Paranormal
Giant footprints in the snow of Mt. Everest were discovered by British mountaineers in 1951. Was that proof that the Yeti, popularly known as the Abominable Snowman, exists? Further investigators threw doubts on the report, and the controversy goes on. Is there a giant hairy creature, looking like early man, living in the Himalayas? Several reports have come out since the early nineteenth century, until the present.
The Story
It was a cold November afternoon in 1951, when British mountaineers Eric Shipton and Michael Ward were making their way over the Menlung Glacier, between Tibet and Nepal. Suddenly, they came across a giant footprint in the snow. It measured 13 by 18 inches. It was inferred that the imprint had recently been made because it had not had time to melt. This meant that it was closer to actual size than a melted print which appears larger. That's what made the size all the more amazing. Had the footprint been made by a giant human or huge snow monster?
They noticed a set of fresh looking tracks in the deep snow lining the lip of the glacier. Excited, they followed the trail for nearly a mile before the snow thinned out and tracks disappeared. Realizing that this would be of anthropological importance, the two took photographs of their find. They used Ward's ice axe and snowboots to show scale. Shipton took two photographs in which the footprints were well defined, and clearly in focus. These photographs, shown below, were to cause controversy, doubt and sometimes disbelief in almost every country in which they were later reproduced. However, it could not be doubted that the prints were not made by monkeys, bears, leopards or humans.
It had five distinct toes, with the inner two toes larger than the rest, smaller toes pressed together and the heel exceptionally flat and broad. Newspapers had seized upon this story and popularized the name, the "Abonimable Snowman," which got across the idea of horror associated with the being that was said to exist in the Himalayas. The London Zoological Society and the Natural History Department of the British Museum declared the prints as caused by a langur monkey or red bear. The dimensional characteristics of the prints and stride however, made nonsense of this declaration.
Although the Yeti was big news in the 1950s and 1960s, it was already old news, with sightings dating back to 1832. The origin of the Yeti stories was the 'military and civil service pioneers in the last century and the high mountaineers involved.'
The History
In 1832, B.H. Hodgson, the British representative in Nepal, published an article about a strange mountain creature in a scientific journal. He described a hirsute creature who reportedly had attacked his servants. The natives called the beast "rakshas," which means "demon." This was the first report of the Yeti made by a Westerner. His told him that references to such wild men went back to the fourth century, BC. Hodgson had derided his servatns' talk of a demon creature and explained the intruder as a stray orangutan.
It was fifty-seven years later in 1889 that Major L.A. Waddell of the Indian Army Medial Corps became the first European to see footprints made by one of the mountain monsters. The tracks were discovered 17000 feet up in northeast Sikkim.
The next report was in 1913, when a group of Chinese hunters reportedly wounded and captured a hairy man-like creature, that the locals soon named the "snowman". This creature was supposedly kept captive in Patang at Sinkiang province for a period of five months until it died. It was described as having a black monkey-like face and large body covered with silvery yellow hair several inches long; it's hands and feet were man-like and the creature was incredibly strong. Remarkably, no evidence is present to substantiate this report.
Forward to 1921, to the inevitable, alleged encounter of European and Yeti. Lieutenant-Colonel C.K. Howard-Bury had led the first Everest Reconnaissance Expedition. He and his team were climbing over a ridge at some 21000 feet, when one of his guides gripped his arm excitedly and pointed out a dark upright figure moving rapidly through the snow. On his return to his own country, Howard-Bury read up on the ways and customs of the Himalayan wild man, and learned that naughty Tibetan children are threatened into good behavior by warnings about the Yeti. "To escape from him, they must run down the hill, as then his long hair falls over his eyes and he is unable to see them."
In 1925 a Greek/British photographer, N.A. Tombazi, observed one of these elusive creatures at 15000 feet up in the Zemu Glacier. His testimoney mentioned that the creature was "exactly like a human being, walking upright and stopping occasionally to uproot or pull some dwarf rhododendron bushes." Tombazi, later reached the spot where he sighted the creature, only to also find some intriguing tracks in the snow.
Belief in the Yeti was growing from country to country, when in 1934, Maurice Wilson, theorized that they were mystical hermits, rather than wild beasts. This theory was also shared by the German missionary-doctor, Father Franz Eichinger. They were supposedly solitary monks who had withdrawn from the pressures of civilization and who lived in cold but contemplative peace in their mountain caves.
Soon after, 1938 marked the point at which the Yeti became a creature of sympathy and kindness thanks to the story of Captain d'Auvergne. He claimed to have been injured while travelling on his own in the Himalayas, threatened with snowblindness and exposure. He was saved from death by a 9 foot tall Yeti. The giant picked him up, carried him several miles to a cave and fed and nursed him until he was able to make his way back home.
And soon after, in 1942, the events from Slavomir Rawicz's book, The Long Walk (pub. 1952) had occured. He describes how he and his six friends escaped from a Siberian POW Camp and crossed the Himalayas to freedom in India. The book of course came under widespread attack as more fiction than fact, as there was the physical unlikeliness of surviving such a journey, including a 12-day hike across the Gobi desert with little food and water. Slavomir also described in his book, their encounter with two 8-foot-tall creatures near Bhutan and Sikkim. For two hours, he and his companions watched the creatures from 100 yards.
The Daily Mail team in 1954 decided to organize its own expedition, and came up with a few hairs from a 300-year-old alleged Yeti scalp, kept in a Buddhist temple. The scalp, conical in shape, is about 8 inches high and has a base circumference of 26 inches. The hair was later analyzed and could not be attributed to any known animals. Even recent DNA testing of the found hair, defied analysis. Below are pictures from the Buddhist temple harboring the scalp.
Earlier also, in 1950 a patch of skin and a mummified finger and thumb were found in the Himalayan mountains. Zoologists and anthropologists considered the fragments to be "almost human" and "similar in some respects to that of Neanderthal man" even though they could not be associated to any known living species.
All in all, there have been several encounters with the Yeti, the ones of significance have been mentioned here. However, I have included a more comprehensive list at the end of this article.
The Characteristics
As a result of the various reports, sightings, etc., we now have a clearer idea as to what the Yeti should look like. As of now, it is apparent that there are three distinct types: the Rimi, which can be up to 8 feet tall, and livs at 8000 feet; The Nvalmot, an improbable 15 feet in height and a meet eater that feeds on mountain goats and yak; and the Rakshi-Bompo, a mere 5 feet, a vegetarian living on grain and millet.
Shy and retiring beings, Yetis of all three types prefer to come out at night and are rarely seen in more than twos. It also appreciates it if bowls of water and food are left where it can find them. The Nepalese and Tibetans will not kill or harm the beast, in the belief that doing so brings ill luck and misfortune.
The creature is usually described as having long reddish hair. The Yeti is supposed to have a body odor that makes a skunk smell good and possess such strength that it can throw boulders around like marbles, and uproot trees like flowers. Descriptions of the Yeti's voice range from shrill whistles to high pitched yelps to lion throated roars.
Yellow skin below matted hair, extremely robust body, cone-shaped head, and an oddly human stance, this is the common description of the Yeti. As with all cryptozoological beings, people have attempted to link it with some prehistoric animal, and have succeeded in doing so. The match is perfect, the Yeti and what is known as Gigantopithecus blacki. This giant ape, with proportions that coincide with those of the Yeti, was discovered by Ralph von Koenigswald in the unlikeliest of places, a jar full of different kinds of teeth in a Chinese medicine shop, filled with remedies ranging from dragon-teeth to flying lizards. Later, a jawbone of this beast was found in a Chinese cave, one of the same caves that are reputed to hold another hairy hominid, the Yeren. When compared with the jaw of a gorilla, the true proportions of this monstrous creature are clearly understood. As with all extinct creatures, we can only speculate to its true appearance. 3 and 4 metres high, standing on its high legs, the creature must have been a terror to all creatures scurrying about in the Middle Pleistocene period.
The low-down on this is that, the Gigantopithecus Blacki, and two other species of giant apes: Pithecanthropus Erectus and Sinanthropus were apes supposed to have disappeared several thousand years ago. These may be the very same creatures now living in the cold Himalayan environment, evolved to the present appearance, and also an explanation for the three types of Yetis we've described.
And finally...
What is it about the Yeti that captures our imagination? It cannot be just the kind of news coverage it got. The Yeti has become firmly established in people's minds, almost as if it's a part of global folk history. We don't even know if it exists or not. The only evidence we have is footprints and occasional undocumented sightings. Perhaps the huge interest lies because of our psychological need for the borderland between fact and fantasy, and in our interest for the possibility of their existence.
Images
The Yeti Encounter Timeline
1832 — B.H. Hodson,the U.K. representative in Nepal, described a hirsute creature who reportedly had attacked his servants. The natives called the beast "rakshas," which means "demon." This was the first report of the Yeti made by a Westerner.1889 — British army major L. A. Waddell found what he took to be large footprints in the snow on a high peak northeast of Sikkin. His bearers told him that these were the tracks of a man-like creature called Yeti, and that it was quite likely to attack humans and carry then away as food.
1913 — A group of Chinese hunters reportedly wounded and captured a hairy man-like creature, that the locals soon named the "snowman". This creature was supposedly kept captive in Patang at Sinkiang province for a period of five months until it died. It was described as having a black monkey-like face and large body covered with silvery yellow hair several inches long; it's hands and feet were man-like and the creature was incredibly strong.
1914 — J. R. P. Gent, a British forestry officer stationed in Sikkim, wrote of discovering footprints of what must have been a huge and amazing creature.
1921 — Members of a British expedition (led by Col. Howard-Bury) climbing the north face of Mount Everest sighted some dark figures moving around on a snowfield above them. When the explorers reached the spot, at some 17,500 feet, the creatures were not there but had left behind some huge, humanlike footprints in the snow.
1923 — Major Alan Cameron, with the Everest Expedition of that year, observed a line of huge and dark creatures moving along a cliff face high above the snowline. Pictures of the creatures' tracks were taken two days later, when the expedition reached the area where they were seen.
1925 — A Greek photographer and member of the Royal Geographical Society named N. A. Tombazi glimpsed a creature he later described as "exactly like a human being, walking upright and stopping occasionally to uproot or pull some dwarf rhododendron bushes." Tombazi, who was at about 15,000 feet up in the mountains, later reached the spot where he sighted the creature, only to also find some intriguing tracks in the snow.
1936 — An expedition led by H. W. Tilman found strange footprints in the snow by the outer reaches of the snowline on the slopes approaching Mount Everest.
1937 — Returning from a campaign in Tibet, British explorer Frank Smythe relayed several reports of strange hairy wildmen made by the native Sherpas and Tibetans. He also claimed to have personally seen tracks of the creature at the 14,000-foot level.
1938 — The Yeti emerges as creatures of kindness and sympathy according to the story of Captain d'Auvergne, the curator of the Victoria Memorial near Chowringhee in Calcuta. The Captain claims that, injured while traveling on his own in the Himalayas and threatened with snow-blindness and exposure, he was saved from death by a 9 foot tall creature resembling a pre-historic human which, after carrying him several miles to a cave, fed and nursed him until he was able to make his way back home.
1942 — Slavomir Rawicz best selling book, The Long Walk, — published in 1952, telling how he and six friends escaped from a Siberian war camp and made their way to freedom in India by crossing the Himalayas — describes an encounter with two 8 foot tall creatures somewhere between Bhutan and Sikkim. According to Slavomir, he and his companions watched the outsized beasts for over 2 hours, from a distance of 100 yards.
1948 — Norwegian uranium prospector Jan Frostis claimed he was attacked by one of two Yetis he stumble upon near Zemu Gap, in Sikkim. His shoulder was badly mangled and he required extensive medical treatment to recover from his lesions.
1949 — A Sherpa named Tenzing claimed to have seen playing in the snow near a monastery. This was the same Sherpa that shared the fame of Sir Edmund Hillary in the first successful ascent of Mount Everest.
1950 — A patch of skin and a mummified finger and thumb were found in the Himalayan mountains. Zoologists and anthropologists considered the fragments to be "almost human" and "similar in some respects to that of Neanderthal man" even though they could not be associated to any known living species.
1951 — The Everest Reconnaissance Expedition (organized to evaluate routes for an attempt to ascend Everest) encountered fresh tracks at 18,000 feet. During the following months, several additional sightings of Yeti tracks were reported.
1953 — New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay spot giant footprints during their conquest of Mount Everest.
1954 — The London Daily Mail's financed expedition (originally to hunt and catch a live Yeti) examined some supposedly 'authentic' Yeti scalps, but determined that these were mostly fakes made out of from animal skin; a small handful of them proved to be intriguing though, and zoologists were unable to link them to any known animals. The expedition also found footprints and droppings that, when analyzed, proved to contain both animal and vegetable matter.
1955 — Frenchman Abbè Bordet followed three separate trails of footprints that belonged to an unknown creature.
1957 — Texas oilman Thomas Slick sponsors a Yeti hunt. His expedition came back solely with reports made by Nepalese villagers that five people had been killed by severe battering from Yeti over the preceding four years.
1958 — An American scientist working in Katmandu (Nepal), Dr. Norman Dyrenfurth, reports to have explored caves that were at some time inhabited by a type of "very low grade of human or near human creatures", presenting documentation and physical evidence in the form of hair samples, plaster casts of footprints, and discarded food scraps. Also in 1958 a Dr. Alexander Pronin reports seeing the creature while he was in the Pamirs (a unique high mountain complex located primarily in Tajikistan).
1960-61 — The Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition also found some unusual tracks in the snow.
1970 — After hearing a strange noise near Mount Annapurna in Nepal, mountaineer Don Whillans tracks and watches a strange humanoid creature for about twenty minutes through his binoculars before it lumbers away.
1978 — Lord Hunt photographed Yeti tracks.
1986 — Climber Reinhold Messner reported a close-up sighting of an Yeti as it came into sight from behind a tree.
1992 — Julian Freeman-Attwood and two other men camping at a secluded spot on a remote glacier in Mongolia reported finding an unusual trail of heavy footprints one morning on the snow outside their tent, definitely made by a creature larger and heavier than a human.
1998 — American climber Craig Calonica, on Mount Everest, reported seeing a pair of yetis while coming down the mountain on its Chinese side. Both had thick, shiny black fur, he said, and walked upright.
