a photoshopped click bait picture of a ghost ship?!?
It was actually sunk in 1946. It was transporting the nerve agents from Japan as a cover-up for the real cargo, a Dalek. That is why the Silver Star is mentioned as the one who discovered the Ourang Medan, the year it was named The Silver Star, and why the crew was killed without a scratch...they were killed by the Dalek they were transporting. And the only one who could cover something like this up? The Time Lord known as The Doctor.
@@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim I made it up unfortunately. If I had my way, I would have done it during Peter Capaldi's Doctor and made it more horror inspired, with it being that everyone on the ship had to die as it was a fixed point in history apart from one member of the crew who The Doctor and Clara save as a way for the story of the Ourang Medan to be told throughout history as a ghost story but he would be still officially dead according to the story. Obviously, people wouldn't believe it but that normally happens with the truth, people disbelieve the simple truth but it is a good way to cover it up.
@@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim maybe I could pitch the idea to Big Finish for the audio dramas as they have been really good and they would probably do it some justice. Edit: They would just delete it so no point. I will think of something
You're going about this the wrong way. The Ourang Medan is a ghost ship. It can retroactively travel time, teleport, and sink wherever it wants. Everywhere and anywhere, all at the same time. Every version of the story is simultaneously true........................... ;)
It is a ghost ship. It first went down like in the original report. And then every couple of years it returns to do its thing and try to bring more souls down with it.
Not quite the same thing, but I'm friends with an elderly retired naval chaplain and his wife, an ex-nurse. Some years ago, she told me a story about having to treat a group of Norwegian sailors back in the day, who had fallen over in seizures after walking past a cargo container on board their ship. Apparently, the container had been improperly secured, and was leaking some form of dangerous chemical. Whenever I hear the Ourang Medan story, my mind always goes to that tale.
Man of medan* there where no real ghosts, they where hallucinations. Besides that the gold was "Manchurian gold", which did turn out to be nerve gas that caused the hallucinations
@@ProductionsJazzhands totally agree. the whole ghost angle was so cool, especially since the previous game of the developer, Until Dawn, a PS4 exclusive, featured supernatural monsters and curses, so i was really looking forward to actual ghosts... and well, the "twist" revelation of "oh its just hallucinations caused by a nerve gas" took all the steam, momentum, mystery and intrigue the story had right out of it. it was a huge let down... fortunately, the developers redeemed themselves with House of Ashes. no stupid "oh its all in your head, the monsters aren't real" twist in that game. nope, all the monsters are real, very lethal and boy is the story and atmossphere so much better because of it
It's said there are actual defense department documents about this story, but not in the way you'd think. Apparently the story got around and the DOD had people investigate to make sure "Wait this didn't actually happen did it?", kind of like all the UFO documentation.
@@huntercorrales6794 the government declassified a bunch of old UFO documents because their classification time limit was up. There is tons of footage taken from cockpit/gun perspective from fighter planes encountering UFOs.
Honestly this sounds like an incident of a leakache of Ammoniak, wich was used as coolant on Ships that transported perishable goods or dangerous chemicals back in that time period, that went through a few rounds of silent mail. The Dutch colonies in Asia were big time producers of Oil, Nitrates and Phosphor, wich makes me believe, that the story concerns a real or fictional cooling ship of unnown type, wich transported some combination of these chemicals, wich are commonly used in fertlizers and exlposives. At some point the coolant gets released wich kills the crew and the dissipates, allowing the cargo to heat up, become unstable, ignite and explode.
One of my friends asked me to tell them about the Ourang Medan and I showed them this exact video. They told me that they thought it was real. She was very grateful to know the truth
Ourang Medan is my favorite sea story. But it’s just that: a sea story. The only even halfway plausible explanation for the ship’s existence yet absence from any official register is the theory that she was involved in a smuggling operation of some sort, left port under one name and renamed Ourang Medan while at sea to avoid any suspicion.
I’ve heard the theory that the ourang Medan was a fake name used because the ship was possibly conducting black ops in the Dutch colonies after world war 2.
I heard that too, especially with the fact that in 1947 (the year most of the mentions take place) was the start of the Cold War. I don't really have a definite answer for how the two connect, but I imagine you don't want to anger a country that was in the process of producing nuclear weapons.
@@mariasherman5151 Well I went back to find where I heard of this theory, and it turns out it was a British writer named Roy Bainton, bainton spent years trying to trace the story, looking for log books, records etc and he finally hit a dead end and is now convinced it never happened
The "I die" message reminded me of another, more factual Mysterious Radio Message, which in turn reminds me that if I'm ever in an imminent death situation but I have a few seconds to spare, I must be sure to make my last tweet say "STENDEC".
A good telegrapher could type "I die" if he thought it. The sending hand and the brain on professionals is amazing. I have known several who could send with a bug, copy and carry on conversations at Ham Radio demonstrations. Most of these old CW (Morse Code continuous wave, interrupted by the key) are gone but some hams can do it. It is one real piece of information in the story as if his hand was on the key 5 characters .. -.. .. . I die
You know, if this incident happened in 1939 and the US government tried to sink the ship, while rescue ships were nearby, the only way, to do it, would have been by submarine, so these ships don't notice. That's the part, where it becomes obvious, that this couldn't have been the case. We all know, how well American torpedoes worked during that time period, so trying to sink the ship, with these torpedoes, certainly couldn't have been succesful.
@@fabianzimmermann5495 You forget the conspiracy theorists' secret weapon: How do you know the CIA didn't have a super secret ultra-submarine that we just never found out about?
@@dodobrain7713 Oh no, these sneaky back doors. My one weakness. Well, here's two things. The CIA didn't exist until 1947. Also, not one single person had ever tested the Mark 14 torpedo. The first time, it was actually used, was, when war broke out with Japan. So if someone wanted so sink a ship in 1939, no one would have had a reason, not to use this torpedo, because none of the flaws were known back then. And if someone, for some reason decided, not to use the torpedo, the Bureau of Ordnance would have gone nuts, about it, because these people didn't want to use their 'perfect' torpedo and it would have created such a mess, that it would have forced the conspirators in the end, to use the Mark 14 torpedo anyway and to completely fail at their job, because of it. And again, there was no reason, not to use the damn thing in the first place, because no one knew, that something was wrong with it.
I've seen several versions of the Ourang Medan story, but yours was the first where it's mentioned the would be salvors went into the engine room. I also know that action-adventure writer Clive Cussler made use of the story in a couple of his novels. 'Pacific Vortex' which was the first novel he wrote, althought it was not released first, features an essentially 'straight' version of the story using a luxury yacht as the vessel sending the bizarre distress call. The other novel is 'Deep Six', the story proper opens with the release of a noxious substance into the waters off Alaska. A Coast Guard cutter starts picking up multiple distress calls including one that is summarized as 'They're dead, I'm dying'. The sequence climaxes in a dying message done right, with a Dr relaying his symptoms to the cutter after he is contaminated while investigating a drifting fishing boat.
As someone who enjoys conspiracy theories, this was very well done! I always thought this was just some made up ghost story, but it's nice to see someone finally doing the research to lay out the facts. This was a pretty fun one! Knowing that you're pretty well read on marine disasters, there's another one this reminded me of that would fit the theme of this month. I heard of a myth about a military vessel that had an experiment that went awry. Suppossedly, it was running cutting edge experiments with microwaves and somehow the crew were welded/teleported into the walls and structures of the ship. Once again, a VERY outlandish story. But it would be fun to see what you find and finally put this ghost story to rest too. (I actually heard 2 old guys talking about it around a year ago!) Oh! The flying dutchman would be a fun video too! I oddly don't know too much about that ship, yet I see it in pop culture now and again. Guess I know whats going to fill up the next hour of my day! Once again, awesome vid!
@@Ian-np6zt My brother did a report for school on it. One of the things he did determine was that whatever they were doing required a lot of power. It was an interesting report.
Thanks for taking the time to break down the facts. I always believed the Ourang Medan tail was a wash but it is a great story. The "I die!" Line makes me think at least one of the early tellers of this tale is a Shakespeare fan. "He has killed me, mother!"
Someone sufficiently familiar with Indonesian languages to make up the name. Many people are familiar with the word 'Orang' from orangutan, but they don't know what it means or where it comes from.
One plausible theory I heard is that she wasn’t operating under her real name. Thats why the ship that allegedly found the Medan wasn’t believed to be real either; she had only recently just been renamed. Doesn’t make up for all the other issues it has though.
Glad you did this one. First time I heard about this legend I was enthralled. Some time later I would periodically read accounts dismantling the story. Yours is the best one yet. Another case of too good to be true.
This is one guys that really gives back to his fans and the community, he not only entertains but reading the dialogue /posts below he also encourages sometimes difficult conversational topics and lets ppl open up, top stuff.
It struck me as very similar to Star Trek's "The Naked Time" with the crew going aboard a vessel full of people who died for no apparent reason and were stiffly posed in horror, then the ship blew up instead of getting taken to port. I'm glad you covered it this way and shot down the spooky nonsense. Ghost stories and unsolved spooky mysteries are fine for people who like them, but not presented as fact.
"He must've died while carving it." Look, if he died, he wouldn't have bothered to carve *ARRRRRRRGGGH!*, he'd just say it! "Well that's what it says!"
I was so confused when this came on while I was shuffling your channel, had to pick up my phone and double check it was still you! It’s very silly, but in a good way, very fun. ^_^
When I stumbled over this channel I decided I subscribe if the Ourang Medan story is presented as the myth that it is and damn did you deliver. So glad I found another quality channel.
Apparently they were stuck in a time travel thing and someone dropped an iPhone with videos of the Kardashians playing. The shock of the images on this tiny screen killed them via cringe and confusion. Thats what a 'source' told me.
I love the viciousness of Maritime Horrors' attack on conspiracy BS. It is refreshing, comedic, and gives me a small glimmer of hope for humanity (that is usually promptly dashed on the rocks when youtube recommendations shows me its usual drivel of clickbait titles on similar, or even the same subjects).
I just found you. As a granddaughter of a Chief Petty Officer who was told all sorts of tall tales (some might even be true!) I love your knowledge, facts finding and humour about all things oceanic. Thank you for giving me hours of entertainment!
Just discovered this channel and enjoying the videos so far. Did want to make one minor comment though, Carbon Monoxide is toxic rather than just asphyxiating. It tightly binds to hemoglobin in our blood, preventing it from transporting either oxygen or carbon dioxide (so you end up with both hypoxia and acidosis, nasty combination). And as a toxin it doesn't really need to "build up" in an area as such, and even fairly low doses over time can lead to serious risk to life (it was actually a popular method of suicide for a time, sticking ones head in a 'coal gas' fueled oven could provide a fatal dose). Good reason to have CO monitors in your house, as even a relatively minor flaw in a heating system can result in fatal exposure overnight while sleeping.
The first crack in the story while listening to it here is the fact the emergency responding SS Silver Whatever’s boarding crew did immediately seek out and retrieve the ship’s and/or Captain’s personal log books and bring them straight back even prior to deciding to attempt a tow…. That would be standard operating procedure. Just like retrieving the iconic “black box” in aviation accidents. As a matter of fact I think all commercial maritime vessels over a certain tonnage is, nowadays at least, equipped with “black boxes” just like commercial and larger civil aircraft. But I don’t imagine back in the forties they were outfitting cargo/tanker vessels with any kind of recording equipment like that.
I loved the video, I like the factual approach to your videos instead of the complete craziness some people come up with, the beginning with the telegraph signal had me laughing for a few minutes it made my day.
I saw a 30 min. documentary on this in the '60s on Johnny Quest but the ship's name was the "Star of Borneo" and her demise was caused by a prehistoric sea monster. The only survivor was the chinese cook.
I had never heard of this one, so when you began discussing all crew being dead, then the ship's explosion, my first thought was chemicals related to various industrial processes like the petrochemical industry. Many can be deadly to breath in low concentrations, and can be easily ignited. Only issue with this being that the boarding crew would have succumbed to this quite quickly, especially with their likely labored breathing from boarding the ship, and discovering the crew dead.
Taking everything about the _Medan_ at face value, assuming that it was a real ship and that it did sink, my _big_ problem with the story is how, at no point after any of the dates or locations it was supposed to have sank, was wreckage found. If it sank in the Strait of Malacca, which is 82 feet (24 meters for those who use metric) at maximum depth, the wreckage of an average sized freighter of 1920s, 30s or 40s vintage would easily turn up. If we can find the _Titanic_ in twelve-and-a-half _thousand_ feet, surely we would have found the _Medan_ by now.
@@MinecraftWorld1954 I understand that the seas can be harsh, but what also bothers me is how, assuming again that this story is completely genuine and the _Medan_ was a real vessel, why was there no search effort after she sank? No reports of an explosion? Not even a peep?
@@GoredonTheDestroyer I know. What I'm saying is, if this ship does exist, how come have we not found even a single scrap of the ship (like, a piece of the hull, or something like that)
During the American Civil War there's a story that a deceased soldier was found on a battlefield clutching a diary & pen. The entry was along the lines (fictitious date) "July third, 1863, I was killed."
I heard about the nerve gas one a little differently which is why I thought that one was the most believable. The US gov (idk if cia or what) was moving nerve gas, maybe to use in experimentation outside of the country to keep it more secret or to blame on another country or something, but its was US nerve gas not Japanese. Being mishandled, either from lack of care or because it was labeled as something that it actually wasn’t maybe, caused it to leak, creeping from the lower decks up. Concentrated areas where it could build caused quicker deaths but slower ones above deck and the radio operator panicked not knowing what was happening but seeing people die some slowly, sent out jarbbled non sense, calmed down enough to send a clear message, then wrote “i die” maybe meaning for it to be a longer sentence like “i die this day with my fellow sailors” or something like that accepting that he would eventually die but actually died before he could finish. By the time the rescue party had arrived the gas had dissipated enough to be non lethal. And the final explosion that occurred was from a fire breaking out from the boilers being unwatched, something maybe got knocked over and the fire got out from the boilers and spread, then causing the boilers to overheat and explode. The whole thing still sounds too fishy but I thought that was more believable. But I still got nothing for why nobody had any logs for it or why there is no proper date or class of ship or records of any kind available. And im sure my version is also full of problems lol. Fun campfire story though.
I must admit. This channel showed up in my recommendations for a while, but I kinda disregarded it because of the titles in "orange" aka the Halloween special since I was kinda expecting that you would be someone who seriously believe stuff like that. Glad I tried you and glad I was wrong about you. It is refreshing to hear clearly stated: no only because we don't have video evidence how it didn't happen, does not mean it is really possible.
I once heard a Spanish translation of this story and in my opinion was, it was far better because the translator took a couple of creative liberties with it. First: it was a radio transmission rather than telegraph, so it included a description of the sailor's voice, he sounded exhausted, as is he was struggling to breath and stay awake, as if just trying to put his thoughts into words was an impossible/titanic task, almost as if whatever had happen it was something that the human mind was incapable of properly understand. Second: the final message was "Yo también me estoy muriendo..." which translated back to English means "I am dying aswell..." before a sound of something hitting to floor (Most likely the body of the sailor). This made the implication that whatever had attacked them, it had already stopped and left, leaving the last survivor with just enough strength to send one final warning message.
Finally!! Spooky month ships!!! A fantastically well researched video, as always. I love that photo that's literally George Lucas in Carbonite to try to prove this ghost story. Can't make this shit up!! Haha
This would probably make for a good bait for an Ancient Aliens segment on Alien Powers or Special Alien weapons tech. Don't know if they used it already. Remember when the History channel was about factual history. I do.
Hey, you should do a tale about the SPOOKY MYSTERIOUS disappearance of the Marine Sulphur Queen. A ship that MYSTERIOUSLY vanished in the Bermuda Triangle, totally for reasons not related to the ship being a condemned piece of junk that was only seaworthy by sheer luck. Yep, totally mysterious vanishing...
But dude- it was aliens with a nazi death ray.... or is that nazis with an alien death ray? the mere fact it was an overloaded death trap is of no consequence, ignore that. it was defo a death ray and some nazis and aliens...
MH , please upload more often in this style. Maybe not the ghost ships, but the general maritime disaster type. You have the experience to explain it from an experienced sailor's (sorry, coastie) point of view. Brick immortar is great but lacks the at sea experience. Thats you buddy.
Great video, and thank you so much for calling the bluff of so many online conspiracy nuts. I'm not going to lie, I love a good ghost story, and have written many of my own over the years, but at least I make it clear that mine are WORKS OF FICTION!
Based on how the US let Japan get away with their horrific crimes against humanity in ww2, it wouldn't surprise me if they did stuff like that. However, that would require records of the boat even existing lol. It definitely didn't happen but I'm sure there's some threads of reality in there
As someone who Loves a good ghost story, especially nautical or maritime, I can't tell you how disappointed I am to hear it's all bogus. Don't get me wrong, it's good to know the truth. But I can still be bummed there's nothing to the tale.
Allegedly, the US didn't aquire nerve agents until 1958, ten years after the Medan incident. The CIA would never have used a dutch vessel to transport such a cargo anyway. They would have used an actual US Navy vessel. Hell, the government transported a nuclear bomb on a random cruiser and nobody figured it out. This story has more holes than swiss cheese.
Shit man. I write for a mystery UA-cam channel and wanted to cover Ourang Medan entitely because every UA-camr says its real. I'm impressed, you did research and concluded correctly that this is bunk. Proud of you. I'll probably still cover it but you beat us to the punch and I'm not angry about that. World always needs good researchers.
@@-Liska Well said channel kicked me out back in June. Debunk File was the name. I did the historical mysteries from 2020 onward. They did internet based mysteries. Can't say if those were well researched
@@LadyTylerBioRodriguez Well, that sucks. Properly and reliably researched debunks are a rarity, I wouldn't have felt compelled to ask if they weren't. I hope you'll find some more worthwhile place to direct your interests and talents toward!
Could it be possible they passed through a "killer fog"? Similar to the recorded gas deaths in Africa from volcanic gasses suddenly rupturing from lake beds.
Attention all hands!
I now have merch! My channel artist has made up some merch on her teepublic. All funds go to paying her for the wonderful work she does. So if you want to show your support for the channel and the great art she does, pick something up!
www.teepublic.com/user/dragonrise_studio/albums/146205-maritime-horrors
how about a video on the Sinking of the SS Daniel J. Morrell which was the second to last freighter lost before the Edmond Fitzgerald.
@@marvindebot3264 you should check that, CO rich atmosphere is combustible, add some oxygen and an ignition source and it indeed will burn.
I wonder if anyone has ever found the wreck
if it ever happened then the medan was most likely a smuggling vessel that got renamed and the theory with the incorrectly transported dangerous cargo is the most likely one.its the easiest explanation and therefore if the story is true the most likely correct one.
Love it ... ;-) ...
Finally! It was about time somebody took a factual approach to that story. Some opposition to that clickbaity crap is much needed! That’s why I love this channel
Thanks, shipmate. I know the feel, little to no research, all just sensationalism. Glad you enjoyed!
I dunno, I think Bedtime Stories took a decent crack at it a while ago.
@@OhioFanatic97 But they didn’t even mention the source situation. They just said that since people “dedicated their careers” to it they just assumed there was some truth to it.
Agreed. Some actual facts for once. Thank you.
You mean the SS Cotopaxi *didn't* mysteriously get wrenched from the sea floor by a storm to sail the Caribbean as a photoshopped click bait picture of a ghost ship?!?
It was actually sunk in 1946. It was transporting the nerve agents from Japan as a cover-up for the real cargo, a Dalek. That is why the Silver Star is mentioned as the one who discovered the Ourang Medan, the year it was named The Silver Star, and why the crew was killed without a scratch...they were killed by the Dalek they were transporting. And the only one who could cover something like this up? The Time Lord known as The Doctor.
Hold up. Was this an actual episode of Doctor Who, or did you just make it up?
Either way, it would make a kickass episode
@@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim I made it up unfortunately. If I had my way, I would have done it during Peter Capaldi's Doctor and made it more horror inspired, with it being that everyone on the ship had to die as it was a fixed point in history apart from one member of the crew who The Doctor and Clara save as a way for the story of the Ourang Medan to be told throughout history as a ghost story but he would be still officially dead according to the story. Obviously, people wouldn't believe it but that normally happens with the truth, people disbelieve the simple truth but it is a good way to cover it up.
@@happiestaku6646 That would have been Awesome.
@@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim maybe I could pitch the idea to Big Finish for the audio dramas as they have been really good and they would probably do it some justice.
Edit: They would just delete it so no point. I will think of something
@@happiestaku6646Capaldi? No no no, my friend. This is clearly a Christopher Eccleston/Billie Piper adventure.
You're going about this the wrong way. The Ourang Medan is a ghost ship. It can retroactively travel time, teleport, and sink wherever it wants. Everywhere and anywhere, all at the same time. Every version of the story is simultaneously true........................... ;)
The Kamchatka: Hold My Torpedo...
Kracken?
It's much more cooler then other guys.
It is a ghost ship. It first went down like in the original report. And then every couple of years it returns to do its thing and try to bring more souls down with it.
@@youtubeSuckssNow like the 2002 movie 🍿🎥: ghost ship ⚓🚢!
I'm always up for good ghost stories. And then with the "I die" part. Followed by "he must have died while writing it" nearly killed me.
Not quite the same thing, but I'm friends with an elderly retired naval chaplain and his wife, an ex-nurse. Some years ago, she told me a story about having to treat a group of Norwegian sailors back in the day, who had fallen over in seizures after walking past a cargo container on board their ship. Apparently, the container had been improperly secured, and was leaking some form of dangerous chemical. Whenever I hear the Ourang Medan story, my mind always goes to that tale.
The game "Man From Medan" was pretty cool...it started with an illegal gold shipment to nerve gas to ghosts. Fun to play.
Man of medan* there where no real ghosts, they where hallucinations. Besides that the gold was "Manchurian gold", which did turn out to be nerve gas that caused the hallucinations
@@coopercoats8953 Oh, really? That's lame. What a way to ruin a good idea.
@@ProductionsJazzhands totally agree. the whole ghost angle was so cool, especially since the previous game of the developer, Until Dawn, a PS4 exclusive, featured supernatural monsters and curses, so i was really looking forward to actual ghosts... and well, the "twist" revelation of "oh its just hallucinations caused by a nerve gas" took all the steam, momentum, mystery and intrigue the story had right out of it. it was a huge let down... fortunately, the developers redeemed themselves with House of Ashes. no stupid "oh its all in your head, the monsters aren't real" twist in that game. nope, all the monsters are real, very lethal and boy is the story and atmossphere so much better because of it
that's the only reason I know about this ship.
@@Timberwolftrass I think that the fact it gave a reasonable explanation makes it more realistic than if it were some supernatural monsters.
ghosts "i will kill you now"
radio operator " let me just tell my mom first"
lol. Underrated comment
Let me ask my mom first.... She said no. 😢
Ghosts: "Aight ok then"
False. 😂
WOW this has goten alot of likes since i made this
It's said there are actual defense department documents about this story, but not in the way you'd think. Apparently the story got around and the DOD had people investigate to make sure "Wait this didn't actually happen did it?", kind of like all the UFO documentation.
I know I'm a month late but can you tell me about the UFO documents
@@huntercorrales6794 the government declassified a bunch of old UFO documents because their classification time limit was up. There is tons of footage taken from cockpit/gun perspective from fighter planes encountering UFOs.
@@OtterTreySSArmy ok but is it true?
@@OtterTreySSArmy jeez, that gets copy pasted everywhere
@@huntercorrales6794 it’s ufo, so it’s real, but it doesn’t mean it’s aliens
Honestly this sounds like an incident of a leakache of Ammoniak, wich was used as coolant on Ships that transported perishable goods or dangerous chemicals back in that time period, that went through a few rounds of silent mail. The Dutch colonies in Asia were big time producers of Oil, Nitrates and Phosphor, wich makes me believe, that the story concerns a real or fictional cooling ship of unnown type, wich transported some combination of these chemicals, wich are commonly used in fertlizers and exlposives. At some point the coolant gets released wich kills the crew and the dissipates, allowing the cargo to heat up, become unstable, ignite and explode.
Actually, would said poisoning be painful, or simply just drop and kill you?
Actually, it sounds like the most plausible explanation so far. I don't know the effects of ammonia poisoning, but still sounds pretty logical to me.
Ammonia is still used for industrial refrigeration today.
due to the mysterious background of this ship, it must've carried something that a certain government don't want people to know...
Ammonia gas (smelling salts as an example) would be very noticeable before you die from toxicity tho.
One of my friends asked me to tell them about the Ourang Medan and I showed them this exact video. They told me that they thought it was real. She was very grateful to know the truth
Ourang Medan is my favorite sea story. But it’s just that: a sea story. The only even halfway plausible explanation for the ship’s existence yet absence from any official register is the theory that she was involved in a smuggling operation of some sort, left port under one name and renamed Ourang Medan while at sea to avoid any suspicion.
I’ve heard the theory that the ourang Medan was a fake name used because the ship was possibly conducting black ops in the Dutch colonies after world war 2.
I heard that too, especially with the fact that in 1947 (the year most of the mentions take place) was the start of the Cold War. I don't really have a definite answer for how the two connect, but I imagine you don't want to anger a country that was in the process of producing nuclear weapons.
@@mariasherman5151
Well I went back to find where I heard of this theory, and it turns out it was a British writer named Roy Bainton, bainton spent years trying to trace the story, looking for log books, records etc and he finally hit a dead end and is now convinced it never happened
@@eriknervik9003 Ah, what a shame. But it was a good run for the theory
in my version of the story, it simply is never registered
The "I die" message reminded me of another, more factual Mysterious Radio Message, which in turn reminds me that if I'm ever in an imminent death situation but I have a few seconds to spare, I must be sure to make my last tweet say "STENDEC".
A good telegrapher could type "I die" if he thought it. The sending hand and the brain on professionals is amazing. I have known several who could send with a bug, copy and carry on conversations at Ham Radio demonstrations. Most of these old CW (Morse Code continuous wave, interrupted by the key) are gone but some hams can do it.
It is one real piece of information in the story as if his hand was on the key 5 characters .. -.. .. .
I die
Do a video on the USS Indianapolis, The HMS Jersey, or Japanese Hell ships. All three are true Maritime horrors.
May I add, "please."
Also the USS Ruben James
HMS Jersey. The J Class DD?
What happened to her?
@@TrickiVicBB71 The Prison Ship (American Revolution)
@@grimtea1715 ah, okay. I was thinking of a different type of Jersey
You know, if this incident happened in 1939 and the US government tried to sink the ship, while rescue ships were nearby, the only way, to do it, would have been by submarine, so these ships don't notice.
That's the part, where it becomes obvious, that this couldn't have been the case. We all know, how well American torpedoes worked during that time period, so trying to sink the ship, with these torpedoes, certainly couldn't have been succesful.
They'd have simply bounced off the side lol. Japanese Long Lances, they were not.
@@MaritimeHorrors Nope, definately not.
@@fabianzimmermann5495 You forget the conspiracy theorists' secret weapon: How do you know the CIA didn't have a super secret ultra-submarine that we just never found out about?
@@dodobrain7713 Oh no, these sneaky back doors. My one weakness.
Well, here's two things. The CIA didn't exist until 1947.
Also, not one single person had ever tested the Mark 14 torpedo. The first time, it was actually used, was, when war broke out with Japan. So if someone wanted so sink a ship in 1939, no one would have had a reason, not to use this torpedo, because none of the flaws were known back then. And if someone, for some reason decided, not to use the torpedo, the Bureau of Ordnance would have gone nuts, about it, because these people didn't want to use their 'perfect' torpedo and it would have created such a mess, that it would have forced the conspirators in the end, to use the Mark 14 torpedo anyway and to completely fail at their job, because of it. And again, there was no reason, not to use the damn thing in the first place, because no one knew, that something was wrong with it.
Ahhh fellow Drach enthusiasts I see. Guess we all just have a fascination with all things naval
I've seen several versions of the Ourang Medan story, but yours was the first where it's mentioned the would be salvors went into the engine room. I also know that action-adventure writer Clive Cussler made use of the story in a couple of his novels. 'Pacific Vortex' which was the first novel he wrote, althought it was not released first, features an essentially 'straight' version of the story using a luxury yacht as the vessel sending the bizarre distress call. The other novel is 'Deep Six', the story proper opens with the release of a noxious substance into the waters off Alaska. A Coast Guard cutter starts picking up multiple distress calls including one that is summarized as 'They're dead, I'm dying'. The sequence climaxes in a dying message done right, with a Dr relaying his symptoms to the cutter after he is contaminated while investigating a drifting fishing boat.
I believe he was inspired by the Andrea Doria sinking
I've always heard the one where they were about to go in only for the fire to break out and force them off ship
I just went to look up this author, curious about his works and learned he died only a few years ago nearby me. Little freaky. 😂
As someone who enjoys conspiracy theories, this was very well done! I always thought this was just some made up ghost story, but it's nice to see someone finally doing the research to lay out the facts. This was a pretty fun one!
Knowing that you're pretty well read on marine disasters, there's another one this reminded me of that would fit the theme of this month. I heard of a myth about a military vessel that had an experiment that went awry. Suppossedly, it was running cutting edge experiments with microwaves and somehow the crew were welded/teleported into the walls and structures of the ship. Once again, a VERY outlandish story. But it would be fun to see what you find and finally put this ghost story to rest too. (I actually heard 2 old guys talking about it around a year ago!)
Oh! The flying dutchman would be a fun video too! I oddly don't know too much about that ship, yet I see it in pop culture now and again. Guess I know whats going to fill up the next hour of my day!
Once again, awesome vid!
Philadelphia Experiment Case?
@@federicotisera6084 yes!
@@Ian-np6zt My brother did a report for school on it. One of the things he did determine was that whatever they were doing required a lot of power. It was an interesting report.
The Flying Dutchman is just a Fata Morgana. No mystery there just lack of understanding.
@@nancyjones6780 "Fata Morgana" led me to an extremely interesting wikipedia article with some amazing photos and video. Thanks for that!
I really appreciate that the Morse code played is readable and relevant, thanks for not just playing random beeps!
You had me at Monty Python! 🤣
We dine well here in camelot we eat ham and jam and spam a lot
Thanks for taking the time to break down the facts. I always believed the Ourang Medan tail was a wash but it is a great story.
The "I die!" Line makes me think at least one of the early tellers of this tale is a Shakespeare fan. "He has killed me, mother!"
LOL I like the creativity. You're still putting out great quality content; you deserve more love by the algorithm!
Appreciate it, shipmate!
Well some how I found the channel so maybe its slowly coming around.
I love your balance of humor and facts. These videos have been making my mornings much better since I found your channel!
The biggest issue is how there's no record of the Ourang Medan ever existing. Sounds like a tall tale to scare drunken sailors in a bar or something.
Someone sufficiently familiar with Indonesian languages to make up the name. Many people are familiar with the word 'Orang' from orangutan, but they don't know what it means or where it comes from.
Wrong 😅
One plausible theory I heard is that she wasn’t operating under her real name. Thats why the ship that allegedly found the Medan wasn’t believed to be real either; she had only recently just been renamed. Doesn’t make up for all the other issues it has though.
Glad you did this one. First time I heard about this legend I was enthralled. Some time later I would periodically read accounts dismantling the story. Yours is the best one yet. Another case of too good to be true.
This is one guys that really gives back to his fans and the community, he not only entertains but reading the dialogue /posts below he also encourages sometimes difficult conversational topics and lets ppl open up, top stuff.
It struck me as very similar to Star Trek's "The Naked Time" with the crew going aboard a vessel full of people who died for no apparent reason and were stiffly posed in horror, then the ship blew up instead of getting taken to port. I'm glad you covered it this way and shot down the spooky nonsense. Ghost stories and unsolved spooky mysteries are fine for people who like them, but not presented as fact.
"He must've died while carving it."
Look, if he died, he wouldn't have bothered to carve *ARRRRRRRGGGH!*, he'd just say it!
"Well that's what it says!"
nice holy grail reference. i saw your comment before watching the video lol.
"Maybe he was dictating?"
"Oh shut up."
That Monty Python reference had me rolling on the floor, you can't whip out such a banger how to clip and not warn us. That's hysterical.🤣
I haven’t laughed this hard in a while great work. Can’t wait to see your take on all the nut theory’s about Titanic, that would be hilarious.
Oh gosh... I don't know if I even want to touch that one lol. But thank you, shipmate!
@@MaritimeHorrors I wouldn’t blame you the mental gymnastics people do to get those theories is really something to behold
IT...HIT...AN...ICEBERG. (clenching teeth at nut theory's)
NOOOO IT WAS SUNK BY A GERMAN U BOAT 🤣🤣
You're all wrong. It was aliens.
I was so confused when this came on while I was shuffling your channel, had to pick up my phone and double check it was still you! It’s very silly, but in a good way, very fun. ^_^
When I stumbled over this channel I decided I subscribe if the Ourang Medan story is presented as the myth that it is and damn did you deliver. So glad I found another quality channel.
The ship itself is the ghost, it floats along, sends the message, then blows up and sinks with all hands deceased when a rescue attempt is made.
The way you pronounced Mnights name is fantastic and will be the only way I refer to him from now on.
This story is one of the weirdest that I have ever heard, which was long ago actually, but is always good to hear again.
Apparently they were stuck in a time travel thing and someone dropped an iPhone with videos of the Kardashians playing. The shock of the images on this tiny screen killed them via cringe and confusion. Thats what a 'source' told me.
I love the viciousness of Maritime Horrors' attack on conspiracy BS. It is refreshing, comedic, and gives me a small glimmer of hope for humanity (that is usually promptly dashed on the rocks when youtube recommendations shows me its usual drivel of clickbait titles on similar, or even the same subjects).
I die....
Of Laughter! Lololol!!!
I just found you. As a granddaughter of a Chief Petty Officer who was told all sorts of tall tales (some might even be true!) I love your knowledge, facts finding and humour about all things oceanic. Thank you for giving me hours of entertainment!
Just discovered this channel and enjoying the videos so far. Did want to make one minor comment though, Carbon Monoxide is toxic rather than just asphyxiating. It tightly binds to hemoglobin in our blood, preventing it from transporting either oxygen or carbon dioxide (so you end up with both hypoxia and acidosis, nasty combination). And as a toxin it doesn't really need to "build up" in an area as such, and even fairly low doses over time can lead to serious risk to life (it was actually a popular method of suicide for a time, sticking ones head in a 'coal gas' fueled oven could provide a fatal dose). Good reason to have CO monitors in your house, as even a relatively minor flaw in a heating system can result in fatal exposure overnight while sleeping.
The first crack in the story while listening to it here is the fact the emergency responding SS Silver Whatever’s boarding crew did immediately seek out and retrieve the ship’s and/or Captain’s personal log books and bring them straight back even prior to deciding to attempt a tow…. That would be standard operating procedure. Just like retrieving the iconic “black box” in aviation accidents. As a matter of fact I think all commercial maritime vessels over a certain tonnage is, nowadays at least, equipped with “black boxes” just like commercial and larger civil aircraft. But I don’t imagine back in the forties they were outfitting cargo/tanker vessels with any kind of recording equipment like that.
The truth is, that there was actually a typo and it wasn't the Ourang Medan, but a giant swimming Orangutan that killed people.
Part of me wants to hear you tear into more ghost ship stories since it's that time of the year again
i dunno who this guy is but i absolutely feckin ADORE him
It was the Butler in the library with the wrench!!! 😂😂😂
Great video!
I loved the video, I like the factual approach to your videos instead of the complete craziness some people come up with, the beginning with the telegraph signal had me laughing for a few minutes it made my day.
I appreciate this, it's like closure for an inconclusive story
It could just be that a ship was found abandoned, and the people that boarded it decided to make an interesting ghost story out of it.
I found this channel, watched this video and subscribed. I loved the video. Keep doing more of these ghost ships!
Glad you enjoyed, shipmate. But this is just sort of an October thing. I have a few lined up for this month though!
@@MaritimeHorrors I can't wait! Do you know about the Ghost ships Baychimo and Mary Celeste? They may be good ships to talk about in October.
I think you will probably enjoy the ships I've got lined up this month.
@@MaritimeHorrors :)
Oh how I enjoy tearing apart ridiculous urban legends passed off as truth by others... instant subscribe 🔥
It may not be a true story, but it is a fun one in a spooky way. Folks just need to share it responsibly.
I love telling this story to new boots on their first midwatch. Especially on a moonless night
I saw a 30 min. documentary on this in the '60s on Johnny Quest but the ship's name was the "Star of Borneo" and her demise was caused by a prehistoric sea monster. The only survivor was the chinese cook.
The creeper entry was hilarious. Good stuff.
“Thats a little campy even for meeeeeeee!”
Literally clicked on this cuz it reminded man of Medan lol, great video really loving this channel
I find the ending hilarious. Thank you for keeping in the laughter and joking between you and your channel artist.
I had never heard of this one, so when you began discussing all crew being dead, then the ship's explosion, my first thought was chemicals related to various industrial processes like the petrochemical industry. Many can be deadly to breath in low concentrations, and can be easily ignited. Only issue with this being that the boarding crew would have succumbed to this quite quickly, especially with their likely labored breathing from boarding the ship, and discovering the crew dead.
Taking everything about the _Medan_ at face value, assuming that it was a real ship and that it did sink, my _big_ problem with the story is how, at no point after any of the dates or locations it was supposed to have sank, was wreckage found. If it sank in the Strait of Malacca, which is 82 feet (24 meters for those who use metric) at maximum depth, the wreckage of an average sized freighter of 1920s, 30s or 40s vintage would easily turn up. If we can find the _Titanic_ in twelve-and-a-half _thousand_ feet, surely we would have found the _Medan_ by now.
Or at least a piece of it
@@MinecraftWorld1954 I understand that the seas can be harsh, but what also bothers me is how, assuming again that this story is completely genuine and the _Medan_ was a real vessel, why was there no search effort after she sank? No reports of an explosion? Not even a peep?
@@GoredonTheDestroyer I know. What I'm saying is, if this ship does exist, how come have we not found even a single scrap of the ship (like, a piece of the hull, or something like that)
@@MinecraftWorld1954 I... I was agreeing with you?
@@GoredonTheDestroyer oh
It’s amazing how fast you are growing the videos are so entertaining and educative love them!
Man, the Holy Grail cut got me 🤣
Still a better love story than 'Twilight'.
This Chanel needs more subscribers!
Yes, it is underrated.
“I die” is now what I want my last words to be
And "He die" on your headstone?
Could it simply be a bad translation?
True story, literal last words of a dying friend were "Don’t £u€|< with my $#¡t." Cool enough for me. I miss my friend's feisty attitude.
@@spiritmatter1553 I The, that would be bad German instead, and Ich The makes even less sense
During the American Civil War there's a story that a deceased soldier was found on a battlefield clutching a diary & pen. The entry was along the lines (fictitious date) "July third, 1863, I was killed."
Stuff like this is fun for making your own alternate history for your setting,
Keep up the good work! Best video on this by far. None of the other ones I’ve seen even mention the sources.
I've always wanted to make a horror movie based on this story using old museum ships as sets
I’d gladly watch it
Great work as always Azimuth!
I heard about the nerve gas one a little differently which is why I thought that one was the most believable. The US gov (idk if cia or what) was moving nerve gas, maybe to use in experimentation outside of the country to keep it more secret or to blame on another country or something, but its was US nerve gas not Japanese. Being mishandled, either from lack of care or because it was labeled as something that it actually wasn’t maybe, caused it to leak, creeping from the lower decks up. Concentrated areas where it could build caused quicker deaths but slower ones above deck and the radio operator panicked not knowing what was happening but seeing people die some slowly, sent out jarbbled non sense, calmed down enough to send a clear message, then wrote “i die” maybe meaning for it to be a longer sentence like “i die this day with my fellow sailors” or something like that accepting that he would eventually die but actually died before he could finish. By the time the rescue party had arrived the gas had dissipated enough to be non lethal. And the final explosion that occurred was from a fire breaking out from the boilers being unwatched, something maybe got knocked over and the fire got out from the boilers and spread, then causing the boilers to overheat and explode. The whole thing still sounds too fishy but I thought that was more believable. But I still got nothing for why nobody had any logs for it or why there is no proper date or class of ship or records of any kind available. And im sure my version is also full of problems lol. Fun campfire story though.
He has killed me, mother.
RIP
I must admit. This channel showed up in my recommendations for a while, but I kinda disregarded it because of the titles in "orange" aka the Halloween special since I was kinda expecting that you would be someone who seriously believe stuff like that.
Glad I tried you and glad I was wrong about you.
It is refreshing to hear clearly stated: no only because we don't have video evidence how it didn't happen, does not mean it is really possible.
I once heard a Spanish translation of this story and in my opinion was, it was far better because the translator took a couple of creative liberties with it.
First: it was a radio transmission rather than telegraph, so it included a description of the sailor's voice, he sounded exhausted, as is he was struggling to breath and stay awake, as if just trying to put his thoughts into words was an impossible/titanic task, almost as if whatever had happen it was something that the human mind was incapable of properly understand.
Second: the final message was "Yo también me estoy muriendo..." which translated back to English means "I am dying aswell..." before a sound of something hitting to floor (Most likely the body of the sailor).
This made the implication that whatever had attacked them, it had already stopped and left, leaving the last survivor with just enough strength to send one final warning message.
"Haunted by the BIIILLLLLLL" American health care in a nutshell
This is pretty good. If I may suggest one, do the story of the USS Cyclops
Finally!! Spooky month ships!!! A fantastically well researched video, as always. I love that photo that's literally George Lucas in Carbonite to try to prove this ghost story. Can't make this shit up!! Haha
"I die" has become such a running joke at my station management tried to ban it.
We kept passing around the memo saying who wrote this crap??
They didn't get it tho :/
I like your chops, man. subscribed 👍
This would probably make for a good bait for an Ancient Aliens segment on Alien Powers or Special Alien weapons tech. Don't know if they used it already. Remember when the History channel was about factual history. I do.
Ah, yes. The golden years.
Hey, you should do a tale about the SPOOKY MYSTERIOUS disappearance of the Marine Sulphur Queen. A ship that MYSTERIOUSLY vanished in the Bermuda Triangle, totally for reasons not related to the ship being a condemned piece of junk that was only seaworthy by sheer luck. Yep, totally mysterious vanishing...
But dude- it was aliens with a nazi death ray....
or is that nazis with an alien death ray?
the mere fact it was an overloaded death trap is of no consequence, ignore that. it was defo a death ray and some nazis and aliens...
I absolutely loved the video and had a good chuckle at the "he die" moments too!
this is an algorithm comment. great videos!!
Just found your channel. You are the second youtuber a found who is doing facts on this story.
MH , please upload more often in this style. Maybe not the ghost ships, but the general maritime disaster type. You have the experience to explain it from an experienced sailor's (sorry, coastie) point of view. Brick immortar is great but lacks the at sea experience. Thats you buddy.
“ I Die” - Magneto, master of magnet
Great video, and thank you so much for calling the bluff of so many online conspiracy nuts. I'm not going to lie, I love a good ghost story, and have written many of my own over the years, but at least I make it clear that mine are WORKS OF FICTION!
The shipwreck picture you put at 15:88 is one of a wailing ship in my community!
Based on how the US let Japan get away with their horrific crimes against humanity in ww2, it wouldn't surprise me if they did stuff like that. However, that would require records of the boat even existing lol. It definitely didn't happen but I'm sure there's some threads of reality in there
Oh, so this is what Man of Medan is based on. Duh, "ourang" means man, should have realized.
Ha! I thought it was a bit harsh to laugh about a dying man-so glad he wasn’t real! 😂 this video was unexpected and fun.
The creepster isn't the best name for anyone, even spooky dudes
I didn't name him lol
"Club Penguin is kill. I die."
You worry about hate mail but at least for me I love the honest skepticism on display, you have earned my subscription.
I love these kinds of stories, not cause I believe them, but because it's fun to imagine
As someone who Loves a good ghost story, especially nautical or maritime, I can't tell you how disappointed I am to hear it's all bogus. Don't get me wrong, it's good to know the truth. But I can still be bummed there's nothing to the tale.
Allegedly, the US didn't aquire nerve agents until 1958, ten years after the Medan incident. The CIA would never have used a dutch vessel to transport such a cargo anyway. They would have used an actual US Navy vessel.
Hell, the government transported a nuclear bomb on a random cruiser and nobody figured it out. This story has more holes than swiss cheese.
Great job
Great vid, MH! Thanks for giving us the facts on this one.
Shit man. I write for a mystery UA-cam channel and wanted to cover Ourang Medan entitely because every UA-camr says its real. I'm impressed, you did research and concluded correctly that this is bunk. Proud of you. I'll probably still cover it but you beat us to the punch and I'm not angry about that. World always needs good researchers.
Kind of intrigued about the channel now, if the mysteries get properly researched like this.
@@-Liska Well said channel kicked me out back in June. Debunk File was the name. I did the historical mysteries from 2020 onward. They did internet based mysteries. Can't say if those were well researched
@@LadyTylerBioRodriguez Well, that sucks. Properly and reliably researched debunks are a rarity, I wouldn't have felt compelled to ask if they weren't. I hope you'll find some more worthwhile place to direct your interests and talents toward!
@@-Liska I am trying to start up my own channel. Takes time but I'm working towards it.
Could it be possible they passed through a "killer fog"? Similar to the recorded gas deaths in Africa from volcanic gasses suddenly rupturing from lake beds.