wearing the same look of astonished fear, heads tilted ever so slightly upward, as though staring down the barrel of a death they simply could not believe. According to legend, the crew of the Silver BEST OF BIRDY 043 Star attempted to tow the floating horror show a few hundred miles back to shore but were spared the experience when smoke began to billow from one of the lower decks of the Medan. Within a few minutes, the Medan literally exploded and was swallowed up by the jealous sea! As though Poseidon himself were saying, “You didn’t see nothing.” The Silver Star burned rudder the hell out of there, and the Ourang Medan sank deep into nautical legend. Sailors are pretty great at pretending things didn’t happen. Whether it’s the horrible thing you all did to Allan in order to survive that month in a life boat, or that magical summer you spent as the bearded concubine of a vicious pirate warlord, about 40 percent of being a sailor is just reminding oneself that it’s probably “best not to think about it.” (The other 60 percent is a saucy blend of shivering timbers and learning to sing while drinking. Like a ventriloquist does. But with rum.) But a thing like the Ourang Medan incident? That one don’t scrub out quite so easily. That’s the type of thing that feeds nightmares, internet conspiracy forums and blossoming cases of naviphobia for years to come. What happened out there? Was the crew of the Ourang Medan overcome by some unknown weather phenomenon? Some freezing storm cell that sucked the wind right out of their lungs? Was it something in their cargo that took their lives? Some mysterious and deadly agent? An illegal shipment of gas, or weapons that killed them all in mere seconds. Or could it all be exactly as simple as it seems? That on that hot summer day all those years ago, these sailors found themselves in the presence of something strange out there in the middle of the ocean. Something so powerful, so alien, so mind-shatteringly inconceivable that to even gaze upon it meant their very undoing. Some ultimate truth, known only now to them, from which they could not, would not, look away. Thankfully, most of us will never need to know the answers to these things. For many the most upsetting maritime disaster we will ever be forced to look at will be the endless deluge of Pirates of the Caribbean sequels they keep squeezing from the drying pulp that was once Johnny Depp (Just let him die!) Because that’s the thing about the ocean. It can’t get you if you just, say it with me now, STAY AWAY FROM THE OCEAN! Good. Good. So once again, from all of us here at Werewolf Radar — hold up, someone is at the door. *Sound of door opening* *DEAFENING FOGHORN BLAST* *SCREAMS* *Silence* Have questions about the paranormal? Send them to: werewolfradarpod@gmail.com | Twitter: @WerewolfRadar. It’s a big, weird world. Don’t be scared. Be prepared. 3
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