It is believed that meetings with the mysterious Bigfoot, or Yeti, take place in wild, inaccessible and deserted places. Yes this is true. But it turns out that mysterious creatures sometimes appear in densely populated areas, even on the outskirts of cities. What pushes them to do this? Curiosity or an unknown goal - to scout something and learn? What are they looking for away from their typical habitats? Eyewitnesses talk about such unusual encounters.
- Autumn 1980 in the city of Leninogorsk (now Ridder) in Altai was just beginning, and the weather was fine. I was thirteen years old. My father returned from work, and we went to pick mushrooms on the outskirts of the city, due to the peculiarities of the relief, divided into several districts divided among themselves. The regular bus of the twelfth route took us twenty minutes to the stop "Bor". It was about two hours before dark, when we went deep into the forest. The sun almost touched the mountains, and the light of the sunset lit up the treetops, creating an amazing picture of burning pine trees. Mostly boletus and boletus, but more often fly agarics. I walked in front, dabbled, talked with my father. Suddenly he abruptly cut me off in mid-sentence: "Shut up and go forward, but hurry!"
He constantly urged me on, saying that we should get off at the bus stop as soon as possible so as not to miss the bus. I took offense at my father and silently trotted along the forest path. A tall pine tree grew in front of the road itself, one of the branches of which hung over the path at a height of about two meters. I jumped up and tried to pull myself up on it. My father jerked me off, grabbed my arm tightly and almost at a run dragged me to the approaching bus.
Hopping on the bus and looking out the window, I almost screamed in fear. Against the background of the gloomy forest, an even darker humanoid figure of huge growth, covered with black hair, clearly stood out. This creature was standing, leaning its elbow on a pine branch on which I was trying to pull myself up. There was a general exclamation of surprise and horror. I saw the creature and the driver. The bus jerked off so hard that the passengers standing in the cabin were hit. At the next stop, Lespromkhoz, the bus did not even stop.
My father later said that this creature held onto us at the same distance for about ten minutes. He did not dare to run, and he could not predict my reaction, so he drove me forward, not allowing me to look back. He forbade me to tell my mother and sister about the meeting, not wanting to worry them. The next spring we came to that pine tree and, having measured the distance from the branch to the ground, came to the conclusion that Bigfoot is almost three meters tall. Now, as an adult, I understand what my father went through, and am amazed at his endurance and wisdom.
The uninvited guest of the pioneers
And Sergei Kazakov met with an unknown creature twice.
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- After finishing the seventh grade in 1989, my cousin Mikhail and I were sent to the pioneer camp named after Liza Chaikina near Leninogorsk, located in a pine forest. At the end of the season, 20 people from the two senior detachments were chosen for a hike with a guide along the Chernushka River, past the Moonstone to the waterfall and to Ivanovskie squirrels with an overnight stay. We prepared for two days, listened to various instructions on the rules of conduct.
On the morning of June 24, with backpacks on our backs, we went hiking. To the waterfall, the path went along the gorge, the path twisted from one bank of the river to another. The first halt was made at the waterfall. The forest, mainly fir, has noticeably thinned out. The most difficult part of the route began. We walked up a steep slope, in jerks for half a kilometer. The conductor in front blew the bugle, and everyone sat down to rest. Then we got over a snowy field and reached a high-mountain plateau. We rested, took water from a spring gushing from under a large black stone, and began to choose a place for the camp. The guys went to collect dry wood for the fire. At this height, cedars grew, and there were plenty of dry branches under them. We stacked the firewood in a pyramid, set up tents and sat down to dinner. After dinner, everyone scattered in all directions. Cameras were still rare for us then,and we just admired the nature and beautiful alpine flowers.
By the evening, everyone gathered around the fire, dug around the perimeter in accordance with all fire safety rules and with three buckets of water nearby. What could be more beautiful than tongues of flame when friends are next to you and your whole life is ahead? We sat by the fire, sang a few songs, and the counselors gave the command to extinguish the fire and get ready for bed. The noisy band went to the tents. Darkness fell, but we did not want to sleep, and Mikhail and I quietly left the tent, walked a hundred meters away and stopped in the grass at the very border of the strip of fog. Suddenly his face stretched out. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement to the left and turned my head there.
About fifteen meters past us, tilting his head down, slowly and absolutely silently moved a humanoid figure overgrown with dark hair, only very tall and slightly hunched over. We were numb and stood motionless, and the strange creature, not looking at us, retreated into the fog. We silently exchanged glances with Mikhail and rushed into the tent. Our words that we now saw Bigfoot were greeted with laughter. Then my first meeting with a mysterious creature took place.
Night tramp
- The second meeting took place four years later near the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. On a September morning, my friend and I gathered to relax in nature. For one ruble, a fisherman in his boat took us across the Irtysh River to the left bank. In two hours we climbed Mount Mayak and admired the panorama of the city from above. Then we descended along the southern sloping side of the mountain and soon reached the Ablaketka river, flowing through the gorge. Evening came, and we decided to spend the night. We set up a tent, boiled tea, dined with stew and canned fish, sat around the fire for a while and went to bed.
I woke up at about three o'clock in the morning from strange sounds. It seemed that upstream of the river, about a hundred meters away, someone was throwing large stones into the water. I pushed my sleeping friend, and we quietly got out of the tent. About twenty meters from the tent a river gurgled, and the sounds of stones hitting the water stopped. The fog was thick and it was cool. There were splashes of water - someone was walking in our direction. We froze, peering into the fog.
In the dim moonlight, a tall, dark creature slowly walked along the river, very similar to what I saw on the Ivanovskiye squirrels. It passed us by without slowing down. Hiding in the misty haze downstream of the river, this creature, apparently, got to the shore and headed up. Branches crunching on the mountainside could be heard. We stood for a long time without moving until we were convinced that the mysterious night visitor was not returning, and only then we went to the tent. At dawn, having drunk tea in a hurry, we quickly packed up our tent and our belongings, put on our backpacks and went towards the city.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №53. Author: Valery Kukarenko