They are called thak-te - forest people. And, as they say, they live on the slopes of the Truong Son ridge in Middle and Lower Laos. We saw them in Vietnam. Here are eyewitness accounts.
Director of the Institute of History of Vietnam Tran Hui Lieu: “In the forest and highlands of Tai Nguyen, judging by the stories of local residents, there are humanoid animals, which are called“an-nak-tan”or“zohat”.
In 1944, in the mountains of the Tai-Nguyen region of the Yedoron community of Madorat district, a young man killed with a crossbow with an "an-nak-tanya" arrow as he went down to the stream for crabs and seaweed.
Mortally wounded, "an-nak-tan" still tried to hide in a nearby cave. When his corpse was found, it turned out that it was a female creature, overgrown with hair, of small stature …"
Wilfred Burchett, Australian journalist: “My guide told me that one day in 1949 he saw a group of anthropoid creatures in the Nguyen Mountains. One such male creature was caught. Thick black hair covered the body of this creature; he made chirping sounds that did not resemble human speech, ate only raw meat, river crabs and palm leaves, was very afraid of people. They decided to let him go, but he died unexpectedly ,
Khamfas Fonekeo, Lao ethnographer: “In the south, in the region of Saravan, where I often visit, the locals say that in the jungle you can bump into“forest people”-“thak-te”. I do not see anything incredible in these messages, because in remote areas of our country there are many tribes living in complete isolation from the outside world in a primitive society.
As for the “thak-the”, as far as I know, they cannot speak and echo among themselves in inarticulate sounds. Their body is covered with hair. Growth is small: about the same as that of a ten-twelve-year-old teenager. They love to feast on river crabs. People are carefully avoided. They roam in very small groups, and in general, their number, apparently, is extremely small …
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Judging by the accounts of eyewitnesses, the 'thak-te' habitat encompasses the mountainous area south of the Boloven plateau."
Chownlaman Utama, Laotian peasant: “These creatures are rare in the jungle south of the Boloven Plateau. They have no articulate speech. They talk through shouts. The body is covered with hair. Small growth. Most often they are seen near water bodies and streams."
Without saying a word, eyewitnesses draw the same verbal portrait of "forest people". But who are they, these thak-te? People who have not stepped over the threshold of the ancient Paleolithic, or humanoid bipedal monkeys of a species still unknown to science? There is no answer to these questions yet.