, "Ramayana" ("rakshas"), folklore of different peoples (faun, satyr and strong in ancient Greece, yeti in Tibet and Nepal, byabang-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 Russians, divs in Persia (and Ancient Russia), maidens and albasts in the Pamirs, shural and yarymtyk among Kazan Tatars and Bashkirs, arsuri among the Chuvashs, pitsen among Siberian Tatars, sasquatch in Canada, teryk, girkychavylyin, myrygdy, kiltan, arynk, arysa, rakkem, julia in Chukotka, sweet potato, sedap 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 general Sulla. Diodorus Siculus claimed that several satyrs were sent to the tyrant Dionysius. These strange creatures were depicted on the 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 in the psalter of Queen Mary, dating back to the 14th century, an attack by a flock of dogs on a man covered with hair is depicted.

Bigfoot eyewitnesses

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Turks captured a European named Hans Schiltenberger and sent him to the court of Tamerlane, who handed over the captive to the retinue of the Mongol prince Edigey. Shiltenberger nevertheless 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 to do with all other people. The skin of these creatures is covered with wool, which is absent only on their palms and faces. They gallop over the mountains like wild beasts, feeding on leaves, grass, and whatever else they can find. The local ruler presented Edigei as 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 Mosigno wrote:

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

Turgenev and the President of the United States personally encountered Bigfoot

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

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

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

Suddenly, a hand touched his shoulder. He quickly turned around and saw a strange creature, which was looking at him with a greedy curiosity. It looked like either a woman or a monkey. He had a broad, wrinkled, grimacing and laughing face. Something indescribable - two bags of some kind, obviously breasts - dangled from the front. Long matted 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, comprehend what it is, 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 his clothes and gun behind. The strange creature followed him. It ran just as fast and still squealed.

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

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

Met Bigfoot and US President Theodore Roosevelt. He included this story, artistically processed, in his book The Hunter of Wild Beasts. The story takes place in the Beet Mountains, between the states of Idaho and Montana. From there, by the way, evidence of meetings with bigfoots is still coming.

In the first half of the 19th century, a trapper (that is, a hunter setting traps) Bauman and his friend explored a wild gorge. Their camp was constantly ravaged by some huge creature, moving on two, not four legs. The attacks took place either at night or during the day in the absence of hunters, and therefore it was not possible to properly examine the creature. Once a comrade remained in the camp, and Bauman, returning, found him torn to pieces. The footprints surrounding the body were identical to those of a human, but looked much larger.

Bigfoot kids

A very curious meeting with bigfoot in 1924 awaited lumberjack Albert Ostman. He spent the night in a sleeping bag in the woods near Vancouver. Big Foot grabbed it, put it on his shoulder right in the sack and carried it. He walked for about three hours and brought Ostman to the cave, where, in addition to the yeti who abducted him, his wife and two children also turned out to be.

They didn’t eat the lumberjack, but they received it quite hospitably: they offered to eat spruce shoots, which the Bigfoot ate. Ostman refused and survived for a week on canned food from his backpack, which big Foot thoughtfully took it with him.

But soon Ostman understood the reason for such hospitality: he was being prepared as a husband for the already grown daughter of the head of the family. Imagining the wedding night, Ostman decided to take a chance and poured snuff into the food of the hospitable hosts.

While they were rinsing their mouths, he rushed out of the cave with all his might. For many years he did not tell anyone about his adventure and when asked where he disappeared for a whole week, he simply remained silent. But when there was talk about Bigfoot, the old man's tongue loosened.

Yeti woman

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

Reddish fur covered her greyish-black coat, and the hair on her head was longer than on her whole body. She let out inarticulate cries, but she could not learn to speak. Her large face with prominent cheekbones, a strongly protruding jaw, powerful brow ridges and large white teeth was distinguished by a ferocious expression.

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

Porshnev even managed to question the villagers who, as children, attended the funeral of Zana in the 1880s.

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

Bigfoot in captivity

In the 20s of the XX 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 raged all the time. The other, the old one, sat quietly. They ate nothing but raw meat. When one of the commanders saw that the warder was feeding these prisoners only raw meat, he shamed him:

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

According to the people who participated in the fight against the Basmachi, there were still about 50 such subjects, which, due to their “wildness”, 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 living Bigfoot caught in Dagestan. He described his encounter with the yeti as follows:

« Together with two representatives of local authorities, I entered the shed ... Until now, I see, as if in reality, a male creature that has arisen in front of me, completely naked, barefoot.

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

Below the chest, this hair was rarer and softer, and on the palms and soles it was not at all. Only sparse hair grew on the wrists with roughened skin, but the luxuriant head of hair, very rough to the touch, descended to the shoulders and partially covered the forehead.

Although the entire face was covered with sparse vegetation, the beard and mustache were absent. Sparse, short hair also grew around the mouth.

The man stood perfectly straight, his arms at his sides. His height was slightly above average - about 180 cm, however, he seemed to tower over me, standing with a protruding mighty chest. 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 most of all, the Bigfoot from the Himalayas became famous, relic hominids are called the local “yeti” there.

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 of Great Britain at the court of the King of Nepal. He described in some detail how, during his journey through northern Nepal, the porters were horrified to see 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 also explored. In particular, the mummified hand of Bigfoot. The results of the examination were questioned by many, and there were supporters of versions of both a fake and an incomprehensible artifact.

Snow people hiding in the Pamir caves

Major General of the Soviet Army M. S. Topilsky recalled how in 1925 he pursued with his unit the Bigfoot 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 great apes. Topilsky explored the cave, where he discovered the corpse of a mysterious creature. In his report, he wrote:

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

Looking closely, I saw that the corpse resembled a human one. We tugged at the fur, suspecting that it was a disguise, but it turned out to be natural and belonged to the creature.

Then we measured the body, turning it over 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 a human either.

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

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

Bigfoot in Russia

There were many meetings with Bigfoot in Russia as well. The most remarkable, perhaps, took place in 1989 in the Saratov region. The watchmen 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 that, the watchmen thought that this was just a thief. When they were convinced that the stranger did not understand human language, and in general did not look too 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 watchmen found themselves in a very awkward position.

Bigfoot caught on video

Actually, there are hundreds of evidence of meetings of different proximity with Bigfoot. The material evidence is much more interesting. Two researchers were able to film Bigfoot in 1967 with a movie camera. These 46 seconds have become a real sensation in the world of science. Professor D. D. Donskoy, head of the Department of Biomechanics of the Central Institute of Physical Education, comments on this short film as follows:

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

Finally, one can note such a sign that cannot be accurately described as the expressiveness of movements ... This is typical for deeply automatic movements with their high perfection ...

All this taken together makes it possible to evaluate the creature's gait as natural, without noticeable signs of artificiality, characteristic of various kinds of deliberate imitations. The considered gait of a creature for a person is completely atypical».

The English biomechanic Dr. D. Grieve, who was very skeptical about relic hominids, wrote:

« The possibility of forgery is excluded».

After the death of one of the film's writers, Patterson, his film was declared a forgery, 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 loves to expose the past, 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 recognize the existence of Bigfoot. The reasons are that the bones of wild people, not to mention the living wild man, have not yet been allegedly found.

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

Yeti mysterious creatures

Bigfoot and his relatives

It looked like either a woman or a monkey. He had a broad, wrinkled, grimacing and laughing face. Something indescribable - two bags of some kind, obviously breasts, dangled in front; long matted hair, reddened by the sun, framed her face and flowed behind her back. Turgenev felt a 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 invented dragons, werewolves, ghosts, water monsters, dwarfs and giants. But only a few fairy-tale creatures have managed 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 you got into a fight with a giant hairy hominid in a garbage dump - get a real chance to get on the front pages of the morning papers.

In March 2006 (MF #26) we told you about "cryptids" - animals whose existence is denied by modern science (at least until one of them is caught - like, for example, the pygmy okapi giraffe or lobe-finned coelacanth fish). 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 long before them, giants lived on Earth. The latter were unbridled and ferocious, which is why the gods either completely destroyed them (Judaism), or expelled them from the world (ancient Greek myths). The giants left behind only huge ruins, called "cyclopean" in honor of the cyclops who erected the walls of Mycenae.

Not surprisingly, human encounters with 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 sense can be called goblin, but they were a kind of spirits. The Scandinavians had jotuns and trolls, the southern Slavs had drekavaks, but the images of these forest dwellers are too vague to talk about the systematic contacts of ordinary people with the "snow".

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 of powerful media in the 18-19 centuries that could inflate any trifle to a sensation, but the fact remains: until recently there was no Bigfoot as a mass phenomenon, but now it is. Why, then, the creatures that evolved together with people over millions of years remained so little known that in the general cultural sense they can only claim the title of a race of giants, and an extinct one at that?

Judging by the oldest literary sources, contacts with Bigfoot were extremely rare. The first description of such a case can be considered the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, which tells about the events of 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: on the bank of the river, where Enkidu grazed, they brought the harlot Shamhat. The poor thing was undressed, and the giant "knew her for seven days." After such a marathon, the savage weakened, and his relatives - animals - began to avoid him. Thus, Enkidu was forced to become part of human society.

Scattered evidence of encounters with some "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 - various animal features were attributed to them, symbolizing savagery). The Roman dictator gathered all the available translators and interrogated the captive, but he only emitted vile bleating and neighing, “which is why Sulla felt 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 white spots left on the map of the Old World, so meetings with such creatures were only spoken of in the past tense. Once upon a time there were lions in Europe. Now even wild bulls and tarpans have not been preserved here, and snow people have become curiosities. For example, Heinrich von Gesler in the 14th century wrote of 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 beings ("The System of Nature"). Indeed, the Swedish naturalist wrote about the “wild man” (about some hairy “sons of darkness” living in caves and stealing food from people at night), as well as about the “troglodyte man” (probably a Neanderthal). However, it should not be forgotten 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 with Bigfoot - most of them look like hunters' tales. They are either of the same type or improbable, and in any case unverifiable. Of particular interest are only general information about the known "varieties" of Bigfoot.

In the mountains of Altai, the Caucasus and the Pamirs lives almas("almast", from the Mongolian - "wild man"). He is described as a humanoid with red hair, human features, powerful superciliary ridges, a flat nose and chin (which completely coincides with the reconstructed appearance of a Neanderthal).

Legends about almas cannot boast of antiquity - they are only a few hundred years old. It may seem that there are almost more almas in the mountains than 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 bartender, however, the most popular in the West is another, Tibetan name - yeti("man-bear" or "stone bear"). The number of meetings with him increased in proportion to the increase in the number of Europeans who explored the Himalayas. In 1832, the British noticed a certain red-haired creature in the mountains - probably an orangutan, in 1889 - something like a bear.

Yetis live here. Yeti, representing the highland subspecies of the troll family, have never heard of the fact 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 have long kept yeti scalps, which were credited with magical powers. In the middle of the last century, their study was carried out. The results are disappointing: they are just skins from the neck of a Himalayan mountain goat. The monks of Pangboche also owned another relic - a mummified yeti clawed paw, but in 1991 it was stolen (probably settling 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. The pursuer stepped rarely, but did not lag behind - that is, he was several times larger than a man. People began to panic, fled, and only caught a glimpse of some huge gray silhouette in the fog.

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

Filipino forest creature named Capri slightly reminiscent of a bigfoot with 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 out of it).

Even overpopulated Japan has its own Bigfoot. He's called Hibagon(or Hinagon) because he lives in 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 burning eyes. All signs point to the fact that this is not Bigfoot, but something like a gorilla.

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

Until the middle of the 20th century, Bigfoot was not found in the United States, and stories about Sasquatch were popular only on Indian reservations. In August 1958, Ray Wallace's construction company was laying a road in a deserted area of ​​California. Bulldozer Jerry Crew found traces of "big feet". The feet were 40 cm long, the stride length was over a meter. The local newspaper dubbed the find "bigfoot", and Wallace began to actively promote the "bigfoot" among fans of the unknown.

But the real “birthday” of the American Bigfoot can be considered October 20, 1967, when rodeo participants Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin managed to capture him on film. They traveled to Six Rivers National Park with a rented 16mm camera, intending to make a Blair Witch-style documentary about Bigfoot. The men agreed that, if possible, they would try to shoot the “big-legged” - his body could be sold profitably, moreover, 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 followed him with a working camera, Gimlin with a gun covering him from behind. As a result, the first half of the film came out defective - the image shook and jumped in all directions, but when Patterson approached the bigfoot by several tens of meters and stood motionless, the quality of the shooting improved markedly. The creature looked back at the pursuers several times and disappeared into the forest.

The US finally has its own national monster. For several decades, the word "bigfoot" has become a popular brand. From all over the country there were reports of similar meetings. People found traces, wool, excrement of the "big-footed". Numerous clubs of "big footologists" appeared, and a new industry arose in tourism. Scientists who studied the Patterson-Gimlin film were divided into two approximately equal camps: some said that this was an obvious staging (an actor in a woolen suit was running in front of the lens), others noted the creature’s unusual gait and stated that it could not be human.

November 26, 2002 Ray Wallace, the discoverer and popularizer of bigfoot, died. His family soon admitted that Ray, along with his brother, faked tracks around the bulldozer by putting large wooden feet on their feet. Why they needed it is not exactly known. They probably wanted to have some fun, but the bigfoot they invented soon turned into a national American hero, began to bring in considerable income and gained worldwide fame. Such a trifle as a fake of the first discovered traces does not bother enthusiasts at all.

Missing link

There are many theories about the origin of the Bigfoot, but if we dismiss all 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 with the help of telepathy), the remaining versions can be count on the fingers of one hand.

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

The remains of this extinct humanoid ape were found precisely in Asia (China). Unfortunately, there are too few of them to recreate the appearance of the animal. At the disposal of scientists there are only a few lower jaws and about 1000 teeth, the largest of which are 6 times larger than in 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 the Gigantopithecus, the fact that they became extinct almost 100,000 years ago and could hardly have settled on several continents - especially with their supposed diet (most of the bones were found in the habitat of the ancestors of modern pandas that ate bamboo) speaks against the "snow humanization" of the Gigantopithecus.

Other Bigfoot Candidates - Neanderthals- also do not inspire optimism. Even if they survived into 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.

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

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

In ancient times, lost or abandoned children, as well as persons with some mental disabilities, could easily become wild, spend their entire (certainly short) life in nature, and only occasionally catch the eye of superstitious townsfolk. Thousands of years ago, they would have been called trolls and satyrs, and in the 20th century, Bigfoot. It was precisely such a case that Turgenev described when visiting Gustave Flaubert (the 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. Giant sea snakes turned out to be tangled algae, flying saucers were weather balloons, and Bigfoot were gorillas or bears.

The bear is such an original animal that anyone 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 a child. From time to time, he climbs a tree to the very top, and from there he surveys the surroundings. He especially dislikes being 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 frightened, and the clubfoot stands on its hind legs. Nebuga spent 12 years looking 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 - "meti" - was confused with the "yeti" (not surprising, because the locals consider the bear a supernatural being). Reality is rarely as mysterious as our perceptions of it.

* * *

After weighing all the pros and cons, it can be argued with a 99% probability that Bigfoot is a fiction. However, as primatologist John Napier correctly pointed out, there is a certain limit to the number of evidence of a meeting with a 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 - a reason to think. We can only wait and analyze. Time will judge.

Bigfoot (Yeti) - a half-monkey, half-man, living most often in high mountainous regions and forests. Unlike humans, this creature has a denser physique, relatively short hips, elongated arms, a short neck, a strongly developed lower jaw and slightly pointed.

The entire body of a Bigfoot is covered with red, gray or black hair. This humanoid creature has a sharp unpleasant odor. Bigfoot Yeti climbs trees perfectly, which once again emphasizes his resemblance to a monkey. Forest populations of snow people build nests on tree branches, mountain populations live in caves.

The humanoid primate (Chinese savage) very often caught the eye of curious Chinese peasants. He had a height of about 2 m, was able to weave baskets and make simple tools. Hundreds of cases of peasants meeting with this creature were left without attention. In the late 1980s, six countries, including America and Great Britain, sent a research expedition into the sparsely populated forest areas of China to study evidence for the Bigfoot Yeti. .

The participants of the expedition were prominent professors of anthropology Richard Greenwell and Jean Poirier. They had no idea what an outstanding discovery awaits them! The two-year collaboration between the American and English professors has brought remarkable results. The expedition included an independent television crew led by Geraldine Easter.

What evidence was found

Confirmation of the presence of a "snow creature" is his hair, which were picked by Chinese farmers. English and American scientists, as well as their Chinese colleagues, came to the conclusion that the hairs found have nothing to do with humans or monkeys, which indicates the existence of Bigfoot (Chinese savage). Several thousand teeth and jaws of this ancient man have been found in India, Vietnam and China. The Chinese wild man is a little-studied creature. Somehow miraculously, he managed to avoid extinction in individual areas. He is a contemporary of the famous panda bears, and we all know that pandas also miraculously survived.

September 1952 was remembered by the locals for the fact that in the state of Virginia, several eyewitnesses observed a height of about 9 feet, exuding a very unpleasant odor. In 1956, a huge creature was seen in the state of North Carolina, whose offhand weight was about 320 kg. Year 1958 - the yeti appears near the state of Texas, in 1962 - near the state of California, in 1971 in the Oklahoma region, in 1972 the creature was seen near the state of Missouri.

There is evidence of a meeting with Bigfoot from a relatively recent period of time. In the early 90s of the last century, while climbing to an eight thousandth height, climber R. Meisner saw Bigfoot twice. The first meeting was unexpected, yeti Bigfoot quickly disappeared, and it was not possible to photograph him. The second meeting happened at night - the creature was seen near the place of spending the night.

Attempts to catch a man, nicknamed the snowman, were made repeatedly. In its issue dated August 19, 1988, the Pravda newspaper wrote that traces of a “snow creature” were found in the Kekirimtau mountains, and a farm worker K. Juraev encountered him personally.

The expedition sent to capture Bigfoot returned with nothing. But what is surprising, being at the lair of this strange creature, all members of the expedition experienced terrible psychological discomfort, a decline in mood and efficiency, lack of appetite, rapid pulse and high blood pressure. And this is despite the fact that the group included trained people who had acclimatized in high mountain conditions.

Who has seen Bigfoot?

In 1967, two shepherds R. Patterson and his partner B. Gimlin filmed Bigfoot. It was a warm autumn day at 3.30 pm. The horses of the men, frightened of something, abruptly reared up. Losing his balance, Patterson's horse collapsed, but the shepherd did not lose his head. With peripheral vision, he saw a large creature squatting on his haunches on the bank of the stream, which, noticing people, immediately got up and walked away. Roger grabbed his camera, turned it on and ran towards the stream. He managed to make out that it was Yeti Bigfoot. Hearing the chirping of the camera, the creature, continuing to move, turned around, and then, without slowing down, continued on its way. The size of the body and the unusual style of walking allowed him to rapidly move away. Soon the creature was out of sight. The tape ended and the stunned men stopped.

An in-depth study of the film, conducted by members of the Darwin Museum workshop, and its frame-by-frame playback showed that the head of the creature filmed on film is identical to the head of Pithecanthropus. The clearly visible muscles of the arms, legs and back exclude the possibility of using a special suit.

Arguments supporting the authenticity of Patterson's film:

• Increased flexibility of the ankle joint of the creature depicted on the film, which is impossible for a person.
• The creature's gait is not typical of a human and cannot be reproduced by him.
• A clear image of the muscles of the body and limbs, excluding the possibility of using a special suit.
• Strongly protruding back heel, which corresponds to the structure of the Neanderthals
• Comparison of the frequency of hand vibrations and the speed of the film on which the film was shot, they speak of the creature's height of 220 cm and weight of over 200 kg.

Based on these and many other facts, the film was recognized as authentic, as reported in scientific publications in the USA and the USSR. Entire volumes of scientific literature are devoted to observations of Bigfoot and their careful analysis. Many unanswered questions remain. Why do we meet only single individuals of the yeti? Can small populations of these amazing creatures survive? When can we fish out the snow creature? There are no answers to these questions yet, but there is confidence that in the near future they will definitely appear.

For many centuries, the inexplicable has attracted inquisitive minds. And what a person encounters, learning new aspects of life, does not fit into the logic of consciousness. All this makes you look in a new way at what life is... and what are its possibilities in the past, present and future...

Bigfoot (yeti, sasquatch, bigfoot) is a humanoid creature allegedly found in various high-altitude or forest regions of the Earth. There is an opinion that this is a relic hominid, that is, a mammal belonging to the order of primates and the genus man, which has survived to this day from the time of human ancestors. Carl Linnaeus designated it as lat. Homo troglodytes (caveman). The Soviet scientist B. F. Porshnev paid much attention to the topic of Bigfoot (called a relic hominoid).

Description

Judging by hypotheses and unconfirmed evidence, Bigfoot differ from us in a denser physique, a pointed skull, longer arms, a short neck and a massive lower jaw, and relatively short hips. They have hair all over their body - black, red or gray. Dark faces. The hair on the head is longer than on the body. The mustache and beard are very sparse and short. They have a strong unpleasant odor. They are good at climbing trees. It is alleged that the mountain populations of Bigfoot live in caves, forest people build nests on tree branches.

Ideas about Bigfoot and its various local analogues of veethnography. The image of a huge scary man can reflect natural fears of the dark, very interesting from the point of view of the unknown, relations with mystical forces among different peoples. It is possible that people with unnatural hair or feral people are mistaken for Bigfoot.

If relict hominids exist, then they live in small groups, probably married couples. They can move on their hind limbs. Growth should range from 1 to 2.5 m; in most cases 1.5-2 m; it was reported about the meeting with the largest individuals in the mountains of Central Asia (Yeti) and in North America (Sasquatch). In Sumatra, Kalimantan and Africa, in most cases, growth did not exceed 1.5 m. There are suggestions that the observed relict hominids belong to several different species, at least three.

Big Foot

Bigfoot is also known as the Bearman or the Tibetan Yeti. It is believed that Bigfoot lives in the mountains of the Himalayas above the snow line.

The local Sherpas have believed in this beast since their earliest known history. Various expeditions went in search of the Yeti, but no one returned with a living or dead creature, some piece of its skeleton or bone, hair or skin, traces of secretions or the remains of a dwelling. But faith in him is still strong.

Various tracks, apparently of hominid origin, found above the snow line are attributed to this animal. According to the analysis of scientists who believed in the existence of the Yeti, the footprints indicate a tall hominid, probably about 7 feet (2.13 m). Many scientists, including prominent zoologists, however, have suggested that the tracks attributed to the large hominid were most likely made by bears. It is well known that most bears are capable of walking on their two hind legs in an almost upright position. At great distances, these upright bears would have passed for a hominid in appearance and posture. With some gaits, some bears have been found to leave footprints that appear to be those of a large hominid: the rear foot, partially overlapping the front, appears to be the foot of a large humanoid creature.

Other dubious yeti footprints found above the snow line have also been attributed to other animals living in the Himalayas, such as goats, wolves and snow leopards. Other footprints believed to be from Bigfoot are attributed to footprints left by fallen rocks, cobblestones, and chunks of snow. However, many respected naturalists and explorers have documented startling footprints left by what appear to be real animals living in the Himalayas, which to this day skeptics have been unable to explain as being left by a known creature.
Yeti knowledge has been part of Sherpa religious beliefs and traditions since the early days of Buddhism in the region. They believe that spirits and demons live on the upper slopes of the Himalayas, and yetis live on the lower slopes. Perhaps it was meant that these mysterious people exist as spirits, always hiding from the gaze of mere mortals.

The first well-known and documented sighting of a phenomenon attributed to the Yeti was the discovery of bare footprints in the snow of Mount Everest at 21,000 feet (6.4 km) in 1921. The sighting was made by Colonel C.K. Howard-Bury, a well known and respected climber. It happened when he led an expedition to Everest. When examining the footprints, the bearers reported that they belonged to mech-kangmi, which roughly translates to bigfoot ("kang" - snow and "mi" - man), smelling disgusting ("sword" is roughly translated as an expression of something disgusting - although the word itself can be translated with various other meanings deriving from the large differences in the Tibetan dialect). Thus the word Bigfoot was born.
The media immediately sensationalized the discovery of a hitherto unknown species of animal, perhaps even a hominid, which could be a close relative of modern humans. On the other hand, science approached the situation with skepticism and no serious scientific research was carried out within a few years after the discovery.

Since then, there have been thousands of sightings of the elusive creature and its famous footprints. Most famously, and perhaps what led to serious scientific research into the possibility of this and other hominids, is a series of clear photographs taken by Eric Shipton in 1951 during an expedition to Everest. The photographs were taken at a location called Menlung Glacier at approximately 22,000 feet (6,705 m). The most visible footprint was measured as 12.5 x 6.5 inches (31.25 x 16.25 cm) with an ice ax photographed nearby. This single observation became the legendary basis for the belief in the possibility of giant hominids and paved the way for serious scientific study of other giant hairy ape people such as Sasquatch and Bigfoot.

The most intriguing and most controversial sighting of the Yeti was made in 1970 by Don Whillans. Willans was the deputy leader of the expedition to the south side of Anapurna in Nepal. At the site of the camp set up by Willans and Dougal Haston at 14,000 feet (4,267 m), the group stumbled across a series of apparently human-like footprints in a place where no humans had ever spawned. After photographing the footprints, Willans saw through his binoculars a dark bipedal creature fleeing along the side of the mountain where their camp was. The observation lasted half an hour until the creature disappeared into a group of trees. Although the height of the site was lower than most footprint sightings, in which hallucinations were never recorded and no one in the group took whiskey, many skeptics still doubted the reality of the sighting. However, due to Willance's earlier lack of interest in Bigfoot, it can be assumed that he did see something disappear into the trees that day.

The Nepalese population has long known the yeti sighting area under the name "great ape area".

An earlier sighting of a possibly existing hominid creature was made by A.M. Tombazi in the Sikkim area in 1925. Although it is believed that this was a sighting of a yeti, it could be an sighting of another creature, possibly related and similar to Bigfoot.

Yetis are called by different names depending on the geographic location of the region of observation or legend. In Nepal, 3 types of Bigfoot are known: a very large yeti, which is said to be vegetarian, except when lack of food causes it to become omnivorous; smaller variety, aggressive and carnivorous; and a creature often called Rakshi-Bompo, often mischievous, attacking crops but quickly fleeing when people approach. The Rakshi Bompo may have taken its name from the beast mentioned in the Indian epic Ramayana. This 3rd-4th century poem contains passages that speak of the existence of demons called Raksha (plural Rakshasa) who are often described as having the same appearance as Bigfoot.
In various areas of the Himalayas, the Yeti is called Bang (Bang), Bangjakri (Bangjakri), Ban Vanas (Ban Vanas) and Van Manas (Van Manas) along with a number of other names.

The Russian Caucasus is replete with stories and accounts of yeti-like creatures. The leading researchers of the Yeti phenomenon in this region are Prof. Boris Porshnev, a Russian historian, and Prof. Rinchen from Mongolia. Both have been doing Bigfoot research for most of their lives. Professor Porshnev's follower, Professor Jeanne Kofman, continues his work in the Caucasus region to the present day. Numerous pieces of evidence collected over years of fieldwork include stockpiles of food found in tall grasses and records of sightings of the creature. Locals in the region, isolated from the rest of the world, who are mostly agricultural workers, often tell stories of encounters with such creatures. They consider the yeti to be a shy, polite creature that, at the sight of people, immediately disappears into a haze, hiding from view.

In another uninhabited region of Russia, there are stories of almas, primitive demi-human beings encountered by Russian colonel Nikolai Przhevalsky in the 19th century during his in-depth exploration of Mongolia and the Gobi desert. Further research on these creatures was suspended by the Russian government and the imperial court for fear of embarrassment if they had to publicly accept the possibility of the existence of these creatures. Almas are also known as Almast and Bigfoot.

In other Soviet republics, yeti-like creatures (thought to exist) include Abanauyu (forest man), Bianbanguli in Azerbaijan, Dev in some areas in the Pamirs, and Kiik-adam (Kiik- Adam, Kazakh for "wild man".

Apart from the mention of the yeti-like creature in the Ramayana, another mention was made by Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist and naturalist. In the manuscript "Animal Man" Linnaeus named Bigfoot Homo nocturnus (Homo nocturnus) ("man of the night"). This name is apparently given because of the elusiveness of the yeti. Other than the alleged existence of some Yeti scalps, there is no further evidence that Bigfoot exists on Earth as such, as there are no skeletal remains.

So is the yeti a humanoid animal still waiting to be discovered? Is it a pre-hominid relic of the past from a time when man has not yet become fully human? An endless sea of ​​evidence exists in various legends, containing recurring, often conflicting clues. But one thing is for sure. Whenever a dubious sighting occurs, as in the case of Willans, silence follows. Perhaps man, with his faith in the wonders of science and his knowledge of nature, still refuses to accept the possibility that there is a place where creatures thought to be extinct can still live.

Our comments:

The Earth is inhabited by various creatures of an incomprehensible origin to the modern worldview.

According to the Esoteric picture of the World, and many legends, the Jotuns (Yo-Tu), who arrived on planet Earth from Mars, were under 3 meters tall, and their body was covered with long reddish hair.

Finding traces of yeti, meeting with them in various regions of the Earth testify to the living of populations of creatures whose description coincides with the descriptions of the Jotuns.

The latest finds in Georgia and the State of Georgia also provide new facts for thought.

Description

In testimonies about meetings with "snow people" most often appear creatures that differ from modern humans in a denser physique, pointed skull, longer arms, short necks and massive lower jaws, relatively short hips, with thick hair all over body - black, red, white or gray. Dark faces. The hair on the head is longer than on the body. The mustache and beard are very sparse and short. They are good at climbing trees. It has been suggested that mountain populations of snow people live in caves, forest people build nests on tree branches. Carl Linnaeus referred to it as Homo troglodytes(caveman). Very fast. He can overtake a horse, moreover, on two legs, and in the water - a motor boat. Omnivorous, but prefers plant foods, very fond of apples. Eyewitnesses described encounters with specimens of various heights, from the average human to 3 m or more.

Ideas about Bigfoot and its various local counterparts 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, relationships with mystical forces among different peoples. It is possible that in some cases Bigfoot people with unnatural hairline or feral people were accepted.

origin of name

Bigfoot called him thanks to a group of climbers who conquered Everest. They discovered the loss of food supplies, then heard a heart-rending scream, and on one of the snow-covered slopes a chain of footprints similar to human ones appeared. The residents explained that it was a Yeti, a terrible bigfoot, and categorically refused to 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 evidence" mean that the matter was studied, and as a result of the study it was found 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 are no grounds”, then this belief must be abandoned.
Academician A. B. Migdal From conjecture to truth.

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

At least, I am not aware of the laws of nature that would impose a direct ban on the existence in the mountains of Central Asia of a relic hominoid - "ape-man", or simply a large anthropoid ape. It must be assumed that, contrary to its name, it is not connected with eternal snows in any way (except that it sometimes leaves traces there), but should live in the belt of mountain forests, where there is enough food and shelters. It is clear that any reports about North American "bigfoots" can be thrown away without reading with a clear conscience (because there are no and never have been any species of primates on that continent, and in order to get there from Asia through the polar 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, megantrop - a very large (about two meters tall) fossil monkey from South Asia, who had a number of "human" features that bring it closer to African Australopithecus, the direct ancestors of hominids […]
So, do I admit (as a professional zoologist) the fundamental possibility of the existence of a relic hominoid? - answer: "Yes". Do I believe in its existence? - answer: "No". And since we are not talking 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 subject, based on personal experience: [...] where a professional’s foot has once set foot, neither 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 no more places where that professional foot would not have set foot at all (at least on land) - draw your own conclusions ...

- "Cryptus, sir!", Article. Kirill Eskov, Computerra, 13.03.07, No. 10 (678): pp. 36-39.

Currently, there is not a single representative of the species living in captivity, not a single skeleton or skin. However, there are allegedly hair, footprints and dozens of photographs, videos (poor quality) and audio recordings. The reliability of this evidence is in doubt. For a long time, one of the most compelling pieces of evidence has been a short film directed by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin in 1967 in Northern California. The film was said to be of a female Bigfoot. However, in 2002, after the death of Ray Wallace, for whom this shooting was made, testimonies of his relatives and acquaintances appeared, who said (however, without presenting any material evidence) that the whole story with the "American Yeti" was from the beginning to the end is rigged; forty-centimeter "footprints of the yeti" were made by 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 the genuine interest of National Geographic Channel researchers. In "Reality or Fiction" (aired in December 2010), an attempt was made to study and investigate Patterson's film in terms of the possibility of its falsification. Experienced make-up artists, a tall actor imitating a gait, special effects specialists and scientists were involved as experts. The appearance of the creature in the film, its hair adjacent to the muscles, the proportions of the limbs, the dynamics of movement, the shooting distance, etc. were evaluated. 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, already at the level of 1967, it is almost impossible to achieve such a degree of realism in the Bigfoot story.

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 “no reason” simply do not even want to get acquainted with what “dug up” by enthusiastic researchers. “We hear a lot of examples of this in history.” I will give only two. When Canadian Rene Dahinden brought us a copy of the film shot by Patterson in 1967 at the end of 1971, I personally approached the then director of the Institute of Anthropology of Moscow State University V.P. would recoil from the proposal and say; "Not! No need!" But this did not prevent him from declaring that there were no grounds ...
And when at the international symposium, which he (Yakimov) chaired, Professor Astanin went to the podium to present to the audience the materials of the anatomical study of the yeti hand from the Pangboche monastery (Tibet), Yakimov did not let him speak and drove him from the podium in violation of the democratic traditions of such forums - to the protesting exclamations of the participants ... As a result, some of them left the symposium session.
And a recent example: when I arrived from the USA after a five-week “investigation” of events at the Carter farm in the fall of 2004, where, according to the owner, the Bigfoot clan lived, and 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 fuss in the press about the existence of a “snowman” in the mountains of Shoria (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 great attention to the topic of Bigfoot.

Commission of the Academy of Sciences for the Study of the Question of the Bigfoot

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

Society of Cryptozoologists

References in history and literature

Abstract drawing of Bigfoot.

Numerous images of creatures similar to Bigfoot are known (on art objects of Ancient Greece, Rome, Ancient Armenia, Carthage and the Etruscans and medieval Europe) and references, 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, zhen (野人 ), maozhen(毛人) and renxiong(人熊) in China, kiik-adam and albasty In Kazakhstan , goblin, shish and shishiga the Russians, div in Persia (and Ancient Russia), chugaister in Ukraine , virgins and albasty in the Pamirs shurale and yarymtyk among Kazan Tatars and Bashkirs, arsuri among the Chuvash picene among the Siberian Tatars, abnahuayu in Abkhazia , sasquatch In Canada , terik, girkychavylyin, myrygdy, kiltan, arynk, arysa, rackem, julia in Chukotka, trampoline, sedapa and orangpendek in Sumatra and Kalimantan, agogwe, kakundakari and ki lomba in Africa, etc.). In folklore, they appear in the form of satyrs, demons, devils, goblin, water, mermaids, etc.

Opponents of the Bigfoot version of the existence, which include 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 number of about hundreds of individuals, whose vital activity, according to critics, simply cannot be imperceptible and 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. "Crypto, sir!"
2. Patterson film
3. B. F. Porshnev The current state of the issue of relic hominoids Viniti, Moscow, 1963
4. Soviet "snowman". Magazine "Itogi"
5. Jeanne-Maria Kofman
6. see for example, "Popular Biological Dictionary", 1991, Ed. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, edited by Corresponding Member A. V. Yablokov
7. V. B. Sapunov, Doctor of Biol. Sciences Bigfoot in two dimensions, or an alternative to the noosphere
8. J. Kofman At the origins of a new science (On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the publication of the monograph by Professor B. F. Porshnev "The current state of the issue of relic hominoids" VINITI 412 since 1963) Mediana magazine No. 6 2004
9. KAZAKHSTAN CHRONICLE "P" Year 1988
10. Trakhtengerts M. S. Habitat of alamas primate species Journal of 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
12. B. A. Shurinov Paradox of the 20th century"International Relations" 315p. 1990 ISBN 5-7133-0408-6
13. A Russian biologist considers the Sasquatch and other Yeti to be feral oligophrenics.
14. Beiko V. B., Berezina M. F., Bogatyreva E. L. et al. Great Encyclopedia of the Animal World: Nauch.-Pop. edition for children. - M.: CJSC "ROSMEN-PRESS", 2007. - 303 p. UDC 087.5, LBC 28.6, p. 285.