The Yeti
In the footsteps of the Abominable Snowman.
All over the world there are strange stories about fierce wildmen. Giant ape-like creatures that supposedly live in remote areas, hiding in the wilderness. In Mongolia there are stories about the Almas. The Sasquatch and Bigfoot are a part of the Northwest-American folklore. From Siberia come reports of the elusive giant Chuchunya.
Out of all these so-called cryptids, the Himalayan Yeti is unquestionably the most famous.
The Yeti has been a part of the Tibetan mythology for hundreds of years. The Western world didn’t discover it until the 19th century when the British began exploring the Himalayas.
The Dr Oudot fotprint. From the Dr Cagliostro collection.
Among the many other mountaineers who have reported evidence of the Yetis existence, are Edmund Hillary and the sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who were the first to climb Mount Everest in 1953. Hillary claimed that he saw footprints made by the creature an altitude of more than 19 000 ft.
The casted footprints found in Dr. Cagliostros collections today were purchased in 1954 and have allegedly belonged to a Dr Jacques Oudot. Dr Oudot participated in Maurice Herzog's Annapurna Expedition in 1950. The cast is about 19 inches long and 8,5 inches wide. According to estimates, a creature that makes such a print should be almost 10 feet tall and weigh nearly 40 stone.
In 1953 Dr Oudot tried to publish an article about his findings in the Journal de Chirurgie, but was refused. He was killed shortly afterwards in a car accident, only 39 years old.