COVER STORY

first glance, I thought it was elephant. But creature sleeps on a tree-top, rocky crev-
it was not. After 3 days, I informed the vil-
lagers and they also came to see it. It also
ices and caves. Big broken branches and
the scratch marks on trees have often cre-
Are We Closing in on
broke huge tree branches. Later it disap-
peared in the jungle. I saw it from the bed
ated ripples within the Garo society even
though the forest officials say these are not
Bigfoot?
room. Since I saw it from a far away place credible evidences as they may be caused
I was not afraid. As it left the place I went by other animals.
to the spot to see the nest.” Locals, however, argue that ‘small’ In early April, 2001, British scientists made a startling announce-
VK Nautiyal, Chief Conservator of monkeys cannot break the big branches. ment. After examining the DNA in a strand of hair thought to
Forests, said: “There may be some unex- “The destruction of banana groves can-
plored zoological species like some type not be done by elephants as the slopes are come from a Yeti - the Asian cousin to America’s Bigfoot - sci-
of spiders…but definitely not a humanoid. too steep for herd of elephants to stand or Footprints found in 1997 entists were unable to identify it as coming from any known ani-
There is no scientific basis or credible evi- walk.” The Yeti or Abominable Snowman or mal.
dence as of now about such a humanoid. I Interestingly, this creature resembles Meh-Teh are commonly used by the peo- This astonishing discovery is the most recent peak of what
have heard about the creature since the last Yeti that is largely reported to have ap- ple indigenous to the region to refer to this
three decades, but how can it be that it has peared in the sub-Himalayan terrains – creature that forms part of their history and has become a growing mountain of evidence that we share this
remained hidden?” from Himachal Pradesh to Nepal, Bhutan mythology. Nepalese have various names planet with an as-yet undiscovered species - or perhaps several
Local people further said that the and Arunachal Pradesh in India. for Yeti like “Bonmanche” (jungle man) species - of bipedal primates. And whether they are a kind of ape
or “Kanchanjunga rachyyas” (demon of
or are more closely related to humans - or something in-between
Kanchendzonga).
Most mainstream scientists, explorers - is unknown. But this new scientific evidence combined with
and writers consider current evidence of new detailed photos and an increasing number of compelling
the Yeti’s existence to be weak and better sightings holds the promise that we may be very close to solving
explained as hoax, legend or misidentifi-
sightings in Silkigre village, near Chokpot
cation of known species. Even today, the
the mystery.
is of immense importance. It is said that
some village womenfolk who went to the Yeti remains one of the most famous crea-
jungle to gather firewood have claimed to
have seen a hairy giant near the stream.
tures of cryptozoology. As such, the Yeti
can be considered a Himalayan version of The DNA Evidence
This news had spread like wildfire in the Sasquatch.
the jungle. This time because the villagers (With inputs from Saidul Khan) The great Himalayan mountain range lies on the border between
refused to go to their field for cultivation India, Nepal and Tibet, which is now part of China. The exis-
due to fear psychosis, which gripped the
entire village. The forest officials from tence of the Yeti has been known to the people of this region for
Baghmara visited the spot and investigat- centuries. The first reliable report of a sighting from a Westerner
ed the claim. The report is yet to be made
available. came in 1925 when N.A. Tombazi, a Greek photographer work-
Dipu Marak, the General Secretary, ing as part of a British geological expedition, saw the creature
ATS said, “We will continue our search. from a distance of about 1,000 feet. Although he did not get a
The incidents, the footprints, the im-
prints…all say there is something. We are photo of the Yeti, he and other members of the expedition did
on job since the last ten years, and we will find footprints. Over the years, many other stories of the Yeti
go on till the mystery is resolved.”
Nebison Sangma, an eyewitness said, surfaced, and in the West it became known popularly as “The
“I have observed the creatures for three Abominable Snowman.”
days from the hill top continuously. The
huge black creature was eating banana. At Footprint

man”. He adds that his Sherpa guides “at once volunteered guage. Documentation suggests that the term “metch-kangmi” 19th century Western interest in the Yeti peaked dramatically in the
that the tracks must be that of the Wild Man of the Snows, to is derived from one source (from the year 1921). It has been In 1832, the Journal of the Asiatic society of Bengal published 1950s. While attempting to scale Mount Everest in 1951,
which they gave the name “metoh-kangmi” (Metoh translates suggested that “metch” is simply a misspelling of “metoh”. trekker B. H. Hodgson’s account of the Yeti in northern Ne- Eric Shipton took photographs of a number of large prints in
as man-bear and Kang-mi translates as snowman). Like the legend itself, the origin of the term “Abominable pal. His native guides spotted a tall, bipedal creature covered the snow, at about 6,000 m (19,685 ft) above sea level.
A bit of confusion exists between Howard-Bury’s recita- Snowman” is rather colorful. with long dark hair, which seemed to flee in fear. Hodgson did These photos have been subject to intense scrutiny and
tion of the term “metoh-kangmi” and the term used in H.W. It began when Mr Henry Newman, a longtime contribu- not see the creature, but concluded it was an orangutan. debate. Some argue they are the best evidence of Yeti’s exis-
Tilman’s book Mount Everest, 1938 where Tilman had used tor to The Statesman in Calcutta (using the pen name Kim) tence, while others contend the prints to be from a mundane
the words “metch” (which may not exist in the Tibetan lan- interviewed the porters of the “Everest Reconnaissance expe- Early 20th century creature, and have been distorted by the melting snow.
guage) and “kangmi” when relating the coining of the term dition” upon their return to Darjeeling. Newman mistranslated The frequency of reports increased during the early 20th cen- In 1960, Sir Edmund Hillary mounted an expedition to
“Abominable Snowman”. Further evidence of “metch” being the word “metoh” as “filthy” or “dirty”, substituting the term tury, when Westerners began making determined attempts to collect and analyse physical evidence of the Yeti.
a misnomer is provided by Tibetan language authority Profes- “abominable”, perhaps out of artistic license. As author H.W. scale the many mountains in the area and occasionally report- He sent a Yeti “scalp” from the Khumjung monastery to
sor David Snellgrove from the School of Oriental Studies in Tilman’s recounts, “[Newman] wrote long after in a letter to ed seeing odd creatures or strange tracks. the West for testing, whose results indicated the scalp to be
London (ca. 1956), who dismissed
24 July 08 the word “metch” as im- The Times: The whole story seemed such a joyous creation I manufactured from the skin July
of the 25
08 serow, a goat-like Himala-

possible to conjoin the consonants “t-c-h” in the Tibetan lan- sent it to one or two newspapers”. Late 20th century yan antelope. But some disagreed with this analysis.