In April 2020, the Indian Army tweeted pictures of large footprints found near the Makalu Base Camp in Nepal, claiming they might belong to a Yeti. This was not the first time that evidence supposedly proving the existence of Yeti had been put forward. Since decades, mountaineers and adventure-seekers have sought to come across a Yeti, and even hunt it, but they have ultimately been unsuccessful. However, numerous photographs of the strange creature and body parts reportedly belonging to Yetis have been recovered from the Himalayan region. Is there substance to the claim that Yetis exist? After conducting a thorough examination of numerous resources, such as books, journals, and podcast videos, this article aims to scrutinize the evidence and determine its veracity. A notable caveat is that my article does not provide a scientific analysis of the Yeti’s existence, nor does it advocate for its reality, but rather offers an opinion on this enigmatic legend.
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW :
In 1951, a historic expedition to Mount Everest, led by Eric Shipton, captured an intriguing image that sparked widespread curiosity. The photograph, taken in the Menlung Basin of Nepal, showed an enormous human-like footprint in the snow, with an ice axe placed beside it for scale. This sighting was particularly significant, as it was discovered by Shipton and fellow expedition member Dr.Michael Ward, at a very high altitude. The 1951 expedition had aimed to explore potential routes to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest, which had yet to be conquered. Notably, the team also included Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who would later become the first individuals to reach the Everest’s summit (May 29,1953).
Shipton’s iconic photo, taken without the aid of a measuring tape, utilized the ice axe to convey the massive size of the footprint. The publication of Eric Shipton’s iconic photo sparked global fascination, captivating headlines in newspapers worldwide. Science journals and popular magazines intensely debated the image’s significance, fueling speculation about the existence of the mysterious creature. Expeditions were hastily organized to explore the Himalayas’ upper reaches, seeking evidence of the creature’s reality. The US government issued travel advisories, outlining requirements for these perilous journeys. The Nepali government, sensing opportunity, issued licenses to bounty hunters, tasking them with tracking down the elusive creature, now infamously known as the Abominable Snowman or the Yeti.
The world was gripped by a singular question: was the Yeti, fact or fiction? The intrigue surrounding this mythical being drew in adventurers, scientists, and the general public alike, propelling the Yeti to legendary status.
THE HIMALAYAN LEGEND :
As mentioned earlier, Major Sushant Singh, an Indian Army officer, had embarked on an expedition in Nepal’s Makalu region, nestled in the rugged Himalayas. Alongside his team, he stumbled upon enormous footprints in the snow, defying human explanation. Intrigued, Major Singh consulted his Sherpa guide, “Do you recognize these footprints?” he asked.
The Sherpa’s response was unequivocal: ‘These belong to the Yeti.’
For the outside world, the Yeti’s existence remained a topic of debate. However, among the Sherpa community, there was no ambiguity – the legendary snowman was a revered and feared entity, inhabiting the unforgiving Himalayan wilderness. Deeply rooted in Sherpa folklore, the Yeti has been an integral part of their cultural heritage for centuries. The term ‘Yeti’ originates from Tibetan culture, where ‘Yeh’ signifies ‘rock’ and ‘Teh’ means ‘animal.’ This etymology roughly translates to “rock animal,” aptly describing the elusive creature’s Himalayan habitat. According to Sherpa legend, the Yeti inhabits the rugged, snow-capped mountains, living in harmony with the harsh environment.
Dating back to the 12th century, roughly 850 years ago, Tibetan manuscripts reveal the fascinating legend of the Yeti. The ‘Mani Kambum’ scroll narrates Tibet’s transformation from a vast lake to alpine forests, harboring incredible biodiversity. In this primordial landscape, amongst the mountains, inhabited ‘Sinmo’ (srin mo), a female rock ogress, who was an incarnation of the Buddhist deity of mercy ‘Drolma’ (sgrol ma). The ogress met a monkey, who was an incarnation of the Buddhist deity of compassion, ‘Chenrezig’ (spyan ras gzigs), and the two mated.(source : “The Friendly Yeti” by Daniel S. Capper, University of Southern Mississippi)
Their union produced six offspring, combining human and monkey traits, with thick body hair and tails.These six infants evolved into six Tibetan races. Over time, they transformed from monkey-like creatures to humans, giving rise to the modern Tibetan people. However, legend suggests some ancestors remained unchanged, retaining their simian features.
The Tibetan people believed these untransformed ancestors were the Yetis, mysterious beings inhabiting the Himalayas. This ancient mythology weaves together Buddhist cosmology, evolutionary themes, and cultural identity. As per Tibetan belief, Yetis are not like other wild animals. They are part animal & part human in nature. They don’t sleep at night, live in high altitudes and stay away from human habitations. One can find wooden carvings or paintings of the Yeti in many Buddhist Temples & monasteries especially in Tibet & Nepal. Some stories say that the Yeti is a docile being while some tell about it being very ferocious. A poignant tale from Tibetan folklore recounts the encounter between a Buddhist monk and an injured Yeti. The monk’s compassionate care touched the Yeti’s heart, prompting it to express gratitude in a remarkable way – by leaving the body of a tiger at the monk’s feet.
Other fanciful stories, passed down through generations of Sherpas and mountaineers, reveal the Yeti’s elusive nature. One such hilarious tale went on to describe how locals would leave liquor for the Yeti, hoping to lure it into a friendly brawl with a fellow Yeti, potentially revealing its whereabouts. These tales, steeped in tradition and cultural heritage, underscore the Yeti’s enigmatic presence in Himalayan folklore.
But the question still remains, whether the Yeti is real or fake ?
EVIDENCE OF THE ROCK ANIMAL :
The 1951 photograph by Eric Shipton is often cited as evidence of the Yeti’s existence. However, 30 years prior, British Explorer Charles Howard-Bury’s expedition had discovered unexplained footprints in the Himalayan snow. Over the years, this enigmatic creature has captivated imagination, inspiring many books, presence in popular comics and even in the movies, such as :
1)Famed mountaineer, Reinhold Messner’s novel, ‘My Quest for the Yeti’.
2)Herge’s Tintin Comics, ‘Tintin in Tibet’.
3)Hollywood movies like ‘The Mummy : Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ (2008).
These creative works demonstrated the Yeti’s profound impact on popular culture. But separating fact from fiction and evaluating the Yeti evidence, there are plethora of stories, that raises questions about their credibility. Therefore, the available evidence falls into two categories :
1. Anecdotal accounts : Stories like Blab Kodoma’s 1974 encounter, where she claimed a gigantic ape attacked her and threw her into a river. She was found wounded and lying on the riverside by her village folks, in a remote location.
2. Physical evidence : Skull, Hair, Finger, Footprints, Photos, and Videos collected over time.
Verifying incidents like Kodoma’s is challenging due to the lack of concrete evidence. While compelling, anecdotal accounts are susceptible to exaggeration, misinterpretation or fabrication. So, let’s concentrate on other proofs about the Yeti like footprints, hand and hair. Whether the 1951 photo or the photo taken at Makalu by the Indian Army, verify that they were the footprints of the Yeti ? As on record, the answer is ‘NO’, as per scientists and zoological experts.
The Abominable Snowman’s legend has been fueled by many sensationalized reports. In 1921, Charles Howard-Bury’s discovery of footprints was initially attributed to a wild animal, likely a Himalayan Wolf, by Howard-Bury himself. However, journalists dramatized the story, introducing the concept of the Abominable Snowman. Similarly, the 1951 footprints sparked controversy. Dr. Michael Ward later suggested they belonged to a Tibetan man with a deformed foot. However, this theory raised questions :
“Why would someone walk barefoot on the snow, in the harsh Himalayan environment?”
Dr. Ward countered this by citing encounters with Nepalese and Bhutanese tribes who walk barefoot in the snow. Despite this, many scientists rejected Dr. Ward’s theory, supporting instead a 1955 hypothesis that the footprints belonged to a Himalayan Bear. Italian legend Messner, the first man to climb the highest 14 peaks of the world without oxygen, also supported this “bear theory”. Researcher Daniel C. Taylor, who has been studying about the Yeti for many years, has written a book, “Yeti – The Ecology Of The Mystery”. In conversation with media, Taylor had remarked in connection with the 1951 photo, “The obvious explanation is it is some known animal, that was making the footprint, rather than what everybody wanted it to be.”
The evidence of the hand and hair (of skull), is found in a monastery – Pangboche Monastery – in Nepal. How did this hand and hair reached the Monastery, has the makings of a story rich in mysticism and wonder, fitting both Bollywood or Hollywood styles ! According to Tibetan Text, an Indian Buddhist monk, Sangwa Dorje, who had gone to Nepal to meditate in a cave in the higher reaches of the Himalayas. As per saga, a Yeti use to provide him with food & water which helped him to survive in that hostile climate. When that Yeti died, Sangwa Dorje kept the scalp and hand of the Yeti as a memory and later on brought them to Pangboche Gompa, a monastery which he made in 1667.
To be honest, when the Yeti died, the emotional impact on Dorje could have been massive. During his meditation, the Yeti appeared as his mysterious savior, providing sustenance. Their bond grew, with the Yeti representing a guardian spirit of the mountains. Sangwa Dorje carrying its hand and scalp as relics not only served as a memory but also symbolized the deep connection between man and nature. The final act revolving around Dorje establishing Pangboche Monastery and ensuring the preservation of these relics, has a haunting undertone about the power of faith and the mystery of the unknown.
In 1957, American researcher & oilman, Tom Slick ventured to Nepal to uncover the truth about the Yeti. Unfortunately, an injury cut his expedition short. Undeterred, Slick enlisted brothers Peter and Brian Byrne to continue his work. A breakthrough came when Peter discovered Pangboche Monastery’s hidden relics : the hand and scalp of an unknown creature locals dubbed the Yeti. On Slick’s orders, and after much debate by the monks, Byrne negotiated to obtain a single finger from the hand, in exchange for a relatively significant fee toward the temple’s upkeep and a replacement human finger. In a daring heist, Peter Byrne smuggled the finger and some skin from the hand across the Nepalese border into India, where he made a rendezvous in Calcutta with American movie star Jimmy Stewart and his wife Gloria. The famous couple agreed to smuggle the finger into the United Kingdom for research by Slick’s friend and primatologist, Osman Hill of the Zoological Society of London, which they did by hiding it within Gloria Stewart’s undergarments in her luggage. Hill examined the finger and declared it of human origin, although a number of other scientists in Slick’s circle weren’t convinced, and Hill himself later expressed doubts. The bone analyzed by Hill disappeared, but resurfaced 20 years later in the Royal College of Surgeons’ Hunterian Museum, London. For the making of a BBC documentary, the finger was analyzed by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland at the request of journalist Matthew Hill, and its DNA proved human.
“We had several fragments that we put into one big sequence and then we matched that against the database and we found human DNA,” Rob Ogden, of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, told the BBC. (Source : “The Strange Saga of the Stolen Hand, www.atlasobscura.com)
What about the other part of the evidence surrounding the Yeti – the scalp / skull ? Around the 1960s, the World Book Encyclopedia publisher initiated an expedition to the Himalayas, with Sir Edmund Hillary, the distinguished Everest conqueror, at the helm. Hillary aimed to resolve the yeti enigma, exploring whether it was a legend or a tangible being. Although the 1960 expedition did not uncover evidence, Hillary rigorously scrutinized supposed yeti remains in Nepal, including those from Pangboche. It was discovered by the scientists that the skull didn’t belong to some demon but to the Himalayan Serow, a mountainous goat found in the Alpine reaches of the Himalayas.
THE YETI’S GENETIC ENIGMA :
So, the footprints were of a bear, the hand was of a human and the scalp / skull was of a mountain goat ! Coming to few more stories surrounding the last pieces of physical evidence, in 2013, Oxford Geneticist Bryan Sykes issued a global challenge : provide any physical evidence of the Yeti for DNA analysis. He received 57 samples, selecting 36 for testing. Most samples matched birds (crows) or animals (horses, bears). But two intriguing samples from Ladakh and Bhutan matched to a polar bear’s genes, that was found on earth some 6.5 lakh years’ ago !!
Sykes hypothesized that the Yeti might be a hybrid of that prehistoric polar bear and a Himalayan brown bear. However, subsequent analysis by other scientists revealed that the Ladakh and Bhutan samples belonged to a sub-species of the Brown Bear. The Yeti’s genetic puzzle remained unsolved.
In 2017, another team of scientists examined the alleged body parts of a Yeti, after collecting samples like teeth, bones, hair, etc. from caves and monasteries located in the Himalayan region. Of the nine Yeti samples, eight samples were of the Himalayan Black bear / brown bear and the ninth sample was of a dog.
AN ENDURING ALLURE :
Despite substantial evidence debunking the Yeti’s existence, the legend endures. Why? Shiv Dhakal, author of “Folktales of Sherpa & Yeti,” suggests : “The Yeti folklore originated as cautionary tales, warning children against venturing alone into forests.” While other voices from the scientific community propose : “These myths teach us that knowledge comes from curiosity and bravery, not just formal education.” Daniel C. Taylor added, “The Yeti represents humans’ connection with the wild, fueling our fascination.”
Pertinently, the absence of conclusive evidence doesn’t negate the possibility of existence. As the proverb goes: ‘The absence of evidence, is not evidence of absence.’ This principle applies to Alien life, Bigfoot or Sasquatch, Loch Ness Monster and other captivating mysteries.
Probably, our love for enigmatic tales sustains the Yeti’s legend and makes me wonder at the end, “Who doesn’t love a mysterious story, shrouded in fear & fascination of the unknown?”
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. The author has gathered information from various sources, including books, articles, research papers, and online resources. The author does not warrant the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of the information and disclaims liability for any errors, omissions, or damages arising from its use.
