Written and translated by Dr. Michael Trachtengerts

The researchers devoted decades of searches and theoretical studies to the riddle and it still remains uncertain. The readers had natural question: why the scientific establishments, the Academy of Sciences, were not involved in this so interesting and important problem? Why it became personal business of the enthusiasts?

Such situation was not always. During a small period the Academy carried out an expedition for search of the snowman or yeti. Interest in the yeti began to grow in our country from middle of 1950’s when rare notes appeared in the press about the snowmen of the Himalayas. The word yeti from language of Sherpas became common.

After the publication of hydrologist A.G. Pronin in popular newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that he saw creature similar to yeti on Fedchenko Glacier in January 1958, Presidium of the Academy of Sciences created a commission on study yeti. It organized the first expedition to Pamir. The expedition was intended as complex, but it followed the aimed tasks in the minimal degree. Professor B.F. Porshnev, the conducting theorist of the problem and active participant of the expedition, brightly described later in his book how the various narrow experts used the expedition for their own purposes. Instead of hominoid searches — making up a botanical atlas of Pamir, collection updating.

So the expedition hadn't found any traces of the yeti. Presidium of Academy having heard the report on results of the expedition determined that the expedition had executed the aimed task. It claimed that the further searches of the wild man at Pamir were useless — it doesn't exist.

But B.F. Porshnev, the physician of the expedition J. M. Kofman and some other researchers didn't agree with the high level decision and continued to collect information about mysterious creatures. This work continues now by researchers united in "The Russian Society of Cryptozoologists" under presidency of V.Yu. Makarov. We now have about thousand stories and descriptions of the various events connected with hominoids which took place throughout former USSR and near to its borders.

It's possible with confidence to tell, that mysterious hairy hominids can be met not only in exotic distant Himalayas or Tibet, but practically everywhere in our country and on other continents as well. So short clause is inconvenient to describe in details nature and way of life of these beings. Here let us tell only that we consider them as descendants of ancient primates kept in some way to nowadays. Perhaps, they participated in the modern people origin too. These may be species that came to lateral and deadlock branches of human development. Therefore, researchers used for them the term "relic hominoids" or simply hominoids.

We have enough evidence to understand that large hominoids, yet not classified by science in lists of registered animals live side by side with us. And everyone who happens to spend some time in nature — a hunter, woodman, mush-roomer, collector of berries, has some chance to see such creature. Certainly, it's possible to spend in woods much time and never see it. And it happens so — somebody decided to go to forest behind his house and met it. I shall bring some stories.

It was the autumn of 1989 in the Kostroma region woods. In hunting forestry near to city Sudislavl a safari for hunting moose was organized. Important job in the hunt was to move animals staying in a forest to a line of sharpshooters. The usual order of hunting — some men (beaters) with sound making and dogs move beasts in desirable direction.

To describe further, during a hunt the previous week the beaters told riflemen after a run that they had met very large traces on moss. The traces exceed tracks of common bear. But they didn't see the animal as it chose a way to escape hunters.

That time at the beginning of October, the new run started as usual. And instead of moose a very large human figure appeared in front of a rifleman. No one of the beaters had such height. The creature stopped among small firs attentively examining a glade before the hidden rifleman on opposite part of it. Though he was likely found out the creature resolutely set forward and in some steps had crossed the glade.

Hominoid had stopped before the hunter in hide examining the passage ahead. Author's reprint of I.Levichev's picture.

That hunter was artist I. Levichev. He made authentic pictures of the creature to me as I visited Kostroma and the place of hunting a week later. Levichev told me: "The creature was close and visible very clearly. No idea to kill it arose in my mind at all."

When beaters and riflemen met after the run Levichev told others what he had seen. The hunters tried to follow on traces of the creature. They found out that after crossing the glade it made a semicircle and, having hidden, observed movements of the hunters. Then it set backward. That time two other hunters saw the creature again. Levichev's pictures show that appearance of the creature was very close to human.

It's interesting to tell that the next year in August a ranger of that forestry saw such creature again while picking berries alone in silence.

Sometimes hunters saw hominoids in different obstacles. Ranger A. Arsenev saw a creature in the spring of 1988 when he was stealing up to a large capercaillie grouse at early morning. It took place near Azat Lake in Northwest part of Vologda province. The creature had passed in 20 meters while the hunter was jumping to a singing cock. It was already light enough to be sure what he saw. It was wonderful that the capercaillie hadn't flown away from such pass as if the creature would be a common animal.

The most interesting case of last decade took place in our northern taiga. The small military village Sosnino near Kargopol city in the south part of Arkhangelsk province was usual — a fenced rectangular site with barracks among forests. In night January 25, 1992, a soldier on duty in a barrack heard rustles of steps. He suddenly saw that in direction to him a high hairy figure with human proportions was moving. A small alike baby was with it. The baby was less than one meter high. As they came nearer to the soldier he overcame freezing with fear and rushed into a sleeping room to an attendant. The attendant didn't believe him first, but having looked out in a corridor also saw the huge stranger. He rushed in a sleeping room again and shouted: "Alarm — rise!"

At this moment the huge stranger opened the door and bent in the door opening. It and its child came in and stood near stove heater. Soldiers were almost sleeping and looked with fear and surprise at uninvited visitors. The large hominoid put its child to sit at a night-table. Apparently hominoid felt the soldiers were in fear and tried to calm them. It moved slightly up and down on its bending legs with waving hands extended toward the soldiers. It showed no hostile actions or menacing intonations. The creature made easy moo-like sounds and the kid cried for fear. One of the soldiers run half-awake and hit the creature by head in body. The man fainted from awful odor as he told when recovered. Nothing else happened. After a while the creature with the kid left the barrack.

The soldiers had marked with chalk line height of the creature (about 240 cm), V. Makarov (170 cm high) shows it. (Photo by author)	Hominoid had jumped from this roof slope over fence of the military camp with the child in hands just above the place where the researchers stood. (Photo by author)

In the morning the territory near the barrack was surveyed. The large traces were found on a roof of the barrack directed from open garret window to the place under which an entrance door was. There the creature jumped from roof to the ground and came into the barrack. After leaving it the creature crossed a parade ground in direction to the fence.

It didn't try to cross over barbed wire from the ground. Instead of it the creature jumped on the roof of a small house where soldiers gathered in spare times for cup of tea. It damaged in this jump the covering of the canopy over entrance to the teahouse. The opposite wall of the house was in few meters to the fence. The traces of the creature passed up to the ridge of the roof and farther to the other slope. From this position it had jumped away over the fence with the child in its hands.

Hominoid with his child on hands got out from this garret window of barrack on the roof. (Photo by author)	The hominoid had jumped here on roof of the tea-house and damaged slates on shelter above door. (Photo by author)/FONT>

The Chairman of Russian Society of Cryptozoologists V. Makarov and me visited Sosnino soon after this event. The head of local ecology department N.I. Pilipets and journalist A. Stukov helped us with transport and arranged meetings with people involved. We saw footsteps slightly covered with snow inside and outside the camp. We talked with the soldiers and officers and were convinced that the story was real observation. Step by step we revealed the events into whole picture.

Minus thirty-Centigrade frosts with severe winds were in that place for some weeks before the events in barrack. It was obvious that the large hominoid knew something about the settlement as some soldiers had seen strange figures and movements in vicinity of barracks. There were suspicions that the hominoid some times had got inside barracks and safely escaped. As bad weather continued the creature with child hid itself in the garret. The garret was locked usually and soldiers never visited it without permission. One window in it was broken and hominoids could easily penetrate to a warm place.

The floor in the garret and that the ceiling of the soldier room was thin and warm from heating stoves in the room came upward. The soldiers had firewood to maintain high temperature in the barrack. One could suppose that hominoids stayed in that warm place for a few weeks. When the frosts weakened hominoids left the shelter.

Policemen and officers found later some places where the creatures were laying. They also had found a small narrow piece of excrements obviously left by the baby creature and gave it to us. They looked for other materials of evidence but hairs found on a barbed fence appeared to be parts of a bird feather. The big creature had left nothing but large dent in a garret floor.

We followed footsteps of the creatures outside the camp. We saw that after jump over the fence large hominoid carried baby some distance on its hands. After a while it lowered the baby on snow and their traces went side by side. Then baby began to tread in footsteps of the adult, which started to do very small steps. We moved forward along the footsteps through forest till they came to a large field and lost them with snow covered.

I recently read in newspaper Pravda Severa that in autumn of 2000 a hominoid was also seen in swamps close to Kargopol.

With this publication we try to support the public for peaceful attitude toward hominoids — yet unknown enough inhabitants of our world.

Grateful appreciation to Dr. Michael Trachtengerts in Moscow for this translation of his Russian article and for sharing it with other researchers through this website. 17 June 2001 Bobbie Short

Back to What's New?
Back to Newspaper & Magazine Articles
Home/Main