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THE BAND
COVER STORY mammal. Research is still on to locate the existence of those scratch marks and footprints. Repeated claims by terrified villagers about Bigfoot roaming the jungles in the Garo hills bordering Bangladesh also prompted the authorities to order an investigation. A team of wildlife officials and other experts were asked to conduct a study to find out if there is any truth in the locals’ claims about these hairy giants. A local farmer, Wallen Sangma, was once quoted as saying that he had seen an entire family of the creatures — possibly a lowland relative of the Himalayan Yeti, or a cousin of the North American Bigfoot and Sasquatch, or Australia’s Yowie. Their heads looked as if they were wearing caps, and their color was blackish-brown. The four ‘monsters’ were about 100 to 130 feet (30 to 40 meters)
In 1990, an Apatani man was returning home with his herd of goats and it was almost dark. He was quite brave to walk the jungle path late in the evening, but that day, he heard heavy sounds of footsteps following him closely. All of a sudden a huge ape-like creature appeared from behind and disappeared again into the dark.
Again, in July 2005, a lady, who was sleeping with her child in a village in Garo Hills in Meghalaya, was awoken by some peculiar scratching sounds outside her thatched hut sometime at night. Later, a big hairy creature entered her house. She was both terrified and calm, and saw the creature in the full light of the firewood, which was burning till then. The creature stamped out the fire and disappeared into the darkness without harming the lady in any way. Thus goes the story of Mande Burung – a huge hairy ape like creature that resembles Sasquatch in North America, Yowie in Australia, Yeti in Nepal and Arunachal Pradesh. Mande Burung, whose literal meaning is Bigfoot has its share of dedicated followers across the globe. The creature, which is supposed to be more than eight feet tall, is said to have been first sighted in 1997 and the last time at Rongrigittim in South Garo Hills in July 2005, before making a reappearance in May, 2007. But the most interesting report came in 1999, when a man, while passing
through a forest was captured by such a mammal and breastfed forcibly. This was reported on January 18, 1999 and as per his account “the milk was sour with a mixture of bitterness.” Reports of such huge creatures appearing every now and then have put the administration and also the local people on tenterhooks. Lack of scientific studies and non-availability of foolproof evidence of the presence of such creatures have encouraged A’chik Tourism Society (ATS), a local NGO, to initiate efforts to ascertain whether the story about ‘Mande Burung’ is a myth or reality? In search of this illusive creature, a group of young enthusiasts started making regular visits to the deep dark jungles of Garo Hills in Meghalaya. It usually makes a visit on the information received from the local people on the sighting of this mammal. After such reports of sightings, another set of reports started coming in. This time it is the footprints and scratch marks supposedly left behind by this gigantic
away from him as he looked for firewood in a forested area, and vanished into the undergrowth, he said. Claims to have sighted such bigfoot creatures are treated skeptically by scientists because of lack of solid physical proof, but there are scientists and researchers who believe they could exist. The Achik Tourism society, has been trying to verify the creature’s existence for the past 10 years, photographing footprints reportedly 13 to 15 inches (33 to 38 centimeters) long, and ‘nests’ reported by locals. The ATS, which had been in search for this creature has came out with some evidences on the matter. They have collected some samples of hair, which is the only biological evidence that they have, other than some imprints, footprints and scratch marks on tree trunks. The hair has been sent for DNA and forensic test. The ATS has also come up with a very comprehensive report and descriptions of mande burung or the so called
Measuring the fooprint
Scratch mark Bigfoot. The most common description of mande burung goes like this: According to its report, it is big, an ape-like creature with thick hair covering its entire body. The colour of the hair is reported to be black or blackish brown. It has some kind of foul odour/smell emanating from the body. It has a footprint/pug-mark size from 13 inches to 15 inches in length. It may be around 7’5” to 9’ tall. It may weigh around 300 kgs. It is noted to be a herbivorous creature that eats banana tubes, tree roots, fruits, berries, barks of some trees, like Sawe trees and is also reported to eat crabs. It walks on two legs (biped). As reported in 2002 sighting, it sleeps in a ‘nest’ built on open ground. According to the 2005 sighting, it is shy and is basically harmless. There have been many incidents reported on this illusive creature. The 1997
Etymology
The name Yeti is derived from the Tibetan yeh-the, a compound of words yeh meaning “rocky” or “rocky place” and ti, te or the, which translates as “bear”. Other terms used by Himalayan peoples do not translate exactly the same, but refer to legendary and indigenous wildlife. Jo-bran, Kang Admi, Mirka, Migoi, Dzu-teh, Meh-teh all translate as “man-bear”. Dzu-teh – ‘dzu’ translates as “cattle” and the full meaning translates as “cattle bear” and is the Himalayan Red Bear. Migoi or Mi-go (pronounced mey-goo) translates as “Wild Man”. Mirka is another name for “wild-man”, however as local legend has it “anyone who sees one dies or is killed”. The latter is taken from a written statement by Frank Smythe’s ‘Sher-
pas’ in 1937. Kang Admi means Snow Man and Jo-bran the Man-beast.
History of Yeti sightings The appellation “Abominable Snowman” was not coined until 1921, the same year Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury led the Royal Geographical Society’s “Everest Reconnaissance Expedition”, which he chronicled in Mount Everest The Reconnaissance, 1921. In the book, Howard-Bury includes an account of crossing the “Lhakpa-la” at 21,000 feet (6400 meter) where he found footprints that he believed “were probably caused by a large ‘loping’ gray wolf, which in the soft snow 23 formed double tracks ratherJuly like08a those of a barefooted
COVER STORY mammal. Research is still on to locate the existence of those scratch marks and footprints. Repeated claims by terrified villagers about Bigfoot roaming the jungles in the Garo hills bordering Bangladesh also prompted the authorities to order an investigation. A team of wildlife officials and other experts were asked to conduct a study to find out if there is any truth in the locals’ claims about these hairy giants. A local farmer, Wallen Sangma, was once quoted as saying that he had seen an entire family of the creatures — possibly a lowland relative of the Himalayan Yeti, or a cousin of the North American Bigfoot and Sasquatch, or Australia’s Yowie. Their heads looked as if they were wearing caps, and their color was blackish-brown. The four ‘monsters’ were about 100 to 130 feet (30 to 40 meters)
In 1990, an Apatani man was returning home with his herd of goats and it was almost dark. He was quite brave to walk the jungle path late in the evening, but that day, he heard heavy sounds of footsteps following him closely. All of a sudden a huge ape-like creature appeared from behind and disappeared again into the dark.
Again, in July 2005, a lady, who was sleeping with her child in a village in Garo Hills in Meghalaya, was awoken by some peculiar scratching sounds outside her thatched hut sometime at night. Later, a big hairy creature entered her house. She was both terrified and calm, and saw the creature in the full light of the firewood, which was burning till then. The creature stamped out the fire and disappeared into the darkness without harming the lady in any way. Thus goes the story of Mande Burung – a huge hairy ape like creature that resembles Sasquatch in North America, Yowie in Australia, Yeti in Nepal and Arunachal Pradesh. Mande Burung, whose literal meaning is Bigfoot has its share of dedicated followers across the globe. The creature, which is supposed to be more than eight feet tall, is said to have been first sighted in 1997 and the last time at Rongrigittim in South Garo Hills in July 2005, before making a reappearance in May, 2007. But the most interesting report came in 1999, when a man, while passing
through a forest was captured by such a mammal and breastfed forcibly. This was reported on January 18, 1999 and as per his account “the milk was sour with a mixture of bitterness.” Reports of such huge creatures appearing every now and then have put the administration and also the local people on tenterhooks. Lack of scientific studies and non-availability of foolproof evidence of the presence of such creatures have encouraged A’chik Tourism Society (ATS), a local NGO, to initiate efforts to ascertain whether the story about ‘Mande Burung’ is a myth or reality? In search of this illusive creature, a group of young enthusiasts started making regular visits to the deep dark jungles of Garo Hills in Meghalaya. It usually makes a visit on the information received from the local people on the sighting of this mammal. After such reports of sightings, another set of reports started coming in. This time it is the footprints and scratch marks supposedly left behind by this gigantic
away from him as he looked for firewood in a forested area, and vanished into the undergrowth, he said. Claims to have sighted such bigfoot creatures are treated skeptically by scientists because of lack of solid physical proof, but there are scientists and researchers who believe they could exist. The Achik Tourism society, has been trying to verify the creature’s existence for the past 10 years, photographing footprints reportedly 13 to 15 inches (33 to 38 centimeters) long, and ‘nests’ reported by locals. The ATS, which had been in search for this creature has came out with some evidences on the matter. They have collected some samples of hair, which is the only biological evidence that they have, other than some imprints, footprints and scratch marks on tree trunks. The hair has been sent for DNA and forensic test. The ATS has also come up with a very comprehensive report and descriptions of mande burung or the so called
Measuring the fooprint
Scratch mark Bigfoot. The most common description of mande burung goes like this: According to its report, it is big, an ape-like creature with thick hair covering its entire body. The colour of the hair is reported to be black or blackish brown. It has some kind of foul odour/smell emanating from the body. It has a footprint/pug-mark size from 13 inches to 15 inches in length. It may be around 7’5” to 9’ tall. It may weigh around 300 kgs. It is noted to be a herbivorous creature that eats banana tubes, tree roots, fruits, berries, barks of some trees, like Sawe trees and is also reported to eat crabs. It walks on two legs (biped). As reported in 2002 sighting, it sleeps in a ‘nest’ built on open ground. According to the 2005 sighting, it is shy and is basically harmless. There have been many incidents reported on this illusive creature. The 1997
Etymology
The name Yeti is derived from the Tibetan yeh-the, a compound of words yeh meaning “rocky” or “rocky place” and ti, te or the, which translates as “bear”. Other terms used by Himalayan peoples do not translate exactly the same, but refer to legendary and indigenous wildlife. Jo-bran, Kang Admi, Mirka, Migoi, Dzu-teh, Meh-teh all translate as “man-bear”. Dzu-teh – ‘dzu’ translates as “cattle” and the full meaning translates as “cattle bear” and is the Himalayan Red Bear. Migoi or Mi-go (pronounced mey-goo) translates as “Wild Man”. Mirka is another name for “wild-man”, however as local legend has it “anyone who sees one dies or is killed”. The latter is taken from a written statement by Frank Smythe’s ‘Sher-
pas’ in 1937. Kang Admi means Snow Man and Jo-bran the Man-beast.
History of Yeti sightings The appellation “Abominable Snowman” was not coined until 1921, the same year Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury led the Royal Geographical Society’s “Everest Reconnaissance Expedition”, which he chronicled in Mount Everest The Reconnaissance, 1921. In the book, Howard-Bury includes an account of crossing the “Lhakpa-la” at 21,000 feet (6400 meter) where he found footprints that he believed “were probably caused by a large ‘loping’ gray wolf, which in the soft snow 23 formed double tracks ratherJuly like08a those of a barefooted
