An artist's impression shows a primitive Yeti emerging from a cave
Three separate 'sightings' of yetis have been made in Siberia in recent weeks, say fishermen and an official in Russia. All were in the remote Kemerovo region, where around 30 'abominable snowmen' live, according to the country's leading researcher on the creatures. In one previously undisclosed case last month near Myski village, fishermen in a boat on a river initially mistook distant figures first for bears and then people, said the
Siberian Times.
'We shouted to them - do you need help?,' said fisherman Vitaly Vershinin. 'They just rushed away, all in fur, walking on two legs, making their way through the bushes and with two other limbs, straight up the hill.'
He said: "What did we think? It could not be bears, as the bear walks on all-fours, and they ran on two.... so then they were gone.'
On a second sighting on the bank of the Mras-Su River several days later, an unnamed fisherman was quoted saying: 'We saw some tall animals looking like people.'
He added: 'Our binoculars were broken and did not let us see them sharply. We waved at the animals but they did not respond, then quickly ran back into the forest, walking on two legs.
'We realised that they were not in dark clothes but covered by dark fur. They did walk like people.'
In a further case this month, an unnamed forestry inspector had encountered a 'yeti' Shorsky National Park, according to local government official Sergei Adlyakov.
'The creature did not look like a bear and quickly disappeared after breaking some branches of the bushes,' he said.
This case was in Tashtagolski district, close to the border with Khakassia. No images have appeared from the alleged sightings.
Russia's leading 'yeti' expert Igor Burtsev, head of the International Centre of Hominology, claimed that Myski will next month host an international conference and expedition in search of the yeti.
He said the 'sighting' was 'significant' though he was unaware of the later National Shorsky Park case.
He added: 'We shall explore new areas, to the north from the usual places yetis have been seen previously. The conference will start in Moscow and then we will travel with our guests to Kemerovo region.'
At a similar expedition last year, he claimed to have found yeti hair though no DNA findings have been released.
He claims the creature - also known as Bigfoot and Sasquatch - is the missing link between Neanderthal man and modern human beings.
Burtsev has previously claimed a population of around 30 yetis are living in Kemerovo region.
'We have good evidence of the yeti living in our region, and we have heard convincing details from experts elsewhere in Russia and in the US and Canada,' he said.
'The description of the habits of the Abominable Snowmen are similar from all over the world.'
Last November hunters claimed they had discovered the nest of a legendary Yeti in the same area of Siberia.
The hair thought to be from a Yeti was found in the Kemerovo region 2,600 miles east of Moscow
Experts stumbled across trees, twisted by force to form an arch, in the area which is famed for sightings of the wildman.
Biologist John Bindernagel, 69, said: 'We didn't feel like the trees we saw in Siberia had been done by a man or another mammal.
'Twisted trees like this have also been observed in North America and they could fit in with the theory that Bigfoot makes nests.'
Sightings of the Yeti have been reported in France, North America and the Himalayas but Dr Bindernagel said these are mainly ignored by scientists who are put off by 'jokes and taboos.'
Mr Burtsev has previously strongly denied accusations that yeti 'sightings' are a bizarre ruse to attract tourists to the far-flung region.
Reports say the two-legged creatures are heavy-set, more around 7ft tall and resemble bears.
Back in the 60's, my grandfather worked for an oil company. His job was to fly with the survey team and scout out areas up in Alaska. He said that on one trip there was a snow storm approaching and the pilots had decided to try and fly around it, putting them out over the edges of some mountains that at the time were only accessible by foot. He was told that was a no man's land and the pilots had even joked that anybody in a plane who crashed there was shit out of luck.
He happened to be looking outside when he saw what he first thought were some moose and asked the pilots if they could pass closer so they could have a look. The closer they got the more they looked like bears. Then passing even closer he said they looked like people. There were twelve he could count. They thought they may be hikers but they started running when the plane got close.
One of the pilots remarked that they may be Russians on some secret spy operation and called it in. They were instructed to circle around and see if these people may be in distress. They were asked to get a visual confirmation. They got as close as they could and my grandfather and the others all thought they were gorillas running through the snow and climbing up the hill. They had to make a wide turn and pass back. When they got back to the spot, they couldn't see them anymore. They passed around several times and thought they might have seen one moving but wasn't sure. They had to go and couldn't stay any longer.
To the day he died, if we were ever watching something like National Geographic and it had gorillas, he'd say, 'They don't tell you this but gorillas live up in Alaska. I've seen them!' Then he'd tell the story again. He wasn't one for wild tales.
When they got back to their base camp, they reported it in detail but it was dismissed as wildlife and not followed up on. That was in Alaska, in the 1960s.