Some believe there is more than one Bigfoot. Some believe there is a whole colony of the giant, hairy creatures which has been named "Orang Lenggor" (Lenggor People).

A' Bigfoot' sighting took place in the 1970s in a plantation I used to work in. It was a localized affair, and hardly made a ripple in any of the tabloids of the country. It has some significance however in the light of the recent sightings.

A new plantation company was founded near the town of Sitiawan in Peninsular Malaysia around the 1960s and 1970s. Being a new company without many assets, it had to start small. Clearing of the forest was done on a piecemeal basis, and recruitment of good and reliable staff proved to be a problem mainly due to the remoteness of the area. Work progressed however; and to keep track of this, a small office was built in a clearing in the forest right in the middle of the property, which was still mainly forest. Staff who were monitoring the clearing operation by contractors could retire to this office during lunch hour and have a little shut eye after their meal, not being bothered by leeches or blood sucking flies. As work progressed, the office got a little bigger. Files were now stored in the office as well as copies of important documents. The directors thought that employing night watchmen for the office was a good idea, especially since the felling contractors stored the diesoline for their machines in drums in the office compound.

A night watchman was soon working in the office compound from 7pm to 7am everyday. All he had with him however in order to perform his duties were a stout pole, a torchlight, a hurricane lamp and the key to the toilet (the directors thought that if he really got into trouble, he could lock himself up in the toilet!). The watchman reported to the staff that arrived at the office at 7am every morning, before he signed off for the day. Everything went on fine for a while. The watchman had nothing to report every morning. There were no incidents during the night.

One day however, when the staff arrived in the morning, there was no sign of the watchman. What greeted them however was a picture of destruction. Flower pots were smashed, and the diesel drums were tossed about or overturned. The desk and table at which the watchman used to sit were smashed. When the staff was taking all this in, they heard a faint voice calling them. 'Tuan', ' tuan ' ( Sir, Sir ), it called weakly. The staff checked for the location of the voice and found it to be coming from the top of a coconut palm nearby. There almost at the top of the palm tree was perched the watchman. He was as pale as a ghost and trembling like a leaf. The staff coaxed him to come down which he did slowly and painfully. When the staff inquired as to what had happened, this is what he had to say.

At around 2am, the watchman heard a series of piercing screams coming from the jungle just outside the office compound. He immediately put out his hurricane lamp, and crouched in a corner and watched the area from where the sound was coming. It was a moonlit night, and the watchman could see very clearly. The screams got closer. Suddenly, breaking out of the undergrowth stood what the watchman could describe only as a gorilla. It was ape like, covered in dark hair and stood about four feet tall. It looked immensely powerful as it lumbered toward where the diesel drums were kept. The watchman watched in fear and trepidation as the creature grabbed the forty five gallon drums filled with diesel and flung them around like toys. The drums were stored at the other end of the office compound from where the watchman was. As soon as the creature had finished with the drums, it moved towards the flower pots. The watchman did not wait any longer. He crept away out of sight of the creature and climbed up the coconut palm. With ear piercing shrieks, the creature continued its destruction of whatever was in the compound. Then silence fell. The watchman did not dare move from his perch, fearing the creature might still be around. The fact that it looked ape like did not help matters much as scaling up the palm tree would be the easiest thing for it.

The watchman quit immediately. Another was employed. Everything went on as usual for a time. Then when the staff arrived one morning, it was a repeat of the above incident. The office door had been smashed in. Chairs and tables that were present in the office were flung in the lawn in front of the office. This time however, the new watchman was not up a tree. He had locked himself up in the toilet as he had no time to make it to the tree. The creature had moved too fast. For good measure, the watchman climbed on top of the water cistern which was in the toilet. It was a concrete structure about seven feet above ground. This guard had the same tale to tell. Blood curdling screams, followed by the appearance of an ape like creature covered in black hair, which then carried out the destruction.

The directors decided that things had gone too far. They erected a perimeter fence round the office, installed a generator set and had the office compound lit the whole night through. The attacks stopped after this.

The recent sightings of 'Bigfoot 'in Malaysia could be the very same species that the guards had seen. It is interesting to note that the aboriginals of Australia also describe about an ape like creature that stands about four feet tall, is covered in dark hair and is immensely powerful. In my opinion, it could be a species of ape that is yet to be described by science due mainly to the remote areas it inhabits.