The stories that will be discussed in this investigation may seem like echoes of Russian fairy tales to a modern tech-savvy person. However, they are completely real and modern.
It is believed that in our time everything on planet Earth is known - running, crawling, flying and growing, and only some small living creatures can be discovered. It wasn't so - new species of animals (even quite large ones) are constantly being discovered in different parts of the world.
Some finds have already become familiar and even entered the school curriculum. For example, at one time the discovery of giant monitor lizards on the island of Komodo became a sensation.
The Komodo lizard was once considered a mythical creature
They were first seen in 1910, then described in detail by a pilot who accidentally got to the island in 1912. The first expedition to Komodo confirmed the truth of the messages, and in 1926 it was already established that monitor lizards, in addition to Komodo, live on several other islands. In 1962, during the Soviet-Indonesian expedition with the participation of I. S. Darevsky lizards were counted - there were 1,500 of them only on the islands of Komodo and Rinja.
And sometimes discoveries resemble the famous novel The Lost World. For example, in the mid-1960s, in the Venezuelan jungle near the border with Brazil, a huge depression was discovered from an airplane. Only 10 years later, scientists had a chance to descend to the bottom of this depression. In its twilight, at a depth of about 300 meters, unusual trees up to 30 meters high were found, many other plants unknown to science, some of them were insectivorous.
If the matter concerned only animals and plants, everything would be somewhat simpler. However, there are also unknown tribes of people. According to the famous zoologist, traveler and cryptozoologist Ivan (Ivan) Sanderson, scattered tribes of the Cape race live in the tropical forests of Africa and South Asia, more ancient than the Negro, and which is considered extinct - these are Bushmen and pygmy peoples, real forest people, biologically, like no other, adapted to life in the jungle, possessing extrasensory perception and therefore sensing strangers at a considerable distance and having time to hide in advance.
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However, the most widely known object of the study of cryptobiology is the relict hominoid, or, in common parlance, "Bigfoot". This is a secret creature, very close to the human race and an integral part of popular culture. Now there is no longer any need to give detailed descriptions of the appearance of these creatures - all reading people are perfectly familiar with them from publications about meetings with them in the wild forests of the mountainous regions of our country and other regions of the world. This is how a typical representative of this secret biological species looks like.
Reconstruction of the appearance of "Bigfoot"
Of course, we are not in the Himalayas or even in the Tien Shan, where such meetings take place much more often. However…
The territory of the Samara region, X century A. D
In 921 - 923, with the mission of the Arab embassy, Ahmed Ibn-Fadlan drove through our places. It is the pen of this traveler who describes the different places of the Trans-Volga region. From his works it is known that in those days huge wild people lived in the Volga forests, having no material culture and leading an animal lifestyle.
Back in Baghdad, a captive Turk told him that in the Volga region, at the headquarters of the Bulgar king, "a man of an extremely huge constitution" was being held in captivity. The traveler asked to show him the giant. But, unfortunately, the giant was recently killed because of his violent and vicious disposition - Ibn Fadlan was shown the remains. The giant was considered feral, he was caught far to the north, in the country of Visu (from the name of this country, you can guess that this is the whole - a country in the Pechora region).
A hundred years later, the capital of Volga Bulgaria was visited by another Arab traveler Abu Hamid al-Garnati and again met there a giant, but already alive. He left a written testimony: “And I saw in Bulgar in 530 (1135 - 1136) a tall man from the descendants of the Adites, whose height is more than seven cubits, named Danki. He took a horse under his arm like a man took a little lamb. And his strength was such that he broke the leg of a horse with his hand and tore the meat and sinews like others tear greens. And the ruler of the Bulgar made him a chain mail, which was carried in a cart, and a helmet for his head, like a cauldron. When there was a battle, he fought with an oak club, which he held in his hand like a stick, but if he hit the elephant with it, he would kill him. But he was kind, modest; when he met me, he greeted me and greeted me respectfully,although my head did not reach his waist, may Allah have mercy on him."
Agree, anything can change in more than a thousand years, for example, whole species of animals can disappear or change their place of residence. At first, I thought so about the relict hominoid. Was once, and then, probably, disappeared … Extinct. He left for the Himalayas or the Tien Shan, where he is often met even now. Moreover, now - in our utterly inhabited places - he would hardly be comfortable. But how wrong we were when we thought so!
Note: Scientists call primitive monkeys Kuominids, humanoid (human-like) visitors arriving from unknown worlds on strange aircraft are called humAnoids, while hominoids (ie, ape-like) - that would be correct to call "Bigfoot", or yeti. However, the last two names are still more familiar.
1977 year. Forest near the city of Zhigulevsk
In the late 1990s, we received a letter from Belarus. It was this that made me think that the past millennium has not changed so much in the world around us. The letter was written by a resident of the city of Zhigulevsk in the Samara region (she later moved to distant Minsk).
Here it is, literally: “It was in 1977. July or August, I don't remember exactly. We somehow went for a walk in the forest, in the mountains. Suddenly I had a strange feeling - we are not alone. Someone else is following us. But strangely, the crackle of dry twigs underfoot is not heard. I look around - nobody. And no matter how much we walked, I constantly felt someone's presence. I shared my feelings with my companion, but he laughed at me, said that I was a coward. At least he doesn't feel anything like that. We found a thick hazel and began to pick the nuts, but the nuts were mostly wormy, and my friend and I parted a decent distance from each other. For a while, I forgot about my recent feelings. And now, as again, especially strongly, with every cell of my body I felt someone's gaze on me. I involuntarily broke away from the branch I had chosen and … was stunned. A strange creature stood literally six or seven steps away from me. Man is not man, Monkey is not monkey. Who is it?! The creature is covered with long, but sparse hair, from head to toe, translucent body, thin, but with well-developed muscles. Well, neither give nor take - a forest man. About two meters tall. I do not remember. I remember that tall, close-set eyes sparkled from deep sockets. He stood directly opposite me, openly and for some reason I did not feel any fear. He stood and stared at me so intently. But my stupid ignorant human nature! A few seconds, and I called my friend's name. Not because it’s scary, but because we scream forever about and without reason … And he disappeared as soon as he failed … "The creature is covered with long, but sparse hair, from head to toe, translucent body, thin, but with well-developed muscles. Well, neither give nor take - a forest man. About two meters tall. I do not remember. I remember that tall, close-set eyes sparkled from deep sockets. He stood directly opposite me, openly and for some reason I did not feel any fear. He stood and stared at me so intently. But my stupid ignorant human nature! A few seconds, and I called my friend's name. Not because it’s scary, but because we scream forever about and without reason … And he disappeared as soon as he failed … "The creature is covered with long, but sparse hair, from head to toe, translucent body, thin, but with well-developed muscles. Well, neither give nor take - a forest man. About two meters tall. I do not remember. I remember that tall, close-set eyes sparkled from deep sockets. He stood directly opposite me, openly and for some reason I did not feel any fear. He stood and stared at me so intently. But my stupid ignorant human nature! A few seconds, and I called my friend's name. Not because it’s scary, but because we scream forever about and without reason … And he disappeared as soon as he failed … "He stood directly opposite me, openly and for some reason I did not feel any fear. He stood and stared at me so intently. But my stupid ignorant human nature! A few seconds, and I called my friend's name. Not because it’s scary, but because we scream forever about and without reason … And he disappeared as soon as he failed … "He stood directly opposite me, openly and for some reason I did not feel any fear. He stood and stared at me so intently. But my stupid ignorant human nature! A few seconds, and I called my friend's name. Not because it’s scary, but because we scream forever about and without reason … And he disappeared as soon as he failed …"
Cryptobiologist V. B. Sapunov
So we were wrong in thinking that the Yeti would never again be found in our area. After this letter, there were also reports of eyewitnesses, made literally here and now, but more about them. Some of the details told to us by eyewitnesses made it scary. But it was more important to figure out what's what. That is why the first guest of the first scientific and cultural forum "Samarskaya Luka: Legends and Reality" (2006) was a guest from St. Petersburg, professor of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University, Doctor of Biological Sciences and famous Russian cryptobiologist Valentin Borisovich Sapunov.
Several evenings, which Valentin Borisovich were not busy with with meetings with inquisitive Togliatti residents, we devoted to a detailed analysis of eyewitness reports, which by that time had accumulated about two dozen.
Yes, he also listened with considerable surprise to stories about encounters with a relict hominoid in the Samara forests. According to his experience, the Yeti cannot be a permanent resident here - maybe only by chance passers-by on the way, for example, from the Karelian forests to the endless taiga expanses of Siberia. However, all the details, from the behavioral features of the Yeti and up to the most mystical capabilities of this creature, were also confirmed in his richest experience.
By the way, here is what VB Sapunov said when he was at the forum in Togliatti: “For many years I have been dealing with issues related to the so-called Bigfoot. Repeatedly in different places of the planet I followed in his footsteps, but each time he escaped not only from capture, but also from the camera lens. It did not disappear without a trace, leaving quite real traces of life - prints on the ground of feet, and sometimes hands, bites on trees, shreds of wool, even, sorry, poop. These findings and the circumstances of the meetings convinced me that the problem has two aspects. The first is biological. The available materials are quite enough to describe a biological species, classify it as a primate order, and place it between humans and higher apes. But there is another aspect of the problem. Some of the properties of this object are not correctly explained:his amazing elusiveness, the ability to strangely influence the psyche of people. Often, witnesses spoke of the ability to appear out of nothing and dissolve into thin air. Over the years, I considered Bigfoot as a purely biological object and, accordingly, built a search strategy. In recent years, I began to come to the conclusion that a different approach to the problem is needed …"
This very “different approach” made it possible to reveal amazing things and show that in the legends of both the Russian people and many other peoples of our planet there is a huge amount of information about the relict hominoid, encrypted in mythological language. And even in the lines of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin "There are miracles: there the goblin wanders, the mermaid sits on the branches …" we are not talking about the green-haired beauty - the friend of the water one. But more on that later. In the meantime - a few more eyewitness accounts of the "Bigfoot" in the Samara region. By the way, in the 19-20th centuries in the Samara region, hominoids were noted in Borsky, Bogatovsky, Syzransky and other regions marked on this map.
The map shows the places where the relict hominoid was observed
Samara region, near the city of Chapaevsk, February 1930
Eyewitness - M. S. Lurie, his story was published by the well-known cryptozoologist Maya Bykova in the journal "Technics for Youth", in No. 9 for 1988: “An incident clearly emerged in my memory, under the impression of which I was up until the Patriotic War. In February 1930, as a student, … on mobilization he was sent to the commune "Flame of the Revolution", which is 60 versts from the city of Chapaevsk … In the first hour of the night, together with the employee of the GPU, who joined us, the train set off … The area was open, heavily rugged … The sleigh crawled uphill, then rolled down. The moon was full, completely cloudless, but very windy. In some angles, the snow sparkled dazzlingly. Then they began to come across rather dense clumps of trees, and then significant tracts of forest. The road never went through the forest, but everything along the edge. At one site the horses began to worry, and when asked about the reason, the driver replied that "here the wolves are playing pranks" … Further, however, the horses carried. The road went just along the edge of a completely invisible forest area. At a bend, the front sleds turned over. The horse began to snore and thrashed, then stopped … Suddenly, a numb horror seized me. Looking into the face of the companion turned to me, I saw his distorted face, looking past me behind my back. My feet felt like cotton. I was numb, and I didn't have the strength to turn or even turn my head back. But nevertheless, apparently, at some minimum angle, my head nevertheless turned, and with peripheral vision, steps 12-15, I saw a creature: two-legged, as they say now, of basketball height. With legs wide apart, hands reaching knees. Wide,probably in two human sizes, shoulders. No neck. The head is massive, tapering upward. Overgrown with wool. It was all clearly visible, since it was illuminated by the moon … I did not see the devil of a face or muzzle, I only saw evil, burning red fire, two wide-set eyes … All this vision took a fraction of a second. A GPU officer who was facing me grabbed a revolver from his bosom and fired several times offhand in the direction of the creature … Whether he hit the creature or not, I don't know. Again, with my peripheral vision, I saw a creature running towards the forest. Stooped, it ran without bending its knees, swinging its arms synchronously with the movements of the legs - right leg, right arm … Then it disappeared into the forest … When everyone calmed down a little, the carters said that it was a "highway", that he does not live here, but comes here in winter. But not every year. Bullying the cattle. But I don't remember touching people."
The 1930-1940s are generally characterized by repeated observations of hominoids in the forests of the Zhiguli mountains. But not only these years.
1993, the cliff of the Zhigulevsky mountains near the village of Shiryaevo
During the trip on the Omik along the Zhiguli shores on a warm summer morning on the way to Shiryaevo, the Togliatti woman Valentina V. came closer to the board and gasped! - on an almost vertical slope of the mountain, a huge "Bigfoot" got out on all fours from a cave, straightened up (I just want to add - he stretched and yawned, but what was not, that was not), deftly moved to the nearest area overgrown with small fishing line and then disappeared from sight.
Zhiguli - Zhiguli, but imagine how you will feel if such a hairy "relative of a person" meets you on the streets of our hometown?
1995, the city of Togliatti, Central District, near Leo Tolstoy Street
A resident of the Central District of the city of Togliatti, having sent her son-in-law with her dog for a morning walk, did not at all expect that this walk would turn into an adventure for them, which venerable zoologists have been looking for for years. Enjoying the morning fresh air, the young man and his dog walked not so far from the house - in the area of Lev Tolstoy Street on the side that goes to the Avtozavodskoye Highway. Suddenly the dog growled, rearing the fur on the nape, and dragged the owner to the forest plantation. It turns out that a creature was quickly fleeing across the field towards the trees, one to one similar to the Yeti. Having restrained the dog, the young man decided not to tempt fate and return home. But interest turned out to be higher than caution. Since it was raining shortly before the walk, the whole family went to the observation site, hoping to find traces of the fugitive. And the search was crowned with success. On the road dirt, we managed to find several prints of large feet, the shape of which was quite characteristic - similar to human footprints, but with an almost indistinct arch and with the thumb set aside. And the size of the footprints (fifty centimeters each) clearly indicated that they were not at all a fan of barefoot walks …
For another of our townspeople, fate prepared a very unusual surprise on the night of December 31, 1989. What she saw suggests that the Yeti possesses not only the usual, let's say, paranormal abilities, but also those that do not fit into the framework of even the most daring ideas about the capabilities of a living creature (no matter how this creature looks).
Togliatti city, territory of the Northern industrial hub, 1989
So, being already a pensioner, A. M. worked as a watchman in one of the institutions located in the area of the complex of chemical plants. At night, having heard an incomprehensible growing rumble, she went to the window of the first floor and saw that something was heading towards the front entrance, which, upon closer inspection, in the light of the driveway lamp, turned out to be a typical "Bigfoot." Its appearance coincided with the classical description of this creature, its height is more than 2 meters, the coat color is dark brown, the arms are long, the legs are disproportionately short, powerful. It was this creature that “hummed”. After stomping on the stairs, the creature moved on with the same sound. A few meters later, the creature jumped awkwardly several times and … flew, tilting its body at an angle of about 450.
On the freshly fallen snow, well-imprinted traces of this creature remained, their size was about 40 cm, five-toed, with a thumb far out of the way. These traces in the morning were examined by all employees of this institution who came to work. In the place of jumps, there were small funnel-shaped notches in the snow, and in the place from where the flight began, a funnel with a diameter of about half a meter gaped in the snow. Although this funnel with its lower end went into the frozen ground, there were no traces of upturned earth and snow either next to it, or in the immediate vicinity. The police were called, but the policeman did not bring any clarity to the night incident.
And the most recent observation of the relict hominoid was made quite recently on the side of the road leading to the city from ToAZ.
So who are they, these "snowmen"? If they are not monkeys (and facts are known when the yeti knew and consciously used a certain minimum of our vocabulary, and also had joint offspring with humans), then who? If they are still animals and are approximately in the same kinship with us as other humanoid apes, why are they seen so rarely, but all over the globe from the Northern Urals and Siberia to the Canadian spruce forests? And, at the same time, information about them permeates the entire human history from antiquity to the present day? And why did a well-founded assumption appear that in mythology the image of the Mermaid is very close to the image of Leshikha and is very close to such famous ancient mythological characters as satyrs, fauns, and even the ancient Greek god Pan?
The incomprehensible is always scary. I want to understand the incomprehensible, but when there is no necessary knowledge, then our imagination always gets to work - we conjecture, finish drawing, invent what was not, and as a result, we get a layer cake from real facts and our conjectures, which makes up the richest mythological picture of humanity … However, if you understand well, from the "puff pastry of history" created by the ancients, you can single out the real that formed its basis.
