When Major John Tulloch retraced the steps of Allied prisoners of war and their infamous ‘death march’ from 1945, he thought his photographs would bare only a vague resemblance to the tortuous route PoWs took 70 years ago. The retired army officer had revisited the muddy track in Borneo where thousands of World War Two PoWs trudged to their deaths, only to be given a shocking surprise when he looked back at his images. Maj Tulloch studied his pictures and found what appeared to be hunched, skeletal ghostly figures marching across his photograph, almost exactly in line with the path they took seven decades ago.
Apparition: Has Major captured the spirits of long dead PoWs on a notorious death march 67 years ago?
The haunting image evokes strong memories of the desperate ‘death march’ made by Allied prisoners of war. Some 2,400 World War II PoWs died in the horrific Sandakan Death Marches in 1945 to avoid them being liberated as Japan was forced on the retreat. Severely malnourished and barefoot, they were forced by brutal Japanese captors to walk 160 miles in sweltering heat for a month.
Maj Tulloch took the picture from the window of a 4×4 vehicle while driving along the ‘death march’ route in 2010. It is thought the astonishing photographic illusion was caused by a the reflection of a patterned towel which was on the dashboard of the vehicle as he took the image.
Men who collapsed through exhaustion were left to die or were killed by being shot, bayoneted or beheaded.It was the single greatest atrocity against Australian troops.
Maj Tulloch, 66, said: ‘We were driving along the same track as that taken by the death march and I was clicking away on my camera, I took about 200-odd digital photographs. ‘I went through the pictures on a computer screen later and didn’t see it the first time round. I went back over them again and I just suddenly thought “what the hell…?”
‘I looked at the photo again and went very cold indeed. What I saw were the shapes of 17 or 18 ghostly figures coming out of the jungle and walking down the track going to Ranau which you can see in the far distance. ‘It took me a few moments to work out how it had occurred but it was too weird for words. I showed it to several people and they said it is quite extraordinary, some even refused to look at it because it was so haunting.
‘While my guide drove along he put a towel on the dashboard. The towel had a pattern on it and that reflected through the windscreen. I have called it reflections of a death march.’ Maj Tulloch is now an instructor in jungle warfare for the Royal Artillery.
BEATINGS, MURDER AND STARVATION:DEATH MARCHES OF WORLD WAR TWO
Forced ‘death marches’ of captured soldiers, interned civilians or persecuted ethnic groups were a common sight during the War.
The brutal demonstrations, in which hundreds of thousands died from exhaustion, disease or beatings from their captors in Nazi Germany or the Japanese Imperial Army, took place to stop prisoners being liberated.
One of the most high-profile marches saw an estimated 80,000 Allied PoWs forced to march across Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany in harsh winter conditions in early 1945.
But as the tide of war began to turn in the same year, Hitler’s forces began to evacuate captured PoWs and other prisoners westwards.
During the marches, Allied PoWs were divided into groups of up to 300 men and marched off under guard.
But lack of supplies meant they had to scavenge for food and shelter and the weak were left behind to die. Others were murdered by some of their guards.
Official figures said 3,500 US and British and Commonwealth men lost their lives but others estimate around 8,348 died.
But the most notorious death marches were the SS-led evacuation of concentration camps.
Those too weak were killed outright and the rest were mercilessly driven on to other camps suffering beatings and mass murder.
For example nine days before the liberation of Auschwitz 60,000 inmates were taken on a 35 mile death march to waiting trains, 15,000 died on the way.
In the Far East the Japanese Imperial Army was also responsible for carrying out numerous death marches.
One of the most notorious was the Bataan Death March of 60,000 Filipino and 15,000 US PoWs after a three month battle in 1942.
They were forced on a 128km march in which over 11,000 were beaten, bayoneted, mistreated and died from heat and exhaustion.
Spooky photo indeed and I reckon yes it is their spirits
without doubt they are the spirits of the dead and no way a double image exposure or photoshop. i am convinced so much i am off to join the catholic church immediately.
I just read the story, it looks more brutal than just knowing what the photo means.
ghostly spirits or a dirty window. Dirty window me thinks
it doesnt really matter which version you believe the truth is allied troops were treated horrendously by a brutal Japanese imperial army, from a country that says it believes in honour above all else – that was not very honourable (Shh! I’m waiting for the entire japanese nation to run out and commit Hari Kari for the atrocities they inflicted on allied troops and civilians in the battle to stop them in their drive of greed – Nah I know that will never happen Japan doesnt have any honour – they cant slaughter allied troops anymore so they slaughter inncoent marine life drop another bomb i say) anyway i dgress, the truth is war is to use an analogy Hell and this picture should be held as a tribute to the poor aussies and all other allied troops that died over there and lets not follow Japanese example and remember our former enemies troops who died also. LEST WE FORGET! RIP heroes
My profile pic you see was taken at the Camp O’ Donnell were the Bataan Death March survivors ended up at the end of their ordeal. If you would like to see all the pictures I took during my trip to the Philippines, friend me and tell me you would like to see the pictures…
#1…I have pictures of the Camp ‘O Donnel in Cabanatuan, Philippines I took on a trip there last year. Come over to my page and you can see all the pictures. I took closeups of all the plaques so they all can be read. This is the camp all the survivors ended up after the march. The only thing that remains of the camp is the cement base for the watertower that stood on the site…
I have been to Japan twice in the last year, they teach next to nothing about WW2 in the grade and high schools other than to say how bad the US was for dropping the atomic bombs. The Japanese people still to this day take no culpability for their actions in World War 2 and still think they were within their right to conduct the war as they did. I read a story of a old vet who went to Japan to visit the Mistubishi plant where he was POW doing slave labor and the president of the company would not meet with him. Japan is just waiting for all the old vets to die off…they have had a few formal apologies, but if you read them, they take no responsibility for their actions in what seems to be a form letter apologies….truly sickening…but in the end, the Allies and the US had the last laugh…or did we?….they were rebuilt into a world economic superpower buy the US after the war. Their country was better than ever after the war…