The search for the relict hominid, or Bigfoot, which began in the last century, continues to this day. With a consistently negative result. Until now, researchers have not found a single living or dead specimen of this mysterious creature. There are no high-quality and reliable photo or video materials. Moreover, sometimes for researchers, search expeditions end tragically. A vivid confirmation of this is the sad fate of Vladimir Mikhailovich Pushkarev.
Either kul, or chuchunaa
In the circle of domestic cryptozoologists V. M. Pushkarev is considered an almost cult figure. And this is despite the fact that at the time of his disappearance without a trace he was not even 40 years old. The young researcher did not have time to leave behind himself the final scientific work. Only a few articles published in such magazines as "Around the World" and "Technics - Youth".
Vladimir Pushkarev, a geologist with the first specialty, encountered the phenomenon of Bigfoot in 1972, during an expedition to the lower reaches of the Pechora and Izhma rivers in the Komi ASSR. Local residents told him legends about Yag-Morte, a wild forest man of enormous stature, covered with black or gray wool. Other features of this creature include powerful musculature, long hair, piercing laughter and, for some reason, six toes.
This topic seriously fascinated the recent graduate of Rostov State University, and he decided to collect evidence of meetings with wild hairy people. Fortunately, work still had to be done in the North - in the region, in this respect, the richest. Almost all indigenous peoples inhabiting the taiga and tundra still have their own legends about forest giants. Let them be called differently, but they are actually talking about the same thing. So, for example, the name “kul” is used among the Khanty. The Nenets know Bigfoot as "tungu", and the Mansi call him "menk" and "compolen". Finally, in the northern part of Yakutia, Pushkarev repeatedly wrote down stories about the Chuchuna.
Mysterious Land Surveyor
Still, Pushkarev considered the territory of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug the most promising for field research. It was from there that the scientist brought the story of the famous Land Surveyor. The story was told by her former village teacher Marfa Efimovna Senkina. Even before the October Revolution, he and his father often went to the fields in the Ob north and the Yamal Peninsula, stopping in a tent with an old Khanty man near the village of Puiko. And then one day in early September, for several nights in a row, the owner's dogs raised a terrible bark. When Marfa Efimovna asked about the reasons for such a commotion, the old man, lowering his voice, told her that the whole reason was in the Surveyor. Like, he always comes at this time of the year. And he offered to see for himself. The woman agreed.
The next night they emerged from the chum and waited, probably for an hour. Suddenly, like the last time, the dogs barked heart-rendingly, and in the light of the rising moon Marfa Efimovna saw a tall figure with red glowing eyes, which could easily break through a two-meter tall hat, towering over him. When one of the dogs dared to approach the night stranger, he threw her away with one blow of his hand and disappeared into the darkness. To the question of the taken aback by the woman, is it not a devil, the old khant was terribly frightened and literally shouted:
“Don't you dare say that word. You will call him. Just call the Surveyor!
There is an obvious folklore subtext here, which prohibits calling evil spirits by name.
Fatal expedition
But back to the hero of our article. Pushkarev, carried away by the topic of searching for Bigfoot, left his previous job, entered the biological faculty of Kalinin (now Tver) University and continued to organize expeditions. Mostly individual. In 1977, after returning from another trip to the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Vladimir Mikhailovich made a report at a seminar on the relict hominid, in which he urged to record all reports of meetings with the unknown without exception. Even those that used to pass through the category of frank stories and were rejected by scientists precisely because of the taint of mysticism. The position, on the one hand, is controversial, and on the other, at least original. One way or another, but it was his passion for non-standard research methods that ultimately ruined Pushkarev.
The next year, he met with some Moscow psychics, who predicted a meeting with Bigfoot in the area of Lake Yaroto, in the Khulga River basin. Perhaps these same "well-wishers" advised the scientist not to take a gun, an ax, or even a knife with him! It sounds incredible, but, according to the testimony of another famous cryptozoologist Maya Genrikhovna Bykova, on his last expedition in October 1978, Pushkarev single-handedly set off along the river, which was beginning to cool down in an inflatable boat and in completely unsuitable clothes - in a not very warm jacket and rubber boots. He did not have a gun, a knife, or an ax with him. And this is not a dilettante city dweller who has read a lot of science fiction, but an experienced geologist who has had more than one field season behind him. Didn't he understand that he was going to certain death? There are only two explanations. Either psychics convinced Vladimir Mikhailovich of his invulnerability, or by the time of the fatal campaign he was a man, to put it mildly, not entirely adequate. Obsessed with an obsessive dream.
The truth is now impossible to establish, since Pushkarev himself never returned from that expedition. To be more precise, it disappeared without a trace. At different times, in three places on Khulga, a rubber boat, a tent, a sleeping bag, salt, burnt socks and two notes, which did not clarify the matter, were found. Until now, the true reasons for the death of a talented, original scientist continue to remain a mystery.
I got in touch
In general, mysterious deaths and tragic accidents are not uncommon among cryptozoologists and cryptobiologists. In the 1980s, an engineer-hydrologist Oleg Vladimirovich Sharov intercepted a peculiar palm from Vladimir Pushkarev. His main work, too, perfectly matched the passing search for a relict hominid. In 1989, Sharov and his wife were on an expedition on the Amguema River in the Iultinsky District of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. From hunters and fishermen, the spouses have repeatedly heard about the appearance in the area of a tall humanoid creature, completely covered with light gray wool. As a rule, eyewitness testimony was limited. However, Oleg Sharov was lucky (was he lucky?) To personally encounter a fossil relic.
On October 20, he performed observations one and a half kilometers from the meteorological station. The weather was bad. Sleet was falling, a piercing wind was blowing. And now, going down from the hill, the engineer suddenly saw a gray wiggling figure in front of him. Sharov thought of a bear, but then the figure straightened, transforming into a huge ape-like creature with long, muscular arms hanging below the knees. The meeting lasted ten to twenty seconds, after which the Bigfoot (and it was, apparently, he was) turned around and, running down the slope of the hill, disappeared in a veil of falling snow.
Direct observation of the relict hominid inspired Oleg Sharov. The next year, again with his wife Victoria, he went to the tributaries of the Ob River to collect legends about the forest demons Menks that were common among the local Mansi. However, the aborigines flatly refused to talk on this topic. At the mere word "mank" they fell silent. Obviously, they were afraid to bring trouble. But Sharov, apparently, was not afraid. And in vain.
A year later, he sent his friend, cryptobiologist Valentin Borisovich Sapunov, a message from the taiga with the following content: “I got in touch with Bigfoot. I'll bring some sensational material soon. But alas. The sensation did not take place. Soon after the first, the news came that Oleg Sharov's heart had stopped for unclear reasons …
And a very egregious case occurred in 1983 in the Siberian tundra. An avalanche buried an expedition of eight (!) Moscow researchers in a mountain crevice. The bodies were found only in the spring. The dead were also looking for Bigfoot. By the way, in the opinion of local residents, he sent the avalanche that killed the Muscovites.
One can believe in a relict hominid or not, however, going to a remote and little-explored area, one should think over the equipment of the expedition to the smallest detail. And the selection of participants too. Neither mountains, nor taiga, nor tundra forgive frivolity.
Secrets of the XX century. Andrey Vorfolomeev