Born in France and working in the USSR, a surgeon, mountaineer and cryptozoologist Maria-Zhanna Kofman (now she is 98 years old!) Devoted half of her long life to searching for Bigfoot, or Almasty, as he is called in Kabardino-Balkaria.
It was to her that local residents turned to every time they noticed something connected with Almasty. One reported that from afar he saw a fleeing figure, somewhat reminiscent of a yeti. Another showed huge footprints in the snow. The third brought in scraps of wool.
All this evidence of the existence of Bigfoot, Jeanne Kofman carefully collected and analyzed. She did not doubt the reality of the yeti, considering it a transitional species from monkey to man.
FIND AND CAPTURE
In the 1950s, reports began to come from Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan about encounters in the mountains with a creature resembling either a large monkey or a tall man covered with wool. In the end, there were so many messages that it was necessary to somehow react to them.
And in order to close this issue, officials of the party elite instructed specialists from the USSR Academy of Sciences to prepare a competent expedition with an expanded composition, which, in particular, even included some party workers.
The scientific expedition was headed by a sociologist Boris Fedorovich Porshnev. And Zhanna Kofman was invited as a doctor. And in 1958, scientists went to the Pamirs. As a result of a survey of 200 residents from different parts of the Caucasus, even the most inveterate skeptics from among party officials were convinced that Bigfoot is a real creature. Therefore, the leadership of Dagestan was instructed to find and capture him.
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NIGHT ACCIDENT
True, nothing came of this venture. "Why?" - They once asked Zhanna Kofman, who, after the 1958 expedition, turned into the most tireless explorer of Bigfoot.
“Yes, for the reason,” the woman replied, “that he never stays in the same place. Today he was seen here, and the next day he should be searched for 10-30 kilometers from here. And if we take into account that a message from a peasant or a shepherd who has seen a yeti usually arrives with a great delay, then the search, and even more so, the capture of almasty becomes almost hopeless."
In addition, Bigfoot is very careful. If it is shown to people, then at an unattainable distance: it is not really possible to photograph it, let alone see it. Jeanne herself saw Bigfoot several times, but also from a distance. But she became his chronicler.
Using her own funds, she founded in 1960 in Kabardino-Balkaria, in the village of Sarmakovo, the base of the search expedition, which operated until recently. Over the course of 40 years of tireless research, tens of thousands of facts and stories related to the Yeti have accumulated in her diaries. And even more - eyewitness accounts. Here are just a few of them.
SHORT MEETINGS
In 1989, an enthusiast from Kharkov - Panchenko - was very lucky. One of the local residents told him that Almasty was taking care of his sick horse and visiting it at night. (For some unknown reason, the Yeti are very kind to horses: they take care of them and even braid their manes.)
The researcher decided to take advantage of the situation and hid in the barn in the evening. Soon, in the silence, footsteps were heard. And a moment later Panchenko saw Almasty in the doorway. He approached the horse, which did not show the slightest concern at the same time, began stroking it and muttering something affectionately in his ear. Panchenko decided to get a better look at the guest, but awkwardly turned in his hiding place. This was enough for the Almasty, like a spring, to rush to the exit. Only he was seen …
A group of Muscovites led by A. Danilov had a chance to meet not just a Yeti, but a whole family. Mom and her cubs were eating corn on the cob in the collective farm field. But at the sight of people, the female hominid immediately began to drive the children into the thickets of corn, cautiously turning towards the uninvited guests.
The kid, as it should be in childhood, rebelliously dodged and strove to examine the "incomprehensible creatures" - researchers. But the mother mastered them. People showed respect for the family - no one began to pester him with their curiosity.
According to the statistics kept by Zhanna Kofman, people were lucky enough to observe Bigfoot cubs only seven times. Most often, the kids walked alone. Although, perhaps, their accompanying adults simply did not come into sight of eyewitnesses. They are masters of disguise. In addition, the Yeti learned from their bitter experience that a rendezvous with a person does not always end in good.
According to Zhanna Kofman, five such meetings ended in the murder of Almasta. Four more times people managed to catch the yeti. True, then they were released. Also known about three cases of captivity Bigfoot. Yeti were tamed, and they lived in highlanders' families, serving and doing hard work.
LEGEND OF THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS
Zhanna Kofman could talk about Almasty endlessly, but she never repeated herself and did not fall into fanaticism. No matter how skeptical the official science may be about the subject of its research, Jeanne herself has always remained primarily a scientist-researcher, far from romance. She traveled on horseback or by car and walked around almost the entire Caucasus with a backpack on her shoulders.
Her lively character and sociability opened the doors of houses and the souls of the highlanders to her. From them she heard a lot of interesting things about Almasty. Almost all of the information about Bigfoot that we know today has become public knowledge largely thanks to the many years of efforts of Jeanne Kofman.
She is now 98 years old and has recently been confined to a wheelchair. But in the North Caucasus, legends are still made about her. Enthusiasts come here from all over the country and even from abroad to try their hand at finding the most mysterious creature in the world - Bigfoot.
Irina ZHUKOVA, magazine "Mysteries of the XX century", №16 2017