Military Mysteries, The Psychic Marine, The Red Ape And Foo Fighters

There is no better place to look for mysteries than in the military world, whether creepy, intriguing, unexplained phenomena or unidentifiable sightings. With that, here are some of the mysterious events that happened in the military world.

This Young Marine Officer Predicted The Pearl Harbor Attack Like A Psychic

Lieutenant Colonel Earl Hancock “Pete” Ellis was a military genius. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1900 and was commissioned a second lieutenant one year after. When the General Board of the Navy said that the mission of the Marines was to secure bases in advance for its landing forces, Ellis immediately worked on perfecting the concept of amphibious warfare, writing a number of essays about it. He once again proved his genius when he served in France and designed a strategy for them to capture Mont Blanc Ridge in World War I, which they successfully did. For that, he was awarded both the Navy Cross and French Croix de Guerre.

Pete Ellis was depressed and alcoholic. Before alcoholism was considered a disease, people who suffered from it were often looked over, and Pete was one of them. Regardless, he predicted that the United States would fight a major war with the Japanese as if he watched on a movie screen the troops landing on the beaches at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Guam, and Iwo Jima. This, he wrote in his masterpiece titled, “Operations Plan 712-H: Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia.”

As Ballendorf and Merrill L. Bartlett wrote in their book called “Pete Ellis: An Amphibious Warfare Prophet,” they wrote:

Ellis predicted three phases in such a naval campaign: first, the reduction of the Marshalls; second, seizing of the Carolines as far west as Yap; and third, the taking of the remainder of the Carolines, including the Palaus.

In 1920 Ellis predicted that the US and Japan would go to war and that it would begin with a very successful first strike by the Japanese. He even wrote that the naval service had to be more forward-deployed and suggested Hawaii as a new base for the Navy. Furthermore, he said that the success of any landings would be greatly dependent on pre-invasion bombardment and isolation of the target. Because of his papers, he was sent to planning staff for Marine Corps and worked in intelligence for most of his career.

Ellis died on 12 May 1923  at the young age of 43 while on the island Parao (now Palau),  in the Caroline Islands. He had asked for a leave of absence to travel in the Pacific to assess the capabilities of the Japanese which the Marine Corps granted him.  Supposedly, he was on a secret mission after the Japanese “denied access to foreigners in Micronesia,” and he was supposed to uncover what they were up to. Reports said it was due to alcoholism, although there were speculations that the Japanese poisoned him.

Ape-like Creatures of The Vietnam Jungles

The jungles of Vietnam during the Vietnam War were not only laced with booby traps and dangerous animals and enemies that surely wanted you dead but of a mysterious creature known as the Batutut— bipedal human-like creatures with reddish hair and ape-like features. The locals called them Ujit or Người rừng, which somewhat translates to “jungle people.”

According to reports, the Batutut is around 6 feet tall when standing upright, with a hairy ape-like beast but not similar to North America’s Bigfoot. The first recorded sighting was in 1918, although more reports started to circulate when the jungles became the major stage of the war.

In the book written by Kregg P. J. Jorgenson called “Very Crazy, G.I.!: Strange but True Stories of the Vietnam War,” he shared an “eyewitness account” on a Batutut encounter:

“It was a hot day. The six men from the 101st Airborne Division were taking a break in the middle of a mountainous jungle when the event took place. They had been carrying one hundred pounds equipment under the unforgiving sun in a mosquito infested environment, full of unfamiliar sounds and views that were nothing like the American soldiers were used to in their native land. Despite the momentary resting time, they kept their five senses on, for they were aware that the Viet Cong could have very well tracked them, something the natives were exceedingly good at. Suddenly, according to the men, a few small trees located fifteen yards uphill began clearly shaking. The soldiers had trained for this, and as they got ready for combat to fight the expected VC soldiers jump out the bushes, they never imagined what they saw next.

“A long, cucumber-shaped head showed up. The face, the soldiers said, was covered in red hair with a pair of dark eyes and a huge mouth. The creature then stepped out of the vegetation into a clearing, allowing the group to observe the rest of its muscular body, which was also featured by the same type of red hair. The purported cryptid wasn’t taller than 5-feet and it walked upright. It stopped, looked at them as though scrutinizing each and one of the soldiers.

“What the hell is that?” one of the soldiers recalls muttering.

“It’s a rock ape,” said another.

“No, it ain’t,” a third man said. “I’ve seen rock apes, and that sure as hell isn’t a rock ape!”

The warriors didn’t take their eyes off the creature.

“It’s an orangutan, isn’t it?” asked the first soldier again.

“Well, if it is, then he can’t read a map. There are no orangutans in Vietnam.”

What’s also interesting about it was that both the American GIs and the Vietnamese soldiers reported some encounters with the mysterious being.

The Foo Fighters

No, we’re not talking about the rock band of the 90s that the majority of us probably heard about but the weird phenomenon of lights during World War II that the American and British pilots would often see. At first, they thought the lights came from Russian or German aircraft, but these red, orange or green lights would move and instantly change direction and zoom away faster than any military aircraft at that time. No one was able to figure out what these lights actually were until now, so they just gave them a name based on the “Smokey Stover” firefighter cartoon.