, “Ramayana” (“rakshasas”), folklore of different peoples (faun, satyr and strong in Ancient Greece, yeti in Tibet and Nepal, byaban-guli in Azerbaijan, chuchunny, chuchunaa in Yakutia, almas in Mongolia, ieren, maoren and en-khsung in China, kiikadam and albasty in Kazakhstan, goblin, shish and shishiga among the Russians, divas in Persia (and Ancient Russia), devs and albasty in the Pamirs, shurale and yarymtyk among the Kazan Tatars and Bashkirs, arsuri among the Chuvash, pitsen among Siberian Tatars, Sasquatch in Canada, Teryk, Girkychavylin, Myrygdy, Kiltanya, Arynk, Arysa, Rakkem, Julia in Chukotka, Batatut, Sedapa and Orangpendek in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Agogwe, Kakundakari and Ki-lomba in Africa, etc.) .

Plutarch wrote that there was a case of the capture of a satyr by the soldiers of the Roman commander Sulla. Diodorus Siculus claimed that several satyrs were sent to the tyrant Dionysius. These strange creatures were depicted on vases of Ancient Greece, Rome and Carthage.

An Etruscan silver jug ​​in the Roman Museum of Prehistory depicts a scene of armed hunters on horseback chasing a huge ape-man. And Queen Mary's psalter, dating back to the 14th century, depicts an attack by a pack of dogs on a furry man.

Eyewitnesses of Bigfoot

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Turks captured a European named Hans Schiltenberger and sent him to the court of Tamerlane, who transferred the prisoner to the retinue of the Mongol prince Edigei. Schiltenberger still managed to return to Europe in 1472 and published a book about his adventures, in which, among other things, he mentioned wild people:

High in the mountains lives a wild tribe that has nothing in common with all other people. The skin of these creatures is covered with hair, which is not found only on their palms and faces. They gallop through the mountains like wild animals, feeding on leaves, grass and anything else they can find. The local ruler presented Edigei with a gift of two forest people - a man and a woman, captured in dense thickets.

The Indians of the northwestern United States and Western Canada believe in the existence of wild people. In 1792, the Spanish botanist and naturalist José Mariano Mosinho wrote:

I don’t know what to say about Matlox, a resident of the mountainous region, who brings everyone into indescribable horror. According to descriptions, this is a real monster: its body is covered with hard black stubble, its head resembles a human’s, but much larger, its fangs are more powerful and sharper than those of a bear, its arms are incredibly long, and its fingers and toes have long curved claws.

Turgenev and the US President personally encountered Bigfoot

Our compatriot, the great writer Ivan Turgenev, while hunting in Polesie, personally encountered Bigfoot. He told Flaubert and Maupassant about this, and the latter described it in his memoirs.

« While still young, he(Turgenev) Once I was hunting in a Russian forest. He wandered all day and in the evening he came to the bank of a quiet river. It flowed under the canopy of trees, all overgrown with grass, deep, cold, clean. The hunter was overcome by an irresistible desire to plunge into this clear water.

Having undressed, he threw himself into her. He was tall, strong, strong and a good swimmer. He calmly surrendered to the will of the current, which quietly carried him away. The grasses and roots touched his body, and the light touch of the stems was pleasant.

Suddenly someone's hand touched his shoulder. He quickly turned around and saw a strange creature who was looking at him with greedy curiosity. It looked either like a woman or like a monkey. He had a wide, wrinkled face that grimaced and laughed. Something indescribable - two bags of some kind, obviously breasts - were dangling in front. Long, tangled hair, reddened by the sun, framed her face and flowed behind her back.

Turgenev felt a wild, chilling fear of the supernatural. Without thinking, without trying to understand or comprehend what it was, he swam with all his might to the shore. But the monster swam even faster and touched his neck, back and legs with a joyful squeal.

Finally, the young man, mad with fear, reached the shore and ran as fast as he could through the forest, leaving behind his clothes and gun. A strange creature followed him. It ran just as fast and still squealed.

The exhausted fugitive - his legs were giving way from horror - was already ready to fall when a boy armed with a whip came running, tending a herd of goats. He began to whip the disgusting humanoid beast, which took off running, uttering cries of pain. Soon this creature, similar to a female gorilla, disappeared into the thicket».

As it turned out, the shepherd had already met this creature before. He told the master that she was just a local holy fool, who had long gone to live in the forest and had gone completely wild there. Turgenev, however, noticed that due to wildness, hair does not grow all over the body.

US President Theodore Roosevelt also met with Bigfoot. He included this story, artistically revised, in his book “The Wild Beast Hunter.” The story takes place in the Beet Mountains, between Idaho and Montana. From there, by the way, we still receive evidence of encounters with Bigfoot people.

In the first half of the 19th century, trapper (that is, a hunter who sets traps) Bauman and his friend explored the wild gorge. Their camp was constantly ravaged by some huge creature, which moved on two, not four, legs. The attacks occurred either at night or during the day in the absence of hunters, and therefore it was not possible to really see the creature. One day a comrade remained in the camp, and Bauman, returning, found him torn to pieces. The tracks surrounding the body were identical to human ones, but looked much larger.

Bigfoot children

A very interesting encounter with Bigfoot in 1924 awaited lumberjack Albert Ostman. He spent the night in a sleeping bag in the forest near Vancouver. Big Foot He grabbed it, put it right in the bag on his shoulder and carried it. He walked for three hours and brought Ostman to the cave, where, in addition to the yeti who kidnapped him, there were also his wife and two children.

The lumberjack did not eat, but was received quite hospitably: they offered to eat spruce shoots, which the snowmen ate. Ostman refused and survived for a week on canned food from his backpack, which big Foot I prudently took it with me.

But soon Ostman realized the reason for such hospitality: he was being prepared to be the husband of the already grown-up daughter of the head of the family. Imagining the wedding night, Ostman decided to take a risk and sprinkled snuff into the food of the hospitable hosts.

While they were rinsing their mouths, he rushed out of the cave as fast as he could. For many years he did not tell anyone about his adventure and when asked where he had been for a whole week, he simply remained silent. But when there was talk about snow people, the old man’s tongue loosened.

Yeti woman

It is documented that in the 19th century in Abkhazia, in the village of Tkhina, there lived among people a woman, Zana, who looked like a Bigfoot and had several children from the people, who later integrated normally into human society. This is how eyewitnesses described it:

Reddish fur covered her grayish-black skin, and the hair on her head was longer than on the rest of her body. She uttered inarticulate cries, but was never able to learn to speak. Her large face with prominent cheekbones, a strongly protruding jaw, powerful brow ridges and large white teeth had a fierce expression.

In 1964, Boris Porshnev, the author of a book about the relict hominid, met with some of Zana’s granddaughters. According to his description, the skin of these granddaughters - their names were Chaliqua and Taya - was dark, of a negroid type, the chewing muscles were highly developed, and the jaws were extremely powerful.

Porshnev even managed to ask village residents who, as children, attended Zana’s funeral in the 1880s.

Russian zoologist K. A. Satunin, who in 1899 saw a female relict hominid in the Talysh Mountains in the southern Caucasus, draws attention to the fact that “the movements of the creature were completely human.”

Bigfoot in captivity

In the 20s of the 20th century, several yeti, imprisoned and, after unsuccessful interrogations, shot as Basmachi.

The story of the warden of this prison is known. He watched two bigfoot located in the chamber. One was young, healthy, strong, he could not come to terms with lack of freedom and was raging all the time. The other one, the old one, sat quietly. They ate nothing but raw meat. When one of the commanders saw that the warden was feeding these prisoners only raw meat, he shamed him:

- You can’t do that, after all, people...

According to the information of people who participated in the fight against the Basmachi, there were still about 50 similar subjects who, due to their “savagery,” did not pose a danger to the population of Central Asia and the revolution, and it was very difficult to catch them.

We know the testimony of Lieutenant Colonel of the Medical Service of the Soviet Army V. S. Karapetyan, who in 1941 examined a live Bigfoot caught in Dagestan. He described his meeting with the yeti like this:

« Together with two representatives of local authorities, I entered the barn... I still see, as if in reality, a male creature appearing in front of me, completely naked, barefoot.

Without a doubt, it was a man, with a completely human body, despite the fact that his chest, back and shoulders were covered with shaggy dark brown fur, 2-3 centimeters long, very similar to that of a bear.

Below the chest, this fur was thinner and softer, and on the palms and soles it was not there at all. Only sparse hair grew on the wrists with rough skin, but the lush head of hair, very rough to the touch, went down to the shoulders and partially covered the forehead.

Although the entire face was covered with sparse hair, there was no beard or mustache. There was also sparse, short hair growing around the mouth.

The man stood completely straight, with his hands at his sides. His height was slightly above average - about 180 cm, however, he seemed to tower over me, standing with his powerful chest stuck out. And in general he was much larger than any local resident. His eyes expressed absolutely nothing: empty and indifferent, they were the eyes of an animal. Yes, in fact, he was an animal, nothing more».

Unfortunately, during the retreat of our army, the hominid was shot.

Bigfoot in the Himalayas

But the snow people from the Himalayas became most famous; relict hominids there are locally called “Yeti.”

For the first time, these unusual inhabitants of the mountains became known from the notes of English officers and officials who served in India. The author of the first mention is considered to be B. Hodgson, from 1820 to 1843 the plenipotentiary representative of Great Britain at the court of the King of Nepal. He described in some detail how, during his journey through Northern Nepal, porters were horrified when they saw a hairy, tailless creature that looked like a man.

Several Buddhist monasteries claim to have Yeti remains, including scalps. Western researchers have long been interested in these relics, and in 1960 Edmund Hillary managed to obtain a scalp from the Khumjung Monastery for scientific examination.

Around the same time, relics from several other Tibetan monasteries were examined. Specifically, the mummified hand of Bigfoot. The results of the examination were questioned by many, and there were supporters of the versions of both a fake and an incomprehensible artifact.

Bigfoot people were hiding in the Pamir caves

Major General of the Soviet Army M. S. Topilsky recalled how in 1925 he and his unit pursued the snow people hiding in the Pamir caves. One of the prisoners said that in one of the caves he and his comrades were attacked by several creatures similar to apes. Topilsky examined the cave, where he discovered the corpse of a mysterious creature. In his report he wrote:

« At first glance, it seemed to me that this was really an ape: hair covered the body from head to toe. However, I know very well that great apes are not found in the Pamirs.

Taking a closer look, I saw that the corpse resembled a human one. We tugged at the fur, suspecting it was a camouflage, but it turned out to be natural and belonged to the creature.

Then we measured the body, turning it several times on its stomach and again on its back, and our doctor carefully examined it, after which it became obvious that the corpse was not human.

The body belonged to a male creature, approximately 165–170 cm tall, judging by the gray hair in several places, middle-aged or even elderly... His face was dark in color, without a mustache or beard. There were bald patches at the temples, and the back of the head was covered with thick, matted hair.

The dead man lay with his eyes open, teeth bared. The eyes were dark in color, and the teeth were large and even, shaped like human ones. The forehead is low, with powerful brow ridges. Strongly protruding cheekbones made the creature's face look Mongoloid. The nose is flat, with a deeply concave bridge. The ears are hairless, pointed, and the lobes are longer than those of humans. The lower jaw is extremely massive. The creature had a powerful chest and well-developed muscles».

Bigfoot in Russia

There were many encounters with Bigfoot in Russia. The most remarkable, perhaps, occurred in 1989 in the Saratov region. The guards of the collective farm garden, having heard a suspicious noise in the branches, caught a certain humanoid creature eating apples, in all respects similar to the notorious Yeti.

However, this became clear when the stranger was already tied up: before this, the watchmen thought that he was just a thief. When they were convinced that the stranger did not understand human language, and in general did not look much like a person, they loaded him into the trunk of a Zhiguli and called the police, the press and the authorities. But the yeti managed to untie himself, opened the trunk and ran away. When a few hours later all those summoned arrived at the collective farm garden, the guards found themselves in a very awkward position.

Bigfoot caught on video

Actually, there are hundreds of evidence of encounters of varying proximity with Bigfoot. Much more interesting is material evidence. Two researchers managed to film Bigfoot on a movie camera in 1967. These 46 seconds became a real sensation in the world of science. Professor D. D. Donskoy, head of the Department of Biomechanics at the Central Institute of Physical Education, comments on this short film as follows:

« After repeated examination of the gait of a bipedal creature and a detailed study of poses on photographic prints from film, the impression remains of a well-automated, highly sophisticated system of movements. All private movements are united into a single whole, into a well-functioning system. The movements are coordinated, repeated equally from step to step, which can only be explained by the stable interaction of all muscle groups.

Finally, we can note such a feature, which cannot be accurately described, as the expressiveness of movements... This is characteristic of deeply automatic movements with their high perfection...

All this taken together allows us to evaluate the creature’s gait as natural, without noticeable signs of artificiality, characteristic of various kinds of deliberate imitations. The creature's gait in question is completely atypical for humans.».

The English biomechanist Dr. D. Grieve, who was very skeptical about relict hominids, wrote:

« The possibility of counterfeiting is excluded».

After the death of one of the film's writers, Patterson, his film was declared a fake, but no evidence was presented. It is worth recognizing that the notorious yellow press, in pursuit of sensations, often not only invents them, but also likes to expose past ones, both imaginary and real. So far there is no reason not to recognize this film as a documentary.

Despite a lot of evidence (sometimes from people who deserve absolute trust), the vast majority of the scientific world refuses to acknowledge the existence of Bigfoot. The reasons are that the bones of wild people have not yet been allegedly discovered, not to mention the living wild person himself.

Meanwhile, a number of examinations (we talked about some of them above) allowed us to come to the conclusion that the presented remains cannot belong to anyone recognized by science. What's the matter? Or are we again faced with the Procrustean bed of modern science?

Man has always been interested in various inexplicable events, mysteries of nature, and strange cases. Almasts, Bigfoots, Yeti - most known as Bigfoot - are no exception - mysterious, mystical creatures. There have long been many legends and myths associated with them. Does Bigfoot really exist or is it all fiction and fairy tales? It is not possible to give a definite answer to this question. Many scientists believe that Bigfoot does not exist and are trying to find a scientific explanation for this. Meetings with them take place all over the world, but end very quickly. According to eyewitnesses, tall hairy creatures literally disappear before our eyes. They also find unusual traces that they leave. In the depths of forests, strange structures are often discovered from uprooted trees, something that a simple person cannot do.

Most often, these creatures live in places that are difficult for people to reach: high in the mountains or in the wilderness. Huge footprints were discovered in the Himalayas in 1936. In this region, the existence of the Yeti is taken very seriously. Thus, in Tibet they believe that snow people guard the entrance to the mystical city of Shambhala. Some Tibetan temples contain fragments of the remains of humanoid creatures. At the beginning of the 20th century in Mongolia there was a case of meeting with a baby almasty. Unfortunately, he died, but eyewitnesses say they saw a small body covered with fur. In 1967, the Americans managed to capture unique footage on video: a tall, hairy figure was running along the bank of a stream. It is believed that this was a female yeti. At the beginning of the 19th century in Abkhazia, Prince Achba caught an extraordinary creature, which turned out to be a wild woman. The savage's appearance was quite specific. She was about two meters tall, her muscular body was covered with thick dark brown fur, and her eyes were red. The woman’s wide face with rough and large features had a flat nose, and the lower jaw with powerful teeth protruded forward. She had rather thick and long fingers. Thanks to her appearance, the captive received the name Zana.

Bigfoot Zana, yeti

Later it was presented to Prince Ece Genaba. He kept the snow woman in a pit surrounded by a palisade because of her extraordinary strength. The wild woman frightened those around her with her abilities; she was incredibly resilient. She also behaved quite aggressively, throwing herself at people. However, over time, she was gradually calmed and tamed. A hut was built for her, into which she was later moved. The female almasty learned to enter a room only with the owner’s permission and was able to carry out simple tasks. Thanks to her strength and power, she easily coped with hard work. Zana couldn’t talk, but she understood human speech, she wasn’t picky about food, and she refused to wear clothes. Only towards the end of her life did she begin to wear a loincloth. But she constantly took part in the prince’s festivities, during which she often drank alcohol and had relationships with men. The most interesting thing is that she had no external signs of aging. Presumably, the female Bigfoot died at the end of the 19th century during childbirth.

Having given birth to her first child without outside help, the woman wanted to bathe him in the river, but the water in it was too cold, the baby caught a cold and died. The same thing happened with the second child. After these incidents, people began to take away Zana’s newborns and raise them. She had four children: two girls and two boys. All the woman’s children grew up as absolutely normal people, albeit with their own characteristics. Almost nothing is known about the fates of two of them, but the boy Khvit and the girl Gamasa grew up in the same family. There was a rumor that their father was Ece Genaba himself. Zana's daughter died in the 1920s, Khvit lived to almost 70 years old and died in 1954.

Direct descendants of Zana

Zana's children grew up with ordinary children and were not particularly different from them. They all had their own families, children, and occupied a certain place in the community. Zana's son had dark skin, large lips, like representatives of the Negroid race, and straight, coarse hair. Khvit was tall, like his mother, and had superhuman strength. Local old-timers said that he could lift a chair with a person sitting on it with his teeth and dance at the same time. He also had an explosive character and often got into fights, as a result of one of which he lost his arm. Even with one hand, the descendant of the snow woman was excellent at gardening and field work.

Khvit - son of Zana

Khvit was married twice and had three children. His son Shaliko was given incredible strength; the man lifted the set table with his teeth. Khvit's son died as a result of an accident in the mountains.

Son of Khvit

A tragedy also happened to his daughter; she died from an electric shock. They say that during her life, Raisa had a unique gift - a woman could see with her skin: she stood with her bare feet on a newspaper and read what was written word for word.

Khvit's daughter in her youth

Daughter of Khvit

Gamasa also had a strong build, like her brother, her skin was dark in color and her body was covered with hair. A woman aged 60 died. Details about her life are unknown.

On the left is the skull of Khvit, on the right is presumably that of Zana

Igor Burtsev with the skull of Khvit, son of Zana

Scientists have been searching for the answer to this question for years. Carrying out various studies, it was found that the structure of the yeti’s son’s skull is significantly different from that of an ordinary human. It combines the structural features of Neanderthals and modern humans. The skull is unique and has no analogues in nature. Also erroneous were the assumptions that Zana was an African slave; her DNA did not coincide with the genes of Africans, because the hair of the Yeti and her descendants was straight, which is a significant distinguishing feature from representatives of the Negroid race. Igor Burtsev himself is absolutely sure that the wild woman is a Neanderthal, and her son is a hybrid with a modern man.

Historian Porshnev also believes that Yetis are Neanderthals. Presumably, these predecessors of modern man did not disappear, but continue to coexist with people. This fact is confirmed by the structure of the Bigfoot skeleton.

Some scientists have suggested that Bigfoot does not actually exist. These are ordinary people with mental disabilities who have left their place of residence and are hiding in the forests away from society.

Although from a scientific point of view there is no evidence of the existence of almasts, someone leaves traces of huge feet, scraps of dark long fur in different parts of the globe. There is an assumption that yetis come to us from a parallel world, perhaps that is why they appear out of nowhere and go into nowhere. Also, tree structures found in forests can serve as a portal for mysterious creatures. One thing is certain: the controversy surrounding Bigfoot will continue for many years to come. However, some mysteries must remain unsolved.

There is a lot of unknown and unexplored things in the world. One of the controversial topics for scientists is Bigfoot; there are debates about who he is and where he came from. Various opinions and versions are expressed, and each of them has its own justification.

Does Bigfoot exist?

Yes and no, depends on who and by what characteristics are classified as this category of living organisms:

1. There are several names for it, for example, Sasquatch, Yeti, Almasty, Bigfoot and a number of others. It lives high in the mountains in central and northeast Asia, as well as in the Himalayas, but there is no reliable evidence of its existence;
2. There is an opinion of Professor B.F. Porshnev that it is the so-called relict (preserved from ancient times) hominid, that is, it belongs to the order of primates, which includes humans as a biological genus and species;
3. Academician A. B. Migdal in one of his articles cited the opinion of an oceanologist regarding the reality of the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot. Its essence was that there is no reason to believe in it, despite the fact that I would very much like to: the basis of the scientific approach lies in its proof;
4. According to paleontologist K. Eskov, this subject, in principle, can live in certain natural habitats. At the same time, according to the zoologist, the location of the creature in this case should be known and studied by professionals.

There is also a point of view that snow man is a representative of an alternative branch of the evolution of the human race.

What does Bigfoot look like?

Descriptions of the Yeti are not very diverse:

• The creature has a human-like face with dark skin, rather long arms, a short neck and hips, a heavy lower jaw, and a pointed head. The muscular and dense body is covered with thick hair, which is shorter in length than the hair on the head. Body length varies from the usual average human height to approximately 3 meters in height;
• Greater dexterity is noted when climbing trees;
• The length of the foot is reported to be up to 40 cm in length and 17-18 and even up to 35 cm in width;
• In the descriptions there is information that the yeti’s palm is also covered with hair, and they themselves look like monkeys;
• In one of the regions of Abkhazia in the second half of the 19th century, there lived a wild, hairy woman named Zana, who had children from men from the local population.

Stories about encounters with Bigfoot are accompanied by descriptions of huge, fur-covered creatures that instill fear and horror, which can even cause people to lose consciousness or get a mental disorder.

Who are cryptozoologists and what do they do?

The term is derived from the words “cryptos”, which is translated from Greek as hidden, secret, and “zoology” - the well-known science of the animal world, which includes humans:

• At the end of the 80s of the last century in our country, enthusiasts created a society of cryptozoologists, engaged in the search and study of Bigfoot as a special branch of humanoid creatures that have survived from ancient times and exist in parallel with “homo sapiens”;
• It is not part of academic science, although at one time it was “assigned” to the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union. One of the most active founders of the society was the doctor M.-J. Kofman, a participant in the expedition to the Pamirs to search for Bigfoot, organized through the Academy of Sciences in 1958, and a member of a special commission, which included famous scientists in the field of geology, botany, anthropology, physics;
• A huge role in developing the issue of relict hominids was played by Professor B.F. Porshnev, who considered this problem not only from the point of view of paleontology, but also included a worldview approach based on the social role of modern man, in contrast to his purely biological functions.

This society still exists today, and its members publish their works.

What is the correct name for hominids?

The name “Bigfoot” appeared in the 20s of the last century, and according to one version, it is due to inaccuracy of translation:

• It does not at all indicate that the creature constantly lives in the snows of the highlands, although it can appear there during its movements and transitions. At the same time, it finds food below this zone, in forests and meadows;
• Boris Fedorovich Porshnev believed that these creatures, classified as hominids, not only cannot be associated with snow, but, by and large, there is no reason to call him a man in the sense as we understand it. Residents of the areas in which the research was conducted do not use this name. The scientist generally considered this term random and not corresponding to the essence of the subject of study;
• Professor-geographer E.M. Murzaev mentioned in one of his works that the name “Bigfoot” was a literal translation of the word “bear” from some languages ​​of the peoples of Central Asia. Many people understood it in the literal sense, which introduced a certain confusion of concepts. This is quoted by L. N. Gumilyov in his work on Tibet.

It has many local “names” in different regions of the country and the world.

Bigfoot theme in art

He is present in various traditions and legends, and is the “hero” of feature films and animated films:

• The half-fantastic “Wandering Chukchi” played the role of Bigfoot in the folklore of the northern peoples of Siberia. The indigenous and Russian population believed in its existence;
• About wild people called chuchunami And mulens, says Yakut and Evenk folklore. These characters wore animal skins, had long hair, were tall, and had slurred speech. They were very strong, ran fast, and carried bows and arrows. They could steal food or deer, or attack a person.
• Russian scientist and writer Peter Dravert in the 30s, based on local stories, published an article about these, as he called, primitive people. At the same time, his reviewer Ksenofontov believed that this information relates to the ancient beliefs of the Yakuts, who believed in spirits;
• Several films have been made on the theme of Bigfoot, ranging from horror to comedy. These include Eldar Ryazanov’s film “The Man from Nowhere,” a number of American films, and the German cartoon “Trouble in the Himalayas.”

In the state of Bhutan, a tourist route called the “Bigfoot Trail” has been laid through the mountains.

Just like in Marshak’s poems about an unknown hero whom everyone is looking for but cannot find. They even know his name - Bigfoot. Who he is - it’s just not possible to determine for sure, and whether he exists in principle.

6 rare videos about Yeti

In this video, Andrei Voloshin will show rare footage proving the existence of Bigfoot:

Description

Testimonies about encounters with “Bigfoot” most often feature creatures that differ from modern humans in having a denser physique, pointed skull shape, longer arms, short neck length and massive lower jaw, relatively short hips, with thick hair all over. body - black, red, white or gray. Faces are dark in color. The hair on the head is longer than on the body. The mustache and beard are very sparse and short. They climb trees well. It has been suggested that mountain populations of Bigfoot people live in caves, while forest populations build nests on tree branches. Carl Linnaeus designated it as Homo troglodytes(cave man). Very fast. He can overtake a horse, and on two legs, and in the water - a motor boat. Omnivore, but prefers plant foods, loves apples. Eyewitnesses described encounters with specimens of varying heights, from average human height to 3 m or more.

Ideas about Bigfoot and its various local analogues are very interesting from the point of view of ethnography. The image of a huge scary man can reflect the innate fears of darkness, the unknown, and relationships with mystical forces among different peoples. It is quite possible that in some cases snow people people with unnatural hair or feral people were accepted.

origin of name

He was named Bigfoot thanks to a group of climbers who conquered Everest. They discovered the loss of food supplies, then heard a heartbreaking scream, and a chain of footprints similar to human ones appeared on one of the snow-covered slopes. The residents explained that it was the Yeti, the abominable snowman, and categorically refused to set up camp in this place. Since then, Europeans have called this creature Bigfoot.

Existence

Most modern scientists are skeptical about the possibility of the existence of Bigfoot.

...about Bigfoot he said: “I really want to believe, but there is no reason.” The words “no basis” mean that the issue has been studied and, as a result of the study, it has been discovered that there is no reason to trust the original statements. This: is the formula of the scientific approach: “I want to believe,” but since “there is no reason,” then we must abandon this belief.
Academician A. B. Migdal From guess to truth.

The attitude of a professional biologist to the question of the possibility of the existence of “Bigfoot” was illustrated by paleontologist Kirill Eskov in a popular article:

At least, I do not know any laws of nature that would directly prohibit the existence in the mountains of Central Asia of a relict hominoid - an “ape-man,” or simply a large ape. It must be assumed that, contrary to its name, it is not connected in any way with the eternal snows (except for the fact that it sometimes leaves traces there), but should live in the belt of mountain forests, where there is ample food and shelter. It is clear that any reports about North American “bigfoot” can be thrown out with a clear conscience without reading (for there are no primate species on that continent and never have been, and in order to get there from Asia through circumpolar Beringia, as people did, you must at least have fire), but in the Himalayas or the Pamirs - why not? There are even quite plausible candidates for this role, for example, Meganthropus - a very large (about two meters tall) fossil ape from South Asia, which had a number of “human” features that bring it closer to the African Australopithecus, the direct ancestors of hominids […]
So, do I admit (as a professional zoologist) the fundamental possibility of the existence of a relict hominoid? - answer: “Yes.” Do I believe in his existence? - answer: “No.” And since we are talking here not about “I know/I don’t know”, but about “I believe/I don’t believe”, I will allow myself to express a completely subjective judgment on this matter, based on personal experience: […] where a professional’s foot once set foot, no One animal larger than a rat has no chance of remaining “unknown to science.” Well, since by the end of the twentieth century there were almost no places left where a professional would not have set foot at all (at least on land) - draw your own conclusions...

- “Cryptukha, sir!”, article. Kirill Eskov, Computerra, 03.13.07, No. 10 (678): pp. 36-39.

Currently, there is not a single representative of the species living in captivity, nor a single skeleton or skin. However, there are allegedly hairs, footprints and several dozen photographs, video recordings (poor quality) and audio recordings. The reliability of this evidence is questionable. For a long time, one of the most compelling pieces of evidence was a short film made by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin in 1967 in Northern California. The film allegedly showed a female Bigfoot. However, in 2002, after the death of Ray Wallace, for whom this filming was made, evidence appeared from his relatives and acquaintances, who said (however, without presenting any physical evidence) that the whole story with the “American Yeti” was from beginning to end. the end is rigged; The forty-centimeter “footprints of the Yeti” were made with artificial forms, and the filming was a staged episode with a man in a specially tailored monkey suit.

However, it should be noted that Patterson’s film aroused genuine interest among researchers from the National Geographic Channel. In the section “Reality or Fiction” (broadcast in December 2010), an attempt was made to study and examine Patterson’s film from the point of view of the possibility of its falsification. Experienced make-up artists, a tall actor imitating a gait, special effects specialists and scientists were brought in as experts. The appearance of the creature in the film was assessed, its fur adjacent to the muscles, the proportions of the limbs, the dynamics of movement, the shooting distance was taken into account, etc. As a result, according to the unanimous opinion of the experts involved, even at the current level of development of the media industry and video effects, not to mention already about the level of 1967, it is almost impossible to achieve such a degree of realism in the plot of Bigfoot.

On the other hand, from enthusiasts of this topic one can hear accusations against “official science” that its representatives simply brush aside the available evidence. Here is a typical text of this kind:

In fact, those who say “there is no reason” simply do not even want to get acquainted with what has been “dug up” by enthusiastic researchers. “We hear countless examples of this in history.” I will give only two. When the Canadian Rene Dahinden at the end of 1971 brought us a copy of the film shot by Patterson in 1967, I personally once approached the then director of the Institute of Anthropology of Moscow State University V.P. Yakimov and offered to show the film to him and the staff of the institute, he literally put his hands forward, like would recoil from the proposal and say; "No! No need!" But this did not stop him from declaring that there was no reason...
And when at the international symposium, which he (Yakimov) chaired, Professor Astanin went to the podium to present to those present the materials of an anatomical study of the hand of the Yeti from the Pangboche monastery (Tibet), Yakimov did not allow him to speak and drove him from the podium in violation of the democratic traditions of such forums - to the protests of the participants... As a result, some of them left the symposium meeting.
And a recent example: when I came from the USA after a five-week “investigation” of the events at the Carter farm in the fall of 2004, where, according to the owner, a clan of Bigfoot lived, and I offered to speak and talk about the results in the anthropology department of the Institute of Ethnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, its head. S. Vasiliev declined under the pretext of being busy with other issues.
At the same time, when there was a noise in the press about the existence of a “bigfoot” in the Shoria mountains (south of the Kemerovo region), the same Vasiliev stated without hesitation: “Alas, we do not have data on the existence of humanoids anywhere in the world"…
Igor Burtsev, Ph.D. ist. Sciences, Director of the International Center for Hominology, Moscow.

The Soviet scientist B.F. Porshnev paid much attention to the topic of Bigfoot.

Commission of the Academy of Sciences to study the issue of “Bigfoot”

Commission members J.-M. I. Kofman and Professor B.F. Porshnev and other enthusiasts continued to actively search for Bigfoot or his traces.

Society of Cryptozoologists

Mentions in history and literature

Abstract drawing of Bigfoot.

There are numerous known depictions of creatures similar to Bigfoot (on art objects from Ancient Greece, Rome, Ancient Armenia, Carthage and Etruscans and medieval Europe) and mentions, including in the Bible (in Russian translation shaggy), Ramayana ( rakshasas), in Nizami Ganjavi’s poem “Iskander-name”, folklore of different peoples ( faun, satyr And strong in Ancient Greece, yeti in Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan, ghoul-baths in Azerbaijan, chuchunny, chuchunaa in Yakutia, almas in Mongolia, ezhen (野人 ), maoren(毛人) and renxiong(人熊) in China, kiik-adam And albasty In Kazakhstan , goblin, shish And shishiga from the Russians, diva in Persia (and Ancient Rus'), Chugayster in Ukraine , dev And albasty in the Pamirs, shurale And yarymtyk among the Kazan Tatars and Bashkirs, Arsuri among the Chuvash, picenus among the Siberian Tatars, abnauayu in Abkhazia , sasquatch In Canada , teryk, girkychavylin, worldygdy, Kiltanya, market, arysa, Rackem, Julia in Chukotka, trampoline, sedapa And orang pendek in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Agogwe, kakundakari And ki-lomba in Africa, etc.). In folklore they appear in the form of satyrs, demons, devils, goblin, merman, mermaids, etc.

Opponents of the version of the existence of Bigfoot, which includes most professional biologists and anthropologists, point to the lack of unambiguous evidence (living individuals or their remains, high-quality photographs and videos) and the possibility of arbitrary interpretation of the available evidence. There are frequent references to a well-known biological fact: the long-term existence of a population requires a minimum size of the order of hundreds of individuals, the vital activity of which, according to critics, simply cannot be invisible and not leave numerous traces. The explanations put forward for the evidence generally boil down to the following set of versions:

Links

see also

Notes

1. K. Eskov. “Cryptuh, sir!”
2. Patterson's film
3. B. F. Porshnev Current state of the issue about relict hominoids Viniti, Moscow, 1963
4. Soviet "Bigfoot" Itogi magazine
5. Zhanna-Marie Kofman
6. see, for example, “Popular Biological Dictionary”, 1991, Ed. USSR Academy of Sciences, edited by corresponding member A. V. Yablokov
7. V. B. Sapunov, Doctor of Biology. Sciences Bigfoot in two dimensions, or an alternative to the noosphere
8. J. Kofman At the origins of new science (To the 40th anniversary of the publication of the monograph by Professor B.F. Porshnev “The current state of the question of relict hominoids” VINITI 412 since 1963) magazine “Median” No. 6 2004
9. KAZAKHSTAN CHRONICLE “P” Year 1988
10. Trakhtengerts M. S. Habitat of primates of the Alamas species, journal “Natural and Technical Sciences” ISSN 1684-2626, 2003, No. 2, pp. 71-76
11. Dmitri Bayanov, Igor Bourtsev In The Footsteps of the Russian Snowman 240 pages “Pyramid Publications” 1996 ISBN 5-900229-18-1 ISBN 978-5-900229-18-8 (English)
12. B. A. Shurinov 20th century paradox“International Relations” 315pp. 1990 ISBN 5-7133-0408-6
13. A Russian biologist considers Sasquatch and other yetis to be feral oligophrenics.
14. Beiko V.B., Berezina M.F., Bogatyreva E.L. et al. Great encyclopedia of the animal world: Pop. edition for children. - M.: ZAO ROSMEN-PRESS, 2007. - 303 p. UDC 087.5, BBK 28.6, p. 285.

Yeti mysterious creatures

Bigfoot and his relatives

It looked either like a woman or like a monkey. He had a wide, wrinkled face that grimaced and laughed. Something indescribable - two bags of some kind, obviously breasts, dangling in front; long, tangled hair, reddened by the sun, framed her face and fluttered behind her back. Turgenev felt wild fear, a chilling fear of the supernatural.

Guy de Maupassant, "Fear"

Fictional creatures inhabit the folklore of all world cultures- be it steppe nomads, reindeer herders or South American cannibals. People living on different continents independently came up with dragons, werewolves, ghosts, water monsters, dwarfs and giants. But only a few fairy-tale creatures were able to become part of modern folklore. If you say that you met a fire-breathing dragon in the forest, you will receive an exemption from physical education and free pills for schizophrenia. But if you claim that you got into a fight in a garbage dump with a giant hairy hominid - get a real chance to be on the front pages of the morning newspapers.

In March 2006 (“MF” No. 26) we told you about “cryptids” - animals whose existence is rejected by modern science (at least until one of them is caught - such as the dwarf giraffe okapi or lobe-finned fish coelacanth). Today we will talk about the “kings” of cryptozoology - archaic giants, now known as “snow people”.

Wild and unsympathetic

The ancient peoples, without saying a word, believed that giants lived on Earth long before them. The latter were unbridled and ferocious, which is why the gods either completely destroyed them (Judaism) or drove them out of the world (ancient Greek myths). The giants left behind only huge ruins, called “cyclopean” in honor of the Cyclopes who built the walls of Mycenae.

It is not surprising that meetings between people and prehistoric giants were extremely rare. Most of the giants of late European folklore had purely human features and were not considered representatives of any ancient race. Medieval "snow people" in their current understanding can be called goblin, but they were a type of spirit. The Scandinavians had jotuns and trolls, the southern Slavs had drekavaks, but the images of these forest inhabitants are too blurry to talk about systematic contacts between ordinary people and the “snowies”.

Bigfoot, like UFOs, is a phenomenon exclusively of the 20th century. You can talk as much as you like about the growth of anthropogenic zones and the absence in the 18-19 centuries of powerful media capable of inflating any trifle into a sensation, but the fact remains: just recently there was no Bigfoot as a mass phenomenon, but now there is. Why did creatures that evolved together with people over millions of years remain so little known that in a general cultural sense they can only claim to be a race of giants, and an extinct one at that?

Judging by the most ancient literary sources, contacts with Bigfoot people were extremely rare. The first description of such a case can be considered the Sumerian “Epic of Gilgamesh,” which tells about events 57 centuries ago. According to the first table of the epic, the goddess Aruru created Enkidu, a hairy hero living in complete savagery. King Gilgamesh came up with an original way to catch him: they brought the harlot Shamhat to the river bank where Enkidu was grazing. The poor woman was undressed, and the giant “knew her for seven days.” After such a marathon, the savage became weak, and his relatives - animals - began to avoid him. Thus, Enkidu was forced to become part of human society.

Scattered evidence of meetings with certain “wild people” can be found in almost every major historian. For example, Plutarch talked about how Sulla’s soldiers once caught a satyr (it should be noted that initially satyrs were not associated exclusively with horns and hooves - they were attributed with various animal traits that symbolized savagery). The Roman dictator gathered all the available translators and interrogated the prisoner, but he emitted only vile bleating and neighing, “which is why Sulla experienced great disgust and ordered him to be immediately removed from sight as an ugly phenomenon” (Plutarch, “Comparative Biography”, Sulla, 27) .

Medieval researchers mentioned wild people a lot and often, but most often they described ordinary monkeys or uncivilized natives. There were no longer blank spots left on the map of the Old World, so encounters with such creatures were spoken of only in the past tense. Once upon a time there were lions in Europe. Now even wild bulls and tarpans are no longer preserved here, and Bigfoot people have become a curiosity. For example, Heinrich von Gesler in the 14th century wrote about a wild Alpine woman whose “breasts are so long that she throws them over her shoulders.”

Enthusiasts often recall that Carl Linnaeus included Bigfoot in his famous classification of living things (System of Nature). Indeed, the Swedish naturalist wrote about “wild man” (about certain hairy “sons of darkness” living in caves and stealing food from people at night), as well as about “troglodyte man” (probably a Neanderthal). However, we should not forget that in the first edition of the System of Nature, Linnaeus called whales fish...

Origin of species

It makes no sense to retell modern stories about meeting Bigfoot - most of them look like hunters' tales. They are either the same type or incredible, and in any case cannot be verified. Only general information about the known “varieties” of Bigfoot is of some interest.

Lives in the mountains of Altai, Caucasus and Pamir almas(“almast”, from Mongolian - “wild man”). He is described as a humanoid with red fur, human-like facial features, powerful brow ridges, a flat nose and chin (which completely matches the reconstructed appearance of the Neanderthal).

Legends about Almas cannot boast of antiquity - they are only a few hundred years old. One might get the impression that there are almost more Almas in the mountains than there are people. In 1871, Nikolai Przhevalsky saw them, and in 1941, Red Army soldiers allegedly caught some hairy citizen in the Caucasus, interrogated him (to no avail) and shot him as a German spy.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan these creatures are known as to the bartender, however, the most popular in the West is another, Tibetan name - yeti(“man-bear” or “stone bear”). The number of encounters with him increased in proportion to the increase in the number of Europeans exploring the Himalayas. In 1832, the British noticed a certain red creature in the mountains - probably an orangutan, in 1889 - something like a bear.

Yeti also live here. Yeti, representing the highland subspecies of the troll family, have not heard that cannibalism is hopelessly out of fashion. Their opinion on this issue is: eat what moves. If it doesn't move, wait until it does. And then eat.

Terry Pratchett, "Moving Pictures"

The monasteries of Khumjung and Pangboche for a long time kept the scalps of yetis, which were attributed with magical powers. Their research was carried out in the middle of the last century. The results are disappointing: these are just skins from the neck of a Himalayan mountain goat. The Pangboche monks also owned another relic - a mummified clawed paw of a yeti, but in 1991 it was stolen (probably ending up in someone's private collection).

In Scotland, on Mount Ben Macdui lives Am Fir Liat Mor("Big Gray Man") No one really saw him, but many climbers heard strange footsteps on the slopes. Their stories are not much different from each other - they were walking along the mountain in the fog (usually in the evening), when suddenly measured steps began to be heard somewhere behind them. The pursuer rarely stepped, but did not lag behind - that is, he was several times larger than a man. People began to panic, took to flight and only glimpsed some huge gray silhouette in the fog.

This phenomenon was so widespread that it was simply necessary to find an explanation. Theories have been put forward about energy fractures and “frightening” infrasound, but it is most likely that Ben McDuy’s specific conditions (frequent fogs) create the phantom effect, well known to climbers. If a low-standing sun shines on a person’s back, and fog floats in front of him, then an eerie reflection of a figure appears in it, surrounded by a bright halo of light.

Philippine forest creature named Capri slightly reminiscent of Bigfoot in its habits (lives in trees, makes noise, shows interest in women), but at the same time has a purely human appearance, wears traditional Bahag clothes and smokes a pipe (they say that crickets in the forests are coals that have fallen from it).

Even overpopulated Japan has its own Bigfoot. He is called Hibagon(or Hinagon) as he lives on the forested Mount Hiba in Hiroshima Prefecture. The meeting with him took place 35 years ago. According to eyewitnesses, Hibagon was short, hairy, with a flat nose and sparkling eyes. All signs point to it not being Bigfoot, but rather something like a gorilla.

Among all the varieties of this creature, the fate of the American “bigfoot” is the most interesting. bigfoot or Sasquatch(the term was coined in 1920 by schoolteacher Burns, who noticed that many Indian tribes used words with the same root "sas" to refer to wild people).

Until the mid-20th century, Bigfoots were not found in the United States, and stories about Sasquatch were only popular on Indian reservations. In August 1958, Ray Wallace's construction company was laying a road in a deserted area of ​​California. Bulldozer operator Jerry Crew discovered footprints of "big feet." The feet were 40 centimeters long, the step length was over a meter. The local newspaper dubbed the find “Bigfoot,” and Wallace began to actively promote “Bigfoot” among lovers of the unknown.

But the real “birthday” of the American Bigfoot can be considered October 20, 1967, when horse rodeo participants Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin managed to capture him on film. They went to Six Rivers National Park with a borrowed 16mm camera, intending to make a Blair Witch-style documentary about Bigfoot. The men agreed that, if possible, they would try to shoot the “bigfoot” - his body could be sold profitably, and besides, it would be irrefutable evidence.

However, when they saw him, they completely forgot about the weapon. Bigfoot began to quickly move away from the researchers. Patterson dismounted from his horse and set off after him with a working camera, Gimlin with a gun covered him from behind. As a result, the first half of the film was defective - the image shook and jumped in all directions, but when Patterson approached the bigfoot several tens of meters and stood still, the quality of the shooting improved noticeably. The creature looked back at its pursuers several times and disappeared into the forest.

The USA finally has its own national monster. Over the decades, the word “Bigfoot” has become a popular brand. Similar encounters were reported from all over the country. People have found traces, fur, and excrement of the “big leg.” Numerous “bigfoot” clubs have emerged, and a new industry has emerged in tourism. Scientists who examined the Patterson-Gimlin film were divided into two roughly equal camps: some said that it was clearly staged (an actor in a wool suit was running in front of the lens), others noted the creature’s unusual gait and stated that it could not be human.

On November 26, 2002, Ray Wallace, the discoverer and popularizer of Bigfoot, died. His family soon admitted that Ray and his brother had faked footprints around the bulldozer by wearing large wooden feet on their feet. Why they needed this is not known exactly. They probably wanted to have a little fun, but the Bigfoot they invented soon turned into a national American hero, began to generate considerable income and gained worldwide fame. Such a trifle as the falsification of the first discovered traces does not bother enthusiasts at all.

Missing link

There are many theories about the origin of Bigfoot, but if you put aside all the unhealthy fantasies (an alien from outer space, from another dimension, the energy projection of ordinary people, the souls of our ancestors, secret government experiments, super-developed primates hiding from people using telepathy), the remaining versions can be can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

The first, the most famous, is based on the mythical roots of wild giants who supposedly lived on the planet long before man. Considering the specific geography of encounters with Bigfoot, most of which occur in Asia, North America and Eastern Europe, we can assume that we are dealing with Gigantopithecus(Gigantopithecus blacki).

The remains of this extinct ape were found in Asia (China). Unfortunately, there are too few of them to recreate the appearance of the animal. Scientists have at their disposal only a few lower jaws and about 1000 teeth, the largest of which are 6 times larger than those of humans. It is assumed that the growth of Gigantopithecus, standing on its hind legs, reached 3 meters. These giants most likely resembled gorillas or orangutans.

Against the “snow humanization” of Gigantopithecus is the fact that they became extinct almost 100,000 years ago and could hardly have spread across several continents - especially given their supposed diet (most of the bones were found in the habitat of the ancestors of modern pandas, who ate bamboo).

Other candidates for Bigfoot - Neanderthals- also do not inspire optimism. Even if they lived to see the 21st century, they would be too intelligent to lead a wild lifestyle (Neanderthals knew how to build shelters, used fire and used a variety of tools - from stone cutters to wooden spears). They were squat and stocky (height - up to 165 cm), which also does not correspond to the expected appearance of Bigfoot people.

Finally, it is absolutely certain that Neanderthals went extinct about 24,000 years ago. Their last habitats are Croatia, Iberia (Spain) and Crimea. How could they survive as single individuals all over the world - a question from the series “Who did the Loch Ness monster mate with in a small lake in order to survive to this day?” Today, when the entire planet has already been photographed by satellites and put on public display on Google Earth, when Amazonian Indians dress in Chinese Adidas, and Tibetans take tourists around the mountains in Japanese jeeps, there is simply nowhere for the relict hominid to hide.

There are opinions that Bigfoot people appear “pointwise” in different places on the planet only because they are something like Mowgli or Tarzan. History knows about 100 cases of detection feral children. They are found to this day, often in tragicomic situations - for example, two years ago in Fiji a young man, Sunjit Kumar, was discovered who grew up among chickens and imitated their behavior.

In ancient times, lost or abandoned children, as well as persons with certain mental disabilities, could easily go wild, spend their entire (certainly short) lives in nature and only occasionally come across the eyes of superstitious ordinary people. Thousands of years ago they would have been called trolls and satyrs, and in the 20th century they would have been called Bigfoot. This is exactly the case that Turgenev described while visiting Gustave Flaubert (epigraph of the article) - and in the end it turned out that she was a madwoman, fed by shepherds and living in the forest for more than 30 years.

The most reasonable explanation for the Bigfoot phenomenon is the saying “Fear has big eyes.” Many secrets of the universe are hidden in erroneous perception. When tested, giant sea snakes turned out to be tangled seaweed, flying saucers turned out to be weather balloons, and Bigfoot turned out to be gorillas or bears.

The bear is such an original animal that everyone recognizes it at first sight. He does not eat his own kind, does not wander around the village at night in the hope of grabbing and dragging away a child. From time to time he climbs the tree to the very top, and from there inspects the surroundings. He especially doesn't like to be teased or disturbed.

Alfred Bram, "Animal Life"

Bram was wrong, says Japanese climber Makoto Nebuga. Not everyone recognizes a bear, especially if the person is scared and the clubfoot stands on its hind legs. Nebuga spent 12 years searching for the legendary yeti in the mountains of Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan and came to the conclusion that he had long been kept in many zoos around the world. The legend about him arose due to the fact that the Himalayan bear - "methi" - was confused with the "yeti" (not surprising, because the locals consider the bear to be a supernatural creature). Reality is rarely as mysterious as our ideas about it.

* * *

After weighing all the pros and cons, we can say with 99% probability that Bigfoot people are fiction. However, as primatologist John Napier correctly noted, there is a certain limit to the number of evidence of an encounter with Bigfoot, after which they can no longer be explained by errors and hoaxes alone. One or two stories about the “hairy monkey with glowing eyes” can be ignored. One hundred thousand stories about this are a reason to think. We can only wait and analyze. Time will judge.