During the World War II, a group of people living in a tribe on the island of Vanuatu in the Melanesian Islands made an incredible discovery. Objects with wings were flying towards them.
Map of the area.
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The tribe put down their blowpipes and stood in amazement when the flying objects started to throw out food supplies.
The people, who had no idea that the countries surrounding them were at war, accepted the gifts graciously.
With no other logical explanation, the tribe was led to believe that it was magic that delivered the goods from the sky. This sparked a new belief called Cargo Cult.
First noticed in 1946 by Australian government patrols, it seemed that whenever the tribe saw a plane fly overhead they would build a replica. The islanders prayed for more food from the almighty planes!
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Decades later, there are a few number of cargo religions that remain.
One of these is referred to as the John Frum movement, reports the Indy100. That's because they believe Frum, a seemingly fictional First World War serviceman, is the Messiah sent from God.
Dr Richard Feynman, an astrophysicist, explained the cult in a 1974 paper. He said: "During the war the [cargo religion] saw aeroplanes land with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they've arranged to imitate things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head like headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas - he's the controller - and they wait for the aeroplanes to land."
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Video credit: YouTube/iPeteCTorg
So far no planes have landed.
Featured image credit: YouTube/iPeteCTorg
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Planes