Abominable Snowmen, Legend Come to Life

[Christian Kielbasa]

Abominable Snowmen, Legend Come to Life
by Ivan T. Sanderson
[1961]

One day this fall, my sister-in-law visited me. We were exploring the Santa Cruz mountains when we stumbled on the Bigfoot Museum, a little two-room tourist attraction in downtown Boulder Creek. We were being regaled by the proprietor with his tales of encounters with Bigfoot. I noticed this book on his shelf and asked him about it. "Oh, that's the Bigfoot 'Bible,'" he said, "Sanderson started it all." The Bigfoot Bible! I knew at that moment that I had to add it to this site.

Sanderson, (b. January 30, 1911, d. Feb. 19, 1973) was a naturalist and science writer. He wrote a number of lively books about his adventures searching for rare and 'exotic' species in Africa and the Caribbean. Born in Scotland, Sanderson later became a US citizen. He was schooled at Eton and Cambridge, with degrees in zoology, botany and geology, so he was hardly an outsider to the field. He admired the works of Charles Fort and coined the word cryptozoology in the early 1940s to describe the study of unknown animals. Sanderson could be skeptical, though, as befits a Fortean. His speculations on unknown primates were informed by critical thinking and his years of observation of animals in the wild.

This book was originally published in hardback in 1961 by Chilton, (better known for their automobile technical manuals). The Chilton edition has xv+505 pages, and lacks an index. Abominable Snowmen was reprinted in heavily abridged form in paperback by Pyramid Books in 1968, as 'Abominable Snowmen, Legend Come to Life,' and the subtitle 'An Account of Reports on the Existence of Ultra-Primitive Hominids on Five Contients,' in all 365 pages, including an index. This etext was based on the extended Chilton version, for copyright reasons.

PRODUCTION NOTES: Most of the map captions in this book were placed on the facing page, but I have moved them underneath the maps they describe. The plates, which originally appeared between page 78 and 79, have been moved after the Contents page.--J. B. Hare, November 17, 2008.


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[Christian Kielbasa]

Abominable Snowmen:
LEGEND COME TO LIFE

p. ii

OTHER BOOKS BY IVAN T. SANDERSON

Animal Treasure
Living Treasure
Caribbean Treasure
Follow the Whale
The Continent We Live On
Animal Tales, an Anthology

Reference
How to Know the North American Mammals
Living Mammals of the World
The Monkey Kingdom

Juveniles
Animals Nobody Knows
The Silver Mink
John and Juan in the Jungle

p. iii

Abominable Snowmen:
LEGEND COME TO LIFE
The Story of Sub-Humans
on Five Continents
from the Early Ice Age
Until Today
 
 
IVAN T. SANDERSON
F.L.S., F.R.G.S., F.Z.S.
 
 
Illustrated
CHILTON COMPANY • BOOK DIVISION
Publishers
PHILADELPHIA AND NEW YORK
[1961]
Scanned, proofed and formatted at sacred-texts.com, October–November 2008. This text is in the public domain in the US because its copyright was not renewed in a timely fashion as required by law at the time.

[Christian Kielbasa]

DEDICATION
To Bernard and Monique Heuvelmans

and

My own Alma

And also to the Following

Today finds a surprising host of assorted students in this odd field, but also a few professional scientists whose labors I would like first to note, at the same time thanking them for their long-standing encouragement, constructive criticism, and many forms of direct help, not only in this book but also in my other studies of similar matters. In addition to Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans, who has become the doyen of the whole business, these are most especially Professor W. C. Osman Hill, presently Prosector of the Zoological Society of London; Professor George A. Agogino, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wyoming; Professor Teizo Ogawa, Department of Anatomy, University of Tokyo; Professor B. F. Porshnev of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.; Professor Corrado Gini, President of the Institut International de Sociologie, Rome, Italy; and Dr. John Napier, of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine at the University of London, England. Dr. Waldimir Tschernezky, of Queen Mary's College, London, has lent me much invaluable advice; and Dr. Jorge Ibarra, Director of the National Museum of Guatemala, has pursued more specific details for me in his country.

There is, then, another category of students not primarily engaged in scientific pursuits but without whose labors little would be known about this subject, and without whose generous help this book could not have been written. This class is headed by Tom Slick, of San Antonio, Texas, whose work is more fully acknowledged in the course of my story. Next, J. W. Burns of San Francisco, who has spent over half a lifetime in pursuit of the Sasquatches, and John Green, newspaper publisher of Agassiz, B.C., on whose shoulders Mr. Bums' mantle has fallen. Then, there is my old school friend, W. M. (Gerald) Russell, and Peter Byrne, who separately and together did so much to clarify ABSMery in the Himalayan region. In the same class is my friend and associate, Kenneth C. (Cal) Brown.

In still another category is a devoted and more or less dedicated little band of my immediate associates. Foremost is my wife, who has worked with me for over a quarter of a century—in the field, in my researches, and on all my books—doing much more than merely typing and collating roomfuls of material.

Next, I would like to acknowledge two of the most remarkable young men I have had the pleasure and honor of meeting in scholarship—Rabbi Yonah N. Ibn Aharon and Umberto Orsi. Yonah is the recipient of degrees from the University of Yemen and a philologist of remarkable knowledge and talents, accredited to the U.N., who obtained his M.A. degree upon production of the first (and only) Basrai Aramaic Lexicon.

p. vi

[paragraph continues] He is, as detailed later, conversant with all the basic dialects upon which the larger number of languages of eastern Eurasia are today founded. Umberto Orsi has given me vast assistance via his specialty, bibliographical research. He is not just a literary sleuth, but a true bloodhound when it comes to rescuing rare items from the mazes of modern libraries. Without his invaluable assistance I would not have dared to issue this work. Then, there is Johanna Linch, who somehow reproduced all my maps, outside of office hours, in just two weeks. Then, too, our good friend, Raizel Halpins, who gave great help on the manuscript, merely out of kindness and her interest in the subject.

There come next three new friends who have given their own particular technical skills to immeasurably further this work, and I don't quite know how to thank them. They are, first, Ljubica Popovich and Benjamin Rothberg, both of Philadelphia, who translated some hundred thousand words of technical material from Russian originals of hitherto unpublished publications of the Special Commission of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Coming after these two stalwarts was Ethel Waugh, who transcribed their translations from tape recordings—including place names in goodness knows how many languages. To all of these, and particularly to Ben Rothberg upon whom the greatest onus devolved, I hereby give my sincerest thanks. Actually, these three together accomplished a work of considerable significance to anthropology, which will, I hope, soon see the light of day in complete and technical form.

I would like to say, also, that I have been the recipient of splendid guidance and encouragement from the Chilton Company—Book Division, both as a whole and from all its departments. They have kept a fine old publishing tradition in a bright new setting—a novel experience, and a most delightful one to a latter-day writer who has seldom enjoyed such co-operation in the past.

Finally, there is another army of good people, many named in the body of the story but many more are not named, who have furthered the cause of ABSMery generally by coming out with their own stories in face of ridicule and censure so extreme as sometimes to have resulted in loss of their jobs. These people are pioneers—if not, on occasion, actually martyrs —in their pursuit of truth and the disproof of "official" mendacity, prejudice, and stupidity. I can only pray that one day their fortitude will be rewarded with full popular and scientific recognition.

IVAN T. SANDERSON



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[Christian Kielbasa]

. vii

Foreword
The possible existence of the Yeti, Sasquatch, and other Abominable Snowman forms has long been a point of conjecture among travelers, naturalists, and scientists. While most of this evidence is circumstantial and inconclusive as yet, it provides a tantalizing mystery filled with enough interest and promise to warrant the attention of both serious students and casual readers.

In this book, Ivan T. Sanderson summarizes current world evidence regarding ABSMs (abominable snowmen), drawing from records and reports that are world-wide in scope and cover a broad period of time. For completeness he discusses all prevailing views, both pro and con, ranging from highly plausible accounts to reports that border on the absurd. The result is as thorough an evaluation of all known ABSM sightings as could possibly be compiled at this time.

My own approach to the ABSM problem was one of extreme skepticism. Three years ago I dismissed all such evidence as either hoax or legend, and in hopes of a confirmation of this viewpoint served as coordinator of laboratory research for several "abominable snowman" expeditions into the Himalayas. Today my skepticism is somewhat shaken, and I accept as plausible, perhaps even probable, the existence of the Yeti in the Tibetan plateau and view with growing interest the "global" sightings of similar creatures.

Since my own research has been in connection with the Himalayan Yeti, I will restrict my comments to this area alone. If I accept the results of serological tests, analysis of faeces for content and parasites, examination of hair, hide, and tracks and evaluation of mummified Yeti shrine items, then I must support the existence of a large unknown animal, the Yeti, in

p. viii

the Himalayas. However, the following question once disturbed my acceptance of this conclusion. Is it possible for any large animal to be sought systematically for over a decade without a single specimen being captured or killed?

For an example bearing on this question, I return to the Tibetan plateau. Here in Western Szechwan, China, on the very edge of the Tibetan border, a large animal, the Giant Panda, was once hunted unsuccessfully for over seventy years before one was captured alive. This search proves that a large animal can exist yet elude the best efforts of professional collectors to secure one. The story behind this hunt is fascinating.

In 1869, Abbé Armand David, a noted French missionary, observed a strange bear-like skin in Szechwan province located on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. This skin, much like that of a modest-size black and white bear, was the first tangible proof that the Bei-Shung (white bear) of Szechwan did actually exist. Excitedly, Father David, a long-time naturalist and conservationist, traveled to this animal's reported habitat, a high mountain bamboo forest, and engaged local hunters to secure a living specimen. In twelve days they returned. The hunters had captured a living Giant Panda, but since the animal proved troublesome in traveling, it was dispatched to make transportation more convenient. Although Father David was disappointed that he had failed to secure a living animal, he shipped the remains to the Paris Museum, providing the first tangible evidence that the "legendary" Bei-Shung actually existed and could be caught in the Szechwan bamboo forests.

Captivated by such evidence, several scientific institutions supported field teams staffed by professional collectors. The world waited to see which of several well-equipped expeditions to Szechwan would capture the first living specimen. This was in 1869. By 1900 the world was still waiting. Scientific interest was great, for the once mythical Bei-Shung had been given the scientific name, Ailuropoda melanoleucus, and a separate family of its own. In spite of professional excitement, no new Giant Pandas were even seen until 1915, and no new remains were obtained until 1929 when two sons of President Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr., and Kermit, shot one out of a hollow

p. ix

pine tree. By this time most zoologists had decided that the Panda was extinct, so that the Roosevelt shot, while killing a Giant Panda, at the same time punctured several scientific egos.

Assured that the Giant Panda was not extinct, several new expeditions were outfitted. Each contributed to the threat of extinction by shooting Giant Pandas, but living animals still defied capture. In 1931 a specimen was shot for the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and in 1934 another was killed for the American Museum of Natural History. Two other specimens were killed, one by Captain Brocklehurst in 1935 and the second by Quentin Young in 1936. In 1936 Floyd T. Smith managed to get a Giant Panda as far as Singapore before it died of natural causes. Finally, an inexperienced woman collector, Ruth Harkness, succeeded where the others had failed by capturing two live specimens, the first in 1937 and the second in 1938. Both animals survived the trans-Pacific trip and were sent to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. Within months the animals had captured the imagination of American youngsters, and stuffed Panda Bears are still considered a necessary part of college dormitory life.

In retrospect, the hunt for the Giant Panda serves as an important lesson in regard to animal collecting. From 1869 until 1929, a period of sixty years, a dozen well-staffed and well-equipped professional zoological collecting teams unsuccessfully sought an animal the size of a small bear in a restricted area. During this time not a single specimen living or dead was obtained. The lesson is clear. The Giant Panda lives in the same general area and at the same general elevation (6,000-12,000 feet) as the Yeti, yet this animal remained hidden for over sixty years. The Yeti can well be a similar case. At any rate, one can no longer dismiss the Yeti just because it has eluded moderate search for a single decade.

While admittedly no living Giant Panda was captured during an intensive seventy-year search, several animals were killed by gunfire during the last few years (1929-1936) of that period. Why don't we have similar reports of Yeti killings? The truth is we do, but for the most part these reports come from behind the Communist curtain and cannot be substantiated.

p. x

[paragraph continues] Nepal is the only country in the Free World with the Yeti ABSM form, and here killing a Yeti is a criminal offense with severe penalties. As a result, violators remain secret and reports are all but impossible to trace.

I have been asked if it is possible for modern science, fortified by great improvements in world transportation and communication, to miss completely authentic reports on the Yeti, if indeed such reports exist. It can be understood how the Bei-Shung could be mentioned in a seventh-century A.D. Chinese manuscript yet not be seen by any outsider until some 1200 years later. This was a period of an isolated and mysterious Far East—the land of the dragon, Shangri-La, the Great Wall, and the unknown oriental mind. The period from 1869 to 1929 was only relatively more progressive. Look how transportation has reduced our world since the time of the Model A Ford and the Spirit of Saint Louis. Look how communication has improved since the megaphone of Rudy Vallee and the early "talking pictures." Today our world is much smaller and nothing seems isolated any more. Could we find a case similar to the search for the Giant Panda which has occurred in more recent times?

Such a case would be the discovery of living Coelacanths in the Indian Ocean. Fossil remains of Coelacanth fish forms have been found in rocks of the Devonian Period some three hundred million years ago and up to the end of the Cretaceous Period sixty million years ago. No fossilized remains have been found in more recent deposits, and it was assumed that the Coelacanth died out at this time. Fossil Coelacanths were a most unique form of life as they lived in several different aquatic environments. Their fossilized remains have been found under conditions that indicate that the living fish could be found in both salt and fresh water, including rivers, lakes, and even swamps. In addition to a diverse habitat, these fish had a world-wide distribution. It now seems indeed strange that no remains have been found of this fish in rocks of the past sixty million years, for there is no doubt that this fish never became extinct and in fact exists in fair numbers today. In December, 1938, a specimen of the "long extinct" Coelacanth

p. xi

was found in the fishnet of a British trawler working off the coast of East London in South Africa. Caught alive, the huge fish rolled steel blue eyes and waddled about the ship deck on clumsy fins that were used like stubby legs. The fish bit the inquisitive captain and oozed oil from its heavy scales for three hours before dying. Identified only after decay had rendered the fleshy parts useless for scientific purposes, it proved to be a heavy disappointment for ichthyologist James Smith of Rhodes University, Grahamstown, S.A. Fossil remains show skeletal structure, and the importance of the recent "catch" lay in the chance to study the unknown fleshy parts of the fish. Now this was impossible. Professor Smith realized that, if one such fish existed, others similar to it must also exist, and he began a fifteen-year search for a second living Coelacanth. For the next decade and a half he visited islands and coral reefs in the West Indian Ocean, asking, looking, fishing. Finally, in December, 1952, a fishing trawler off the Anjouan and Comoro Islands between Madagascar and the mainland of Africa caught another Coelacanth. Prompt action by ichthyologist Smith allowed him to obtain and preserve this specimen in excellent shape. Then came the big shock. For fourteen years he had tracked down all leads, talked to countless fishermen, without avail. Now within the next two years, three more Coelacanths were obtained, and there were indications that the native population in this part of the world had fished for and eaten these "living fossils" for several generations. Although not a common item in native diets, there is no doubt that, while Professor Smith dreamed of finding a second Coelacanth, a dozen or more had probably been served and eaten.

Here was an example where science, with all its modern improvements in communication and transportation, was unaware that what was to be one of the great "discoveries" of the twentieth century had long been a simple item of diet for the native population. Even Professor Smith, active in the area and specifically after a Coelacanth, was caught unaware. But who would think of looking in a fish market for a "living fossil" like a Coelacanth?

p. xii

For a final illustration, let me turn to my own field of archeology. Prior to 1926, the general belief was that the American Indian was post-glacial in age, and as a consequence glacial strata were rarely examined by professional archeologists. The few archeologists who claimed to find cultural evidence were criticized for their ineptitude and then quickly dismissed. In 1846 a human pelvis was found with several ground sloth skeletons in Mammoth ravine near Natchez, Mississippi. Before the century ended, positive association was demonstrated by fluorine tests, yet not only was the discovery disregarded, but the actual bones were lost and the incident forgotten. All other finds met with a similar fate until the discovery in 1926 of the unique Folsom projectile points with the extinct glacial Bison antiquus near Folsom, New Mexico. In three years' research, nineteen Folsom points were found in direct association with twenty-three extinct bison, and the antiquity of the Paleo-Indian was firmly established. Now the long-neglected glacial strata were examined. Archeologists looked for additional Folsom sites wherever man, wind, or weather had scarred the surface of the land, exposing the glacial earth levels to the human eye. Within a decade of the Folsom, New Mexico, discovery, Paleo-Indian sites were found from Alaska to Patagonia and from coast to coast. These sites had been exposed to the eye of man for decades, but they were only found AFTER man was convinced that Ice Age Indians actually existed. Again it shows that man must believe before he looks, and must look before he finds anything. Important things may be all around us, but we will never find them unless we look for them. Perhaps one reason why we haven't more definite information on ABSMs is because not enough people have actually looked for ABSMs long enough or with enough dedication.

George A. Agogino

Assistant Professor of Anthropology University of Wyoming



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[Christian Kielbasa]

 xiii

Contents

 
 FOREWORD
 vii
 
1.
 A Certain Unpleasantness
 1
 
 
 A Brief History of ABSMery
 
 
2.
 Ubiquitous Woodsmen
 22
 
 
 Reports from Canada (1860 to 1920)
 
 
3.
 Further Sasquatchery
 46
 
 
 More Reports from Canada (1920 to 1940)
 
 
4.
 The Appearance of Bigfeet
 65
 
 
 Still More Reports from Canada (1940 to 1960)
 
 
5.
 Footprints on the Sands of
 81
 
 
 Abominable Affairs in the U.S.
 
 
6.
 In Our Own Backyard
 111
 
 
 Happenings in Northern California
 
 
7.
 Late North Americans
 135
 
 
 Hyperbole from Our Northwest
 
 
8.
 On the Tracks of
 148
 
 
 Affairs in Central and South America
 
 
9.
 Africa-the "Darkest"
 182
 
 
 Some Rumors and Some Flat Statements
 
 
10.
 The East-The "Mysterious"
 209
 
 
 Reports from Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula
 
 
11.
 The Great Mix-Up
 235
 
 
 Things in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula
 
 
12.
 Anyone For Everest?
 255
 
 
 ABSMs in the Himalaya and the Great Gutter
 
 
13.
 The Western Approaches
 281
 
 
 Russian Findings in the Caucasus and Thereabouts
 
 
14.
 The Eastern Horizon
 306
 
 
 Current Conditions on the Great Mongolian Uplands
 
 
15.
 Some Obnoxious Items
 329
 
 
 The Physical Evidence for ABSMs
 
 
16.
 Our Revered Ancestors
 351
 
 
 Established Fossil Apes and Men
 
 
 
 p. xiv
 
 
17.
 In the Beginning
 375
 
 
 Myths, Legends, and Folklore
 
 
18.
 Some Basic Facts
 398
 
 
 Some Basic Geography and Vegatology
 
 
19.
 Sundry Objectionable Facts
 421
 
 
 An Analysis of Skepticism and Orthodoxy
 
 
20.
 Certain Abominable Conclusions
 436
 
 
 More Analysis and Some Conclusions
 
 
 
 APPENDICES:
 
 
 
 Appendix A. ABSMal Connotations
 453
 
 
 The East Eurasian Philology of ABSMery
 
 
 
 Appendix B. The Importance of Feet
 463
 
 
 An Ichnological Analysis of ABSMery
 
 
 
 Appendix C. Where We Come In
 477
 
 
 A List of Primates and a Family Tree of the Anthropoids
 
 
 
 Appendix D. Others Involved
 479
 
 
 The Larger Mammalian Fauna of the Himalayas and Tibet
 
 
 
 Appendix E. Sir Edmund Hillary's Scalp
 483
 
 
 A News Story from Nepal
 
 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 491
 

p. xv

List of Maps
Map I.
 Central Western North America
 24
 
Map II.
 British Columbia
 48
 
Map III.
 North America
 82
 
Map IV.
 Northern California
 112
 
Map V.
 Guatemala
 150
 
Map VI.
 Central and South America
 168
 
Map VII.
 Africa
 184
 
Map VIII.
 Malaya and Sumatra
 210
 
Map IX.
 Northern Orientalia (Political)
 236
 
Map X.
 East and South Orientalia
 252
 
Map XI.
 Orientalia
 256
 
Map XII.
 Eastern Eurasia
 282
 
Map XIII.
 The Old World
 352
 
Map XIV.
 The World
 376
 
Map XV.
 The World
 400
 
Map XVI.
 The World
 418
 



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[Christian Kielbasa]

1: Track of Meh-Teh on upper snowfield of Southern Tibetan Rim. (Eric Shipton & the Mt. Everest Foundation)

[Christian Kielbasa]

[Christian Kielbasa]

[Christian Kielbasa]

2 & 3 (above). Desiccated hand of alleged ABSM from Pangboche, Nepal;

Fig. 3 as seen from below. (Slick-Johnson Exp.)


4 (left, below): Another desiccated hand from Pangboche. (Prof. Teizo Ogawa)

[Christian Kielbasa]

5 (right, below): Desiccated forearm of Snow Leopard from Makalu village, Nepal. (Slick-Johnson Exp.)

[Christian Kielbasa]

6 (left, above): A Sherpa Headman wearing a cap made in imitation of a Meh-Teh scalp. (Slick-Johnson Exp.)

[Christian Kielbasa]

7 (right, above): Same scalp, seen from inside. Preserved at Pangboche. (Slick-Johnson Exp.)

[Christian Kielbasa]

8 (left, below): Same scalp, showing holes for insertion of tassels. (Navnit Parekh, Bombay)

http://www.sacred-texts.com/lcr/abs/abs04.htm

[Christian Kielbasa]

9 (right, below): Another fur cap. These are used for traditional pantomime. (Slick-Johnson Exp.)

[Christian Kielbasa]

10: Himalayan Black Bear.

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