A hundred years ago, no one would have doubted hearing a story about a meeting with a little man - a gnome or a brownie, but today such stories are perceived as fables or products of the mind of a person with irrepressible imagination …
Scara-Brae in Scotland has become one of the mysteries of modern archeology. Scientists attribute the structures under the hills to the late Neolithic era. The creators of underground houses did not know metal products. They made do with only stone tools. The diminutive size of the dwellings suggests that their inhabitants were small in stature. Their fate, alas, is sad. The Celts who came to the British Isles drove the small people to the periphery - to the northern lands.
Meanwhile, there is nothing implausible in this: in the folklore of any country, you will surely find stories about small underground or forest inhabitants. In Europe, these were gnomes who lived underground and guarded untold treasures. For many generations, the inhabitants of the Indonesian island of Flores have been transmitting chilling stories about the mysterious ibu-gogo, whose name translated from the local dialect means "a grandmother who eats everything." This bloodthirsty creature is described as a small hunched man who walks with his head bowed low, and constantly mutters under his breath. It is unlikely that such similar characters would appear in folk legends without real prototypes.
Until recently, scientists believed that the prototype of ibu-goo was the macaque, but a few years ago another candidate appeared for this role. During excavations in the large limestone cave of Lian Bois in the western part of the island of Flores, researchers discovered a well-preserved skeleton of an ancient man, whose height was barely one meter. Archaeologists Morwood and Radien Sojono, who participated in the excavation, brought in their colleague Peter Brown, who christened the found hominid "the hobbit".
This find shook the scientific world. The presence of dwarf forms of animals on the islands was known to scientists earlier. This fact was explained in animals by the need to adapt to an insufficient amount of food, but such an adaptation mechanism in human-like creatures was revealed for the first time. The most heated debate, however, has arisen over the size of the brain and the alleged intelligence of these midgets. Skeptics argue that creatures with such "chicken" brains could not create such skillfully made arrowheads, awls and spearheads that were found at the excavation site.
Chinese pygmies
Witnesses of meetings with little people are no less than with the famous Yeti. In 1958, Australian traveler Steve Hunter noticed several small monkeys near the village of Putao on the Burmese-Chinese border, rushing at the sight of him into the depths of the forest thicket. Hunter tried to chase the animals, but stone-tipped darts rained down on him everywhere, smashing his glasses, camera lens, and holes in his clothes. Stopping the pursuit, he contented himself with collecting darts on the battlefield as trophies, which he subsequently displayed at a press conference. He also claimed that he was able to make out one of the attackers: it was a creature about 30 cm tall in a yellow headband and purple loincloth.
After this event, they recalled the findings of Francis Dutton, an employee of the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography at Harvard University. In 1948, he discovered an abandoned city near the Chinese border. Unfortunately, most of the trophies he found were lost, including the skeleton of an adult man only about 45 cm tall, miniature knives, hoes, pots and other items. To Boston, he managed to take only a fragment of a tiny dagger and a drawing of the discovered settlement. Perhaps that is why his words were received with skepticism.
However, in some hearts, these events found a lively response: Martin Tracy, a famous ethnologist who studied the life of the pygmies of Asia and Oceania, immediately went to the indicated area to discover and describe a hitherto unknown tribe of micropygmies. In 1959, the scientist arrived in Burma to then make his way to China, from where he managed to convey a letter with the message about the discovery of an amazing tribe of little people in the Sikan Mountains. Unfortunately, this was the only news from him: the ethnologist never returned from China, and to all inquiries about the whereabouts of the scientist, the PRC authorities said that they did not know anything about Martin Tracy.
Fourteen years in captivity
Even more fantastic is the story of the Soviet fighter pilot Vasily Yegorov, who was shot down in 1945 over the territory of Mongolia. He managed to eject and land in a small grove, where he fell asleep near the stream. He woke up with the feeling that he was tied. This was quite true: Vasily's arms and legs were tightly tightened with translucent material. Small creatures thronged around him that might have been mistaken for monkeys if not for their clothes. Subsequently, he learned that this tribe called itself hanyangi. The tallest men were no more than 45 cm tall, and women barely reached 40 cm.
The thirsty pilot was given an unknown bitter drink by the Lilliputians, which plunged him into a deep sleep, and when he woke up, he felt much better, only the back of his head hurt a little. Having felt the sore spot, Vasily discovered a blotch of sticky material, but did not touch it, deciding that the small people did not wish him harm, but were simply trying to heal him with his own methods. From that moment on, the pilot felt a strong attachment to these strange creatures.
Hanyangs lived in underground caves, where mushrooms unknown to Europeans were planted. They ate them themselves and fed Vasily. The mushrooms only looked the same, but they tasted like meat, then bread, cheese, or some other unfamiliar but tasty products. How much time Egorov spent in the company of cavemen, he did not realize. Sometimes Vasily came to the surface, mostly at night - his eyes were also accustomed to the gloom.
Once, when he was on the surface, a thunderstorm began, lightning struck next to him, and Yegorov lost his orientation in space. A few days later, Mongolian cattle breeders picked him up and took him to Russian geologists, who transported the compatriot to his homeland.
It was then that it became clear that it was 1959, which means that Yegorov lived with the hanyanga for 14 years. Nobody believed his stories about the dwarf people, everything was attributed to the dull reason and the consequences of being held captive by other (more real) hostile forces. During the examination, doctors found that Yegorov, who was suffering from attacks of headaches, had a brain tumor and traces of craniotomy in the occipital region. The tumor, which turned out to be an accumulation of parasitic fungi, was safely removed, and Vasily returned to normal human life in the Voronezh region.
It turns out that the hanyangs were able to grow not only edible mushrooms, but also to implant some fantastic species that could control human consciousness into the brain. After all, Vasily was sincerely attached to his exploiters and voluntarily remained in captivity with them for 14 years.
Do not disturb the sleep of the mound
By the way, in the same Voronezh region, in the village of Vlasovka, Gribanovsky district, archaeologists discovered a mysterious labyrinth hidden in the bowels of the mound. This area has long been famous for the abundance of magicians and priests, and then there is a magic labyrinth, built, according to scientists, by people whose height did not exceed 80 cm, and the weight was 25 kg! In the center of this structure, a human skull was found with traces of trepanation - the regular triangular hole was clearly of artificial origin, and the smooth edges indicated that the operation was carried out on a living person, and successfully. The patient lived for a long time. Despite such interesting finds, another 16 years passed before the next expedition. But in the end, a team of enthusiasts got together, outlined several places where underground structures could most likely be,and began excavating a small hill in the forest.
It was not possible to hire workers from the local population, even with a shortage of cash, no one agreed to excavate the mound. Meanwhile, in the camp, a real devilry began: in the morning at his bedside one of the researchers found a fresh horse head that had come from nowhere. It was like a warning from local sorcerers: 16 years ago, horse skulls were discovered by archaeologists on altars in the mysterious Vlasov labyrinth. The origin of the horse's head was never clarified, and in the meantime, the cars ran out of batteries, and the batteries in electronic watches, telephones and flashlights ran out. Frightened people, without waiting for further development of events, packed their things and started on their way back. In the evening the archaeologists were already in Voronezh, but only two of the seven members of the expedition survived until the morning. Doctors diagnosed mushroom poisoning,although the survivors claim that none of them ate the mushrooms. It seems that little people really do not want the "big brothers" to penetrate their secrets.
Natalya IVANOVA
