Ourang Medan

Sometime in the 1940s, in the Straits of Malacca.

A distress radio message picked up by nearby ships.

“All Officers, including the Captain, are dead. Lying in chart room and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead. … I die.”

The nearest ship was the Silver Star.

The Captain of the Silver Star ordered to head towards the coordinates from which the distress message originated at full speed.

When the Silver Star arrived at the coordinates, they found a ship, apparently undamaged. It was the Ourang Medan. When they tried to contact the crew, there was no response.

They boarded the ship.

What they found on the Ourang Medan was horrifying.

The deck of the ship was covered with dead bodies. The Captain was on the bridge, dead. The Officers were in the chart room, dead. The radio operator was at his station, dead.

All the crew was dead.

All had the same expression.

Eyes wide-opened. Terror on their faces.

The Captain of Silver Star ordered to tow the ship to the nearest port.

But as soon as they attached the tow line, smoke started coming out of the Ourang Medan.

They cut the line.

Then the Ourang Medan exploded and sank in a matter of minutes.

Today, it remains unknown what caused the deaths of the Ourang Medan crew.

What a story, eh?

Hold on, don’t go to Google and search for the ship’s name yet.

Let me tell you something before.

The year in which this happened is unclear. The Silver Star's log book has no record of their encounter with the Ourang Medan. There are even no registration records of a ship named Ourang Medan.

Nothing. Nichts. Nada.

Was the entire story made up?

Although some conspiracy theorists claim that all records about the Ourang Medan were erased because the ship was transporting something that should remain unknown, it seems to be an urban legend.

A good one, if you ask me.

The story got to me. It made my hair stand on end when I read it. I even shivered imagining the sight of all corpses lying on the deck.

That's the power of good stories.

A financial model also tells a story.

It tells a story about how your business will perform in the coming years. About the challenges and opportunities you might face during along your journey. About the impact of your decisions on your business.

If you want to know whether your story will have a happy ending or will end up like the Ourang Medan, beneath the waters of the straits of Malacca, do not wait for the distress messages.

Rather, have a good financial model built in advance.

Financial modelling services.

P.S. If you were holding back from googling Ourang Medan, you can have a first look here.