"In asia stories of the strange and the supernatural have been told for generations." "Incredible tales of extraterrestrial life..." "Of unexplained creatures" "And other worldly beings kept alive by the accounts of eye-witnesses..." "Real or imagined how do we explain these strange encounters...?" "From beijing to guiyang thousands of people in cities across china are seeing strange objects shooting across the sky." "Ufo fever is gripping modern china with hundreds of sightings reported yearly." "What lies behind china's fascination with extra-terrestrials?" "Does china know something that the rest of the world has yet to uncover?" "This is guiyang, capital of guizhou province in south west china." "The city lies on a remote plateau some three thousand feet high." "It is one of china's most isolated cities." "It is also home to its most enduring ufo mystery." "Locals will never forget what happened here seven years ago in duxi forest just a few miles north of the city." "Luo wan xiong, from the guiyang evening news was the first journalist to witness the aftermath..." ""i said 'wow' what on earth happened here"" ""i was shocked .... because this must have been caused by something very powerful."" "At night, on tuesday november 3rd 1994 farmer chen liang yu was at home with his family..." "Without warning, a blinding flash of light." "" i saw a red light in the sky... it was like two balls spinning around and around... but as it got closer i couldn't see anything because the light was so bright...."" "Then, a booming sound so loud it shook plaster off the walls..." "A few minutes later the light faded." "Chen and his neighbour went out to investigate but the object had vanished without a trace" "At dawn devastation reigned." "Nearly a mile of forest was destroyed." "A nearby railway station was ravaged.... a force so powerful that it snapped these metal pipes in two." "More than thirty eyewitnesses from duxi forest told their story." "They all spoke of the blinding light, the penetrating noise...." "For weeks afterwards, journalist luo worked with a team of geologists and physicists from beijing" "They scoured the area for clues and thought the damage might have been caused by a current of air blowing down from above with tremendous force." "At first they suspected a tornado." "But in the end the facts didn't seem to fit." ""firstly guizhou is a forest and secondly the terrain is quite hilly so the force of the wind would be weakened..."" ""if a tornado caused this the trees would not be destroyed in such a clearly defined pattern." "Instead they would be criss-crossing everywhere this is truly amazing."" "There were other anomolies too." "Villagers who tried to leave their homes that night reported having difficulty opening their doors" "The cameras of local television crews mysteriously failed" "And photographers were shocked to find that nearly all their pictures came out blank." ""when the pictures were developed, the shots we took from the car were ok but there was nothing on the shots we took in this area."" "Opinions varied but in the end aviation experts from guizhou university put forward a tantalising theory:" "A blast from an enormous flying object hovering just above the surface somehow magnetised the area." "If this theory was true, it raised other questions what did it look like?" "Who created it?" "And what was the purpose of this strange encounter?" "Incomplete research makes finding answers difficult but the idea that this was an alien ship was seized upon by the ufo research association in beijing." "For months they analysed the data and then produced this impression of its likely shape." "China's ufo association boasts a membership of over 40,000 and includes top scientists and communist party officials in its ranks" "At its head is professor sun shi li a retired academic who worked closely with chairman mao in the 1960s" ""i approach the subject from a scientific angle." "There is a lot of evidence which has convinced me that" "Ufos do exist."" ""in fact, when you consider the size of the universe the possibility of the existence of other intelligent beings seems quite high."" "Every year sun receives more than five hundred reports of ufo sightings in china." "He believes at least ten percent of these are genuine mysteries...." ""this man told me he was kidnapped by aliens"" "In china's first alleged alien abduction case this young farmer from northwest china claims he was kidnapped in 1991." "Mong says he was struck in the head by a powerful laser beam and then transported to a spaceship." "Once inside mong claims a female alien raped him," "Promising to return in sixty years with his hybrid baby." "But his story doesn't end there." "Mong claims capsules were implanted in his abdomen and thigh to control his memory." "It is a bizarre story but local farmers who also reported seeing ufo's flying overhead added to its credibility." ""i talked to him personally and i don't believe that he's crazy or a fraud."" "From stories about alien abductions to sightings of giant spacecraft why do millions of ordinary people across china believe in ufo's?" "A less skeptical attitude about unexplained phenomena and A greater willingness to believe even without the hard evidence means there is little taboo about ufos in china." "This is a land where ufo magazines are sold alongside serious science journals and where science fiction co-exists with a love of astronomy." "Even the communist government's ministry of science and technology treats the subject with respect." "In 1995, it sponsored this two-hour educational documentary packed with incredible stories from eyewitnesses." "Here an air force pilot recounts how he was pursued by a yellow ball of light that grew bigger and then vanished." "Four other pilots corroborate his story." "And this is a recording of an air china pilot making emergency contact with the control tower." "At nine thousand feet he saw something he couldn't explain" "In the west ufo research has been relegated to the fringes of science but in china, an open-minded approach to astronomy makes the study of ufo's a respectable endeavour." "Professor gao is one of china's most eminent scientists in the field of aeronautics." "In between writing for international journals on fluid dynamics he designs model spaceships a hobby that began after he saw what he claims was a ufo over beijing twenty-five years ago." ""the flying objects i am researching are very basic they are miles away from real ufos but if we don't try to understand the basics we will never grasp their sophisticated technology."" "What are these strange objects flying over china's skies?" "When mysteries of modern asia returns, ufo fever over shanghai and beijing" "China's first ufo photograph was taken in the city of tien tsien just before the communist revolution in 1949." "Under the regime that followed ufo enthusiasts had to tread carefully" "But when the country cast off the shackles of strict marxism in the late 1970s there was an outpouring of ufo enthusiasm." "China's first ufo magazine was launched in 1981 selling a staggering 300,000 copies in only a few days." "Today scores of ufo sightings are regularly featured on the state-run news programmes." "This strange clip made headlines in 1998." "It was recorded by a railway worker in south west china and broadcast nationally." "Skeptics struggle to explain what it is or why it suddenly appears to change shape." "In shanghai this flying object was caught on camera in december 1999." "Hundreds of people from airport workers to college deans believed it was a ufo." "So how do we explain the raft of recent sightings?" "One theory is that the country's booming economy means more people can afford filming devices like camcorders and cameras providing an opportunity for visual evidence of objects that could be ufos" "But for believers, this is a superficial theory." "Long before the advent of photography, ufo researchers point to stories of strange flying objects recorded by ancient scholars and artists in countless manuscripts and drawings for over a thousand years." "This picture tells the one thousand-year-old story of an emperor who encounters a flying boat from the heavens." "And in the ching dynasty, a shimmering ball of light hovering above a bridge in nanjing was witnessed by more than thirty people." "China has a history of star gazing dating back 5000 years and with it has come questions about unexplained objects in the sky." ""the history of modern civilization is only 400 years old but...throughout the long history of mankind anything could have happened...." "There are both ancient and recent reports of ufos..."" "From remote guizhou province in the west to the sophisticated cities of the east" "China's fascination with ufos shows no sign of abating...." "Even in cities like dalian, one of china's richest." "With its space age architecture it looks like it was designed with alien visitors in mind." "At night the city is lit up in a blaze of neon lights." "It is home to this government engineer who has little doubt that ufo's are flying over his city." "Jin fan and his wife, chen xiao mei, live in the heart of town." "For years they've been baffled by strange objects passing by the window of their 21st floor apartment." "But in 1991 they recorded what they believe was their first ufo." ""it was not flying like an aircraft."" ""it was jumping up and down very quickly."" ""it moved around in one area and it was turning around and around towards the southwest."" "For twenty minutes they watched the odd movements and then called the airport authorities... they were told no aircraft had been flying over that part of town." ""dalian has undergone many changes in recent years." "We have made great material and spiritual progress." "Maybe that's why the aliens want to visit us." "We hope that is the case."" "While many westerns have closed their minds to the possibility of aliens visiting earth in china, they continue to ask questions." "Human science is based on curiosity without questioning and using our imagination we will never find the answers." "As china grapples with strange encounters from outer space." "In malaysia, mystery lies beyond the grave." "Malaysia is one of asia's most modern countries." "It's capital, kuala lumpur, boasts sleek skyscrapers and glitzy shopping malls..." "Yet beneath the hustle and bustle of modern day living malaysians retain an ancient belief system based on magic and superstition that today remains deeply ingrained in the national psyche:" "A world of witchdoctors and black magic of possession by spirits and voodoo..." "And the reigning spirit of terror is the pontianak." "According to malay folklore the pontianak is a female dracula a woman who dies in childbirth then rises again her tormented soul seeking vengeance upon the world." "So popular is the pontianak she has taken centre stage in countless movies throughout the decades gripping the public imagination as an evil spirit." "This may sound like the stuff of make belief..." "But to many Malaysians she is vividly real." ""she looked like an ordinary lady." "Probably someone waiting for a taxi" "And as i approach her, then i realized." "This could be something different."" "Hishamuddin aun , a malaysian journalist, was driving home from work late at night when he saw a strange figure in the road waving at him." ""she was leaning forward and giving me this big grin.... it looked very scary."" "As he came closer, she took two steps forward trying to block his way forcing him to swerve." ""i was scared, i was scared but, still as i drove on i was looking through my rear mirror and she was still there" "she wanted me to stop, to come back and pick her up."" "Terrified, hishamuddin started to pray reciting an old verse from the islamic holy book, the koran." ""and suddenly the car began shaking and there were poundings, loud poundings from inside the car..."" "After a sudden flash of light, it stopped." "Hishamuddin believes, he had just come face to face with the pontianak...." "Professor hood salleh, a renowned anthropologist from the national university of Malaysia has been examining stories of the malay supernatural for more than twenty years" ""from the time a child is young up to the time he is adolescent parents keep harping upon the existence of these spirits." "It's like they're wired to the mythology, to the folklore of the culture."" "Through his investigation of countless witnesses over the years hood has tried to understand." "the pontianak" ""what does she look like?"" ""that's very much like her...." "the hair... the corner of her eyes"" "Malaysians believe she can be both grotesque and beautiful inevitably she is always seen dressed in a flowing white gown with long jet black hair." "She sucks the blood of her victims through a hole at the nape of their necks." "Is the pontianakjust a figment of the malay imagination or could there be another explanation for what many believe is a spirit of the dead who stalks the world of the living?" "What is the source of the malaysia's legendary vampiress?" "What kind of creature could inspire such fear in this modern day and age?" "Find out when mysteries of modern asia returns." "Deep in the heart of malaysian forest lies the village of pelawan home to the indigenous semelai tribe." "Far from the frenetic pace of metropolitan Malaysia the semalai live a simple and spiritual life." "Here animism, the belief that spirits surround us in nature, is strong and elaborate rituals and age-old traditions are practised much in the same way as they have been for over a thousand years." "Years of research has lead Malaysian anthropologist professor hood to this remote part of the country." "Here, he believes, lies the original source of the pontianak legend an ancient myth about a vampires which continues to haunt malaysians today." ""we have come here to investigate the origin of pontianak beliefs of which the semelai have a very interesting interpretation"" "On the other side of lake bera lies pelewan.... ...." "A typical village of the semelai tribe." "Professor hood has come to meet the local medicine man or puyang." "The semelai believe that he has the power to conjure up a spirit they call the matianak." "In translation matianak means "death of a child"." "But it has one key difference with the pontianak." "The semelai's matianak is not evil, but a kind spirit that helps the sick." "So how has the legend of an evil pontianak become associated with this healing spirit?" "To help him understand, professor hood attends the belian rites a ceremony to call upon the matianak." "It has been three days and nights." "The village medicine man performs special healing rites hoping to recover the lost soul of a villager." ""....the puyang will cross over to some rivers and some watery spaces until he will meet one of his biggest helpers, the matianak."" "As he sings and chants, the medicine man says, he travels to the spiritual realm." "There the matianak gives him dew drops to cool his heated body and spells and charms that help him find the woman's missing soul." "After the ritual, the medicine man describes the spirit." "He says the matianak is a woman in white with long flowing hair." "She has metal hooks on her shoulders from which she swings from the branch of a tree." "Underneath the folds of her dress, a baby clings to her." "This portrait is very similar to reports of the pontianak professor hood has recorded in the past." "But how did the tragic story of the matianak become transformed into the modern tale of a blood sucking vampire?" ""the malays have distorted the myth of the pontianak because they do not have an intimate knowledge of the forest." "Indeed they live apart from the forest and have had no good tradition of knowledge about it from their ancestors. ."" "For urban malaysians, hood believes the forest has become both alien and frightening and the story of its ghosts have been transformed to reflect this fear." "In today's malaysia, Belief in an evil Pontianak is so strong that faith healers are often called upon to exorcise its spirit." "Every day hundreds of people come to darussyif a clinic started by islamic faith healer, dr." "Haron din." "He is so highly regarded that even the government is known to call upon his expertise." "Many of his patients believe they have been possessed by the pontianak." "Dr. Haron claims he can heal them by casting out the evil spirits with threatening words and prayers." "Today a female patient has come to ask for help." "She believes she is possessed by the pontianak..." "Swearing and cajoling, dr." "Haron attempts to exorcise the spirits" "Skeptics find it hard to believe in the pontianak be it a vampiress or a demon." "But many concede that she has a very real effect on malaysian life." ""the malays have from the very beginning, been pre-wired, so to speak to believe in ghosts." "From very small, a child will be told by the mother don't go to the dark place there, you'll see a spirit, you'll see a ghost....."" ""although i have not come across it i have no reason to disbelieve in its existence." ""i'm ready to hear and listen." "And i'm not just going to say it is hogwash." "That's because i understand the culture that i come from." "The mysterious presence of the pontianak cannot be ignored in modern day malaysia." "It is an integral part of the country's folklore and religion." "Real or imagined, the pontianak is a link between the past and the present she's become an embedded part of the malaysian psyche and through the stories of eyewitnesses, she lives on reminding people of their unique heritage." "The rainforests of asia harbour many stories of strange encounters." "A thousand miles north of malaysia, deep in the jungles of laos exists what many believe, is a relative of america's legendary bigfoot." "The year was 1966." "America is at war with vietnam." "For the first time ever, us soldiers are faced with full scale jungle warfare as military missions take forces deep into the heart of the indochinese forest extraordinary stories begin to filter back from the field stories about encounters with strange creatures." "As a young solider in vietnam in 1969 veteran tom jacobs was often sent on reconaissance missions into the thickjungle." "One day though, he witnessed something he will never forget." ""we didn't really know what it was it sounded like the north Vietnamese were attacking us with tanks"" "A band of large primates began throwing rocks at his platoon." ""i'd heard that there had been previous problems with what we call rock apes and in fact at one point a band of them threw one marine off the rock pile and so we were wary of them without a doubt."" "What sergeant jacobs had seen may have been any one of a number of primate species, which inhabit the indochinese forest." "But several times, he says, they came face to face with a creature that was entirely different." ""this animal was stockier, he was of darker colour, a lot more muscular." "This different creature would, early in the morning, burst out of the jungle into a clearing and just rail at us just yell and scream and shake his fists it was very human behaviour - it was real obvious" "he took exception to our presence there."" "Were these creatures a new species of monkey still undiscovered?" "Or had jacobs and other gi's witnessed a creature a relative of the elusive bigfoot here in indochina." "Find out when mysteries of modern asia returns." "During the vietnam war, it wasn't only american soldiers who had run-ins with what appeared to be type of bigfoot on the north vietnamese side there were also bizarre reports of a strange creature attacking soldiers in the jungle." "One of vietnam's most respected biologists, professor vo quy was called in to investigate" "The oddest tale he encountered involved american gi's who allegedly captured an ape-man from the region." "This account matched the growing number of stories in the us press about a large primate interfering with military movements." "But the mystery doesn't end there." "Nine thousand miles away, in chico california around 1967 an unusual carnival display begins to draw crowds." "Called the minnesota iceman." "this creature created such a commotion that belgian zoologist bernard heuvelamans examine the specimen he came to the conclusion it was a new species and gave it a name: homo pongoides." "But after its whirlwind tour around the country the corpse disappeared and was never seen again." "Promoter frank hansen would not comment on the origins of the minnesota iceman but rumors over the years have consistently pointed to the source of this bizarre creature as indochina." "The strongest link yet iceman promotor frank hansen had been a fighter pilot during the vietnam war." "His unit was stationed in da nang at the same time as gi's claimed they saw an ape-man being airlifted out of town." "Could the answer to this mystery lie in the thickjungles of indochina...." "Laos, a land of spiritual beauty forever pock-marked by heavy bombing during the vietnam war." "For almost than ten years, american planes dropped bombs 24 hours a day in the jungles along its borders." "The aftermath of war has left the country geographically fragmented and much of it uninhabitable which is precisely why journalist linda moulton howe, a leading bigfoot expert believes that a mysterious creature, even an asian bigfoot may still live here in the abandoned jungles of laos." ""as an investigative reporter it is one of the most satisfying things in the world to go on the trail of something like this mystery and go into the field and see what eyewitnesses themselves tell you.'" "Asia is home to at least 4 major areas of bigfoot sightings in the himalayas it is known as the yeti in china, the yeren in vietnam the noi rong." "But here in laos they call it the forestman." ""even the last ice age which is the last 1 0 or 12 thousand years didn't penetrate into this region." "So when you consider that they have now found 3 mammals that no one knew existed there's the possibility that scientists are eventually going to discover this tall hairy hominid" "that's been described by villagers there for decades if not centuries."" "Laotian zoologist, kham khoune khounboline consider this area a fertile nest for new species." "In 1992, he was part of a team that discovered the sao lao a mammal related to ox family that was previously unknown to science." "It was also in this area there that kham khoune discovered an unusual footprint that convinced him a much larger creature existed in the jungle." "Clues are few and far between stories from vietnam vets reports from local scientists and phantom prints in the mud...." "Linda moulton howe believes that further evidence will be found along the old ho chi minh trail..." "Where many witnesses claim to have seen the creature." "This is one of the first journeys across laos in search of information that will better identify this elusive creature." "From the capital vientiene, it's two day's journey by road to sepon, close to the vietnam border. ...." ""we are here on the ho chi minh trail just close to the vietnamese border and we go along road number nine" "It's a bumpy road."'" "Sepon, near the ho chi minh trail still echoes with the sounds of countless bombs." "At the market, farmers gather to barter, trade and exchange their wares and on a good day, bizarre stories of starnge encounters." "With a reconstruction drawing of the minnesota iceman moulton howe and translator lanoi search for clues to build a better identification of the creature." "Within hours they locate an eye-witness," "Yes!" "in the American war." ""in the american war soldiers in koomran province saw this forest man?"" ""yes, yes they saw in koomran province."" ""was he one of the soldiers?"" "This former laotian soldier claims that during the vietnam war, he saw a reddish black forest man" "it made a distinct sound." ""this kind of animals sound like "eh" "eh"" "it's like a monkey man."" "As night falls, another eyewitness comes forward..." "Local villager, bounthan senkham presents linda with what he claims his recent physical evdience." "Senkham's brother found what he calls forestman hairs, in one of his traps." ""when he returned to look at his cage, it was broken into small pieces." "And when we looked over the broken cage he found it had a bad smell."" ""he saw tracks going up and down the rock and he knew it must be this animal."" ""the tracks and prints were more like that of a human being." "And the hair was not like that of an animal."" "Senkham demonstrates the shape and human size of the print and describes it as oval with no claws." "He also remembers his brother's impression of the size of the beast..." ""big...really big." "The creature was about 6 feet tall."" "Although moulton howe is somewhat skeptical about what these villagers are actually seeing she is convinced that the number of eye-witnesses indicates a broader belief in this primate-like creature...." ""all the villagers seem to have stories about this large ape man sometimes when you have a mythology that is as widespread as it appears to be here there is some kind of truth at the basis of all of these stories" "from village to village."" "The following morning moulton howe decides to speak to senkham's brother herself." "His home is just outside vilabouri, not far from the vietnam border." "From here, the journey becomes risky." "Undiscovered bombs exploding off the beaten track are a tragic but normal ocurrence here." ""laos was one of the heaviest bombed areas." "They dropped more ordinance here than they dropped in vietnam."" "Tom roberts is from milsearch a company hired by the government to clear unexploded bombs." ""between sepon and vilabouri was fairly well hit because the route 91 1, was one of their main roads so it got a lot of attention. "" ""we actually had a bomb go off in the middle of it last October closed the road for about three months it was right in the center of the road."" "Nine hours travel over dangerous roads in an old russian military vehicle...." "These advert conditions may explain why so little research has been done on the forestman...." ""i was in the mountains of ban horn when i saw the forestman"" "When mysteries of modern asia returns what lies ahead in the search for the forestman of indochina...." "The search for the forestman of indochina has led journalist linda moulton howe along the road to sepon province" "Close to the vietnam border, this region of laos is rife with sightings of a mysterious creature" "Travelling just 21 miles on the muddy roads, takes more than nine hours." "At the end of this long journey: disappointment." "Torrential rains have transformed this road into a river it's the wet season this time." "We cannot cross to mantador." ""so we are not going to be able to get to that village...""