ACEH, INDONESIA — Incredible video captured earlier this month in a remote corner of Indonesia’s Aceh province appears to show a tiny human-like creature carrying a spear, running out of the forest as it flees a group of trail bike riders.
The clip was uploaded to YouTuber Fredography’s channel on March 22, and it’s really worth a look.
Debate is raging online in Indonesia. Is the mysterious humanoid a member of a lost pygmy tribe or some species believed to be extinct? Or is it merely a clever hoax?
People clearly want answers; the clip has gone super viral, having racked up almost seven million views in just a week.
The video’s owner is Fredo (Fred-oh) Pastrana, and his popular Fredography channel features mostly him and his buddies driving around the country’s various islands on their dirtbikes. It’s doesn’t look particularly hoaxy.
One popular explanation offered by armchair anthropologists is that the quick-footed figure is a living member of the Mante (Mahn-tay) tribe, an ancient, mythical, extinct tribe of people once thought to inhabit northern Sumatra, if they even existed at all.
There’s no concrete evidence that the Mante really did exist, but the people of Aceh generally believe a primordial people did indeed once live in the caves and mountains near the virgin jungles of Sumatra’s north.
For his part, Fredo makes no such claim. He has also refused to say where in Aceh province the video was shot, so as to protect the creature from potentially harmful human attention. He’s also asked that people don’t go hunting for the mysterious figure.
So is Aceh’s “hobbit” real? The government of Aceh province wants to know, and has announced it will set up a team to investigate and search for it.
You can see the original video here: https://goo.gl/vkzeE3
