Anomalies Article: The Alma and Yeti

The Alma and Yeti:
Brief Reports in Chronological Order

B. H. Hodson's Yeti Description

The Legend:
In 1832, B.H. Hodson, the Court of Nepal's first British Resident, reported that his native hunters had been frightened by a 'wild man' that "moved erectly, was covered in long, dark hair, and had no tail."
This report appears to be the earliest known report of the Yeti by a foreigner.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.
Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, 1976 Reader's Digest Association.

Major Waddell's Yeti Prints

The Legend:
In 1889, Major L.A. Waddell was exploring the Himilayas when he discovered huge footprints in the snow at 17,000 feet. His bearers informed him they were the tracks of a Yeti, a creature quite likely to attack humans and carry them away as food. They further advised him that if he should ever need to escape from the creature, to run downhill; if it foolows, its long hair would get in its eyes and blind it.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.

The Patang Snowman

The Legend:
In 1913 a group of Chinese hunters wounded and captured a hairy man-like creature, that the Tibetans called a snowman. The creature was kept captive in Patang in Sinkiang Province until it died, about five months after its capture. It was described as having a black monkey-like face, and being covered with silvery yellow hair several inches long; its hands and feet were more man-like than ape-like, and were incredibly stong. It grunted and made gutteral noises, but mostly made loud whistling sounds with its lips.

Sources:
Stranger Than Science, Frank Edwards, 1959 Lyle Stuart, Inc.

Colonel Howard-Bury's Sighting

The Legend:
In 1921, while Colonel Howard-Bury was leading an expedition making a first attempt on the North face of Mount Everest, the party saw a number of large dark creatures moving along the snow of the Lhapta-la Pass. The Tibetan porters identified the creatures as Yeti.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.

Major Cameron's Everest Experience

The Legend:
In 1923, British Major Alan Cameron and his party, who were with the Everest Expedition of that year, were climbing towards the peak of the mountain when one of the guides pointed out a line of living creatures moving along a cliff face high above the snowline. Cameron's party reached a point near the cliff face two days later and found huge, human-like footprints in the snow.

Sources:
Stranger Than Science, Frank Edwards, 1959 Lyle Stuart, Inc.

Tombazi's Yeti Sighting

The Legend:
In 1925, N.A. Tombazi, a member of the Royal Geographical Society, almost got a picture of a naked, upright creature standing on the Zemu Glacier, but it had disappeared by the time he could sight the camera.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.

The Shipton Everest Expedition

The Legend:
In 1936, the first Shipton expedition to Mount Everest is said to have found strange footprints in the snow around the fringes of the snowline on the slopes approaching Everest. A member of the expedition, H.W. Tilman, followed the tracks for several miles, finally loseing them on a long stretch of rock. He noted that the trail was more like what a biped would make; it had no resemblance to tracks made by quadrupeds.

Corrections
My only source for this story is the factually questionable book by Frank Edwards, Stranger than Science. To tell the truth, H.W. Tilman only participated in the 1938 Shipton expedition to Everest, Shipton's fourth visit to the mountain (the 1936 expedition was his third).
The party for this expedition consisted of H.W. Tilman as leader, with Noel Odell, Charles Warren, Peter Lloyd, Peter Oliver, Frank Smythe, Karma Paul, Angtharkay, Kusang, Pasang Bhotia, Tensing Norgay, and others. It took place in April/June of 1938, and Eric Shipton makes no note of any unusual happenings in his The Six Mountain-Travels Book, though, to be fair, Shipton is writing second-hand as he did not participate in this expedition.
I'll keep digging.

Sources:
Six Mountain-Travels Book, The, Eric Shipton, 1985 Diadem Books Ltd. [London] & The Mountaineers [Seattle]. Stranger Than Science, Frank Edwards, 1959 Lyle Stuart, Inc.

Frank Smythe's Himalayan Experiences

The Legend:
In 1937, British explorer Frank Smythe came out of Tibet with several reports of strange hairy wildmen, said to be the legendary "yeti" that the native Sherpas and Tibetins believe to live in the upper regions of the remote mountain range. Smythe claimed these creatures did live in the area believed, surviving on grubs, rodents, and the occasional larger animal.
He claimed to have found the footprints of the creatures at the 14,000 foot level, and that his Sherpa guides refused to continue once they had seen the tracks. The prints were said to be remarkably human-like, despite their size -- thirteen inches long by five inches wide -- and the stride was such that one foot imprinted its toes in the heel mark of the other.

Sources:
Stranger Than Science, Frank Edwards, 1959 Lyle Stuart, Inc.

Vargen Karapetyan's Captive Alma

The Legend:
In December 1941, Russian Lt Col Vargen Karapetyan's unit was fighting the Germans in the Caucasus near Buinakst, when a unit of partisans asked him to look at an unusual man they had captured. The prisoner was being kept in a barn, because, as the partisans explained, in a heated room he stank and dripped sweat. The 'man' was naked, hairy, and covered with lice; he obviously didn't understand speech and appeared to be dull, blinking often; he was obviously afraid. He made no attempt to defend himself when Karapetyan pulled hairs from his body. Karapetyan told the partisans to make up their own minds about what to do with the wild man, and left; he heard a few days later that the man escaped.
A report from the Ministry of the Interior in Daghestan later confirmed this story; apparently, the 'wild man' had been court-martialled and executed as a deserter.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.

Jan Frostis' Yeti Encounter

The Legend:
In 1948, Norwegian uranium prospector Jan Frostis claimed he was attacked by one of two Yetis he encountered near Zemu Gap, in Sikkim; his shoulder was badly mauled.

Sources:
Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, 1976 Reader's Digest Association.

Tenzing and Tensing's Yeti Sightings

The Legend:
In 1949, Sherpa Tenzing said he had seen a Yeti (the legendary hairy wildman of the Himilayas) playing in the snow near a monastery. Tenzing was later to share the fame with Sir Edmund Hillary of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest.

Variations
In his book The Six Mountain-Travel Books, Eric Shipton tells of finding the now-famous yeti prints he photographed; however, he also tells this little tale [Pg. 621]:

"Sen Tensing, who had no doubt whatever that the creatures (for there had been at least two) that had made the tracks were "Yetis" or wild men, told me that two years before, he and a number of other Sherpas had seen one of them at a distance of about 25 yards at Thyangboche. He described it as half man and half beast, standing about five feet six inches, with a tall pointed head, its body covered with reddish brown hair, but with a hairless face. When we reached Katmandu at the end of November, I had him cross-examined in Nepali (I conversed with him in Hindustani). He left no doubt as to his sincerity. Whatever it was that he had seen, he was convinced that it was neither a bear nor a monkey, with both of which animals he was, of course, very familiar."

The Shipton discovery occured in October 1952, so 'two years before' puts this account as happening sometime in 1950. That fact coupled with the similarity of names between Sen Tensing and Tenzing Norgay leads me to wonder if these aren't the same story. I'll continue to investigate.

Sources:
Six Mountain-Travel Books, The, Eric Shipton, 1985 Diadem Books Ltd. [London] & The Mountaineers [Seattle]. Strange & Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century, Jenny Randles, 1994 Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

The Nepalese Yeti Hand

The Legend:
In the 1950's, a patch of skin and a mummified finger and thumb were found in Nepal. Zoologists and anthropologists thought the fragments to be "almost human" and "similar in some respects to that of Neanderthal man." [Quotes from Strange Stories, Amazing Facts.]

Sources:
Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, 1976 Reader's Digest Association.

London Daily Mail Expedition

The Legend:
In 1954, an expedition was sponsored by the London Daily Mail with the intention of capturing, or at least photographing, a Yeti. The expedition lasted fifteen weeks, and found just footprints and droppings. When the droppings were analyzed, they proved to contain both animal and vegetable matter.

Variations:
The Encylopedia of Unsolved Mysteries says that the expedition found Yeti scalps, not footprints and droppings. In this version, they tracked down several Yeti scalps that were in monestary's being revered as holy objects. They were long, conical, and covered with hair with a crest in the middle of raised hair. One of the scalps was fake, obviously sewn together from fragments of animal skin; but others were just as obviously one complete piece of skin. Hair from the scalps was said to be analyzed with the result that experts declared that they came from no known animal.
The Encyclopedia goes on to tell how Sir Edmund Hillary, being held in high regard in Tibet, was able to borrow one of these scalps for examination. Bernard Huevelmans, the Dutch zoologist who put forward the theory in 1952 that Yeti were descendents of a prehistoric giant ape, was given the opportunity to do the examination of the scalp. The skin reminded Huvelmans of a goat called the southern serow, which exist all through Nepal; so he tracked down a specimen of the animal in the Royal Institute in Brussels, and compared its skin to the Yeti scalp... and concluded they were a match. It was probably not a deliberate fake; the goat's skin had been steamed and stretched into a hat for religious rituals, and over the years people simply forgot how it had been made and attributed it to the Yeti.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc. Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, 1976 Reader's Digest Association.

Abb� Bordet's Yeti Prints

The Legend:
In 1955, Frenchman Abb� Bordet followed three separate trails of footprints that belonged to an unknown creature.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.

Lester Davies' Yeti Prints

The Legend:
In 1955, Squadron Leader Lester Davies filmed huge footprints.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.

Thomas Slick's Yeti Evidence

The Legend:
In 1957, a Texas oilman named Thomas Slick cosponsored a Yeti hunt, and was told by scores of Nepalese villagers that at five people had been battered to death by Yeti over the preceding four years.

Sources:
Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, 1976 Reader's Digest Association.

The Dyrenfurth Yeti Evidence

The Legend:
In 1958, Dr. Norman Dyrenfurth, an American scientist in Katmandu, Nepal, announced he had evidence showing that the "yeti" of the Himalayas (a legendary race of wildmen) is a "very low grade of human or near human creatures." [Quote from Stranger than Science.]
Dr. Dyrenfurth claimed to have explored caves that the beasts' had inhabited and to have culled a variety of physical evidence from these environments, most notably hair samples (silver-gray and reddish-brown), plaster casts of footprints, and food scraps. He stated his findings indicated the possibility of two different species of yeti, one maturing at a height of eight feet tall, and the other at a mere four feet tall.

Sources:
Stranger Than Science, Frank Edwards, 1959 Lyle Stuart, Inc.

Alexander Pronin's Alma Sighting

The Legend:
In January 1958, Dr. Alexander Pronin reported that he had seen an Alma. While he was in the Pamirs he saw the creature outlined against a cliff-top; it was man-like, but covered with reddish-grey hair. Pronin watched the creature for more than five minutes; three days later, he saw it again at the same spot.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.

Don Whillans' Yeti Sighting

The Legend:
In June 1970, moutaineer Don Whillans heard a strange noise near Mt. Annapurna in Nepal; on the following night he found tracks and watched a strange humanoid creature for twenty minutes through his binoculars.

Sources:
Strange & Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century, Jenny Randles, 1994 Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

The Doctor's Alma Encounter

The Legend:
According to Myra Shackley; in 1972, an unnamed Russian doctor met a family of Almas.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.

Lord Hunt's Yeti Prints

The Legend:
In 1978, Lord Hunt photographed Yeti tracks.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc.

Reinhold Messner's Yeti Sighting

The Legend:
In 1986, mountain climber Reinhold Messner had a close-up sighting of a Yeti as it emerged from behind a tree.

Sources:
Strange & Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century, Jenny Randles, 1994 Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

Freeman-Attwood's Alma Prints

The Legend:
On June 12, 1992, at 4:00 a.m., Julian Freeman-Attwood and two other men camped in a totally isolated spot on a remote glacier in Mongolia. A couple of hours later the men discovered the snow outside their tent disturbed by a trail of heavy footprints that went past them. According to Jenny Randles in Strange & Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century, the prints showed a close resemblance to those photographed by Eric Shipton during an expedition in the Himilayas in 1951 (see "The Second Shipton Everest Expedition"), and that the depth of the impressions indicated a creature larger and heavier than a human. She further states that these prints were recorded on film.

Sources:
Strange & Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century, Jenny Randles, 1994 Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.