Papuan Marsalai (Ghost)

Papuan Marsalai

In the Papuan Jungle at the height of the Pacific Campaign of World War Two, the ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels’, became alarmed by a ghost. The ‘Fuzzies’ were Papuan New Guinean natives that were recruited by the Australian army during the Kokoda Campaign of World War Two, to help move goods, and wounded troops through the jungle.

The Papua New Guinean natives were extremely superstitious. They believed that a ‘Marsalai’, an unseen phantom was running past their barracks every morning at top speed.  The ‘Fuzzies’ swore to the Australians that they knew no living man would dare risk running in the New Guinean heat. They also claimed that no man would run in the jungle at night, so therefore only an ‘Itambu’, their equivalent of the Irish Banshee, could be the possible cause.

After an investigation, it was determined that a ghost was not present, but the ‘running itambu’ was, in fact, an American Captain, Bob MacCloskey. Capt. MacCloskey was a red-haired es-salesman from Los Angeles. Every day, he would wake up before sunrise and run 10 miles, followed by six ‘kick-ups’ on a horizontal bar.
 When asked if he was a cross country runner, MacCloskey replied ”Hell no! I gotta base job. I just gotta run to go nuts!”

...And hence the case of the Papuan Marsalai was solved!

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2019

Bibliography:

‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels’, Australian Army, (4 December 2016), https://www.army.gov.au/our-history/history-in-focus/fuzzy-wuzzy-angels

'Jungle Ghost', Army News, (12 September 1943), p. 3.