The Belgian Tribe
My grandfather served in the European Theater of Operations during WWII, an experience he rarely talks much about. I’ve only managed to coax one story out of him.
He and a low-ranking officer (granddad was an enlisted man) were travelling by jeep somewhere in Belgium with a cache of much-needed ammunition. Taking a wrong turn on an unpaved road they first became lost, then began to run low on fuel. They sought to ask some locals for help, as the Belgians were highly sympathetic to the Allied effort.
They spied a small hamlet, made up of fewer than a dozen thatched huts, and began walking towards it. They were met halfway by a group of three men dressed mostly in animal skins, all of whom spoke angrily in a language neither of them understood (not French, not German, and certainly not English).
Negotiations proved futile, and one of the three drew a small rusty knife. The Lieutenant drew his .45 sidearm in return and killed the man when he rushed at them as if to attack. This act scared the other two off.
Eventually they repaired the jeep themselves and found their way back to base by the next day. A report was filed, but not much made of it. The following winter the Lieutenant was killed in an artillery barrage, making my grandfather the only known living witness to the event.
Now what’s interesting is what reminded him of the story: we were watching a documentary on the development of language, this one specifically about the Saxon tongue, which thousands of years ago developed into languages like German and English. Granddad remarked how much it sounded like the words he’d heard that day.
The Belgian Tribe,
His granddad just needs a nice kick in the nuts.
Or perhaps in his nonexistent ovaries? XD
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Don’t kill me.
Wait, why did they have to repair the Jeep? They were low on fuel, not damaged.
This story reminds me of a twilight zone episode
I have read in the Smithsonian magazine that it is thought that Neanderthals and ‘modern man’ coexisted for a time before the Medieval period.
I think it’s just speculation, though.
This pasta has been in the pot a little too long. The creepy has boiled away. D=
It was okay, kind of a time warp thing going on. Not very creepy or climactic.
Eh, this pasta was okay.
Weirdly enough there were plenty of places in 1940s Europe (not Belgium mind) where this would be pretty plausible. Take the Asia/Russia border countrys for example. Go out to some of the eastern ‘stans and you’ll find villages 50 miles from eachother that can barely communicate with eachother. One of Stalins big dealios was to get all these communties under the Russian yoke, like N Amercian Gvt and the indigenous peoples.
“all of whom spoke angrily in a language neither of them understood (not French, not German, and certainly not English).”
Side note: Belgians speak French or Dutch (depending on where in Belgium they live), but not German. Except perhaps as a second language.
You’re right. BUT, this was during WWII, so the author is illuistrating that the tribe didn’t speak any of the 3 languages they would expect to hear, not what they would expect the tribe to speak.
Even in WWII Belgian people spoke dutch. Plus there aren’t or haven’t been any tribes in Belgium for the past 200 years or so, the country is just too small. I know, because i live there.
Actually, there’s a German-speaking community in Belgium. It is very small compare to the French or Dutch-speakers and most of the people there speaks French and/or Dutch as well, but German is their first language.
oh god you guys don’t get it
LAST KNOWN SURVIVORS OF A LOST RACE
You know, on the train of thought of “Oh, it couldve been one of those little hidden, out-of-time villages that just didnt evolve like those ones hidden in the amazon” I was suddenly reminded of that episode of Family Guy.
When Peter’s house isnt in the united states, making it its own country.
Now all the creepy from this pasta is gone.
For some reason, this really reminded me of a Lovecraftian Sherlock Holmes anthology I’m reading. One of the stories involves Watson’s time in Afghanistan, and rather reminds me of the overall tone of this one.
“This story reminds me of a twilight zone episode”
same
Well written, but not really creepy. It kind of reminded me of a TV show that I saw quite a while back (not sure what it was called) where a window opens up into an alternate reality where there are people who look like 19th century farmers. Some guy actually goes through, though, and it turns out that they’re horrible vampire looking cannibals. Or something to that extent.
@zege: they made it work on solar power. sadly, this technology hasn’t been adapted widely yet.
@all: damn LARPers, messing up WWII jeep drivers
jeep brah!
There’s nothing creepy about this story we have many villages with those old tribesmen in Europe.
…I understand how it’s SUPPOSED to be creepy…b/c it implies that the grandfather met the last survivors of an ancient race yadda blah blah…buuuut…
“…this one specifically about the Saxon tongue, which thousands of years ago developed into languages like German and English. Granddad remarked how much it sounded like the words he’d heard that day.”
…I’m sorry, that part killed the creepy factor for me because all I can think is: Well duh it sounds LIKE the words he heard that day…the Saxon tongue was after all the source of AT LEAST two of the major languages used today (“…into languages LIKE German and English” – note that that’s only two examples). For me, that does not automatically cause me to think “OmFG HE HEARDED DEaD PEEPS!$@%21″ It could’ve been ANY of the multiple languages the stemmed from the original Saxon tongue.
Not as creepy as I’d expected.
WHO WAS RUSTY KNIFE WIELDER?
So what? Grampy is a time traveler?
Not creepy at all, if true it’s very interesting though…
Quite possible honestly, why wouldn’t it be ?
i’m not seeing any creepy, so im assuming this is a true story. certainly makes it interesting
also creepypasta needs more WWI/ WWII
THeN wHO WaS BeLgiAn?
stories are always creepiest when they’re just uncreepy enough to be realistic and true
This reminds me of this:
http://rumblo.com/cc/comics/cc-thelastromans.gif
first his grandad says he was with a low ranking officer, then he says the liutenant shot the guy, so who was liutenant??