The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 7:117-134 (2018)

Research Article

THE ECOLOGY OF AN UNCATALOGUED HOMINOID IN THE BOREAL FOREST (TAIGA) OF NORTH AMERICA AND EURASIA

John Bindernagel*

Courtenay, BC, Canada

*Correspondence to: Editor, email: meldd@isu.edu
© RHI

ABSTRACT

Accumulating trace and physical evidence, combined with Aboriginal traditional knowledge and experience, suggests the existence of an uncatalogued hominoid in the Holarctic. Skeptics challenge that a large hominoid would not be adapted to the severe climate and limited food resources of the northern latitudes.

In this paper, I address ecological aspects of hominoid research, which both Eurasian and North American researchers share in common. It concerns a major habitat apparently occupied by this hominoid, the boreal forest biome or taiga, which is the largest biome on Earth. It is a unifying theme, which we continue to investigate in our attempts to understand how this hominoid survives in this biome.

KEY WORDS: sasquatch habitat, feeding, overwinter survival, Aboriginal culture, tracks

INTRODUCTION

In preparing this paper¹, I was reminded of a source of resistance, which this conference, by its international nature, speaks to. This is the problem of the number of different regional names for this  hominoid. Some names are countrywide or even continentwide in their use (Fig. 1).

Like some investigators, I have become convinced that all these hominoids are either the same or very closely related. But because this hominoid is known by different names in different countries, many scientists do not realize that investigators may be discussing the same or closely-related species.

Many names for this hominoid are regional, local, or restricted to ethnic or cultural groups. In Canada there are over thirty names assigned to this hominoid by aboriginal peoples. Within Russia, a similar
situation apparently occurs (Fig. 2). Just as the scientific community remains unaware of the circumpolar distribution of the hominoid in the boreal forest of three continents, so too various aboriginal groups appear to be unaware that the hominoid they refer to with a specific name may be the same hominoid known to neighboring groups of people elsewhere in their country.

This problem was pointed out clearly in the writing of Dmitri Bayanov (1996), who noted that most of the ethnic groups he worked with in Russia perceived the hominoid as restricted or unique to their region. The use of the term “hominoid,” as used by Bayanov in his writing, is a useful and inclusive term and has been adopted for use in this paper.

¹ As presented at the International Scientific and Practical Conference on Hominology, Moscow and Mountain Shoria, Russia, October 5-8, 2011.

Physical Evidence for This Uncatalogued Hominoid in North America

It may be useful to briefly review the forms of physical evidence supporting the existence of this northern hominoid in both North America and Eurasia.

In North American there are literally thousands of eyewitness accounts describing this hominoid and its behavior. Although these eyewitness descriptions and drawings have been of great use to investigators, they have not attracted the attention of scientific colleagues who remain unaware of the many points of widespread anatomical similarity in this evidence.

Nevertheless, it may be worth noting that eyewitnesses have described and depicted adult male, adult female, and subadult or infant hominoids, suggestive of a biological population (Fig. 3).

Tracks
It is physical evidence that may eventually prove to be most useful in convincing scientific colleagues to scrutinize the evidence which supports the claim of an extant hominoid in North America and Eurasia. Hominoid tracks, when documented in photographs and as casts, provide the necessary corroborating evidence for this hominoid as a track-leaving mammal (Fig. 4).

Unfortunately, in North America, the value of track casts as physical evidence has become tainted by claims of hoaxing, which have influenced scientific colleagues and kept themfrom fully engaging this form of evidence. Even though the fabricated hominoid “feet” brought forward by hoaxers do not resemble actual hominoid tracks, the North American media – and even scientists – have accepted
such hoax claims as invalidating all, even potentially actual, hominoid tracks (Fig. 5).

Twisted and Bent Saplings

Another form of North American physical evidence that warrants scientific attention is tree modification or damage in the form of twisted and bent saplings. This evidence has not been widely investigated or scrutinized, and its link to this hominoid is not yet firmly established. Nevertheless, it is a phenomenon otherwise unexplainable and may be a form of marking by this hominoid. Similar sign have been observed in Eurasia (Fig. 6).

Nest-like structures
Similarly, there are nest-like structures which appear to have been made by this hominoid in North America and which are not otherwise easily explained. The first was photographed in a remote area of central Washington. The second is a crude shelter constructed of bark slabs and matted twigs on top of a low tree branch, open at two ends. It was observed on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.

Hominoid Ecology, Especially Food Habits

The main subject of this paper is the ecology of this hominoid, and especially its food habits. Investigators attending this conference support the claim that this hominoid exists, and in addition, that it exists in the boreal forest or taiga of both North America and Eurasia.

Those of us called upon to defend this claim have become aware of a particular criticism against it. This criticism has been summarized as follows: The creature is not currently recognized or cataloged by science, which generally reject the possibility that such mega-fauna exist, because of climate and food supply.

This criticism is, of course, a theoretical objection, which states that, ostensibly, the climate and food resources of some of the regions where this hominoid is claimed to occur, cannot support it. One such region is the boreal forest or taiga (Fig. 7). There is, however, physical evidence supporting the existence of this hominoid in this biome, inhospitable as conditions may be.

Physicist Michael Friedlander once defended evidence which may appear to lack a theoretical basis, or which appears to oppose theoretical objections: It is the reality and correctness of the observations that must be examined, and the theory will follow in due course if the observations are correct (Freidlander, 1995). Friedlander’s point – when applied to this situation – is that prevailing theory may not support the existence of an uncatalogued hominoid in the boreal forest of North America or Eurasia.

However, if the evidence of eyewitnesses and the physical evidence of tracks is valid, then a theory will  subsequently emerge to explain its existence there. If the serious attention of scientific colleagues is to be attracted to reports of this hominoid in the boreal forest, it will be necessary to demonstrate its potential ecological viability in this and other biomes. The Marine West Coast Forest Biome of North America Before addressing the boreal forest biome as hominoid habitat, it may be useful to address a narrow strip of land and sea coast at the western edge of the boreal forest on the west coast of North America. This region is known as the “Marine West Coast Forest” (Fig. 8).

Although it is less than a hundred miles (160 km) in width, it is considered a biome, a unique habitat. It is basically the interface between the boreal forest and the north Pacific Ocean, extending from northern California to Alaska. Because it includes the rich intertidal zone, this habitat probably supports the highest density of this hominoid in the world and it is here that the criticism of climate and food supply to support a population of this hominoid is most readily countered. The richness of food resources in this biome transcends that of the boreal forest, especially during the autumn when salmon spawning occurs and during the winter when the clam beaches are exposed at low tide under the cover of darkness.

Aboriginal Culture as Evidence of the Richness of the Marine West Coast Biome of North America
Evidence for the biological richness of this habitat is the well-documented ability of the Aboriginal people of this coast to not only survive, but to thrive and develop sophisticated art forms. Art was  applied to everyday items such as clothing and even to boxes used for food storage. Carved masks and crests on totem poles are well-known examples of Aboriginal art in this region. Not surprisingly, this art depicts the animals and birds with which the aboriginal people share the environment. Some of these animals, such as the frog, are easily identified. Others require some knowledge of the species depicted such as the beaver, which exhibits large incisor teeth and a characteristic broad flat tail, and which holds a stick in its front paws.

Then there is the dzonokwa, the Wild-Woman-of-the-Woods, whose characteristics include giant size, pursed lips, and pendant breasts (the pendant breasts are especially reminiscent of a number of Russian eyewitness descriptions of the hominoid in the Caucasus region and elsewhere). Not surprisingly, most cultural anthropologists have considered the dzonokwa to be a mythical being in the sense of supernatural. Most hominoid investigators, on the other hand, recognize dzonokwa as a depiction of a female hominoid.

In addition to the representation of thishominoid in aboriginal carvings, there are reports to anthropologists of this hominoid from the north coast of British Columbia, where it is known as the “boqs.” The boqs was described to an anthropologist by an Aboriginal informant as follows:

“This beast somewhat resembles a human... It walks on its hind legs, in a stooping posture, its long arms swinging below the knees...” ( McIllwraith, 1926).

Despite the anatomical details provided by the informant, the anthropologist included it in his published report as one of several “supernatural animals” that he had heard described. Regarding the anthropologist’s categorization of this animal as supernatural, it should be noted that a folklorist once cautioned: It cannot be proven that the Indians themselves saw these creatures as mythical,
but anthropologists and other scholars have generally considered them as such (Henderson, 1976). This misunderstanding is another point of common interest to investigators in both North
America and Eurasia – a widespread perception and a body of anthropological literature in which hominoids described by members of aboriginal or ethnic groups are treated as mythical or supernatural by cultural anthropologists.

Unfortunately, it is the cultural anthropologists who have traditionally been consulted as representing the scientific discipline with appropriate expertise to interpret such reports. The published views of cultural anthropologists consequently form the preponderance of prevailing knowledge with regard to uncatalogued hominoids.

The Deciduous Forest Biome
Before addressing the boreal forest biome itself, there is another biome that warrants discussion. Like the rich marine west coast forest of northwestern North America discussed above, this biologically rich biome also lies adjacent to the boreal forest biome. This is the “temperate deciduous forest biome.” This biome may rate second only to the marine west coast forest of northwestern North America in its biological richness. Like the boreal forest, it occurs around the world but in discontinuous patches in eastern North America, central Europe, and eastern Asia (Fig. 9).

The richness of this biome is attested to by the extent to which it has been developed for agriculture by modern humans and by the high density of the human populations, which occupy it. However, there are still remaining large patches of deciduous forest in this biome, which support this hominoid in North America and Eurasia. Food sources here include nuts, berries, and a plethora of small,
medium, and large mammals, as well as waterfowl and upland game birds such as grouse and wild turkeys.

Boreal Forest Biome (Taiga)

Finally, this discussion of biomes addresses the boreal forest or taiga, that globe-encircling biome, which unifies research into the ecology of this hominoid. This biome is clearly occupied by the hominoid under study, but perhaps not in large numbers. It is this biome that is particularly singled out by skeptics because of its adverse climate and insufficient food, conditions perceived to preclude the existence of a large hominoid in this habitat.

The criticism is not without some merit, and gives rise to the question: Since, even in summer, this biome appears to provide only meager food resources, how then does this hominoid manage to survive the winters in a region in which winter conditions are characterized by severe cold combined with significant snow cover?

This question addresses the subject of hominoid food habits, a subject that includes feeding methods and feeding strategies.

Feeding Methods or Feeding Strategies
There are several methods or strategies, which this hominoid appears to use to obtain food throughout its range.

Foraging

Berries, seeds, and aquatic plants are obvious examples of wild fruit and  vegetation, which are available through foraging or gathering to both this hominoid and to modern humans. On the coasts, shellfish can also be obtained by foraging. The name “Cockle-eater” applied to this hominoid by Aboriginal people on the British Columbia coast of Canada is especially interesting. Cockles are a species of clam preferred by both Aboriginal people and this hominoid.

These clams are unique because they lie near – or even on top of – the surface of the beach, are easily obtained by foraging with no need for digging. Another form of meat which can be obtained by foraging and digging are hibernating ground-squirrels. A detailed report from the mountains of Oregon describes the observations of a man who watched a sasquatch dig up hibernating ground squirrels and eat them. The pit dug by the sasquatch in loose rock was some 5 feet (1.6 meters) deep. Several ground squirrels, along with bedding material consisting of moss and grass, were extracted from the pit and eaten whole. Before digging the pit, the sasquatch had picked up rocks, smelled them, and then stacked them in piles as it apparently tested each rock for the odor of ground squirrels (Fig. 10).

Interestingly, a report of a hominoid feeding on ground squirrels in Tajikistan was described by Dmitri Bayanov. In this case, the hominoid appeared to have dug up soil to extract ground squirrels from their burrows. Bayanov referred to other reports suggesting that ground squirrels and other rodents may be an important source of protein for hominoids.

Predation
There are several North American accounts of this hominoid actually catching a deer after a short chase, breaking its neck, and carrying it away. The Russian literature records that in eastern Siberia, this hominoid feeds on wild deer. In northern Russia, it was reported to hunt reindeer, by investigator Vladimir Pushkarev.

Regarding predation, the structure observed and photographed in Washington in 2009, may be of interest. This structure makes most sense as a hominoid “blind” or “hide” for use by the hominoid  functioning as an ambush predator on elk or wapiti (known as “red deer” in the UK, “maral” in much of Eurasia, and “Siberian stag” in Siberia). This hypothesis is based on its construction in an elk feeding area, which is possibly also an elk calving area.

The structure, although crude, required considerable manual dexterity to construct the roof of matted twigs, but is unlikely of human origin. For now,  however, its origin and purpose must remain undetermined. If this structure is a hunting blind, it might qualify as a tool, used by the hominoid as an aid to procuring food. The possible use of tools to obtain food is a recurring subject with regard to this hominoid. For example, a Russian report from Tajikistan includes a suggestion by local people that forked sticks found near the entrance holes to rodent nests may have been used by this hominoid (named “guls” in that area) to catch mice. Similarly, the use of a stick to dig clams has been mentioned in several North American reports.

In addition, the use of a stick as a club by a hominoid to intimidate deer and to bludgeon waterfowl has been reported in North America. A British Columbia eyewitness once heard the sound of something slapping the surface of the water near shore in a shallow west coast bay. Approaching the sound by walking around a point of land, she was confronted with a soaking wet hominoid holding a stick in one hand and several ducks in the other.

Food stealing, piracy, or appropriation
In northwestern North America, there are many reports of hominoids availing themselves of salmon caught by Aboriginal people. This activity includes taking salmon from nets, and from drying racks and smoke houses where Aboriginal people were preserving salmon for the winter use. A similar situation may sometimes apply to the stealing of game carcasses. In North America, there are several reports of this hominoid taking a game carcass from hunt camps or logging camps where a deer carcass has been hung overnight.

A report presented by Dmitri Bayanov from the Chukchi Peninsula suggests that it is common knowledge there that a game carcass left overnight would be gone by morning “with hominoid footprints around the location,” the meat taken.

Overwintering strategies: hibernation or torpor
This discussion of food acquisition leads to the possibility of food storage and to the larger issue of specific overwintering strategies. Several reports from northern Russia reveal the belief of local people that this hominoid “sleeps” or “hibernates” during the winter. This belief is based partly on the relative absence of sightings in winter or tracks in snow. When the Russian investigator Vladimir Pushkarev concluded that the “annual biological cycle” of this hominoid in northern Russia is “close to that of the brown bear,” he was implying a period of hibernation or torpor during winter.

Similarly, Russian  investigator Maya Bykova quoted a man from the Komi region of Siberia, stating that “at this time of year [October] he usually sleeps.” The idea of hibernation or a period of torpor is supported to a large extent in northern North America by the similar rarity of hominoid tracks in snow. On the other hand, at least some hominoid tracks are observed in snow and there are some eyewitness reports of hominoids in winter both in North America and northern Eurasia.

This suggests a possible overwintering strategy as used by bears, that is, a period of torpor, or reduced activity, during periods of severe cold or periods when food is unavailable or severely limited.

Storing food in “caches”
There is an overwintering strategy used by an unrelated mammal of the boreal forest and tundra, the wolverine (Gulo gulo). This strategy is food “caching” or the storing of meat in underground burrows, crevasses, or snowbanks. Wolverines reportedly capture birds and mammals and store their carcasses as food not only for winter use but even for extended use into the spring when the young are born.

The use of this strategy elsewhere in the animal kingdom raises the question: “Could this hominoid employ a similar strategy?”

Steatopygia: fat storage in the body, especially the buttocks
A report from the Kola peninsula of northern Russia includes an interesting comment by a senior game warden who was called to investigate the reported activities of a hominoid that had been interacting with a group of campers in late summer. Reflecting on his brief observations of the hominoid, he stated: “What especially struck me was its big round...buttocks.” An even more remarkable report on this
subject was recorded by Dmitri Bayanov, from the border region of Russia and China in eastern Kazakhstan.

This report refers to these hominoids being hunted as food, and the fat from the buttocks being used as cooking fat. The deposition of fat in the buttocks of humans (steatopygia, which means “fatty rump”) is best documented for the Khoisan people of Africa, including the Khalihari bushmen who live in a desert of southern Africa. Female Khoisan people are noted for their ability to store fat in their buttocks in advance of the dry season, a period of extreme food deprivation.

Migration
A vertical migration downward from high elevations to lower elevation in winter is a well recognized wintering strategy of ungulates such a deer, elk, moose, and wild sheep in the mountainous areas of North America and northern Eurasia. This is a natural response to the cold and snow of high elevation in winter and the comparatively milder temperatures and reduced snow depth, which prevail at lower elevations.

On the west coast of North America, such a downward migration is hypothesized for this hominoid, where it may explain its increased presence on coastal clam beaches in winter. A vertical migration is particularly easy to understand in this region, where the mountainous summer habitat lies in close proximity to the clam beaches.

Such a winter migration has been suggested for this hominoid in Tajikistan. Local people there explained its absence from the mountainous areas that predominate in this region, by migration to the low elevation area in the south of the region (Bayanov,  1996).

CONCLUSION
The historical and contemporary observations of an large upright hominoid in North America and Eurasia, finds corroboration in the accumulating trace evidence – tracks, tree breaks, nests, etc. The  objection that the climate and food resources of the northern biomes are unsuited for a hominoid is not without merit, but clearly not wholly justified.

This discussion of feeding and overwinter survival in the boreal forest raises the question: Why would the hominoid choose the boreal forest biome as a home when richer habitats exist not far to the south? There are at least two possible answers to this  question:

(1) The first is that modern humans occupy those rich and fertile habitats to the south, especially the temperate deciduous forest biome. A natural shyness on the part of this ominoid may account for its reluctance to compete with modern humans there. If this hypothesis is correct, then it suggests that the hominoid may live in the boreal forest not by choice, but may have been pressured to retreat from more favorable habitats – displaced by expanding human populations. This could explain why small populations of the hominoid persist in remaining patches of wilderness within the temperate deciduous
forest biome, but why it is more widespread in the less-occupied boreal forest biome.

(2) The second answer is that these hominoids appear to be well-adapted to temperate, even subarctic environments. As such, they – like Aboriginal people of the northwest coast of North America – may be more comfortable with cold conditions, than are other humans.

LITERATURE CITED
Bayanov, Dmitri. In the Footsteps of the Russian Snowman. Moscow: Crypto-Logos, 1996.
Freidlander, Michael W. At the Fringes of Science: Science, Science Contested, and Pseudoscience. Boulder: Westview Press, 1995.
Henderson, Carole M. Monsters of the West: the Sasquatch and the Ogopogo, In Folklore of Canada, ed. Edith Fowke (ed.) Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1976.
McIllwraith, Thomas F. Certain Beliefs of the Bella Coola Indians Concerning Animals, 35th Annual Archaeological Report 1924-1925 (being part of) Appendix to the Report of the Minister of Education,
Ontario: Toronto, R. B. Orr (ed.) (Toronto,1926), pp. 19-20; T. F. McIlwraith, TheBella Coola Indians, vol. 2. Toronto:University of Toronto Press, 1992.

I am a professional wildlife biologist, who is seriously studying the sasquatch or bigfoot in North America. My interest in this animal began in 1963 when, as a third-year-student in wildlife management at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, I was laughed at for raising the report of an animal described as an “ape-man” for possible discussion. My fieldwork began in 1975 when our family moved to British Columbia, partly in order for me to begin fieldwork on this species. In 1988, my wife and I found several sasquatch tracks in good condition in the mountains not far from our home on Vancouver Island. Plaster casts, which we made from these tracks provided the first physical evidence for the existence of the sasquatch. Wildlife biologists such as myself regularly depend on tracks and other wildlife sign as evidence for the presence of bears, deer, wolves, and other mammals, recognizing that tracks constitute a more reliable and persistent record of the presence of a mammal species in an area than a fleeting glimpse of the animal itself. I am satisfied that the sasquatch is an extant (or “real”) animal, subject to study and examination like any other large mammal, and am much more  concerned with addressing ecological questions, such as how it overwinters in the colder regions of North America, than with dwelling on the controversy of whether it does or does not exist. I remain aware, however, that many people – including scientific colleagues – remain unaware of the information that exists about this species.

[Editor’s Note: John Albert Bindernagel, 76, passed away during the evening of January 17, 2018. He published two influential monographs, the first in 1998 entitledNorth America's Great Ape: the Sasquatch. His second book, The Discovery of the Sasquatch – Reconciling Culture, History, and Science in the Discovery Process, was published in 2010. As a personal friend and professional colleague, he will be sorely missed. See RHI 7:1-5 (2018).]

                 The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 11:263-287 (2022)

Research Article

MATHEMATICALLY OPTIMAL RESTORATION AND STABILIZATION OF THE PATTERSON-GIMLIN FILM WITH COMPUTATION FEATURE DETECTION

Isaac Y. Tian¹,  Bill Munns²,  Jeff Meldrum³

¹ Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washing, 3800 E Stevens Way NE, Seattle, WA 98195-2355

² Blue Jay, CA, 92317

³ Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Ave, Pocatello, ID 83209

*Correspondence to: Isacc Y. Tian, Email: meldd@isu.edu
© RHI

ABSTRACT

The Patterson-Gimlin Film (PGF) to date remains the clearest purported video evidence of the unrecognized bipedal primate known as “sasquatch”. Previous analysis of the (PGF) relied on manual manipulation of individual frames to stabilize the erratic camera motion and eliminate image noise and copying defects. We utilize modern computer vision algorithms and a large multi-copy film scan database to generate a mathematically optimal frame stabilization sequence with the clearest image quality restored to date.

Eight independent prints of 150 frames of the PGF surrounding the lookback frame at Frame 354 (F354) photographed at close range with a 12-megapixel (MP) digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera and were computationally aligned and merged per frame index with the SIFT algorithm (Lowe, 2004). The composited frames were then aligned to a stationary background scene from F354 using a 3D homography solved for with the RANSAC algorithm (Fischler, 1981).

All composited frames were color corrected to the background scene by solving a linear regression per color channel between the composite frame and the background frame. The resulting composited frame sequence  contained more original image detail and less artifacts than any individual copy. Our rendition is an unbiased machine optimized solution that is not susceptible to injected features from manual photo editing or neural net interpolation.

The reduced visual distraction from camera motion and film defects plus the accuracy of our result to the camera original allows for clearer observation of both static and dynamic features of the filmed subject in future analyses.

KEY WORDS: Feature detection, keypoints, homography, signal-to-noise ratio

INTRODUCTION

The Patterson-Gimlin Film (PGF), photographed on October 20, 1967, by Roger Patterson with Bob Gimlin as witness and co-participant, is a historical artifact that needs little introduction. Countless amateur and published analysis efforts to confirm or debunk whether the film portrays a natural biological entity exactly as it appears, or an actor in a
costume, have been undertaken over the last half century.

Meldrum (2006) devoted a chapter to scientific reaction and critique of the PGF, while offering his own analysis of the comparative functional morphology and kinematics of the film subject. Munns and Meldrum (2013a) analyzed the integrity of the physical film itself as well as anatomical comparisons between the PGF subject and extant apes and humans in two separate publications.

Munns (2014) separately published a non-peer-reviewed book detailing the history of the state of the art in creature suit design and the implications of the PGF subject in the context of the practices at the time.

While the PGF source material and attempts at anatomical and biomechanical analysis are not novel, each succeeding generation of research gains access to tools and  techniques originating in other disciplines that allow for new interpretations of the same data. Previous analysis methods in both published and self-promoted works relied on ad hoc manual manipulation to stabilize the camera shake and reduce image defects present in multigeneration film copies.

Such methods were seminal in bringing attention to the biological plausibility of the subject depicted in the film but were also labor intensive and prone to errors due to both individual bias and the imprecision of visual  approximation compared to algorithmic solutions.

Previous work was also limited by the image quality of the source material. A long-standing constraint of PGF analysis is the absence of the camera original film reel. As opposed to digital media, film loses clarity and gains noise with subsequent copying and is also subject to physical damage, such as scratching and tearing. Even if the camera original were procured, unless it has been carefully preserved in a climate-controlled environment it is likely to be substantially degraded from its original state.

We improve on both these limitations with two contributions:

1. We create composite frames using 8 independent high quality, zoomed-in prints believed to be second generation copies from the ANE group (Munns and Meldrum, 2013a). The copies were digitized by photographing each frame individually at close range with a 12-megapixel (MP) digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera. Each frame index is aligned to all other copies with a mathematically optimal transformation and merged into a single frame to produce a composited result that combines the image detail from 8 different copies while increasing the signal to noise ratio (SNR) by a factor of √𝑛, where n = 8 copies.

2. We stabilize each frame to a reference background scene set as a high-quality first-generation scan of frame 354 (F354). While previous manual alignment attempts only allowed for in-plane rotation and 2D translation for frame alignment, our computational method uses the RANSAC algorithm to solve for the full homography matrix that best aligned detected image feature pairs between individual frames and a stable background scene.

This process allows for both pitch and yaw of the framefor a mathematically optimized 3-dimensional alignment. To our knowledge, individual frame SNR enhancement has never been achieved due to the lack of access to multiple high-quality scans of real film reels and the prohibitive amount of labor involved to accomplish an 8x align and composite for a large frame count.

Previous attempts to clean up details in the PGF using image editing software can manipulate the noise and film artifacts present in a single copy but lack the ability to fill in missing data with pieces from other copies or boost SNR through multiple sampling. Computational stabilizations of the PGF have been attempted in recent years, with results posted on YouTube for public viewing. These stabilizations were performed on low resolution digitized single copies of the film made available for previous television  productions with unknown copying histories and suffer from the same frame quality issues as the manual analysis efforts.

Furthermore, computational stabilization was sometimes achieved with a convolutional neural network (CNN) and not an explicit modeling of the feature detection and 3D transformation. These architectures invariably introduce warping, distortion, and artifacts as they are globally visually convincing on full frames but locally very unstable on details.

Our method produced an SNR boosted composite frame sequence that was then stabilized as a playback with no artifacts or nonlinear distortions guaranteed by virtue of
the mathematical model (Figure 1). We encoded our result to play back at 16 frames per second (fps) at 4k (3840 x 2160) resolution with no false details introduced by AI pixel
supersampling or frame interpolation as is the case in prior unpublished attempts. This ramerate was chosen based on the inferred camera running speed of the original K-100
camera, which was 16 fps at the minimum and was typical at the time for amateur shoots with no accompanying soundtrack (Munns 2014).

Contrary to previous computational stabilizations, our results are suitable for future close analysis of the anatomy and biomechanics of the film subject.

METHODS

Our methodological approach is summarized in Figure 2. Summarized it consisted of two main parts:

1. Cleaning up individual frame quality by reducing noise and filling in missing data with multi-sample frame compositing

2. Producing a high-quality video playback from the resulting frames with homographyoptimized motion stabilization.

Multi-Sample Frame Compositing

Individual multi-generational copies of the PGF accumulate random noise and non-random film artifacts and lose detail that was present in the camera original with each
successive copy. We mitigate the loss of detail in each individual copy by merging multiple high-resolution scans of different copies together. For each frame, we align all copies of that frame to a single master frame and merge them down into a multi-sample composite frame with a sampling factor of 8.

Individual frames benefited from multi-sample compositing in two main ways:

1. Reduction of non-randomly distributed defects, such as scratching or holes in the film
2. Reduction of randomly distributed noise, both from the film copying process and the digital photography

Non-random defects are the result of physical damage to the film and do not occur uniformly within a frame or across different copies. These types of defects simply change
the presence or absence of pixel data for a given frame in a given copy, typically by replacing the pixels with near black or near white damage artifacts. These artifacts are rarely present in the same place across multiple copies as they are the result of local contact damage and not global copying loss. A multi-sample composition of a frame will produce a result that has n “votes” for a color value at each pixel location, with the final composite result being the average.

Outlier values such as damage artifacts will usually only hold a 1/n weighted vote in the average and thus be suppressed by a factor of n with more frame samples, provided the copies were independently made. A visual representation of filling in missing or damaged pixels with information from other copies is shown in Figure 3.

Global, randomly distributed noise (akin to static on an old TV) is the result of copying loss as well as digital photography sensor noise. Film grains are not uniformly arranged in fixed arrays and result in lossy reprojections where these grains misalign when copied from one generation to the next. Furthermore, all digital devices exhibit some amount of dark current noise, visible as individual fluctuations in pixel color when taking a completely blacked out picture with the lens cap on.

This can be probabilistically modeled as Gaussian noise with unknown mean and variance. Since we solve for the color transformation from each copy to the target background, we approximate the noise mean as 0 indicating zero color bias.

A copied frame F can then be represented as the original frame μ plus random noise with standard deviation σ.

F = N (μ, σ) (1)

The variance 𝜎𝐹̅ 2 of 𝐹̅ , the average of n independent samples of F with the same standard deviation σ, is σ2/n by the definition of the variance. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
of 𝐹̅ can be defined as

μ / 𝜎𝐹̅ = μ√𝑛 / σ (2)

which increases by a factor of √𝑛 when compared to the single frame representation.

Thus, physical defects of the film are suppressed and only have a magnitude of 1/n in the composite when present and the SNR resulting from random copying noise should
increase by a factor of √𝑛, which is 2.83 for n=8.

A visualization of reducing random noise through multi-sample compositing is shown in Figure 4. Converging to the signal mean via averages of large numbers of samples is justified by the Law of Large Numbers. We used the digitized PGF frame archive, collected as described in When Roger Met Patty (Munns, 2014), as the source material for our analysis.

These scans represent the most widely sampled and highest quality digital scans known to date.

Each individual frame was hand spooled across a backlight and photographed with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi DSLR (resolution at 4272 x 2848). The camera parameters were as follows:

f/7.1, ISO-1600, exposure 1/80s, and 100mm focal length.

The images were saved as raw .CR2 files as well as JPG images. We worked with the camera-provided JPG encoded images. We also produced alternative versions with PNG encoding from the .CR2 files. This changes the white balance and exposure from the JPG encoding but does not visually change the compression quality given the limited resolution of the film itself. We used the archive copy numbers 8 and 14, known internally as the ANE group.

These two copies provided a total of 8 samples of 150 frames before and after the reference lookback frame at F354. Each copy was printed in 4x slow motion for use during a time in which broadcasts were printed on real film stock. Since the reel must run at a consistent speed, a 0.25x slow motion sequence required each frame to be reproduced 4 times in series. Each reprint was a separate sample of the previous generation’s frame with independent film grain noise and potential damage. Thus, for our purposes they are each four independent copies for a total of 8 samples per frame. A close-up of a frame from Copy 8 is shown in Figure 5. For each frame, the samples were aligned to a master copy computationally.

Image feature detection was performed on both query and master frames using the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm (Lowe, 2004).

SIFT is a computer vision feature detection algorithm that converts image features into numerical vectors whose similarities can be compared across different image detections, known as keypoints. SIFT was performed on all copies of a frame, and feature matching was performed between n-1 copies and a single master copy by finding the nearest neighbors of the keypoints of each frame pair. The choice of master copy is arbitrary: we picked the first frame of Copy 8 in each 4-frame series as the master. We used the OpenCV implementation of SIFT with default parameters and programmed our solution entirely in Python 3.4.

A visualization of feature detection and matching between two copies of the same frame is shown in Figure 6.

We solved for the planar homography between each query/master frame pair (7 total pairs) using the RANSAC algorithm from the matched feature detections in each pair. A 3D
homography matrix representing the rotation and translation difference between two planes, the master and the query frame, can be calculated for each pair (Szeliski, 2010) and applied to each query frame to align its detected features to the corresponding features in the master copy. This transformation accounts for the slight differences in frame alignment and rotation relative to the DSLR sensor during scanning and can be calculated for the 1200 total frames in a manner of minutes. The homography matrix is a 3x3 matrix that relates the 3D difference between two planes.

A visualization of a homography transformation is shown in Figure 7.

A color correction operation was necessary due to the different biases introduced by the different film stocks and copying methods. This was done so a composite frame composed of many different source copies could be superposed onto a background frame without excessive visual distraction.

We approximated the color shift of each frame with a linear equation

c’ = mc + b                                       (3)

where c’ is the target background color, c is the individual copy color, and m and b are the slope and intercept respectively of a linear relationship. For a single pixel index, this can be expressed as:
 

We solved for m and b for each of the three channels R, G, B independently by aligning F354 from each copy to the background F354 scan using the feature detection method
described in the previous section. We take c and c’ from each pair of aligned pixels and create a 3n x 4 matrix by stacking all instances of equation 3 in row major order, where n is the number of aligned pixels in the image pair. We subsampled the pixels as using all pixel correspondences resulted in a matrix with n on the order of 106. We solve this system of linear equations with least squares optimization.

Although this color relationship is not guaranteed to be linear, it is a conservative model that can be solved quickly with linear matrix operations. Color mappings involving high order terms such as quadratics can be explored in future work. A demonstration of linear color correction is shown in Figure 8. Homography Optimized Motion Stabilization
The substantial motion in the original film makes it difficult to observe the subject in frame without excessive visual distraction.

Furthermore, digital scanning of the film introduces yet another source of frame motion as the plane of the film is not guaranteed to be perfectly orthogonal and center aligned to the camera image plane in each copy. We correct for this motion using feature detection and homography transformation as described in the previous section.

In this use case, we take each composited frame and detect feature pairs between it and a single master background frame, in this case a high-resolution digital photo of a 1st generation 4x5 inch print of F354 assembled by Bill Munns. We solve for an 8-degree-of-freedom homography matrix for each of the 150 frames that transforms each frame to the same perspective viewing plane as the background scene.

This method is more accurate than previous attempts at stabilization using manual alignment due to its ability to account for two extra axes of rotation and perspective distortion, shown in Figure 9. Previous attempts could only rotate each frame in the plane of the screen (the red Z axis) while neglecting the possibility of pitch and yaw and their associated perspective distortions. We cropped the stabilized composite frames to a 16:9 ratio in a region zoomed in on the walk cycle in the 150-frame sequence and scaled the resolution to 4K (3840 x 2160). The cropped region was 3500 pixels wide, so a modest upsample of less than 10% using the Lanczos-4 algorithm was necessary.

RESULTS

We merged 8 copies of 150 frames (1200 frames total) into a single stabilized 150 frame composite sequence cut to 4K resolution and encoded it at 16 fps with ffmpeg. Although not as clear as the camera original, whose sharpness can be estimated with the clarity of the 4 x 5-inch first generation print used as the background canvas, our result is noticeably clearer than any individual copy in our archive and any copy of the PGF shown to the public in the past.

Our results may approximate the appearance of a clean, undamaged 1st generation copy, although this is difficult to confirm without the documentation of a confirmed first-generation reel.

We performed a synthetic benchmark using the 4x5 inch print of frame 354 to test the effectiveness of our method on gaussian noise. We randomly generated 8 lossy copies of this frame by adding to each pixel a random value sampled from a normal distribution N (0, 25).

We merged the 8 copies into one composite image and compared the mean squared error (MSE) for pixel difference between the composite image and the original, as well as
each of the individual copies. This simulates our method on an artificially generated dataset with a noise-free ground truth. The MSE for all 8 individual noisy copies was 610, while the MSE for the composite was 77. This represents an 87% reduction in MSE in the composite image. The peak signal-to-noise ratios (PSNR) were 19.2 for the noisy copies and 28.2 for the composite, a 1.47x increase. This is below the theoretical 2.83x increase. Doubling the standard deviation of the noise to 50 does not change the MSE ratio but improves the PSNR ratio to 1.67.

Our method may be more effective as the level of grain noise in the image increases, which is a desirable trend. These results are illustrated in Figure 10.

A close-up before and after comparison of the film subject is show in Figure 11. Before frames were sampled from the first frame of Copy 8 in the 4-frame sequence (C8-1).

After frames are shown after an 8x alignment and composition with a linear color correction applied. Note the reduction of grain noise and suppression of physical scratches.
Three before and after frames showing full-frame background detail are shown in Figure 12. Note the elimination of the film defects around the right hip of the subject in the second and third rows.

A single frame example of the homography optimized alignment is shown in Figure 13. Keypoints from feature detection are not shown, but the final position of the corners of
the query frame in the background frame is indicated. Frames were cropped before stabilization to remove the black film borders from the results. The composite frame on the
left demonstrates an extreme example of filling in missing detail with other frames in the black margins, where half of the copies (all 4 prints of C8) excluded that portion of the frame while it was present in the other half.

A full 20 frame walk sequence is shown in Figure 14 to demonstrate the stability of homography optimization. Solving for the transformation matrix between composite
frame and background frame produced much closer representations of 3D camera motion than manual manipulation. These results show that our method is robust to heavy distortion from motion blur.

Details observed in these restored frames can be annotated with much higher confidence than in previous work, as features present in ourresults are likely to have persisted across multiple independent copies rather than simply being the product of an isolated copying error or damage artifact. Munns and Meldrum (2013b) remarked on the necessity of observing any proposed anatomical feature across multiple independent copies to establish confidence that it is in fact a feature of the true photographic record.

Our results fold this cross referencing into a single frame sequence by heavily suppressing artifacts present only in isolated instances while amplifying the image signal that is common to all copies.

DISCUSSION

Advances in computational algorithms and the aggregation of many high-quality digital scans of various film copies allowed us to produce a clearer and more motion stabilized rendition of the PGF than what manual manipulation of singular degraded copies were capable of in the past five decades. Although this effort alone cannot resolve the  question of what was really filmed on October 20th, 1967, a mathematically optimized restoration of the film will hopefully allow a higher level of future analysis of and debate about the film subject absent a layer of visual distraction from image noise and motion that was assumed to be inextricable from the image data in the past.

Furthermore, our restoration is reliably reproducible due to its foundations as a numerical optimization algorithm and is not subject to individual biases or errors that inevitably arise from various independent attempts to stabilize and enhance the film by hand in photo-editing software. We did not include additional image manipulation tricks utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and deep-learning neural networks as part of our main method or results as these techniques create distortions and false details that are not reliable for anatomical or biomechanical analysis. Two common forms of video enhancement with deep learning are pixel interpolation and frame interpolation.

The first stretches the image to a higher resolution by expanding the original pixels to fill the desired dimensions, then making up the pixels in between using learned  convolutional filters trained on thousands of other images. This is sometimes referred to as “AI superresolution” and is very susceptible to introducing false details.

If an image is doubled in width and height, then a full 75% of all pixels in the result were generated by the deep neural network in an attempt to fill in the blanks between the low-resolution pixels. This contrasts with simply resizing the image with an interpolation algorithm, which uses a defined local mathematical function to transform the image to a new larger or smaller size without losing or introducing detail.

We did not use superresolution because our frames were scanned at above 4K resolution, and because the result would not be faithful to the camera original.

The second form of AI enhancement, frame interpolation, generates entirely new frames between existing frames to create a playback that appears smoother than the original
sequence. The generated frames in these methods are even less reliable than superresolution techniques because 100% of the resulting pixels in the new frames are synthesized. This can be applied recursively to exponentially increase the framerate of a video sequence, at the cost of reducing the fraction of ground-truth frames in the playback. At 4x interpolation playing at 64 fps, three out of every four frames are synthesized interpolations. (The 2x interpolation is doubled again, but with even less precision as each frame pair contains one real and one generated frame)

We processed our 16-fps video result with an implementation of RIFE-CNN (Huang, 2020) to produce 32 fps and 64 fps high framerate playbacks as an exercise. The results
are pleasing to the eye as it reduces the choppiness of the original playback rate substantially, but we maintain that any future analyses must refer back to the original 16 fps
frame sequence to ensure all proposed features were present on the original film reel.

At most, the high framerate versions can help clarify or identify the motion and dynamics of the subject by smoothing out the playback in a way that is less distracting to a
viewer’s eye. All hypotheses regarding dynamic features of the subject must be confirmed on the original 16 fps playback to ensure the observations are not of artifacts or
distortions injected by the neural network. These hypotheses will still be inherently low confidence as starting an analysis with the high framerate render creates a huge potential for bias towards the predilections of the neural network output.

An example of an interpolated frame with a subtle motion artifact is shown in Figure 15.

Our restoration and stabilization method were applied only to 8 copies of 150 frames of the film. As there are over 900 frames in the full sequence and over 20 PGF copies in the digital database compiled by Munns, there remains much room for improvement in the quality of the remainder of the PGF reel. However, regardless of how many copies we
use in future multi-sample composites of the remainder of the film, it is likely that the results presented in this work are the best-case scenario for quality restoration.

The frames of copies 8 and 14 were originally copied with 4x zoom projection to make the bipedal subject take up more of the frame, meaning the grain density on the subject itself is much higher than any of the other copies and the copying loss is minimal. These copies were also in relatively good condition compared to many of the other full reel scans, which suffer from increased prevalence of scratching and tearing. The use of many copies (up to 20 in some frames) may mitigate some of this damage, but the lower pixel density of the bipedal subject in these full frame copies is a fundamental limitation of the source data.

CONCLUSIONS

We present a method for restoring the Patterson-Gimlin Film to its best-to-date quality approximating that of a clean first generation copy by computationally aligning and merging 8 copies of the film down to one composite. We estimated that multi-sample frame compositing reduced the MSE of grain noise by 87% and physical damage artifacts by a factor of 8.

We stabilized the composited frames onto a high-resolution background canvas by solving for a homography matrix that produced a mathematically optimal
alignment on detected feature pairs between each composite frame and the stationary background.

Our method was based on analytical, well understood, highly cited computational methods that are mathematically sound and did not rely on unverifiable deep learning filters to generate new pixel data. We believe this is the clearest, best stabilized, and most accurate version of the PGF rendered to date due to the quality and quantity of our source material and the mathematical optimality of our method.

Future work can extend this method to the full 900+ frame PGF sequence or do more in-depth analysis of the proposed anatomical and biomechanical features observed in the film subject.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was featured on season 2 of The Proof is Out There, produced for the History Channel by Miguel Sancho and Jennifer Merrick of A+E Networks.

We appreciate our colleagues’ support and journalistic integrity in publicizing our research. We also thank the associate editor and anonymous reviewers
whose comments benefited this manuscript.

LITERATURE CITED

Huang Z, Zhang T, Heng W, Shi B, and Zhou S (2020).

    RIFE: Real-Time Intermediate Flow Estimation for Video Frame Interpolation. arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.06294.
Lowe DG (2004).

    Distinctive image features from scale-invariant keypoints. International Journal of Computer Vision, 60(2):91-110.
Meldrum J. (2006)

    Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. New York: Tom Doherty Associates.
Munns B and Meldrum J (2013a).

    Analysis Integrity of the Patterson-Gimlin Film Image. The Relict Hominoid Inquiry. 2:41-80.
Munns B and Meldrum J (2013b).

    Surface Anatomy and Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Features in the Analysis of the Patterson-Gimlin Film Hominid. The Relict Hominoid Inquiry. 2:1-21.
Munns W (2014).

    When Roger Met Patty. Charleston, SC: Createspace Independent Pub.
Szeliski R (2010).

    Computer vision: algorithms and applications. London: Springer.

Isaac Y. Tian, MS is a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. His research focuses on applications of computer vision, computer graphics, and machine learning for modeling and estimating human body geometry and correlated health metrics from 2D and 3D optical images. He is published in the journals Medical Physics, Obesity, and the Journal of Natural Products for work in computation and AI assisted medical research. He earned his BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley with an honors concentration in biomedical engineering and a minor in music. Although not formally trained as a biologist, he is an avid enthusiast in paleontology and natural history, has taken coursework in paleoanthropology, and is a dedicated fan of dinosaur research and paleoart.

William "Bill" Munns is a veteran motion picture special makeup effects designer with decades of experience fabricating various makeup effects and "creature costumes" for motion pictures, television and commercials, as well as designing robotics for theme parks and museums. To analyze the subject figure seen in the Patterson-Gimlin Film, he has applied his extensive knowledge of the processes, materials and techniques of creating ape-like fur costumes for human performers to wear. And as both a vintage filmmaker (knowledgeable in making and editing 16mm films) and a computer graphics artist, he possesses unique skills and knowledge vital to analyzing the Patterson-Gimlin Film itself, not just the subject figure seen within it. He has spent 14 years analyzing and researching the film, and thus brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the subject.

Jeff Meldrum is a Full Professor of Anatomy & Anthropology at Idaho State University (since 1993). His research centers on primate locomotion generally, and the evolution of hominin bipedalism specifically. His professional interest in sasquatch began when he personally examined a line of 15-inch tracks in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington, in 1996. Over 25 years later, his lab houses well over 300 footprint casts attributed to relict hominoids around the world. He conducts collaborative laboratory and field research throughout the world, and has shared his findings in numerous popular and professional publications and presentations, interviews, and television appearances. He is author of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science (Tom Doherty Publishers, 2006) and the editor-in-chief The Relict Hominoid Inquiry (www.isu.edu/rhi).

Figure 1. Comparisons of a degraded 3rd gen copy (A) to our result (B) and a 1st generation, almost lossless 4x5 inch print (C).

Note the reduction in scratches, appearance of static noise, and correction of washout colors.

Figure 2. Visual overview of method.

A. Digital photos were taken of multiple physical copies of the same frame of film. Each copy contains different grain noise and film damage.

B. Copies are computationally aligned and merged down into one frame using SIFT + RANSAC algorithms. This amplifies the film details that are common to all copies while suppressing the noise that is only present in a single copy. 8 copies were used in this work.

C. We solved for a linear color correcting matrix for the red, green, and blue channels independently to correct the composite frame’s appearance to the target

 background frame, which is a high-resolution scan of a first generation 4x5 inch print of Frame 354.

D. We aligned the color-corrected frame to the background frame with SIFT + RANSAC, which finds the best alignment based

on the background scenery common to both images.

E. We crop a 16:9 aspect ratio portion of the frame, resize it to 4K resolution, and compile the 150 total frames into a video playing at 16fps.

Figure 3. Restoration of non-random defects by filling in damage (light blue) or missing data (yellow) with the sum of image data from all copies.

Figure 4. Average of n samples boost SNR by a factor of √𝑛. This is analogous to the signal processing equivalent known

as time synchronous averaging, where a noisy signal is averaged with repeated samples of itself to cancel out perturbations.

The convergence of the average of n samples to the true mean value as n grows towards infinity is consistent with the fundamental
principle of probability known as the Law of Large Numbers.
Image credit: https://www.crystalinstruments.com/time-synchronous-average

Figure 5. Zoomed in frame from Copy 8 showing pixelated random noise and a white pockmark from film damage near the right arm.

Figure 6. SIFT feature detection example between two copies. Red circles indicate keypoint with orientation, green lines

indicate nearest neighbor matches.

Figure 7. Diagram from the OpenCV documentation showing how homography matrix H relates
keypoint x in the query frame to the matched keypoint x’ in the master frame.

Figure 8. Left, a frame from Copy 8 with an elevated pink hue. Right, after color correction to the F354 background.

Figure 9. Manual on-screen manipulation in photo editing software only allows for rotation in the Z-axis (roll), whereas a 3D transformation contains pitch and yaw.

Figure 10. Left, the original 4x5 print. Middle, a noisy copy generated by adding N (0, 50) to all pixels. Right, result of merging 8 independent

noisy copies into one frame. MSE reduced by 87% and PSNR increased by a factor of 1.67 relative to the single noisy copy.

Figure 11. Before and after multi-sample composition. Note the vertical copying defect and diagonal blemish on the original copy

Figure 12. Six frames showing the before (left, single master copy) and after (right, 8x composite) frames after alignment,

composition, and color correction. Note the reduction in the appearance of static noise and physical damage.

Figure 13. Motion stabilization of a single frame using homography. Red arrows show where the corners of the query frame were

pasted into the background frame.

Figure 14. Twenty consecutive frames demonstrating the effects of homography computed motion stabilization. Notice how

even in instances of extreme motion blur the walk cycle is relatively stable compared to adjacent frames.

Figure 15. An interpolated frame from a 2x interpolated, 32fps RIFE-CNN processing of our
result. Although most of the body is visually indistinguishable from an original frame, there is an
artifact introduced by incorrect motion tracking and interpolation of the arm circled in red. Other
smaller distortions may be too subtle to see and cannot be depended on for ground truth
information.

                 The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 4:53-66 (2015)

Research Article

WILDMEN IN MYANMAR: A COMPENDIUM OF PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS AND REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE

Steven G. Platt¹ , Thomas R. Rainwater²

¹ Wildlife Conservation Society-Myanmar Program, Office Block C-1, Aye Yeik Mon 1st Street, Hlaing Township, Yangon, Myanmar
² Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Clemson University, P.O. Box 596, Georgetown, SC 29442, USA

^*Correspondence to: Thomas R. Rainwater, Email: trrainwater@gmail.com. Telephone/Fax: 806-239-5472 © RHI

ABSTRACT. In contrast to other countries in Asia, little is known concerning the possible occurrence of undescribed Hominoidea (i.e., wildmen) in Myanmar (Burma). We here present six accounts from Myanmar describing wildmen or their sign published between 1910 and 1972; three of these reports antedate popularization of wildmen (e.g., yeti and sasquatch) in the global media. Most reports emanate from mountainous regions of northern Myanmar (primarily Kachin State) where wildmen appear to inhabit montane forests. Wildman tracks are described as superficially similar to human (Homo sapiens) footprints, and about the same size to almost twice the size of human tracks. Presumptive pressure ridges were described in one set of wildman tracks. Accounts suggest wildmen are bipedal, 120-245 cm in height, and covered in longish pale to orange-red hair with a head-neck ruff. Wildmen are said to utter distinctive vocalizations, emit strong odors, and sometimes behave aggressively towards humans. Published accounts of wildmen in Myanmar are largely based on narratives provided by indigenous informants. We found nothing to indicate informants were attempting to beguile investigators, and consider it unlikely that wildmen might be confused with other large mammals native to the region. Supernatural status for wildmen seems precluded by the lack of mythical elements in indigenous narratives. Collectively this evidence suggests that a scientifically undescribed bipedal primate may occur in the mountains of northern Myanmar and warrants further investigation. An interview survey of indigenous people in this region would go far towards establishing a basis for future field research.

KEY WORDS: Hominoidea, pressure ridge, tracks, traditional ecological knowledge, yeti, yeren, sasquatch

INTRODUCTION

Taxonomically undescribed Hominoidea (hereafter wildmen sensu Forth, 2008) have long been reported from various regions of Asia, including the Himalayas of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet (Shipton, 1952; Sanderson, 1961; Napier, 1973; McNeely et al., 1978), central China (Zhou, 1982; Meldrum and Guoxing, 2012), Mongolia (Shackley, 1983), Vietnam (McNeely and Wachtel, 1988; Forth, 2008), Thailand (McNeely and Wachtel, 1988), Peninsular Malaysia (Heuvelmans, 1965; Shuttleworth, 1965; Forth, 2008), Borneo (MacKinnon, 1974; McNeely and Wachtel, 1988), Sumatra (Heuvelmans, 1965; Freeman, 2011), and several Indonesian islands (Forth, 2008).

In contrast to other countries within the region, remarkably little is known concerning the possible occurrence of wildmen in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Indeed, in a comprehensive review of wildman records from throughout Southeast Asia, Forth (2008) gives only a single account from Myanmar, that of Blanford (1891:9-10) who described a “tailless ape” standing approximately 1.2 m tall reputed to inhabit the forests around Mount Muleyit in the Tenasserim (now Tanintharyi) Region of southern Myanmar.

In an attempt to redress this deficiency, we here present additional published accounts of wildmen in Myanmar gleaned from a variety of hitherto over-looked and generally obscure sources. We present these accounts in chronological order of publication and place each within a specific geographical context. We then summarize and discuss biologically relevant details and synthesize this information into a composite overview of morphology and natural history. Lastly we compare our findings to what is known about wildmen in Asia (particularly the Himalayan ecoregion, but also central China) and North America.

METHODS

We conducted a wide-ranging search of peer-reviewed scientific sources, popular books and articles, travelogues, and gray literature to locate information on wildmen in Myanmar. Our search proceeded by what Murphy and Henderson (1997:2-3) describe as a "hit-and-miss method with a…snowballing effect," i.e., one literature source often led to several additional sources. Much of our review focused on literature of the British Colonial Era, now largely forgotten, but nonetheless a rich source of natural history information (e.g., Thorbjarnarson et al., 2000, 2006).

Although our search was primarily confined to English-language sources, in several in-stances, Burmese articles were translated by a native Burmese speaker who is fluent in English. Our review eventually included 150-200 sources; however, this effort should be considered incomplete because some references proved unobtainable and others were undoubtedly over-looked.

We confined our review to the area encompassed within the modern political boundaries of Myanmar (Fig. 1). We use "Myanmar" and "Burma" inter-changeably throughout the text. Because many place names have been changed since publication of the original accounts, we provide both former and new names (when known) in the text. Finally, it should be noted that even today there is no official government gazetteer available and confusion surrounds the correct Anglicized spelling of many place names within Myanmar.

WILDMAN NARRATIVES

The earliest wildman narrative from Myanmar of which we are aware (excepting Blanford, 1891) is that of Wilson (1910:207). In a book primarily devoted to big game hunting in colonial Burma, Wilson writes that a “Mr. Bruce” (Deputy Conservator of Forests and deemed a “completely credible observer”) and his retinue of camp followers were attacked by a “big ape” while working in the forests along the upper Chindwin River of western Myanmar.

Although hesitant to do so, Bruce shot and killed the large primate to “save human life”. Bruce then laid out the corpse, finding “it a little smaller than the orang-outang” [sic] (an adult orangutan [Pongo pygmaeus] measures 120-150 cm in length and weighs 35-100 kg, depending on sex, with males being larger than females; Francis, 2001). Local villagers professed great familiarity with the animal and according to Wilson, the vernacular name (not given) translates as “wild man of the woods”. [Authors note – "Orangutan" is a Malay word meaning "Man of the Forest" (Swindler, 1998). We are unaware of any Burmese language descriptor for wildmen that can be translated as "Man of the Forest".]

Brief reference to an undescribed bipedal primate is made by Dawson (1912:11-12) writing in the Burma Gazetteer, a series of informational volumes published by the British Colonial Administration describing the indigenous people, geography, wildlife, and natural resources in specific regions of the country. In a paragraph on wildlife of the Bhamo District, Dawson states that “Several varieties of monkeys abound in the foothills, including the gibbon and a mysterious creature called by the Burmans ‘luwun,’ which walks upright and is covered with a coarse tawny hair, and is possibly one of the larger species of ape. It is reported to have been met on the Tangte hills,” along the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy (now Ayeyarwady) River south of Bhamo.

Kaulback (1939: 172-173) provides the only first-person account of an encounter with wildmen in Myanmar that we have been able to locate. While traversing the mountainous northeastern frontier of Burma in search of the source of the Salween (now Thanlwin) River, Kaulback and four indigenous porters came upon a set of five trackways at 16,000 feet (4877 m). Kaulback describes the trackways as “running straight down the side of the valley at what seemed to be an incredible angle.”

A thin layer of snow covered the tracks, and although “not very clear … in size and everything else they looked exactly like the prints of a barefooted man." Kaulback initially attributed the tracks to a group of bears (Ursidae) moving between mountain valleys, but his porters steadfastly maintained that no bears occurred in the area. Two porters instead suggested the tracks marked the passing of a group of snow leopards (Panther uncia), something Kaulback immediately discounts, knowing these large cats are solitary except when mating or with kittens.

The other two porters claimed the tracks had been made by “mountain men – fearsome creatures who live high up in the snows.” The porters were unanimous in their agreement that such creatures existed, and the oldest (45 years old) had reportedly encountered a "mountain man" while hunting wild ungulates in the same area some years previously. The older porter described the creature as walking bipedally “like a man, white-skinned, naked, and with long fair hair on the shoulders, arms, and head; running at great speed over the snow, and carrying a club.” In the end, unsure what to make of the tracks and seeming to dismiss the porters account out-of-hand, Kaulback concludes the tracks could only have been left by bears. But seemingly uncomfortable with his conclusion, Kaulback states that he would like to return in the future "to find out definitely what these beasts could have been”.

Mention of an “unidentified ape” is also made in the Burma Wildlife Survey, an inventory commissioned by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and American Committee for International Wild Life Protection to determine the status of wildlife and conservation in post-colonial Myanmar (Milton and Estes, 1963: 56).

The two authors conducted field surveys in many areas of Myanmar (1959-60), including moun-tainous regions in the northern part of the country. According to Milton and Estes, indigenous hunters in northern Burma maintained “there is another species of ape [besides]…the gibbon, with long reddish or pale hair, found at high altitudes”. Hunters described the call of this primate as “quite different from the gibbon’s [sic] and more human”.

San Hta Zin, a member of parliament from Kachin State told the authors that while traversing Chaukan Pass (high mountain pass between Myanmar and India) “many years ago”, he found “manlike tracks” near three alpine pools and later heard a “strange cry”. Lisu tribesmen, an ethnic group renowned for their hunting skills (Diran, 2001), showed the authors a mountain near Putao (formerly Fort Hertz) reputedly inhabited by wildmen. The Lisu claimed to hunt these primates for food, and a resident of Putao reportedly “killed one some years ago”.

The Rawangs (another indigenous group in northern Myanmar) were said to believe that "to look upon the ape will cause sickness or death". Milton and Estes offered a substantial reward to anyone who could procure a specimen, but when none was forthcoming concluded “it is hard to decide whether to take all of these reports seriously or not from the available evidence”.

Perhaps the most comprehensive account of wildmen in Myanmar is given in a newspaper article published in the English-language newspaper, The Working People’s Daily by Colonel Hla Aung (1969), a career forest officer and well-known zoologist (Khin Ma Ma Thwin et al., 2011). This article was apparently the second that Hla Aung authored on wildmen in Myanmar as part a series on primates published by the newspaper; we have been unable to locate the first.

In the article, Hla Aung describes four different encounters with wildmen in the mountains of northern Myanmar. It is unclear if the persons involved directly related their experiences to Hla Aung, or as we consider more likely, he gleaned most of these accounts from secondary sources. The first encounter Hla Aung describes occurred in the area of Urong Thara Pass (3512 m) when a wildman charged an indigenous hunter with “fangs bared and hands raised." The hunter shot “many poisoned arrows” into the wildman, which reeled back and stumbled downhill.

Apparently traumatized by the experience, the indigenous hunter reportedly died of “fright” three days later. The second incident occurred in mid-May 1942 during the construction of a military road from Putao to Chaukan Pass in the opening days of World War II. At 2700 m on a spur of the Chaukan Range workers drawing water from an alpine pond came upon fresh tracks described as “very much human, but almost double the size”. Strange vocal-izations (described as “Oo-hu-hu”) were heard by the party when camped that night in the same area. It is possible this incident is a variant of a similar account given earlier by Milton and Estes (1963).

A third incident reported by Hla Aung is in our opinion, among the most interesting of wildman records from Myanmar. The incident occurred during November 1946 when a party of government officials was touring the hinterlands beyond Putao. When encamped near Konglu (1828 m; a village five days walk from Putao) on a moonless night, their pack animals took fright and village dogs began barking at the approach of a wild animal.

Thinking a tiger (Panthera tigris) was about, the party mounted a vigil and although unable to see anything, was “assailed” by a “very strong obnoxious odor” shortly thereafter. On the following day the party encountered tracks “of some mysterious creature almost double the size of a man’s footprint” along a trail through the mountains. The tracks continued up the footpath and at an elevation of 2430 m veered from the trail and disappeared into dense jungle. Because the footpath was muddy, the tracks were “clearly visible” and according to Hla Aung, the “arch of the foot below the instep … was apparently two inches higher than the level of the heel and toe” [italics added].

The fourth wildman encounter described by Hla Aung occurred in January 1956 when a group of hill tribesmen were traveling from Putao to a Christian revival meeting near Hkrang Hku. While traversing the snowbound Ahku Htara Pass (2743 m), the party inadvertently began following a lengthy trackway through deep snow thinking it had been made by fellow pilgrims. It was only when the trackway began to descend a steep rocky slope did one of the party members suspect the tracks they were following had been left by a wildman rather than a person. The tracks were said to be about the same size as those of a man.

The most recently published wildman account is that of Morse (1974:132-134), writing about his experiences as a Christian missionary living among the Kachin of northern Myanmar during the 1950s and 1960s. Morse told of meeting a Lisu friend in 1968 who described an encounter with a wildman that occurred "about a week ago" when he was tracking a musk deer (Moschus sp.) and came upon manlike footprints. According to the hunter, it appeared as though both he and the track maker were in pursuit of the same quarry.

The hunter described the tracks as “something like those of a big monkey … twelve to fourteen inches long [ca. 30-36 cm] and shaped like a man’s foot, only narrower.” Intrigued, the hunter began following the tracks and after four or five miles came upon a wildman standing 40-50 feet [12-15 m] away watching as he approached. The wildman was “standing on two legs, … about seven or eight feet tall [213-243 cm], and did not look the least bit human … being covered with reddish brown fur with a sort of mane of longer fur on its head, which looked bigger than a monkey’s”. The hunter found it amusing when the wildman began imitating his movements – “…when I raised my hand, it raised its hand. When I brought up my crossbow to take aim, it pretended to raise a bow and do likewise”.

However, this “game came to a sudden end” when the hunter unleashed a poisoned arrow, which struck the wildman in the chest, but dropped out after failing to penetrate the sternum. At this, the wildman turned and fled and the hunter immediately ran to a nearby village, and returned with a friend to assist in tracking the wounded animal. However, it soon became obvious the wildman had not received a lethal dose of arrow poison and the search was abandoned as darkness fell. Morse gave the story credence, adding that his brother (LaVerne Morse, also a missionary) had encountered a similar set of wildman tracks in the mountains east of Putao “around 1955”. Morse calls the tracks “strangely human” and concludes “from all reports … the yeti does exist, but in small numbers and in regions so inhospitable that human beings are seldom, if ever, on hand to glimpse them."

DISCUSSION

Our literature review found six accounts describing wildmen or their sign in Myanmar published between 1910 and 1974, complementing the earlier report of Blanford (1891). Although our review was wide-ranging and included a variety of sources, it was not exhaustive and other wildman reports from Myanmar undoubtedly remain to be uncovered.

Notably, four accounts (57%) (Blanford, 1891; Wilson, 1910; Dawson, 1912; Kaulback, 1939) significantly predate popularization of the yeti during the 1950s (Shipton, 1952; Izzard, 1955; Stonor, 1955) and later newspaper reports from northern California, USA that brought sasquatch to the attention of a global audience (Meldrum, 2006). Furthermore, at least two encounters with wildmen described by Hla Aung (1969) occurred during the 1940s, well before knowledge of cryptic hominoids had been widely disseminated. The timing of these publications is of interest because critics frequently contend that wildman narratives are merely an outgrowth of sensationalized media coverage of yeti and sasquatch, all the while ignoring a considerable body of evidence antedating the popularization of these animals (Meldrum, 2006; Bindernagel, 2010).

The paucity of more recent (1980-2015) wildman reports is unsurprising given that Myanmar, long isolated under military rule and considered among the most reclusive nations in the world (Steinberg, 2001) was 1) for the most part closed to foreign investigators from the mid-1960s through the late 1990s, 2) collaboration between Myanmar and foreign researchers was actively discouraged by government policy during this period, and 3) funding was unavailable for government-sponsored domestic scientific research by Myanmar academics.

Even now (2015), some areas within Myanmar remain closed to scientific research owing to security concerns and chronic, low-intensity military conflicts. When researchers have taken to the field the results are impressive with the discovery of new species (Rabinowitz et al., 1999; Rappole et al., 2005; Geissman et al., 2011; Dever et al., 2012), rediscovery of species believed extinct (Platt et al., 2005; Kuchling et al., 2006; Rheindt et al., 2014), and significant range extensions (Rabinowitz and Saw Tun Khaing, 1998; S. Platt et al., 2014), including records of many species not previously thought to occur in Myanmar (King et al., 2001; K. Platt et al., 2014).

Recently described and "rediscovered" taxa in Myanmar range in size from small amphibians (Dever et al., 2012) and birds (Rappole et al., 2005; Rheindt et al., 2014) to larger mammals, including a cervid (Rabinowitz et al., 1999) and primate (Geissman et al., 2011). Taken together, this body of research indicates the biodiversity of Myanmar remains incom-pletely known with much yet to be discovered.

With two exceptions (Blanford, 1891; Wilson, 1910), reports of Burmese wildmen emanate from Kachin State in northernmost Myanmar (Dawson, 1912; Kaulback, 1939; Milton and Estes, 1963; Hla Aung, 1969; Morse, 1974). Notably, northeastern Kachin State is also where the recently described Burmese snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri) was discovered (Geissman et al., 2011) suggesting this area is biotically under-explored and might host other unknown primates.

Kachin State (Fig. 1) is bordered by India to the west and China in the north and east, and considered among the most remote and least known regions of Southeast Asia (Rabinowitz, 2001; Khin Ma Ma Thwin et al., 2011). Much of Kachin State is encompassed within the Himalayan Ecoregion and consists of extremely rugged mountainous terrain (maximum elevation = 5710 m) characterized by a diverse matrix of plant communities that correspond to gradients in elevation, slope, and aspect (Rabinowitz et al., 1999; Rabinowitz, 2001; Rao et al., 2011).

Kingdon-Ward (1954) classified the plant communities of Kachin State along an elevation gradient as lowland forest (to 700 m), subtropical hill forest (700-1700 m), warm temperate rainforest (1700-2700 m), cold temperate rainforest (2700-3000 m), Rhododendron-silver fir (Abies alba) forest (3000-3700 m), and subalpine scrub (3700-4000 m). The upper Chindwin River (by convention upstream from Homalin), where a wildman was reportedly shot by a colonial forest officer (Wilson, 1910) is in Sagaing Division, which together with Shan State forms the southern boundary of Kachin State. Sagaing Division encompasses much of the Naga Hills, a highland region (maximum elevation = 3825 m) contiguous with the mountains of Kachin State.

Unfortunately, little habitat-specific infor-mation accompanies most wildman narratives from Myanmar. Elevations given in descript-tions of trackways and encounters range from 1800 to 4800 m (Kaulback, 1939; Hla Aung, 1969 Morse, 1974) strongly suggesting that if such creatures exist, Burmese wildmen inhabit upper montane forests (warm temperate rainforest, cold temperate rainforest, and Rhododendron-silver fir forest of Kingdon-Ward, 1954).

McNeely et al. (1978) likewise concluded that yeti are largely restricted to the montane forest zone (2800-4500 m) in the Himalayas, and attribute tracks found in high-elevation snowfields and glaciers (e.g., Shipton, 1952; Cronin, 1979) to animals moving between forested valleys across the intervening high mountain passes.

McNeely et al. (1978) considered the diversity of plant and animal resources in montane forest habitats sufficiently ample to support large primates. Indeed, snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus spp.) inhabiting high-elevation forests have evolved physiological traits allowing them to consume a diet of such hard-to-digest foods as leaves, bark, lichens, and Pinus seeds (Zhou et al., 2014).

In Myanmar, montane forests and other high elevation habitats are above the upper elevational limits of shifting cultivation (approximately 1500 m, but often lower; Platt el al., 2013), and rarely visited by indigenous people except to hunt, collect non-timber forest resources (particularly medicinal plants), and graze mithun (Bos frontalis) and mithun-yak hybrids (B. frontalis × grunniens) (Robert Tizard, Wildlife Conservation Society-Myanmar Program, pers. comm.). Inaccessibility of montane habitats coupled with the reported nocturnal habits of wildmen (Hla Aung, 1969) make encounters with humans (Homo sapiens) infrequent and might contribute to perceptions of rarity by indigenous people (Milton and Estes, 1963; Morse, 1974).

Wildmen tracks are mentioned in three of the published accounts from Myanmar (Kaulback, 1939; Hla Aung, 1969; Morse, 1974). Tracks represent an important body of scientific data that can reveal a great deal about the natural history of an organism to an experienced observer (Stander et al., 1997) and provide a degree of objectivity not always attainable with other types of observational data (Meldrum, 2006). Wildman tracks from Myanmar are described as being superficially similar to human footprints (presumably pentadactyl), and approximately the same size (Kaulback, 1939) to almost twice the size of human tracks (Hla Aung, 1969).

Assuming the accounts are accurate (see below), such variability is to be expected in physical attributes of any natural population (Fahrenbach, 1998). Only Morse (1974) provides a quantitative estimate of track length; at 14-16 inches (ca. 35-40 cm) these tracks were larger than the footprints of most adult human males and similar in size to purported tracks of the North American sasquatch (Fahrenbach, 1998; Meldrum, 2004, 2006) and Chinese yeren (Meldrum and Guoxing, 2012).

Morse (1974) also stated that wildman tracks were narrower than human footprints, an attribute not mentioned in other accounts. Nor do any accounts from Myanmar mention a divergent hallux (great toe) as often seen in yeti tracks from the Himalayas (Meldrum, 2006).

To our knowledge, plaster casts or photographs of wildman tracks have never been made in Myanmar, an important consideration when evaluating track evidence because the active constructional nature of the human mind makes it near-certain that recollections will change unless recorded in hard form (Forman and Russell, 1983; Bates and Byrne, 2007). Recollections are even less reliable when people are confronted by novel or threatening experiences (e.g., encountering large tracks of a potentially aggressive and dangerous animal).

Intriguingly, Hla Aung (1969) described what seem to be pressure ridges ("…arch of the foot below the instep…was apparently two inches higher than the level of the heel and toe") in wildman tracks left along a muddy footpath. Pressure ridges are dynamic features of tracks formed when a relatively plastic substrate (e.g., mud) is forced upwards proximal to the midfoot as the animal moves forward (Meldrum, 2004, 2006).

Pressure ridges are a consequence of the midtarsal flexibility of the hominoid foot, which unlike that of humans lacks a fixed longitudinal arch and specialized weight-bearing ball; weight is instead distributed more evenly across the plantar surface (Meldrum, 2004, 2006). Midfoot or midtarsal pressure ridges are considered a distinctive signature of North American sasquatch tracks (Meldrum, 2004, 2007) and were recently noted in tracks attributed to the Chinese yeren (Meldrum and Guoxing, 2012), but to our knowledge have not been previously described in wildman tracks from the Himalayan region.

According to Meldrum and Guoxing (2012), the presence of midfoot pressure ridges in hominoid tracks from North America and western China provides independent corroboration of an undescribed bipedal hominoid with a circum-Pacific distribution. Confirmation of similar pressure ridges in hominoid tracks from Myanmar would obviously lend further support to this hypothesis.

Although accounts vary, the composite picture that emerges from physical descriptions of Burmese wildmen is one of a bipedal hominoid standing 120-245 cm in height, covered in longish pale-tawny-orange-red hair with a prominent head-neck ruff of longer hair. This morphotype is reflected in the Burmese vernacular name luwun (Dawson, 1912), which translates literally as "Man Bear" suggesting a hirsute, bipedal non-human primate. For the most part, descriptions of Burmese wildmen are consistent with accounts of the yeti (Sanderson, 1961; Napier, 1973), and display considerable resemblance to the Chinese yeren (Zhou, 1982; Meldrum and Guoxing, 2012).

Burmese wildmen are also said to emit a pungent, noxious body odor (Hla Aung, 1969), utter distinctive vocalizations (Milton and Estes, 1963; Hla Aung, 1969), and on occasion exhibit aggressive behavior directed at humans (Wilson, 1910; Kaulback, 1939; Hla Aung, 1969), all of which are common elements of wildman reports from the Himalayas (Izzard, 1955; Stonor, 1955; Sanderson, 1961; Napier, 1973) and North America (Greenwell et al., 1999; Meldrum, 2006).

Bindernagel (1998) maintains that many behaviors attributed to North American sasquatch (and by extension to Asian hominoids) have also been observed in field studies of great apes. Moreover, anecdotal observations and empirical studies by primatologists suggest male orangutans and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are capable of emitting pungent odors when in a state of excitement or agitation (Meldrum, 2006; Klailova and Lee, 2014).

As by now obvious, wildman reports from Myanmar are overwhelmingly based on the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK; also known as "folk knowledge") of indigenous informants. Kaulback (1939) appears to be the only authority with firsthand experience of wildmen and even his narrative draws heavily on input from his indigenous porters.

TEK is defined as a cumulative body of knowledge concerning the relationship of organisms with one another and their environment, empirically acquired, and passed down by oral tradition (Berkes et al., 2000; Huntington, 2000). For a variety of reasons science has been slow to embrace TEK as a research methodology (Huntington 2000; Nadasdy, 2003), and folk accounts of cryptic hominoids are usually dismissed as inaccurate exaggerations of credulous peoples, deliberate attempts to dupe investigators, or descriptions of imaginary, non-empirical beings (Meldrum, 2006; Forth, 2012). In short, rather than serving as a starting point for serious enquiry, ethnographic evidence of hominoids is generally ignored and often trivialized by natural scientists (Forth, 2012).

That said, we find nothing in Burmese wildman narratives to suggest indigenous informants were deliberately attempting to beguile investigators. We also consider it implausible that wildmen would be confused with bears (Ursus thibetanus and U. malayanus), langurs (Trachypithecus spp.) or macaques (Macaca spp.) by indigenous people who regularly hunt these taxa for subsistence and commercial purposes (Rabinowitz et al., 1998; Rao et al., 2005). Furthermore, while acknowledging that ethnographic data should never be uncritically accepted by natural scientists, we see no a priori reason to dismiss folk accounts simply because indigenous people lack scientific training.

Our view is consistent with a growing body of literature indicating that indigenous people can be reliable observers of the natural world and make significant contributions to science and natural resource management (Gilchrist et al., 2005; Anadón et al., 2008; Davy et al., 2011; Meijaard et al., 2011; Nabhan and Martinez, 2012; Cano and Telleria 2013).

Neither are we ready to ascribe supernatural status to the Burmese wildman given that indigenous accounts contain remarkably few mythical elements. Moreover, the fact that wildman reports are for the most part centered on a specific region with distinct ecological boundaries argues for the existence of a real animal rather than a cultural construct inhabiting only the ima-gination of informants.

We contend that a mythical animal, not being constrained by ecological or biogeographical factors, would be more widely reported within Myanmar. On a continuum of scientific credibility with imaginary beings at one end and empirical referents (i.e., species recognized by modern science) at the other (Forth, 2012), the Burmese wildman would seem to fall somewhere just short of the latter.

In contrast to North America, where critics argue the dearth of fossil evidence precludes the existence of an undescribed primate such as sasquatch (Meldrum, 2006), primates including hominoids are well-represented in the fossil record of mainland Southeast Asia and adjacent southern China (Kelley, 2002; Chaimanee et al., 2008; Jaeger et al., 2011; Harrison et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2014).

Of particular relevance to the reports of wildmen in Myanmar are Gigantopithecus blacki, which persisted until the Middle Pleistocene in southern China and possibly elsewhere (Zhao and Zhang, 2013) and several species of Pongo, one (P. devosi) of which survived into the Holocene on mainland Southeast Asia (Delgado and van Schaik, 2000; Harrison et al., 2014).

Undiscovered relict populations of Gigantopithecus blacki in North America and Asia have been proposed to explain sasquatch and yeti, respectively (reviewed by Meldrum, 2006), and some elements of Burmese wildman narratives (e.g., large body size and hirsuteness) are consistent with physical reconstructions of this taxa by Ciochon et al. (1990). Conversely, the wildman described by Blanford (1891) bears a notable resemblance to Pongo (e.g., tailless with long, deep ferruginous hair, body size consistent with female P. pygmaeus).

In conclusion, the wildman narratives we review here together with the rich fossil record suggest that a bipedal primate as yet unknown to science may inhabit high-elevation forests in the mountains of northern Myanmar. Although funding agencies have so far proved reluctant to support research on cryptic hominoids, scientists working in the region should be alert to the possibility of collecting additional evidence in the form of casts or photographs of tracks, hair and fecal samples, or even physical remains obtained from hunters.

Most importantly, indigenous peoples should be solicited for additional information about wildmen. An in-depth interview survey (e.g., Meijaard et al., 2011) would go far towards establishing a basis for future field research and perhaps provide tentative answers to questions concerning the natural history of undescribed hominoids in Myanmar.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Madeline Thompson and Deb Levinson (Wildlife Conservation Society-New York) for locating a number of obscure references, Kyaw Zay Ya for preparing our map, and Kalyar Platt for translating Burmese sources into English. We are also grateful to Saw Tun Khaing for bringing the newspaper article by Colonel Hla Aung to our attention many years ago, thus sparking our interest in Burmese wildmen.

Our manuscript benefited greatly from discussions with our Burmese colleagues, Robert Tizard, and comments by Anna Nekaris and two anonymous reviewers. Support for SGP was provided by Wildlife Conservation Society-Myanmar Program.

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Steven G. Platt was formerly an Associate Professor in the Biology Department at Sul Ross State University (2006-2011), and now serves as the Regional Conservation Herpetologist for Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Southeast Asia. He received his B.S. in Forestry and Wildlife Management from Louisiana State University (1985), M.S. in Biology from Southeastern Louisiana University (1990), and Ph.D. in Zoology from Clemson University (1996). His current focus is the study and conservation of turtles and crocodilians in Southeast Asia, primarily in Myanmar where, together with his wife Kalyar Platt (Turtle Survival Alliance – Myanmar Program), he is conducting conservation programs for the endemic and critically endangered Burmese Star Tortoise and Burmese Roofed Turtle. Outside of Myanmar, Platt works closely with the WCS Cambodia Program on Southern River Terrapin and Siamese crocodile conservation issues, and has been collaborating with Chinese scientists to restore Chinese alligators to Yangtze River wetlands. Platt has co-authored numerous scientific papers on crocodilians and turtles, and in 2014 received the Castillo Award for crocodile conservation from the IUCN/SSC Crocodile Specialist Group.

Thomas Rainwater is formerly a Wildlife Toxicologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is now Wildlife Research Coordinator at the Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science with Clemson University. He received his B.S. in Biology from Furman University (1989), M.S. in Environmental Toxicology from Clemson University (1994), and Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Texas Tech University (2003). For the last 25 years, he has worked on various field projects in the United States, Central America, and Asia focusing on the biology, ecotoxicology, and conservation of wildlife, particularly reptiles and birds. Much of his recent research has focused on the impacts of environmental pollution, habitat alteration, and over-exploitation on endangered crocodilians and turtles. Rainwater has co-authored numerous scientific papers on these and other topics and currently serves as Vice Chair for North America for the IUCN/SSC Crocodile Specialist Group.

Figure 1. Map of Myanmar showing political boundaries of Kachin State, Shan State, and Sagaing Division, major rivers, principal urban centers, and localities mentioned in text. Place names in accordance with current usage.

                 The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 8:1-25 (2019)

Research Article

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE ALMAS*

Zhugdariyn Damdin

EDITOR’S NOTE: Here is a translation of an abridged summary taken from an apparently substantial manuscript produced by Mongolian investigator Zhugdariyn Damdin, who conducted ethnographic and field research on the Mongolian almas over a period of several years (1962-1965). This was translated to Russian, arranged by the late Michael Trachtengerts, and posted on his webpage (alamas.ru). In his Afterword, Trachtengerts sheds some light on the manuscript’s provenience, while raising questions about its impact and ultimate fate. Jim Burgtorf arranged to have Trachtengerts’ on-line summary translated into English and recently brought it to my attention. I was unfamiliar with it but received further clarification from Igor Burtsev, to whom we are indebted for further historical context and editorial assistance. Burtsev came into possession of Damdin's book manuscript (in Mongolian, with photographs) in the 1970s, and had some excerpts translated into Russian. Later he conveyed the entire manuscript to Maya Bykova for translation into Russian. During 1976, Burtsev participated in an expedition to Mongolia, at which time he met Damdin. Preoccupied with other responsibilities and circumstances over the ensuing decades, Burtsev lost contact with Maya Bykova. She passed away in 1995, and the fate of her archives, including the Damdin manuscript is unknown. Therefore, we are all the more fortunate to be able to make available this early insight into the nature of an Asian relict hominoid – the Mongolian almas.

*АЛМАСЫН МОР
© RHI

Letter from Zhugdariyn Damdin [Fig. 1] to Professor Boris F. Porshnev on June 20, 1967.

Dear Prof. Porshnev, warm greetings and best wishes for success in your scientific work. I, a simple hunter, gladly write this letter from faraway Mongolia. Your name is repeatedly heard, but there was no reason to contact you before now. Now the Soviet scientist Kulikov, who is in Ulaan Baatar, deliberately met me and conveyed your request from the letter. If I had the opportunity to meet with you, I could tell you many things.

From an early age I sowed grain, grazed cattle, hunted, learned my native language and, in 1921, I fought in the Revolution, among the first partisans. Since then I have been in the civil service, the military, and repeatedly had the opportunity to join in scientific work. Thus, in search of the almas (Snowman), which has interested me from the very beginning, I spent four years, starting in 1962. Now I have written a small book about the results of these searches. According to your wish, I am sending this book with Comrade V.V. Kulikov. It consists of 312 typewritten pages, in 4 sections with a large number of drawings and photographs of witnesses and notes by Evaline Zeligman and Maya Bykova and consisting of 6 chapters, 124 photos, and 7 drawings.

Thank you many times over for having learned about me across thousands of kilometers, and intending to print my book in a socialist country... this is a great joy in my life. The book was prepared for the Mongolian publishing house. When published in the USSR, certain repetitions may become apparent to the Soviet reader.

Nevertheless, in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 are the results of my observations in the field, and I think there should be few cuts there.

Additionally, I have in my possession long coarse hair, obtained as a result of excavations in Altai, where they say a strange manlike being died, whose whole body was covered with hair. In these mountains, at a high altitude, excrement of an unknown origin was also found. Should I investigate these things? Please reply.

I did not always do this research. Only in recent years have I started searching, taking upon myself the brunt of the search for the almas. Nevertheless, this book, despite its small volume, is my main work.

As I have experienced a lot of hardship in my life and am already 68 years old, of course I'd be pleased if the book were printed in the USSR. Despite my old age, I, a mountaineer and hunter, hope to devote my remaining years to the search for the almas, and the publication of the book would be important to our future work.

Zhugdariyn Damdin

FOREWORD

When they were going to go to the mountainous areas of the Mongolian Altai Territory, I was more worried than anybody. Some time back they were going to go to Altai Khan, which is in the western outskirts of our country, known from early history, occupying an area of some 1.5 million km2. The mountain stands majestically, lifting his head covered in eternal snow, and keeping the secrets and mysteries of the centuries in his sheer cliffs, which stretch like a rope. That was a few years ago. But, I always remember the warm, clear days of late spring – the beginning of the memorable summer of 1962, as if it all happened yesterday.

In that region, they talked a lot about an animal called the almas. These exciting reports reached me in the capital, some 2000 kilometers away, and beckoned me to Altai. Overcome with desire and curiosity, I was preparing to go with the approval of the Academy of Sciences of the MPR. Since from an early age I had heard about this unknown living creature, called the almas, from reports of different people in all parts of Mongolia, I was very happy to be on the way to conduct such an unusual search.
About this man-beast called the almas, in all Mongol families living in gers, many legends about the almas are passed on, and there is hardly any person in any part of Mongolia who has not heard about him.

One of the oldest revolutionary scientists, Tseven Zhamtsarano (a Soviet professor, a Buryat by ethnicity, who disappeared in 1937 during the years of repression) was very interested in this matter. Although he collected some information and facts, the materials disappeared due to his untimely death. Also, there were no people who were continuously interested in this issue. And, for some time the legends remained legends. But people didn't stop talking about this strange animal. On the contrary, the conversations became more specific, and in the sixties began to attract general attention.

In this regard, my journey met with some great difficulties. There were rumors spread by various disbelieving persons. They said that to mix this scientific search with my personal interests was as if I were chasing devils and ghosts. Such reasoning had a detrimental effect on the search, questioning its being undertaken for objective verification, without any preconceived opinion. The author experienced financial difficulties due to the reluctance of some people to request funding for such a project.
But thanks to the ardent support of the Mongolian Altai workers, I conducted a search in the Altai four times (Mongolian – note by Evaline Zeligman and Maya Bykova) in 1962-1965, and I write about these in this book.

The book tells about what I saw with my own eyes or heard with my own ears, or from the mouths of responsible people. I wrote about the facts of this matter that are receiving increasing attention.

But I passed [through] only the Kobdo and Bayan-Olgii aimaqs, that is, only two aimaqs out of 18 Mongolian aimaqs, and rumors about the almas and associated phenomena are ubiquitous in our country.

In addition, it should be noted that not only myself, but also our Academy of Sciences, especially Dr. Prof. Byamba Rinchen (later on Academician), pays great attention to this issue.

The Altai Mountains, where "hot" traces of the almas (human-like beast) are beginning to be discovered, and the desert stretching for thousands of kilometers, are still not fully explored, and the secret is waiting to be uncovered. I have tried my best to at least touch the outer shell of this mystery.

The Author

CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST JOURNEY FROM OCTOBER 7 TO DECEMBER 3, 1962
I drove some 7000 km [specifically, the author lists dozens of localities in the Mongolian Altai and thereabouts, where he traveled. An illustration in the Russian version shows northwest Mongolia, J.B]. Of the local residents, some were unanimous in asserting that the almas existed, at least in the past, while others just as unanimously declare that he still exists. It was necessary to thoroughly understand.

Bajbay Kadamjan (the given name stands first), aged 74 years, a Kazakh, a simple man from Kobdos somon, of Kobdos aimaq, related to the author: Once (he doesn't know exactly when) his father drove the herd to a distant pasture near Lake Tolbo. In the middle of winter, he saw tracks of a bare human foot leading to a deserted shepherd's hut. It turned out that this creature came to the hut several times and took some of the supplies left there. Surprised herdsmen lay in wait for several days and caught this animal with a lasso. Its body was completely naked except for a covering of woolly hair, very unpleasant [smelling? J.B.], different from an ordinary animal in its resemblance to man. It turned out that it was "exactly like a human female, but doesn't understand language at all." In the distance, another similar creature was moving uneasily, possibly a male. Seeing this the herdsmen released the trapped creature, and both quickly disappeared from view. This amazing story was told to the young Kadamd-zhan by his father.

Two hunters, Karatishkhan and Kambar, once hunted in the heights of Borit at 3,830 meters above sea level, to the left of Lake Tolbo and on the Mountain Meerengiin Sala, covered in eternal snow. Despite their precautions, the game (an argali) was scared and ran away. The hunters were surprised, knowing that they did not frighten it. Suddenly they noticed some kind of "terrible person." This 'person' was very tall, completely naked and hair-covered. The hunters stealthily watched. "He was exactly like a man, about two meters tall with pale woolly hair, with a dark brown awn [meaning unclear, literally "bristle", possibly a beard, J.B.], but his head was gray. The muscles of his arms and legs were very large and strongly developed. His chest was wide and thick. Such a big scary 'person' seemed to fear nothing, walking with long strides in a certain direction." The hunters became fearful and mounted their horses. Karatishkhan offered to shoot the beast, but the other disagreed. This happened not so long ago. Rumors have spread widely. In the somon Ulmaar Tolbo somon, residents, especially schoolchildren, were so alarmed that they even set up a watch duty. But over time, it was forgotten. Both hunters are now dead.

The Brigadier of the brigade no. 2 of the agricultural association Ulaan-Tug (red flag), aged 45, an MPRP [Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party] member, and younger brother of the aforementioned Karatishkhan, named Umbay Beldeuvai, confirms: "It was in the fall or winter of 1936. My brother Karatishkhan and Kambar hunted at the beginning of the spur of snow-capped Meren Mount Borit, east of Lake Tolbo. Karatish-khan suddenly returned home terrified from the hunt and told the above. Newly added in Beldeuvai's story, the footprint of that creature was much longer than a human's, although the storyteller was small at that time, but Osho remembers that he was talking about his brother, whom people knew as a truthful person."
At the Mountain of Hurt voices can be heard at night, similar to human, different from those sounds that can be produced by an owl, or by other birds or animals. Many locals told the author about this.

Omar, 79 years old, a cattle breeder of the Kobdos somon: "It seems like it was in 1934 (I don't remember exactly)." He then confirms that he personally heard conversations about Karatishkhan and Kambar and passed on their contents.

Honored comrade Cholta, aged 56, then headmaster of the Tolbos somon school, now director of the secondary school of the Oygor somon of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq, and a member of the MPRP, relates he does not remember exactly, but it seems that it was in 1935. It was close to winter. It further confirms the same story, but adds: "It is definitely true that they once came up to me and the administration of the somon, alarmed, and reported their adventure, saying, 'what is this?' Further reports added to the fear consuming the residents, especially students, who were organized on [guard] duty at night. Those hunters were not the kind of people who could [not] tell the truth. I still think the story was certainly true," said the teacher.

The chairman of the Kobdo Aimaq Party Committee, Gonchisdorj, told the author: "Till now there are rumors that some unusual child fell into the trap put on the tarbagans (local name of marmots) by a Kazakh of the Kobdo somon of our aimaq, named Kalamjan Murdzgal."

A former soldier of division Matadi, now a resident of Kobdo somon Kobdos aimaq, a member of the agricultural associations, aged 45, Kalamdzhan Murdzgal says: "A trap was placed in an area of Harhaytyn tag, [near] the lake Tosrog-holes, and the beginning of the five spurs – Taban oysala [of the] Altai mountain range (now the territory of Delun somon of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq). Then at about noon on August 20, 1948, I went to check the trap. When I approached, I discovered that some black creature was hitting (sic) the hole, closing the entrance to the trap. When the creature pulled, it seemed to be stronger than the tarbagan. [I am certain] I saw a child's leg stuck by the ankle in the trap. I was surprised, thinking where could a child have come from in this wild place? But at the same time, the leg didn't look like a child's, differing in color. I was tempted to shoot it, but remembered things that could harm one's home, evil spirits and the like.

Along the way, I did not meet anyone, except for Ukhanaha Tahia, who was unable to keep up. When he arrived after 3 or 4 hours, the same leg was sticking out of the trap. The foot, five toes and other features suggested that the leg could be compared to the leg of a human child, but the skin was the color of a camel in summer, and besides, it was covered with sparse dark hair. Surprisingly, the trap weakened, and the animal pulled out its leg and went into a hole. Out of fear and suspicion, [the hunter] left the trap in the same place, at the burrow, and went to the border guards, some 10 km away. Some curious guards came to the scene of the incident, and wanted to dig a hole, but wary of them, [he] did not allow it. He took the trap and left with

the border guards. After this bad omen [he or I, unclear, J.B.] stopped hunting." In October 1960, the head of the department of the internal department of the Kobdo aimaq, a certain Lamjab, called Murdzgal and yelled at him, accusing him of spreading false rumors. But Murdzgal assured him that he saw with his own eyes that child-like animal.

The shepherd of the Ulaan-Tug (red flag) agricultural association, somon Tolbo of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq, also a member of the Revsomol (Revolutionary Youth Group), named Dugan-Bayin Bayanhoy, 20 years old, reports: It was in July 1959 (unsure of the exact number). He fed the sheep once at the spur Meran of mount Borit. It was quiet. There were no people or animals around. Suddenly the sheep became frightened. The shepherd ran to them and saw in front of a hill a terrible creature, manlike, but covered with thick fur. It was lying headfirst [Fig. 2]. Despite his surprise and fear, the shepherd noticed that the animal had long hair on its head, and the hair on the body was short and whitish-brown. The next day, accompanied by the old man Teleujan, he went to the same place. They saw footprints in the sand that looked like human footprints. The herder of brigade no. 3 of Tolbo somon of Bayan-Olgiy aimaq, Teleudzhan, aged 78, confirms this, adding that the youth Bayanhoy is a serious young man, and certainly did see what he reported.

The shepherd of the brigade no. 4 of the agricultural association Jargalyn Hall (the path to happiness) of Bulgan somon, Kobdosky aimaq, named Batyn Ishgen, reported that at the end of October 1945, while carrying out the border service (more than 60 Mongols and Kazakhs were on duty that day), on the ridge Tahiin ball, we drove towards Bar-Hall (Barkul). We were divided into groups of 3, 5, and 10 people. When one of the detachments was on the western edge of the semi-desert Kazakh Tour, in front of the top of a sand dune, in a thick saxaul grove, they saw the impossible sight of a terrible naked man covered with woolly hair.

The horses were frightened, but gradually the fear of horses and riders dissipated, and they gradually approached the creature and began to circle around it. Then they even stopped and began to eat. They tried to give food to the hairy man, but he did not want to eat. When spoken to, he opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue (literally, "the tongue hung") and made terrible inarticulate sounds. They aimed their weapons at him, showed their knives, but he showed no sign of fear. The hair on his body was very thick in places, of a reddish color. His eyes, nose, mouth, ears and head were manlike. It is now recalled that he had bright eyes like a large squirrel's, and his face was completely black. The jaws were longer than a man's [prognathous, J.B.]. The whole body was covered with hair to some extent, but there was almost no hair on the face or the armpits. The hands were completely black, with the nails on both hands and feet very long. Additionally, both hands and feet were covered with "chicks" [meaning unclear, J.B.]. The legs were not very long, and the penis was like that of an ordinary man [Fig. 3, 4].

After this inspection, fear again gripped people, some of whom felt that it was an evil spirit. Some wanted to shoot him, but it [i.e. gunfire, presumably] was forbidden at the border. Therefore, he escaped alive into a thick saxaul grove at sunset. Those places on the northeast side of Mount Michin are deserted. This incident is known to the shepherd of our union, Boldyn Batu, and also the carpenter Chultem from Bulgan. But Batu said: "It is true that Ishgem was always a serious and truthful man, but he probably doesn't remember well a meeting with a strange creature as [he was] mistaken [about] whom he had been with." The author (Damdin) believes that the leadership of the Kobdo aimaq did not approve of such talk, so maybe Batu just did not [want to] talk about it.

Red Mountain Almas
To the right of the Bulgan River in the Kobdo aimaq there is the Almasyn Ulan Uul (Red Mountain of the Almas). Purabjab, aged 74, said: The mountain has been called so for a long time. According to many people in this area, at night, there are different voices heard, similar to human voices. Purabjab, Amard-zaya, and other old men said that, as they say here from time immemorial, these are devils and evil spirits.

Party member Amardzaya said: In our area, there is always a lot of talk associated with this mountain. At a branch of the Khokh Udzur of the Almasyn Ulan Uul, in the autumn of 1960, Mendewe, a local resident, saw four children running through, who could not [possibly] be there. A few years back, a local resident named Hemchig met an unusually scary man near the same mountain, and, having fallen ill from fear, soon died.

Party member Samchai Manday says: He mowed hay with an old man. One night there was a sudden noise. The following morning Manday began to observe where the noise was coming from, and saw four strange children. Manday wanted to go investigate, but the old man saw this and angrily forbade it. These were obviously not children, but from a distance it even seemed like they were wearing short shirts. "Although I still wonder about these unnatural children," said Manday, "I don't tell people much, thinking I could possibly have misinterpreted [what I saw]."

The news of a corpse
The author of this book has now tracked down the senior gardener of the fruiting station of the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia on the Bulgan River in Kobdo aimaq, the 56-year-old Choyjoo, about whom Ishghen spoke above.

Amarjargan Choyjoo reports: It was July 26, 1953, at about 10 a.m. Leading a camel, [at] Ulan (at the southwestern spurs of the Bayanondor Mountain, where they used to make sacrifices), passing through a hollow in the ravine, I saw something grayish between two saxauls. Moving along the ravine, I stumbled upon the corpse of a humanlike animal, very large and covered with hair. Approaching closely, I examined it carefully, despite the fact that I was alarmed by this unexpected find. The creature was lying on its side with one arm raised, one foot and its head [visible]. The body was extremely similar to a human's, but could not be attributed to a Mongol, or a Russian, or a Chinese, or a Kazakh.

It was clear to the observer that there was some kind of human before him. His head was big, the neck was thick, the arms and legs were long. The creature seemed to have been dead a long time. The head hair was long, on other parts of the body shorter. The hair of head and body was full of fine sand. All the hair was fawn-brown, but the hair in the armpits, groin, and on the belly was sparse. The skin in the groin, armpits, and other similar places was dried and wrinkled. It was arranged in strips, like belts made from the skin of a long-dead camel. Part of the hair had fallen out and was scattered in the sand by the wind. Near the corpse there were no objects used by people. Seeing the body of a strange person, like an animal, so terrible, he remembered [stories] about devils and evil spirits, was fearful and did not tell his family about it.

[Here is something omitted, as a long period about nine years passed since that event, until Damdin visited that location in 1962 – I. Burtsev]
He remembered, with the fear he felt, the time he saw the body. But he was also told about the strange corpse by the then chairman of the bag, party member Lugar, a respected resident of Choyunyam and director of the fruit and vegetable station Chimitdorj.

Having heard such a report, author, having hired three horses, went to the area where the body was found, accompanied by Choyjoo, who saw the body, and narrated about, and the mining engineer Volodya (a Russian, who was with the expedition in the Bulgan area at the base). We rode for 3 days, November 8-10, 1962, but could not locate the corpse. As quite a long time had passed since its discovery, it is not surprising that Choyjoo could not find that exact place. Choyjoo was very disappointed and out of sorts, although we knew that in those regions it was hard to find even what was in some exact spot nine days ago, much less nine years ago. After this unsuccessful search, the author returned to Ulaan Baatar.

CHAPTER II.
THE SECOND TRIP TO THE ALTAI IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER OF 1963
[This time the author traveled some 7,000 kilometers, and lists the places visited.]

"Human" skull of unknown origin

The skull was sent to the Academy of Sciences of the MPR [Fig. 4-8]. It was found in the region of the Almasyn Ulan Mountain, in the territory of the Bulgan somon of the Kobdo aimaq. A senior worker at the Budgan fruit and vegetable station named Choyjoo, the head of the station called Chimitdardj and others, decided to find the corpse described above. After the author left, they barely found this skull in the rugged terrain northeast of Mount Almasyn Ulan. The rest of the body was apparently eaten by scavengers or carried off by the stream, so only the skull remained to be found.

Together with Chimitdorje, Choyjoo and others, the author [upon his return] carefully searched for the corpse previously seen by Choyjoo. Damdin reports that they scoured the area [hoping to find additional remains, J.B.], proceeding 10 m. apart from each other. At three meters from where the skull was found, along the stream, a woman named Erdnee dug out four tangled bundles of black-brown hair 18-31 cm long. Damdin and the others imme-diately inspected this place. Another woman, downstream, dug out another bunch of hair, whitish at the ends, 36 cm long, at a depth of about 30 cm. Altogether, over 10 bunches of brown and whitish hair were excavated.

The Ridge of Tolbo-Khuniy Nurtsu

A detailed geographical description of Tolbo-huni Nurtsu, one of the many spurs of Altai, is given. The author draws attention to the numerous toponyms associated with the animals found there: "Argalant" – with argali; "Almasyn Ulan," "Almasyn dob" – Almas Hill; "Huniy Nuruu" – the Ridge of Man, etc. He describes the peaks of the Tolbo-juniya Nuru Ridge, always snow-covered. He travel-ed along the ridge at an altitude of 3000-4000 meters, visited over 10 canyons with steep walls, these being sometimes 500-600 meters high, and stretching some 3 km, where, as far as Damdin knew, no one had ever been. He described the fauna he encountered.

Tuvangan Serkvay from the Tolbo somon of Bayan-Olgii aimaq, the oldest member of the Party, a former administrative and party worker, aged 54, and a deputy of the Great Khural (Parliament) of the MPR, said that in late October or early November of 1923 (he doesn't remember the exact date), in a snowstorm in the country Tehtiin Hujir Conhag, in the territory of Altan somon, he fed the sheep of a certain wealthy Uranhayan. Suddenly, something scared the sheep. Looking closely, Tuvangan saw a tall man near the sheep.

This "man" approached the shepherd, who sat on a rock under an overhanging stone. Despite his fear, he saw that the man was strong, robust, with gray head hair and a beard. He was covered with gray-brown hair resembling a little camel's hair. The legs and arms were very large, immensely so, and an extremely large and long penis dangled. Although the nose, mouth, eyes and ears were like a man's, the creature was very scary. Seeing the shepherd, it screamed, as a man would from fear (he does not remember the exact sound). This creature then walked higher up the mountain, past the shepherd. Serkvay watched it walk away; there was no tail, he walked like a man, swaying somewhat from side to side. The frightened shepherd then ran to his master, leaving the sheep. The owner took a gun and, gathering some people, drove the sheep. He explained the events as follows: "This is the owner of the mountains and the beasts."

The author, Damdin, traveling in the Altai-Tsogo somon, met with the hunter Batdordzh. During a conversation about Serkvay, Batdor-dzh's mother, 72-year-old Bachert, said: "This Serkvay fed our sheep 40 years ago." She furthermore confirmed that one day, a frightened boy really did run up and [said he] saw a hairy man. She continued, "Our old man then told me, this Serkvay is a man of great virtues (accumulated during previous rebirths). He personally met with the owner of Altai Khan!"

A resident of the somon Altai Tsogou of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq, Khanish Chulsin, says that when she was still small, her elder brother went to the mountains where there was pasture, but returned horseless, having seen a strange living creature. Brother and sister searched a bit and again saw this creature in a crevice. The brother hesitated, but at his sister's insistence took aim and fired. The animal ran off. The hands, feet, and gait were like a man's, the coat [of woolly hair] like a mountain goat. There was no tail, and the tracks were human.

Mount Tagt, where Hanish saw that animal, was the site of the winter camp of Bayan-Olgii, father of Batdordj. She is of the same generation as Batdordj. He should know of this event. Her father then asked Uncle Bayan-Aldziya what it could be. He replied: "That animal will not harm man. It is the owner of the mountains." Her elder brother Musai is a shepherd in somon Tolbo. She said she could ask him.

A member of the brigade no. 11 of the somon Altanzogots, Bayan-Olgii aimaq, Bayandzini Batdordzh, 42, says that his father told him about an encounter in the Khuren region, while he was hunting for a human-like hairy creature. The anxious father put there an obo (a pile of stones serving as an altar) and always made sacrifices. After meeting that animal, his father became rich and gained much honor and respect from people. That being [is the] host of Altai Khan, people inhabiting this region believe, and it revealed itself to only virtuous happy people. This is the highest tengri [evidently meaning some-thing like honor, J.B.]. Batdordzh's father admonished him and warned him that, if he is fortunate enough to meet this spirit, to tell no one about it.

In September 1961, Batdordj saw a strange animal at Lake Nogan Nur (3000 meters above sea level). He reported that that on first seeing the creature, it was about 250 meters from him, and then he approached more closely. The creature was broad-faced, with prominent jaws, and loose, shaggy hair on its head. It was naked, of a bluish color, the body covered with woolly hair. The neck was short and thick, the shoulders high, the thighs thick; no tail. The hands were long and dangled. All animals [there] were large and fast; some mountain goats were frightened by the crea-ture and fled. Although Batdordj had an excellent gun, it did not even occur to him to shoot it. [A drawing made by Batdordj was originally attached here.]

Following the creature further, Batdordj again saw it in the distance. He thought about the "owner" of Altai.

A member of the agricultural association "Narmandaz" (Sunrise) of Buyant somon, Bayan-Odghi aimaq, named Mietap Kodzar, 52 years old, was in late March 1962,

shepherding sheep in the hollow of Khan or Yadzgar to the west of Shar Bulag (in the territory of Buyon somon). At about 11 o'clock the sheep became alarmed and a naked "man" appeared behind them. He wanted to shoot it, but did not dare, it looked too human. On closer examination, although manlike, its body was covered with blackish-brown woolly hair. The hair on its head hung down to the eyebrows. Through binoculars, the penis was clearly visible, and Kodzar was certain it was male. Both looked at each other. When the hairy one went, the shepherd shouted. The being did two or three jumps, but suddenly turned around and stood straight up. The shepherd shook it [meaning unclear, J.B.] but the creature went on. The next day, with another shepherd named Muhitin, Kodzar went to the same place. Judging by the tracks, they decided that the creature's foot is narrower than a human's foot. The big digit seemed smaller than a man's. They found a place where it had lain. The handprints could not be distinguished from human ones. At this place there were also several hairs 2-3 cm in length, dark brown in color.

Muhitin's story confirms Kodzar's. They walked about a kilometer following the tracks of a "man". The step [evidently footprint length intended, J.B.] was about 40 cm. They found a nest. It was obvious that the hairy one lay curled up on its side, placing a hand under its head. Hair was noted. When he told his mother, she said: "Oh, he comes to our places. There used to be such a creature that was called Hun Guresy (man-beast). There is no-thing to fear from him."

A woman named Hunsai, 64 years old, from the Ulan-Tui (Red Radiance) agricultural association, the same somon and aimaq says that around noon on August 3, 1963, on the northern side of the eastern Huren Khairkhan range, near Tolbo Lake, the sheep became frightened. On a steep southern slope, some 70-80 meters away, was a human-like creature standing naked near the sheep. It was covered with woolly hair, which seemed bluish or reddish-brown from that distance. It moved very quickly along the steep slope of the mountain. It had an odd gait. Both hands hung down. The hands and legs were reddish, and the head hair was messy. It was big. Hunsai got scared and drove the sheep home. She told her husband, who reported it to the somon. The husband confirms her story and says that the place is deserted, and it is located in the southwestern part of the Huni Nuru (human spine). The deputy vouched for the husband's report. The deputy was a chairman of the Association of Nadzikhan somon and chair-man of Kambar.

The head of the economic department of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq committee of the Party named Purev Sarig reported that he, together with others, while hunting in late August 1962, on the slope [of] Tolbo, saw the tracks of a barefoot man in the snow. After 30 meters they disappeared, as there was no more snow. People said, "This the master, the keeper of Tolbo." They say this creature is human-like. [Originally attached was a drawing of the creature made by a certain Sarig.]

The younger brother, Sariga Timur, told how he, his uncle, father, and elder brother hunted together in August 1962. He heard his older brother, who was with the horses, call out to Khar that he saw tracks of a barefoot man. Also, he heard that in the same period, on a mountain of Tolbo, a man named Dzarga personally saw a man-like creature.

The head of the department of agricultural associations herding brigade somon Altan-tsogts, Bayan-Olgii aimaq, Nyama, told that in a field in 1962, [he] was at work in the Ku-ui (Yamato, "goat") in the area [of] Dayan territory brigade no. 1 Sachsay somon of Bayan-Olgiyskogo aimaq. He said that the shepherd of that brigade, named Hosoyt, saw among the sheep a strange "man", almost naked, [but] with a hat on his head, at least it seemed to the shepherd. His face was hairy and frightful looking, and [he] was in the mountains among the rocks. When the shepherd retrieved other people, the creature was no longer there.

In 1963, when Nyama was in the brigade no. 4 of the Delun somon, a man named Oroihon told him that about 30 years ago, Oroihon's elder brother, an excellent hunter, caught an almas woman and kept her at home for two days, but not being able to get her to eat or drink, he finally released her. She was covered with woolly hair, all the time saggy.

The head of the Udzhin Rest House, a former resident of the somon Tolbo of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq, named Orazboy, des-cribed how in 1934, the hunters Karatishkhan and Kambar saw a human-like creature near Borit (see p. 4). In the somonmer of 1962, around July, as Duguenbay and Bayanha related, they saw a naked "person" [while shepherding]. It is also said that the woman Hunsai, in the summer of 1963, while working in the somon Tolbo brigade no. 2, saw a naked man climbing a mountain.

The head of the trans-ship.m.ent base Tsagan-nor of Bayan-Olgii aimaq, Colonel Sosorbaran, reported that in 1960, in the area of mount Tsegelkhairhan, local residents saw tracks of a barefoot person in the snow.

In conclusion, the author writes that the former chairman of the great Khural (Parliament) Nogoy, the bank manager of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq, Jeniskhan, the head of the rest house, Orazboy, the head of the road department Magauya and others believe, based on legends and facts, in the existence of almas in the Mongolian Altai. There used to be information that almas came [to that region] from Xinjiang.

CHAPTER III.
SEARCHES IN THE ALTAI
FROM JUNE 17 TO DECEMBER 3, 1964
The author stayed in the most promising places for a longer time. Accompanying him this time were the teacher of the Moscow High School geographer B. Rantsen, an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture, the famous hunter A. Lubsandorzh, and an employee of the Ministry of State Security, Major Shadabtsodol. Their visit [was] sped up [by] a message from the Altai that several reports had been received about encounters with an almas.

A commission of 16 people was organized on site. The chairman of the Executive Committee (Administration) of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq appointed Aran to survey the area where almas had been seen. The author gives an act of commission, which states:

1) At 11-12:00 am on May 10, 1964, a 2nd grade student of Dulunjab, aged 9, a 2nd grade student of Darsuen, 11, and a 6-year-old girl, saw a human-like creature near some brush-wood. They described it as having woolly hair like a brown camel. The children's story was confirmed by their parents.

2) At about 10:00, on May 17-18, 1964, a 2nd grade schoolgirl, Lisa, spent the night at a relative of the Bagds, and on the way back she saw an almas with a brownish-gray coat of hair.
In both cases, the frightened children fled; it seemed to them that the creature was waving to them.

3) At 8-9:00 on June 2, 1964, Bataa, 71, saw a reddish almas. It ran across the road and disappeared into a willow grove.

4) Around 4-6:00 p.m. on June 5, 1964, Avzi, 11 years old, and Oloksho, 5, walking with a humped camel in a willow grove, saw an almas of a reddish color, sitting down.

5) At about 6:00 p.m., on June 6, 1964, a pupil in the 4th grade, Tovsh, 11, saw a human-like creature at a distance of 15 meters in the forest while grazing livestock.

The commission visited all these places located in the Bug area on the territory of the Nogo-nur somon, Bayan-Olgii aimaq. [Photos were attached.] The commission, based on the foregoing, believes that the almas was obviously located about 3 km west of the Bug river. The commission, due to the summer proliferation of midges, found it impossible to conduct further searches.

It is further reported that on June 9, 1964, Boshoi, during his migration to a willow grove, saw a human-like creature of red and gray color, with disheveled hair. He was frightened and ran away. He told everything to the drivers from the construction office, and was ridiculed. Signatures of mem-bers of the commission and the chairman are given. The author and his companions drove to the same places. Attached [were] photos of the area and maps of the 3rd trip. [The text lists numerous places that were visited.]

Reports of almas seen:

1) By the shepherd of the brigade no. 2 of the somon union of Tolbo, Bayan-Olgii aimaq, Tuselbai, aged 58. A detailed account of the circumstances of his almas encounter and its description is recorded. He sketched the almas.

2) A member of the brigade no. 4 of the Bulgan somon of Kobdo aimaq named Lamaa, 40 years old, saw a small almas with a 3 year-old child, covered in woolly hair, etc. The detailed description is similar to the previous one. The terrain was completely uninhabited, no people there.

3) Darsuren, 11 years old, from the brigade no. 3 of the Bulgan somon, Bayan-Olgii aimaq, gave a detailed story. She noted the red color, unpleasant eyes, and clearly saw red eyebrows. The almas squinted at her. Her sketch is attached.

4) Liza, 13 years old, daughter of Gomba from the brigade no. 2 of the Nogon-nur somon, Bayan-Olghish aimaq, attached her sketch.

5) Tovsh, aged 14, daughter of Sese from brigade no. 2 of Nogon-nur somon, also attached her sketch.

6) Nyam, 12 years old, daughter of Chochna of brigade no. 2 of Nogon-nur somon of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq, likewise attached her sketch.

7) Dulamzhab, aged 9, daughter of Erhbilega from the brigade no. 2 of the above somon, attached her sketch.

8 ) Togtogon, 21 years old, from the town of Olgiy, the aimaq center, reported in great detail.

9) Khobilkhan, aged 14, son of Jalbai of the brigade no. 2 of Nogon-nur somon of the Bayan-Olgii aimaq [reported].

Attached [originally, J.B.] are photographs of places where traces were found. The pictures were taken by the head of the aimaq. There are detailed descriptions of the measurements, according to the author, of fresh tracks.

[Following were given the names and locations of seven more persons aged 6 to 30 years, one a veterinarian, who reported sightings in 1964; most originally provided sketches or drawings of the creatures. J.B.]

CHAPTER IV.
THE FOURTH EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF A “SNOWMAN” TO THE MOGOLIAN ALTAI, FROM SEPT. 14 TO FEB. 18, 1965, 65 DAYS IN ALL

Kobdo aimaq, Bulgan somon

Concerning this mountain-Gobi region, many legends about the snowman are associated with the Mongolian Altai. There are names of the mountains that are derived from the creature, for example "Red Mountain Almas". There are many caves in the region.

The author tells of one anxious night spent in one of the gorges. Late in the evening, when people were preparing to bed down, there was a terrible cry, like the rumbling of a beast - from time to time, it could be taken for a mournful, bitter sob. An incomprehensible "crying" then came closer, then calmed down, as if whatever responsible was going away. This humanlike "cry" only subsided around morning. But in the vicinity no traces of people or animals were found. The author writes that the night of the incident is still mysterious.

Stories of informants
The author emphasized that he chose these persons on the advice of the local authorities, namely people honored and respected.

1) Luvsan, the shepherd of the brigade no. 4 of somon Bulgan, a member of the MPRP, the hero of the labor of the MPR, relates: "Even in childhood, I heard the stories of old men about the almas. I myself did not see him, so it is hard to say how true this is. Since people talk about it, they cannot be lying, of course, there is some kind of animal. People say that the skin of a 'snowman' does not tan in the sun, it's very tough."

2) X. Dash, a member of a field brigade, member of the MPRP, a deputy of the Great People's Hural of the MPR, says that according to the stories of people, it can be assumed that an animal resembling a human being has long been found in our area. If one organizes a good search, you can get results.

3) Choyrog, 60, shepherd of brigade no. 4, and a member of the MPRP, says: I think that there is a snowman. It is true. I have seen a similar creature myself. Also, there is a thing I heard. First, I will tell you how it was.

"Twenty years ago, in the area of Hoh Uzuur, I was walking alone. It was warm, and the sun was setting. Suddenly I heard someone talking, and I was surprised to see two frolicking little children. Where could [these] children [have] come from? Nobody lives nearby in these places. I began to listen. At first, it seemed that the children were in white shirts, but it turned out to be their breasts [probably chests intended, J.B.]. The buttocks were grayish. They were generally naked. The body had a brownish color. They were more hairy than ordinary children.

I observed this at a distance of 50-60 meters. The children were about 4-5 years old. These two 'kids' quickly ran away from me. I somehow felt uneasy. I began to look for nearby dwellings, but there was nothing anywhere around. Thoughts of ghosts came to mind. I did not tell anyone what I saw, back then. Now I think that these were, perhaps, the children of the 'Bigfoot' - almas."

An informant tells about one interesting case that occurred in 1925, in Xinjiang, China. A young Khan (prince), 15 years old, and the Torgut in Khar Shary, Xinjiang, served as an orderly [to a] handsome and intelligent young man of about 20 years named Purve. Suddenly, one day this young man disappeared without a trace. After a long search, about a month later, they said that he was found unconscious in a mountain cave.

The informant reports that at that time he was in these places at the Torgut as an accompanying lama, and was interested in what happened to Purve. He seemed very much changed. There was nothing left of the formerly intelligent man. Nevertheless, he managed to get information from him. One evening, Purve, after putting the young prince to sleep, went out into the street. In the darkness suddenly appeared the figure of a tall, large, human-like subject, who wordlessly and with one blow knocked Purve down. After that, he could not come to his senses for a long time – his head was clouded. It seemed that someone carried him far away. Then it was as if he was in a cave... he remembered nothing more. "From this we can conclude that in these parts there must truly be a man-animal, almas," Choyrog finished his story.

4) Bavlay, shepherd of the brigade no. 3 of the Bulgan somon: "In 1956-57, in the spring in the Bai Chumuun area (south of the Red Mountain of Almas) I was looking, with a camel, for another, lost camel. In these places, jumps [meaning unclear, J.B.] were usually performed. In one of the hollows, I saw some creatures that looked like camels through binoculars, so I headed in that direction. But when I got close I saw that these were not camels at all, but very scary, unusual people. They wore no clothes, and their bodies were hairy. Very unpleasant creatures. I was very frightened and quickly turned my horse around. One of them was fat, with gray hair. The other one, sitting down, looked like a woman. The fat one seemed to go sit down. I was so scared that I do not remember anything else. Suddenly [I came to my senses] on the bank of the Bulgan river. Because of this experience, I lay sick for a whole year."

From these brief interviews, it is clear that there is a reason for such stories in these places. By decision of the Executive Committee of the Kobdo aimaq dated September 17, 1965, no. 2/2348 and by the decision of the Bulgan somon Executive Committee dated October 12, 1965, a permanent commission, consisting of three people, was established to collect materials about the "snowman." The representative of the commission was [the] elected head teacher of the secondary school, T. Yadamsuren. The creation of this commission immediately interested the local people. They began to come to the commission with various kinds of reports from the field.

5) For example, the duty officer of the quarantine fasting against FMD [meaning unclear, J.B.] in Bulgan somon, comrade D. Bataa, said: "On January 29, 1965, I was alone at the Alag-Tolgoyt fasting station in the evening. After dinner, I left the tent for a smoke. Just at that time the horse tethered nearby snorted, apparently afraid. Suddenly a very strange creature appeared before me, unlike a dog or any other animal. It seemed to have a head, but neither eyes nor a mouth was visible. But there was something red on the face, a tongue sticking out. I threw a stone at him, and he instantly disappeared. When I came to my senses, everyone was in a sweat. In the morning I wanted to look for traces of the creature, but I didn't find anything."

6) The message received from citizen G. Shileg, member of the brigade no. 1 of somon Bulgan, goes as follows. A group of brigade workers was traveling by car on February 22. On the way, they noticed a very strange trail. At first, one might have thought that a barefoot person had passed here. But who would go barefoot in the winter in snow? They became very interested, and all got out of the car and examined the tracks closely. It turned out that they were a little different from human footprints, but at the same time very similar. In the front [of the foot], the tracks seemed to be enveloped [possibly meaning the toes were webbed, J.B.]. Since the stride length was about one meter, it could be con-cluded that the animal was bipedal. About ten of the tracks were very clear [a picture was originally attached].

7) A statement received in the name of the President of the Academy of Sciences of the MPR, Academician B. Shirendyb, dated October 4, 1965, from A. Choyjoo, a member of the brigade no. 4 of the Bulgan somon of the Kobod aimaq: "On June 26, 1953, at about 10 in the morning, I saw at the foot of Mount Bayan the corpse of some creature, an animal very similar to man. Since the corpse had lain there a long time, half of it was buried; the half above the surface was hairy, with a yellow tinge. The body was not human, yet it was human-like. Nine years later (1962), after repeated searches, I came to the place where the corpse had been. In 1963, the skull [Fig. 4-8] and hair of that creature were sent, with a scientist, were sent to the Academy of Sciences of the MPR. Usually, no one buries people in the place where the corpse lay. The skull was not human." Signed by Choyjoo. Collected by a member of the Damsuren Commission. Bayan-Ulgii.

The author spent about a month on an expedition in the Nogon-nur, Bugat, Algan, Tsogu, Tolbo, and Buyant (Bayan-Ulgii Kazakh aimaq, MPR). Stories of informants:

1) Shikibas, a member of the brigade no. 4 of the Bugat somon: "It was at the beginning of November, 1964. I, along with my daughter Khirmzy, 19 years old, my son Sandalkhan, 15, and my neighbor boy, J. Huangbai, 8, were collecting firewood. Duanby suddenly ran up with a shout: 'There's a terrible animal there!' All three children went in that direction and saw in a grove, on an island in the Kobdo River, a furry creature similar to a man lying there. Sensing the approach of people, it quickly jumped over one of the branches of the river, stopped, and stood on the other side. The children came back, and the adults (Kenzelib, 70, Aymen, 59, A. Kuliken, 25, and I) decided to check him out. 'Where is this animal?' We said, 'There he is!' The children all shouted together. And we saw on the other side of the river, standing in a grove, a creature that looked like a man. But he was poorly visible, as it was about 5 o'clock. Then where the human-like creature stood, I saw tracks similar to those of a barefoot person. After that, we heard many times that this creature repeatedly appeared in the vicinity. They said it was a human animal. That creature was more like a human being than any known animal. The skin was grayish-yellow."

2) Kuliken: "At the beginning of Novem-ber last year, having heard reports of an incomprehensible creature, I joined the group of people who wanted to look for it. I managed to see a strange creature running across the river. The distance between it and us was about 70-80 meters. His skin was grayish-yellow; the height was average. It seemed to emit some kind of birdlike cry. We watched it for 20-30 minutes. It was about 6 o'clock."

3) T. Khirmzy: "In November 1964, my brother Sandalkhan and a boy of about 8, Juanbay, sought firewood. It was then that they saw, on an island not far from us, some animal lying in the bushes. Huangbai said it was very scary. When I replied that this was probably a ram, Huangbai began to shout that it was not a ram. In the meantime, the creature rose and started to flee. The animal was light gray in color, approximately, [according to] Zhamikhan, 12 years old. The unknown creature fled with its arms folded across its chest. The feet were like a human's feet. There was no tail. The head was bright (sic), and big. It ran and jumped over the water, like a man would. I, having run some distance, stopped and began to look around. We first saw it from a distance of about 20 meters. It twice made some kind of sound, like a crow's cry."

4) Huangbai, a boy of 8 years old, repeats the story of Khirmzy.

5) T. Zhanat, driver of the agricultural association "Partisan" of the somon Nogon-nur somon, reports: "On November 28, 1964, I went to Ulgii with a load of wood. With me was the chairman of the association, comrade Magir. The time was late evening. At about 10 p.m. Magir thought someone had shouted. I stopped the car, opened the door, then heard an unusual, sort of inhuman cry. Then I saw this human-like creature coming out of the forest. The moon was shining and everything was clearly visible. At first, one could think that this was a stooped over, dark-black man. But it turned out that this was not a man at all, but some kind of human-like animal. I quickly stepped on the gas. This animal made a terrible inhuman sound, like 'google-goog'."

6) Chairman Magir says: "I really rode in a car on November 28, 1964, on official business to Ulgii. In the Tavaltai area, opening the car window, I heard someone screaming and asked the driver to stop. The driver, opening the car door and hearing a scream, said: 'Someone is coming.' I was smoking at the time. But suddenly the driver abruptly shut the door and quickly accelerated the car. 'What happened to you?' I said, all my tobacco scattered. 'Where is this person?' 'This isn't a man at all!' The driver said, and increased his speed. 'How is this not a man?' I replied. 'Some kind of human-like animal ran at us. If this is a man, then he is crazy. Who would walk naked in this cold? We've got to get away from him.'So we reached the town of Ulgii without stopping. I only heard the sound made by the creature. It was sort of manlike, but kind of scary and unusual."

The author emphasizes that everything seen and heard by informants is centered on the same territory during one winter [originally attached was a photo of the area where they saw a "Snowman"].

7) R. Saviygaazh, chauffeur of the carpool no. 21 reported: "It was at the end of February 1965. I was driving from the city of Ulgii [towards the Hotgor mine. It was about 21 hours. Two women and my assistant intern traveled with me. Suddenly a human-like animal jumped out into the road and headed straight for us. His body was hairy and his head was big. He ran on two legs with his arms hanging towards us. A very scary creature! Thinking it might climb onto the car, I picked up speed. After a while, I looked back. It ran after us at a distance of 4-5 km (sic)."

8 ) Z. Urtnasin, a member of the brigade no. 2 of the Nogon-nur somon, said that one of the women riding in the car confirmed the chauffeur's story: "In the area approximately opposite Uataan Tunes, at the Kobdo river, I really saw a 'man' walking toward Bakhlat. ‘Like [having] a white scarf tied around your neck?’ I said to my neighboring passenger. But she replied that it was probably just a rock (she had no time to observe, as she was carrying a sick child). The driver, Saviygaazh, seeing him, said: 'Yes, this is a man on foot. His hands hang a little in front and he's coming straight at us.' The driver opened the car door, then abruptly closed it again, so hard that the handle came off, then quickly stepped on the accelerator. 'He's running for us', the driver said. I first saw this animal from a distance of about 30 m. It was as if the distance between its legs was great, the legs were bowed. It was of average height, with a big head and hairy body. Surely, this is not a man."

9) Elubay Soltakbek, shepherd of the brigade no. 2 of the somon Algan Tsogu: "It was before sunset on May 23, 1965. Having herded my sheep to the salt marsh, I climbed a hill in the Alag Uzuur area. Suddenly, my horse began to snort, and turned in fear towards the north. There I saw a 'man' at a great distance. When I looked through binoculars, I realized that it was not a human being it seemed, but some extraordinary animal. It walked on two legs, very smoothly, and kept its hands on its chest. The neck was thick and the head big. It was slightly stooped, no clothes, light brownish in color. It seemed like the head was moving all the time. In profile, it was clear that there was something white on the head. I shouted once, but the animal paid no attention. Soon it disappeared from sight, turning and going over the mountain. The picture [once attached] shows a large place where the animal was walking. It was neither an animal nor a man, but some kind of human-like creature."

Taking into account this kind of information, on November 15, 1965, the aimaq Executive Committee (Administration) of Bayan-Ulgii decided to establish a commission on this issue. Comrade Ayatk-haan, head of the military department of the aimaq committee, was tasked with leading this effort.

[The author, in his brief conclusions, advocates the need for further searches for the "Snowman" in the places reported by the informants.]

[In chapters 5 and 6, the author brought together compilations of literary materials about the "snowman'. The reports provided by travelers, starting with Plano Karpini, Johann Schiltberger, Przhevalsky, etc., is given in the book by M.K. Rosenfeld.]

AFTERWORD
The book by Zhugdariyn Damdin makes a deep impression on the reader who is familiar with the history of the search for the "Snowman". In fact, which of the well-known organized or amateur expeditions can present as their achievement the discovery of the skull of an unknown hominid? We still only know of one other case: Igor Burtsev excavated the skull of an alleged descendant of the Caucasian hominid Zana. The selfless devotion of the author of this book to his idea, and the awareness of its importance to science, is admirable. The results of his expeditions, still almost unknown and underestimated, are still waiting for their acknowledgement.

The fate of this book is interesting and mysterious. The history of its creation is clear from the letter from Zugdariyn Damdin to Prof. B.F. Porshnev, who received the manuscript, apparently in Mongolian, in 1967. And then there are numerous questions, and above all:

-How did B.F. Porshnev respond to the manuscript? Did he attempt to make a translation and publish it [in the USSR] as requested by the author?

I turned with these questions to veterans of relict hominoid research who worked with Prof. Porshnev directly:

M.J. Koffmann: "For me, the news of the existence of this book is new and surprising. For decades, Boris Fedorovich and I have maintained friendly and professional contact. When I was not on an expedition, we called each other almost daily. He never told me about [this manuscript], and I can't now explain why."

I. Burtsev: "I was assisting Boris Fedo-rovich in his work. Especially I arranged to translate for him some letters to foreign correspondents as I had contacts with many interpreters. But we never mentioned the subject of this book. I saw the manuscript after the death of Porshnev (I don’t remember from whom I received it) and even used some of the pictures from it (the posture of a sleeping hominid, the general outlook of a creature, its face smiling) in my publications. I tried to translate the excerpts from it with the help of interpreters to whom I had contacts while being a teacher of some foreign students including Mongolian ones. Then I passed it on to either Eveline Zeligman, or Maya Bykova on their request."

Dmitri Bayanov: "I know that such a book existed, but I didn't work with it."

Alexandra Burtseva: "I didn't have this manuscript."

Evaline Zeligman and Maya Bykova are both deceased. Whether the original manuscript has been preserved and where it might be, I could not determine.

In essence, what is presented above to the reader is the translation-extended abstract of the book of Z. Damdin. Moreover, in order to expedite this summary, in a number of cases important details of the appearance and behavior of hominids, not to mention drawings and photographs, have been omitted. So it remains unknown who ordered this work to the translator N. Munkuyev and when it was done. It's also unknown to me whether Munkuyev was one of the hominid researchers at that time who knew the Mongolian language, or whether he was a professional translator. [Likely not a researcher, just a professional translator, as I can judge on the terms he used. – I. Burtsev]. Was this trans-lation known to Porshnev and did he ignore it, or was it done after his death? [I suppose Porshnev was not much well in last five years of his life and was busy with writing his big book “On the Beginning of the Human History”” that is why he could not pay much attention to this subject. – I. Burtsev].

The last question is especially important, because we know from the story "In Defense of the Troglodytes," how actively Porshnevwas looking for material objects associated with the creatures, for example, mummified hands allegedly in the possession of a central Asian family. And there was a speech about the skull in Mongolia, a friendly country where it would not be difficult for him to go.

In recent years, I have been trying to find by correspondence where this skull may be. The son of Prof. Rinchen, the paleontologist Academician Barsbold Rinchen told me in a letter that he had heard from his father that this skull had been sent to Poland. The skull's fate is unknown to him. M.-J. Koffmann indirectly confirmed this story, saying that Prof. Rinchen often went to Poland for rest and medical treatment, and had scientific colleagues and friends there. Perhaps the skull is still there, as part of a collection. The fate of the dead hominid hair found is completely unclear.

[The skull was studied by Wenzcislav Plawinskiy in Poland. Afterward sent back to Rinchen through the Soviet Union. It was underway some five years, and finally reached Mongolia fully destroyed into small pieces. In fact, it was altogether lost. – I. Burtsev]

However, whatever happened afterwards with the findings of the expeditions does not detract in the least from the merits of Zugdariyn Damdin himself, who not only obtained brilliant expeditionary results, but also wrote a book about his travels. Unfortunately, it did not find its way to either the scientific or the wider community. It was not published in the USSR, and my internet searches did not show that it was ever published in Mongolia, either.

This abridged translation of the book is intended to fill this gap to some extent. At the same time, I have tried to minimize editorial changes so that the reader could feel the author's special style of speech, as conveyed by the translator.

Michael Trachtengerts
January 2007

APPENDIX
Some abbreviations used:
MPR - Mongolian People's Republic
MPRP - Mongolian People's Revolutionary (Communist) Party

Some definitions:
Aimaq - an administrative subdivision of Mongolia, roughly equivalent to a province
Somon - a further administrative subdivision of an aimaq, roughly "district"
Bag - a still smaller division
Argali - a large wild sheep, somewhat like the North American Bighorn, but larger
Saxaul - a kind of small tree or bush of arid areas of central Asia
Ger - a round, felt-covered, portable dwelling; a yurt

                 The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 1:93-114 (2012)

Essay

THE PATTERSON-GIMLIN FILM: WHAT MAKES A “HOAX” ABSOLUTELY GENUINE?

Barry Keith^*

Idaho Falls, ID 83404

^*Pseudonym. Correspondence c/o editor. © RHI
KEYWORDS: sasquatch, Bigfoot, Hollywood, costume

ABSTRACT.

The Patterson-Gimlin film is one of the most intriguing and contested evidences for the existence of sasquatch. It is either one of the most significant pieces of natural history film or one of the most persistent and elaborate hoaxes of our time. In spite of all of the claims by skeptics and detractors, Hollywood has yet to duplicate the so-called “obvious man in a fur suit.” Such a feat in costume fabrication would require overcoming several major obstacles: the hair, limb proportions, and torso width. Three case studies from the Hollywood production lines examine how the best efforts of the industry measure up by comparison to the Patterson-Gimlin film subject. They obviously do not. From the perspective of a make-up and costume artist, the Patterson-Gimlin film lacks all the telltale signs of fakery, leading to the conclusion that the film, or more specifically the subject depicted therein, is genuine.

INTRODUCTION
At the Vanguard of sasquatch research, Dr. Grover Krantz once observed that there are a great many topics of conversation that the average man will quickly and without regret stuff into the apathetic category. When a man does not know, he typically does not care either. This observation holds true for virtually any after-dinner debate that might arise with only a few glaring exceptions. And this being Dr. Krantz, sasquatch was on top of his list of firebrand topics. Ask people about politics: They do not care. Ask them about religion: They do not care. But ask them about Bigfoot, and instantly every pseudo expert and faux intellectual crawls out of the woodwork. On this subject, out of so many, everyone stands up as an expert with little to no justification.

Well, everyone is obviously not an expert, but that doesn't stop some of the more vocal from standing on their soapbox. In particular, the Hollywood costume industry made it a point to take direct aim at the Patterson-Gimlin (P-G) film footage on its 30th birthday with alleged proof of its fakery. Or barring proof (they didn’t have any), at least bravado claims of how easy such an event would be to fake.

The calls of fake were very vocal, but in the end, only a scant few dissenters have actually put fur to glove and put together an appreciable effort to finally put their money where their mouth is. The following review is offered by an experienced make-up and costume artist.

Hollywood has never succeeded in duplicating the P-G film. They have made their hairy ape-men, they have deluged our TV screens with furry snarling antagonists, and suffocated a legion of brave actors under a veritable sea of prepackaged yak hair, but they have never duplicated the P-G film. Every costume can only be the sum of the men who created it, and these men cannot help but leave their fingerprints on their work -- fingerprints stemming from a laundry bag of Hollywood monster-making cheats and shortcuts. These cheats can be spotted in everything that they have ever produced, and risk ruining the illusion before it even begins.

But the P-G film escapes scrutiny unscathed. No hints of shortcuts, no fingerprints of clever trickery. Hollywood cannot touch it, and we need to ask why. In terms of transforming a man into an ape, there are three obstacles that need to be overcome: hair, limb proportions, and torso width.

APE ATTRIBUTE #1 -- HAIR
Bigfoot is hairy. In fact, thick tufts of hair are Hollywood’s favorite hat-trick for a host of monsters, being the first line of defense against telltale seams and zippers on any part of the costume.

There are two strategies for giving a hairless man his own fur coat. The most often used involves a pre-produced fur suit that acts like a set of zippered pajamas. The infamous sasquatch episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man in the late 1970’s used this method to a fault. The producers scored a coup by casting seven-foot-tall wrestling legend Andre the Giant in the role of the ape-man (Fig. 1). Andre was given a fur suit to cover every inch of his body. Now whereas this method is probably the most popular, it is also the most transparent, as a set of furry PJs acts as any other article of clothing would during action scenes: bunching up and wrinkling in all the most inconvenient and visible locations. There are several instances in The Six Million Dollar Man battle, where wrinkles in Andre’s suit are glaringly apparent whenever he jumps (made all the more noticeable by the excessive slow motion used throughout the scene to emphasize superhuman strength), and embarrassingly “jiggles” as the suit transfers its momentum from one side to another. With no connection in the suit to the man underneath, there is no support system to avoid these problems. Hence, the second method for bestowing fur.

To avoid the problem of wrinkles, it is sometimes applied in form-fitting pieces, i.e., separate units that wrap around the arms and legs individually with no connection to each other. This was the method used by George Lucas in his Star Wars movies for his Chewbacca creation, and is the better (and more expensive) of the two methods (Fig. 2). If the pieces are not connected to each other, energy cannot be transferred, and at no point in any of the four movies in which Wookies appear, does Chewbacca ever suffer from an attack of the “jiggles,” or wrinkles of any kind. However, while this solution solves one problem, it unfortunately creates another one -- seams.

In the 1951 science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, baby boomers were introduced to the first iconic robotic monster of their generation, the seven-foot-tall indestructible robot Gort, who was the special-effects centerpiece of the movie and featured on the advertisements more so than any of the actors. Gort was created via a seven-foot-tall set of metallic-colored foam latex body suits into which the unfortunate actor would enter for hours of shooting at a time (Fig. 3). However, even though only one actor played Gort, two entirely separate costumes were constructed. These costumes were identical in every way except for one obvious difference -- the placement of the seam.

One suit, which was used when Gort was facing the camera, had its seam on the back. The other, used when Gort’s back was to the camera (often in the same scene), had its seam in the front.

Hollywood hates seams, and will go to outrageous lengths to hide them using whatever underhanded shenanigans it can think of. This is understandable, as a visible seam or zipper is the quickest way to completely shatter the illusion for which perhaps millions of dollars had been spent to create.

To create a sasquatch, a six-piece suit means five or more sets of seams. And revealing them is something Hollywood cannot allow -- hence the hair.

In The Six Million Dollar Man, Andre the Giant is wearing a suit that for that most part has uniform 2-3 inch fur on all parts of his body -- all parts except for his neck, where it instantly jumps to no less than 6-8 inches along the collar line. This is obviously to disguise an all-too-human-looking head and neck, but unfortunately creates a hairstyle not unlike an afro, perhaps appropriate for the 70’s, but a dead give-away that there is something underneath that Hollywood would rather us not see. The hands and feet used on Andre were also glaring exceptions to the rest of him, overdone with hair length stretching to 4-5 inches along the wrists and ankles to disguise the seams with hairless hands and feet. Hair is the simplest, cheapest, and preferred way to disguise an ill-fitting suit, as it can inexplicably jump in length to cover any inconvenient area no matter where it might be.

Now the work on Andre was adequate, as after all, the seams were disguised, albeit at the cost of inconsistent hair length (but since he was in slow motion so much of the time, the producers probably hoped that no one would notice). But this is a chief problem for any would-be debunkers of the P-G film, as any observation of the subject itself clearly shows that the hair is in fact consistent in length on all parts of her body, and does not conveniently jump to outrageous lengths in all the most obvious places. On the contrary, compared to Chewbacca the hair is quite short, and compared to Andre the Giant, the fur does not “jiggle” or betray wrinkles upon moving.

In fact, the film subject reveals a great contrast to both Andre and Chewbacca insofar as the hair on its neck and shoulders is identical to the hair everywhere else, which lies flat against the body. The head/shoulder connection is perfectly visible and there is no excessive hair at all to obscure the smooth shoulders and back. This is not standard procedure, thick reams of heavy hair being the tool of choice to conceal pesky wrinkles and bubbles in the neckline. In Planet of the Apes for example, every ape involved, females included, have long 3-4-inch beards (Fig. 4). And if that was not enough, high collars for good measure. The result is a neckline 100% obscured. Looking to Harry and the Hendersons, and The Six Million Dollar Man, this is clearly the accepted and most popular method, as they both have hair along the neck at least twice as long as anywhere else on the body, completely hiding any neck seams (Fig. 5).

If the P-G film was indeed faked, one must ask why the pioneering technique for disguising seams without lengthened hair has not filtered throughout the Hollywood industry in the ensuing 40 years.

APE ATTRIBUTE # 2 -- LONG ARMS
Apes have longer arms than humans. The subject of the P-G film, of whatever height she may be, shows arms out of proportion to that of human range of variation. Therefore, a human seeking to portray an ape had better schedule reconstructive surgery, or get some arm extensions. But if fake arms were indeed used, there are drawbacks.

In Tim Burton’s 2001 adaptation of Planet of the Apes, nearly 200 sets of fake gorilla extendo hands were made for a sequence in which an army of killer guerillas charges across the desert (Fig. 6). Burton was going for more accuracy than the general public usually demands however, as neither Andre the Giant or Chewbacca were forced into such prosthetics, but were free to use their own human appendages, even as it did limit their Bigfoot illusions.

The chief costume creator for Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes was one Rick Baker, who remarked during the publicity stages that working on Apes was his destiny, as he felt that whatever he did, he had to do a better job of ape-making than he did as the chief costume creator for 1976’s King Kong.

The actor for the 1976 King Kong is uncredited, but that is indeed Rick Baker under the suit (a mere year before he would appear wearing an alien mask as one of the musicians in the infamous Cantina sequence in the original Star Wars). Whatever his later feelings on King Kong, Baker did give the job every effort using all the 1970's technology at his disposal. His hairy ape was as anatomically correct as possible, with fake ape extendo arms that stretched his human arms to ape-like proportions. Baker did the best he could with these arms, but extendo arms have a very serious drawback -- they do not move. The wrists, the hands, and the fingers are all frozen in place.

This leads to unintentionally hilarious sequences inside King Kong where a very enthusiastic Rick Baker has to make his Kong look as primate ferocious as possible by thumping his chest -- with hands that are stiffly open. Apparently under cost constraints to build only one set of fake extendo hands, Baker had to build a pair that was multi-purpose, neither entirely opened or closed, but a compromise between the two.

The state of the hands is readily apparent during the sequence when Kong has to break down the gate to the native village. Although the sound effects were clearly in Kong’s favor, granting him huge booms and crashes as he hit the gate with blow after blow. But a careful viewing shows that never once does Kong actually make a fist, instead the wall is battered with half-open hands with half-clenched fingers. And in the first shots the hands don’t even impact the wall at all, the point of impact being mid forearm, the junction under the costume where Baker’s real fists were gripping the extendo arms. And after the first few hits, his hands are not seen again in any shot.

In the course of the storyline, there were a few plot points that did make it absolutely essential for a Kong with working hands, such as a fight with a giant snake and the upheaval of a giant log, and for those scenes Baker did wear a standard issue fur suit with furry gloves. Whereas he did regain the use of his hands for those sequences, a careful measurement shows that his carefully constructed ape-man proportions fly right out the window. Kong’s arm proportions depend entirely upon which part of the movie one happens to be watching.

The P-G film creates another pair of challenges here. First, not only are the upper limbs disproportionately long by human standards, the length is not achieved by merely elongating the forearm. In other words, the upper arm is elongated as well -- her elbow is in the proper position. Second, her wrist and hands are also seen to be moving. No explanation for this has ever been offered by the debunkers.

APE ATTRIBUTE # 3 – WIDTH
A philosopher of our time, Steven Wright, once remarked, “Some people are afraid of heights, but I am afraid of widths.”

A rather large Hollywood problem in duplicating ape-men is getting an average-sized 200lb human actor to impersonate an 800lb monster. The accepted solution is to bulk up the actor with foam padding to simulate girth and muscle mass. It is used with form fitting foam padding attached to the actor in a separate layer underneath the fur suit. Hollywood thinks quite highly of it, because it does indeed make the subject look bulkier, but as with everything else in the realm of illusion, there is a tradeoff.

As far as Chewbacca goes, although he has since turned into a bona fide icon of his age, he was not the first franchise of science fiction to duplicate a sasquatch. That dubious honor rests with Star Wars’s on-again off-again challenger for Sci-Fi Supremacy -- Star Trek.

Star Trek’s effort deserves serious attention, for it occurred in the late 1960’s, barely a year before the P-G film. It occurred in the original series episode, "Private Little War," where the heroes visit a primitive planet where hunter/gatherer humanoids endure an unforgiving landscape, beset by warring tribes on one side and man-eating white apes on the other. Man-eating white ape? At this point, need we look any further? White fur, about 6 feet tall, with spikes growing out of their backs, vicious enough to attack on sight, and otherwise generally unpleasant (Fig. 7).
Star Trek was seen by NBC at the time as their black sheep bastard son, forever being harassed about plotlines and being bumped around time slots whenever the network saw fit. Not to mention a budget per episode that would bring tears to the eyes of any other show. Despite that, the producers wanted a realistic man-eating white ape, and they went about getting one. The result is especially notable for its ingenuity. No extra hair, minimal wrinkles. They accomplished it with the second aforementioned method of hair application -- separate pieces of thick hair-covered foam rubber for each arm and leg of the ape actor.

But, while this process does eliminate the wrinkles and the jiggles, to get enough foam to simulate ape muscle, at least two inches was needed. This buries the average actor in thick constricting foam on every limb of his body, radically ballooning his proportions. The white man-eating ape in question looks like a butterball. A two-month old baby with four months-worth of baby fat.

The padding process as a whole is problematic at best and the application has to be carefully tempered lest the actor and ape suddenly look like a homage to the 5-year old boy bundled up for school by his mother against the Midwest winter, in the movie A Christmas Story. Such problems were faced by the producers of The Six Million Dollar Man when, in the sequels to the Bigfoot episodes, Andre the Giant was replaced by Ted Cassidy, a man of striking height (6’ 9”), but of precious little width. His proportions were sufficient for making a career out of playing Lurch on the 60’s sitcom The Addams Family, but nowhere near Bigfoot dimensions. Foam padding was applied to give Mr. Cassidy the required bulk (Fig. 8). A unique observation is available here, for Mr. Cassidy had a brief role as a villain in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where in order to intimidate Paul Newman, Mr. Cassidy takes his shirt off, revealing a finely defined chest and abdominal muscles. As Bigfoot however, Mr. Cassidy is reduced to a flat chest. No chest, no stomach deferential at all -- zero muscle definition. All of Mr. Cassidy’s hard won sculpted body, which probably earned him the Bigfoot role in the first place, is buried and entombed under inches of flat and visually bland foam.

But getting back to Star Trek, after all that trouble to get their 800lb ape, we have a visual disaster. Whereas the wrinkles were gone, the seams were not. After applying two inches of foam on his shoulders and arms, in order to let the actor keep his range of motion for the very athletic jumping and fighting the script called for, the foam could not have any connections with other body parts. Watching the episode, one can see a thick arm attached to a thick body with no continuity in the skin at all, and a seam at the shoulder as blatant as the San Andreas fault. But the worst is yet to come.

Whereas 800lb man-eating white-apes, do indeed have to have the bulk to create the illusion of 800 lbs, they also occasionally have to pick up helpless actors to either hurl them across the stage or carry them off to their lair. To that end, the ape actor needs his hands. In Private Little War, whereas the ape has biceps to make a Mr. Olympia weep, he is nevertheless stuck with out-of-proportion human-sized hands, i.e., regular-sized hands on the end of steroid induced arms, a blatantly evident visual contradiction, and immediately recognizable.

In stark contrast, the P-G film subject’s hands are in fact proportionate to the rest of her. It seems that Hollywood needs to look elsewhere for the perfect duplication.

Particular examples of increasingly obscure 70’s television shows give us a hint as to how to attempt a fake, but to convincingly demonstrate that money cannot buy a “sasquatch,” it is more productive to look to the big guns of the Hollywood production line, the movies with the biggest bankrolls and which are most frequently pointed to by the detractors. Setting aside the overdone efforts more for satire than realism such as Harry and the Hendersons, there are a handful of realistic contenders:

Case Study # 1

DAMN DIRTY HOAXERS:
As the heartfelt children’s tale "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" has endeavored to teach us, the biggest problem with lying all the time is that no one believes you when you tell the truth. Enter John Chambers, the costume man of the 1960’s. He was the man to ask if you needed an outfit and he had recurring credits on 60’s TV staples such as Lost In Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and all the best movies of the time, including the work that won him an Oscar, Planet of the Apes. Because he was the best, it was assumed yet unconfirmed that the P-G film was his handiwork. It was assumed with such conviction that apparently no one ever bothered to ask him (Eventually thirty years later, someone finally did ask him, and he denied it. Considering that Patterson himself had been dead up to 25 years, for Chambers to continue any pretense at that point would be meaningless). The story survived for thirty years via friend-of-a-friend-of-a-roommate-of-a-second-cousin secondhand sort of rumor. Everyone in the costume industry believed it. No one ever questioned it. It was just assumed. All because Chambers made a little movie at about the same time called Planet of the Apes.

Well, was it any good? Sure, the actors look passably like simians. Not that it was easy -- Chambers saved himself untold work by putting clothes on his apes. Every ape is clothed from wrists to ankles, and often shoes or boots, which completely render moot the issue of any anatomy underneath. We have hairy hands and heads to judge the apes by, and that is it.

But that is enough. The hairy hands are perfect case study of getting gloves first and working your way backward. The fingers are separate and identifiable, contrasting with the wrists where thick hair fully engulfs the forearm seam with the cuff of the shirt, as was the intent. Most of the Apes wear shoes, but on the few that do not, the pattern is repeated at the ankles.

Which brings us to the head. It looks like a chimp (or gorilla or orangutan). It has the proper jaw extension, the protruding brow line, and head crest. As mentioned before, the illusion has to end with the neck, and it ends in a cheat of beards on the males and females that jump 3-4 inches in length to hide the collars and the necks of our simian actors.

The faces however, were more than enough to impress the Academy voters, despite the fact that Chambers didn’t even attempt to fabricate plausible weight and bulk for his apes. Every ape, even the largest species, was a mere foot deep and a foot and half across, looking exactly like a human with a gorilla head on top. Chambers probably very well could have placed foam padding in the outfits to beef up his simians (had foam padding existed at that time), and if he was willing to risk extreme heat stroke for his actors who had to endure multiple shots outdoors in the hot sun, some of whom were even on horseback and others who had to chase wayward humans all through the ape village. Chambers realized the impossibility, and let his heads and hands do all the talking for him. And it worked -- for a movie anyway. But the P-G film it was not.

Case Study # 2
A THIRTY YEARS AGO IN A CREEKBED FAR FAR AWAY:

Almost lost in the debate is perhaps one of the most serious attempts to duplicate the P-G film subject, and Chewbacca deserves special attention. This particular attempt is hand-in-hand with a fantasy story, which has more than likely lead to people absent-mindedly overlook it in favor of feeding their minds on more innocent pursuits. But you can’t miss him, seven feet tall, more hair than a teddy bear factory. We could only be talking about Chewbacca. Complete with his emotion sensitive face, he might even be used for a good sasquatch fake had Star Wars been a forgotten bomb back in the days of disco.

So let’s examine him. Played by seven foot tall actor Peter Mayhew (whose previous job was a gold plated Minotaur in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger), he certainly fits the bill. Size 20 feet, brown six-inch yak hair over every body part except the soles of his feet, and inhuman/human hybrid face.

Now it is a common misconception that George Lucas has always been rolling up to his eyeballs in cash, but truth be told, in 1976 during Star Wars filming, he was counting his nickels and dimes, always short of money, recycling props and sets to stretch his dollar, and even begging 20th Century Fox for more money for one last week of shooting to ensure he did not end up with cheesy aliens (and got current master, Rick Baker, to make him good aliens, with Baker himself as one of the musicians in the cantina band).

He did not have infinite money to throw at his costume troubles, but nevertheless, Chewbacca was top of his list of priorities. Chewbacca had to look like anything except a guy in a monkey suit, and Lucas’s costume creators pulled out all the tricks:

Problem: Despite being an alien, Chewbacca has five fingers, coincidentally, like every other human in the movie.
Solution: You never see his fingers. Chewbacca’s hands are irrevocably obscured by excessively long and tangled tuffs of hair. The actor might even be wearing pink and yellow mittens for all the audience can tell. His hands are completely obscured, and it is no accident.

Problem: Costume is put on in pieces, leaving seams everywhere.
Solution: Chewbacca does not have a single hair under 8 inches in length. It hangs off his forearms, off his wrists, around his ankles, down his back, everywhere. Try to find some open skin, they were very careful to ensure that you would see none. All the seams are carefully obscured and it only took about 10 pounds of extra hair. It is cheap after all.

Problem: The head is a solid unit with springs and supports to give the actor control over facial functions, which has to blend with the flimsy "rug" nature of the rest of the outfit.
Solution: Did I say hair? I meant a mop. The hair along the rim of the Chewbacca helmet is easily another 3 inches longer than anywhere else. It comes down far enough to easily blend in with the shoulders, leaving our Wookie with no neck whatsoever. So much the better, as necks only give us wrinkles and make monsters look like humans in masks. Hair is also on top, giving our actor another inch or two in height. Although the costume makers had apparently solved the problem, when they were presented six years later with the same challenge again on a smaller scale with the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi, they elected to skip the problem altogether by putting hoods on every furry creature there was (Fig. 9). Production notes detailing the Ewoks construction even say, right there on the Lucasfilm Letterhead: "Use hoods to hide seams."

Our final presentation? A seamless fur-covered walking carpet that suspended everyone’s disbelief. Perhaps prematurely, as there were other problems that were not addressed by the Chewbacca builders, problems they probably could not have known along the lines of anatomy. Despite being 7 feet and then some, Chewbacca is a scarecrow, being thin as, well, a human.

Now is a good time to bring the P-G film subject into this. She is plenty thick, both in depth and width. Depth can be easily fixed with foam padding under the fur, as costumers are usually all too proud to demonstrate. Width however, is not only a superhuman jump in difficulty, it is almost never even attempted. And Chewbacca did not even try.

Case Study #3
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE PATTY:
It’s somewhat unfortunate that people of particular education are cursed to look at such movies as How The Grinch Stole Christmas and think not how the feelings of goodwill and holiday cheer are prevalent, but how well, with $120 million at his disposal, did director Ron Howard succeed at creating a fur covered quasi-humanoid.

In Grinch we have it all: A human who is to be dressed as nonhuman, a particular character most notable for his excessive hair, and who has a body shaped with proportion altering prosthetics that have to be designed to allow movement with no hint as to the man underneath (Fig. 10). And let us not forget, infinite money to throw at the problem.

So does Grinch succeed? One of the most, if not the most, troublesome areas for would-be monster makers is the neck. The combination of twisting and retracting muscles can make wrinkles glaringly apparent in almost any costume. As we have seen, furry monsters in the past have avoided the problem by adding excessive hair, thereby obscuring the neck, or by deliberately altering the character to give them some clothes to cover the area (a la George Lucas and his Ewoks). The Grinch, being covered with green skin and hair, has the problem staring him right in the face. And they solved it by not putting any fake skin on the neck at all, just straight green paint. Fake hair is above on the chin, and fake hair is below on the collar, but Jim Carrey's neckline is freed of any troublesome prosthetic at all. They just avoided the problem by ending the costume at Jim Carrey's collar bone and investing in a heavy tub of green body paint.

A simple solution for a problem they really did not need to take on in the first place. After all, the Grinch may be green, and he may be fat, but he definitely does have a neck. There is no need to pretend he does not -- which puts him, so to speak, head and shoulders above Patty.

Patterson’s achievement just got a whole lot tougher. With 9 digits of Hollywood money to throw at his make-up department to deliver a realistic Grinch, Ron Howard took the easiest way out with the neckline, risking uneven costume effects and complicating the fluidity of the suit. Patty as we recall, not only has no neck, but no way to obscure that she has no neck. The hair is short and the head is in frame. We have an unobstructed view of the entire backside and there are no visible seams, no visible wrinkles, and nothing whatsoever that could hide it. They simply are not there. And now, 33 years later, Hollywood had a shot to best that effort, and took a pass.

The rest of Grinch follows standard costume rules: Excessive hair around the seams (in his case, the shoulders and waistline) and unusually long hair on the extremities to give the illusion they are longer and "malformed." Grinch’s finger hair is almost as long again as his fingers. This benefits Jim Carrey with a built-in optical illusion: you do not really know how long or what shape his fingers are at all unless he grabs something. The Grinch’s head is topped with a mop of shaggy hair, providing the same "How big is it?" illusion and doubts about skull shape.

He is made fat around the midsection by foam padding. Easy enough to do, but you'll notice that such padding to distort size is never done on body areas fixed for size, such as the distance between shoulders or legs. Padding can make the legs themselves bigger, but not the distance between them.

CONCLUSION
No discussion about Hollywood versus Patterson could be taken seriously without bringing up the best of the best. The greatest monster-maker of our age, Stan Winston, has kept any thoughts or comments about Sasquatch to himself. His greatest potential opportunity to duplicate the P-G film arose in 1995 with the gorilla adventure Congo, where Winston had to churn out dozens of fur suits for grey ape actors (Fig. 11). From a suspension of disbelief standpoint, we have primate looking long armed hairy creatures with complete articulation in the facial muscles, they run on all fours, and look generally apish.

From a P-G film viewpoint however, these apes have human shoulders, no bones about it -- thin and narrow. Their lengthened arms are achieved by stilts attached to their forearms, producing odd-looking proportions. Facial muscle technology was certainly unheard of in the late 60's. The facial hair is, of course, longer than the body hair, especially around the neckline, as we could have anticipated. Between these apes and Baker's apes, the pattern for Hollywood duplication is predictable, expected, and never varied from. Winston can escape claims of "false" about his apes because Congo featured a fictional species. Baker has no such excuse, and it is clear from the budgets involved that this is the best that can be done, and even setting aside the P-G film subject’s unachievable proportions, their best costume technology just isn’t good enough.

That’s Hollywood. Look at the real thing now. Patty has no discrepancy between the dimensions of her hands and forearms; the fur being equal in length, color, and thickness across the entire wrist and cuff area. This is atypical. Either the suit was made with the hands pre-attached to the sleeve (a doubling of degree of difficulty, with zero gain) or hair was actually glued directly to the arm itself, and the shoulders, and the back, and so on (application time about 10-12 hours, longer if it was attempted on location at Bluff Creek. By comparison, the 2000 movie X Men featured a super-villainess dressed from head to toe in blue body paint and over 200 prosthetic attachments. It took about 12 hours a day to complete, and that was with modern technology in the ideal conditions of a movie studio.

However, this approach begs the question of the actors dimensions. Even if our would-be hoaxers were diehards and did in fact glue hair directly to their actor, there has been no explanation offered for the excessive width of th P-G film subject. Foam padding could easily adjust his depth (provided he was in a costume), but could never change the width of the shoulders. Even seven foot tall Andre the Giant doesn't pass the width test. Nor has any other Hairy Man on our list.

And the hair! The P-G film subject has 2-3 inch hair over the whole surface area, no exceptions. This gives an unobstructed view of all his neck and shoulder muscles, a view that previous Hollywood attempts have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to obscure (thinking back to the beards on Planet of the Apes and the neo-hippy sasquatches preferred by The Six Million Dollar Man).

Showing a complete unobstructed view of the neck and shoulder muscles is simply unheard of, and indeed an absolute no-no. Hollywood just does not do things this way, and yet somehow Patterson pulled it off (with no hint at all of fake skin) with 60’s technology?

For a hoaxer to even attempt it would be unprecedented, for until the P-G film, there was zero reason whatsoever to even bother. No layman, let alone Patterson himself, a rodeo man, could possibly have been schooled in anatomy enough to recognize the value of three foot shoulders, whereas regular human length would have fooled nearly everybody at far less trouble and expense.

No one would have bothered with hair on the hands until Patterson showed up either. Whoever faked this should have made a fortune passing the procedure along to the industry, but now forty years after the fact, it is as big a secret as ever. Our would-be Oscar winner remains a complete unknown. All for, allegedly, the perpetuation of a practical joke.

Had the P-G film been faked with standard methods, no one would have known any better, as that would have been the accepted way. And yet if hoaxed, the P-G film was not done the accepted way. Every telltale costume giveaway is simply not there. Not only has Hollywood never duplicated the P-G film – it has never even tried.

Looking back on our whirlwind tour of 1970's Hollywood, we can now ask what is left of any alleged Hollywood involvement in P-G? There's one show biz nugget of wisdom that’s particularly relevant: “You're only as good as your last performance.”

With ape suit technology, Hollywood has put on a very poor performance indeed. It’s a white-knuckle merciless business, where one can give nothing less than their best performance each and every day, lest risk being replaced without compassion or appeal. When it came to P-G, we've seen Hollywood’s best, and it falls very short indeed. With millions of dollars at their command, Hollywood is still bested, and “genuine” still remains in a forested creek bed hundreds of miles away from movie magic (Fig. 12).

                 The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 6:1-16 (2017)

Brief Communication

THE PATTERSON/GIMLIN FILM – SOME NOTEWORTHY INSIGHTS

Christopher Murphy*
Vancouver, B.C., Canada

ABSTRACT

The motion picture film of an alleged bigfoot taken by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin in October 1967 is examined and data are provided on the movement and stature of the bigfoot. It is seen that the film subject’s height and walking speed exceed that of the average human and that its head height to stature ratio is essentially beyond human proportions, being closer to that of an adult male gorilla. Quality full frame images from the film are presented to illustrate the level of detail captured by the film and witnessed by Patterson and Gimlin.

*Correspondence to: Editor: meldd@isu.edu © RHI
KEY WORDS: bigfoot, sasquatch, Bluff Creek, California, stature, film speed

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Seen in Figure 1 is a composite of four film frames from the Patterson/Gimlin (P/G) film, selected from the range between frame 307 and frame 352 inclusive; encompassing a 46-frame sequence. The time duration for all of these frames to show on a screen is about 3 seconds. The distance covered by the subject in this time interval was about 16.6 feet. This means that the walking speed of the film subject was 3.85 miles per hour. The average walking speed of a human is 3.1 miles per hour (Browning et al, 2006).

The alleged bigfoot was over 7 feet tall (Glickman, 1998), and despite its relatively short legs we can justify this inferred speed based on a camera speed of 16 frames per second. At one time, there was discussion that a camera speed of 24 frames per second could have been used. Had this been the case, the time interval for the 46 film fames reduces to 1.92 seconds and the walking speed increases to 6 miles per hour. In human terms, 6 miles per hour exceeds the preferred transition speed between jogging and running (4.5 mph, Raynor et al, 2006). It is evident in the film that the bigfoot is not jogging, confirming a camera speed of 16 frames per second.

On the ground to the left of the subject in Figure 1, can be seen a wood fragment. René Dahinden identified and retrieved a wood fragment at about this spot at the film site in 1971. It measures 26.25 inches long. While the film frames in which the wood fragment are depicted are too blurry to conclusively determine its orientation and extremities to infer its length, we can reasonably conclude it is the same fragment. It can be used as an independent approximate scale to calculate the bigfoot’s maximum walking height as 87.5 inches.

For the first image of the subject in Figure 1, I have measured the “ground covered” as the distance from heel to toe of the contralateral foot during a single pace (see Fig. 2). At 5 feet 11 inches, with a foot length of 11.5 inches, my “ground covered” comes out at 34 inches. If I were the same standing height as the film subject (~94 inches, since the subject walks with flexed limbs in a compliant gait, with a forward lean of approximately 5o), then it would be about 45 inches. If my feet were 15.5 inches long, then it would come out at 53 inches.

In summary, a human 94 inches tall with 15.5 inch feet would cover the same ground in a single pace; obviously, the suggestion that this is merely an average man (70 inches tall) in a fur suit is untenable. I have also indicated the foot size for the first image of the film subject in Figure 1. The pair of casts made of the fresh footprints were 14.5 to 15 inches long (one foot is a bit larger -- humans often have the same condition, including myself). The foot length is reported here as 15.5 inches because one’s actual foot length is generally larger than footprint length. One of the reasons for that disparity is that a foot is measured from the back of the heel, not the end of the sole.

For the third image of the film subject in Figure 1, I have shown the vertical height of the head. Given the bigfoot standing height of 94 inches, the bigfoot is about 5.9 heads tall. Human adults are generally 7.5 to 8 heads tall. In my opinion, the size and proportion of the film subject’s head should be added to the other measurements and proportions that are essentially beyond human standards, (i.e., arm and leg lengths; Meldrum 2006). I note that Dr. Jeff Meldrum used 6 heads high for the stature of the sasquatch skeleton recon-struction he consulted on, which was based on the Patterson/Gimlin film subject (Committee Films, 2015). The measurement for a male gorilla specimen is 5.5 heads. This puts the sasquatch between gorilla and human values. The illustrations in Figure 3 contrast the relative head height in relation to stature in Meldrum’s skeletal reconstruction (Mitchell, 2015), a male gorilla (Bone Clones specimen), and the Patterson/Gimlin film subject. The P/G film image shows the walking height, so one head height should be added to accommodate comparisons with standing heights of other specimens.

I need to mention that back in the days when we had to use an actual printed photograph and a metal ruler for measurements, the results were generally less accurate. Dr. Meldrum challenged one of my illustrations for this reason. He was right and his words still echo in my head. However, time has moved on and computers have replaced rulers and printed photographs. The values presented in this paper have greater precision and accuracy, with only a relatively small margin of error due in part to photographic perspective. This margin is insignificant relative to the absolute scale of the proportions we are dealing with.

Figure 4 is a superior image of frame 353 (1/16th of second after the highly publicized frame 352). The scope of the frame gives you a good idea of the total distance the bigfoot traveled for the main part of the film, from which the clearest images have been obtained. It is not much more than about 40 feet. Frame 364 is the last best image. It is not even one second after frame 353. Once the film subject gets to the leaning tree on the right of the frame, it turns left, heading generally north-ward, providing a view of its back side.

Keep in mind that there is nothing immediately close to the film subject, as it crosses the 40-foot eastward stretch. All the debris and trees are many feet away. If the film were taken from the left (in back of and above the bigfoot) then the scene would look as depicted in Figure 5, with the red dashed- line indicating the line of travel of the bigfoot. There is thick forest to the north and east. Bluff Creek is to the south. Patterson pursued the bigfoot from the south and west. Its passage was clear, but since Patterson was running, motion blur renders most of these film frames not useful. He stopped south of the big downed log seen in the foreground and captured about 6 seconds of film without any taller obstructions in the foreground.

The most interesting images from the P/G film are what are called here the “full frames.” They are intriguing because they show what Patterson saw as he peered through the view finder on his movie camera (although what he saw was much smaller). Real photographic prints were produced for the 12 clearest frames, but only 8 survived into the 1990s (Fig. 6 through 13).

Frame 352 was among those that disappeared. What we see in this frame print and that for frame 353, came from, or were derived from, an entirely different source. It is believed the photos were pro-duced in about 1982 from the original film, and a short time after that the eight photos I have were locked in a very large safe, to which the combination was lost. The safe was reopened in the early 1990s. The originals are somewhat faded and there is a little damage on one photograph, now corrected.

After the first two images (Fig. 6, 7), the bigfoot went into the tree line and was only partially visible through the tree trunks and bushes. It then came out into a reasonably clear section on the sand bar, but no good images resulted until it arrived at the clear section where Patterson knelt and took reasonably steady movie footage. He moved up to the downed log at about the time the bigfoot got to the second tree seen frame right. After this point, all the images are partially blocked by the trees, until the subject was some distance farther away and provided only parting shots from behind, before disappearing into the debris upstream.

What Patterson saw through the camera view finder was likely about the size of the image shown here (below).

This is why he was not certain that he had indeed captured  the bigfoot on film. So he arranged to ship the exposed film to his brother-in-law to develop and determine what was there before the two men (Patterson and Gimlin) left the area. As Gimlin was looking at the bigfoot directly, he would have seen it more clearly than Patterson, but naturally he had no idea of what Patterson caught on film.

Had Patterson used a current-day consumer-grade video camera all we would see is a pixelated “blob squatch” with minimal detail, and limited potential for enlargement. Now there are digital video cameras that could have produced the same or even better images, albeit such cameras would have been too expensive for Patterson to have acquired, had they been available at that time. Whatever the case, we are fortunate that Patterson used a movie camera and what was considered the best film stock of that period, producing images capable of considerable enlargement and enhancement by means of modern digital technologies.

At this writing, we are nearing 50 years since Patterson took the film. Few of the still images were published until 37 years later (Murphy, 2004). Lots of material, including scientific commentaries, were written, but none were illustrated with the images you see in this paper. Without getting into the reasons for this, suffice it to say it had unfortunate consequences. We might reason that had more quality images been published early on, the scientific community would have paid greater attention to the film. Even Dr. Grover Krantz could not publish all the full quality images in his landmark book (Krantz, 1999). The advent of the Internet provided some opportunity for dissemination of images, but that really came too late to have any significant impact before the bigfoot phenomenon was labeled as a tabloid subject by the scientific community and discounted.

The film was dismissed as too blurry and shaky to be of any scientific merit in the absence of a specimen, or simply that it was all too obviously merely a man-in-a-fur-suit. Perhaps the publication of this paper on the occasion of the 50th anniversary year of the Patterson/Gimlin film event will draw renewed attention to the scientific merits of this most intriguing photographic evidence for the existence of a relict hominoid in North America.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank Dr. Jeff Meldrum for his great assistance and advice in the preparation of this paper. Also, I wish to acknowledge Jeff Glickman, the forensic scientist who performed the first full and complete analysis of the Patterson/Gimlin film (Toward a Resolution of the Bigfoot Phenomenon, 1998). His remarkable work never ceases to amaze me. To this day it has never been equaled.

LITERATURE CITED
Bone Clones, Inc., Osteological Replications: Current Catalog. Canoga Park, California, USA.
Browning RC, Baker EA, Herron JA and Kram R (2006). Effects of obesity and sex on the energetic cost and preferred speed of walking. Journal of Applied Physiology. 100(2):390–398.
Committee Films (2015) Sasquatch Captured, The History Channel.
Glickman J (1998) Toward a Resolution of the Bigfoot Phenomenon. Hood River, Oregon: North American Science Institute.
Krantz, GS (1999) Bigfoot/Sasquatch Evidence, Surrey,BC, Canada: Hancock House Publishers.
Mitchell P (2015) http://isubengal.com/sixteen-hun-dred-hours-of-sasquatch-skeleton/
Meldrum J (2006) Sasquatch : Legend Meets Science. New York: Doherty Publishers.
Murphy, CL (2004) Meet the Sasquatch. Surrey, BC, Canada: Hancock House Publishers.
Raynor AJ; Yi CJ; Abernethy B; Jong QJ (2002). Are transitions in human gait determined by mechanical, kinetic or energetic factors? Human Movement Science. 21(5–6):785–805.

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Christopher L. Murphy retired from the British Columbia Telephone Company (now Telus) in 1994. He worked in Supply Operations and became highly involved in industrial engineering and management processes. He authored books on business management and lectured throughout Canada. He obtained certification from the University of British Columbia in Management Development and taught night school at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. A member of the Masonic Order and avid philatelist, Chris became president of the Masonic Stamp Club of New York in 2000. He wrote two books on Masonic Philately and was recognized as a Masonic author in 1995. His interest in the sasquatch commenced in 1993 and he has since authored several books on this subject, including Know the Sasquatch/Bigfoot (2010). He collected sasquatch-related artifacts and other items and curated a sasquatch exhibit at the Museum of Vancouver in 2004/5. The exhibit has since traveled to six other public museums in Canada and the USA.

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Reprinted with Permission 6/25/2019

                 The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 1:57-66 (2012)

Brief Communication

FOOTPRINT EVIDENCE OF THE CHINESE YEREN

Jeff Meldrum^1*, Zhou Guoxing²

¹Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Ave, Pocatello, ID 83209;

²Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing, People’s Republic of Chinahristopher Murphy

^*Correspondence to: Jeff Meldrum. Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Ave, Pocatello, ID 83209-8007, email: meldd@isu.edu. © RHI

ABSTRACT

The 1970’s saw a keen interest by the Chinese government in the “snowman question.” A state-sponsored expedition was mounted to central China (Hubei Province) to investigate the possible presence of a correspondingly large bipedal hominid, referred to as the yeren, or wild man. In 1977, a team lead by Professor Zhou Guoxing gathered eyewitness accounts, hair samples, and footprints, but no specimen of yeren was retrieved. In 2008 the authors met at the Beijing Museum of Natural and proceeded to Hubei’s Shennongjia National Nature Reserve to interview witnesses, including a park ranger, Yuan Yuhao, who claimed to have observed a yeren in the reserve, at a distance of approximately 500 m. The site was at an elevation of approximately 2100 m in a mosaic of forest and sedge meadows. The yeren covered in reddish brown hair, was sunning itself. When Yuan called out, it rose and walked away bipedally. Yuan cast a clear pair of its footprints, which measured approximately 38 cm in length, 16.5 cm across the forefoot, and 10 cm across the heel. The footprints indicated a plantigrade, pentadactyl foot lacking evidence of claws. The hallux was larger than the lateral toes and non-divergent. A midtarsal pressure ridge indicated a significant degree of flexibility in the midfoot. In all distinguishing characteristics the casts resembled the ichnotaxon Anthropoidipes ameriborealis MELDRUM 2007. This evidence suggests independent corroboration of the existence of an unrecognized bipedal primate species with a circum-Pacific distribution.

KEY WORDS: sasquatch, wildman, bipedal locomotion, midtarsal break

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Numerous narratives of encounters with an unidentified bipedal hominid have been reported from central China, especially in Hubei Province (Fig. 1.). The Shennongjia region of Hubei Province comprises 3200 km2 of montane forest, with an average elevation of over 2000 m (latitude 31.5o N, longitude 110.4o E). The region has long harbored legends of the yeren or wildman (Dong, 2000; Shackley, 1983; Zhou, 1982). These were given particular note in the 1970’s.

One incident in 1976 involved five officials of the Regional Forestry Committee, who approached to within a few meters of the upright creature they described as covered in reddish brown hair, excepting the palms, soles, and relatively flat face showing a mixture of human-like and ape-like features. It reportedly walked upright, standing nearly 2 m in height, leaving large human-like footprints (Zhou, n.d.).

A large-scale sustained scientific expedition sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences was undertaken in the region in 1977. It was lead by Prof. Zhou Guoxing, Beijing Natural History Museum, and involved over 100 members, including soldiers in the Red Army (Fig. 2.). Local inhabitants were interviewed, the remote mountains were searched, and hair, footprints, and scat were recovered, but no specimen of yeren was obtained.

Eyewitness descriptions yielded a consistent profile of a creature 2.0 - 2.5 m in height; generally upright; covered in reddish brown hair (but also, grey, brownish-yellow, black, or rarely white in color); human-shaped footprints measuring 30 - 40 cm in length, with the hallux sometimes somewhat abducted; females with prominent breasts; solitary; monotonous yelling call; omnivorous diet; lack of tools or material culture; and frequently nocturnal activity (Zhou, 1982).

In 2008, Meldrum met with Zhou at the Beijing Museum of Natural History and reviewed some of the evidence collected during the Shennongjia expeditions. They next proceeded to Hubei Province, where additional eyewitnesses were interviewed. Zhang Jiahong, a farmer near the village of Mu Yu, described an encounter with two yeren while gathering medicinal herbs on September 15, 2005. He observed the hominoids from a distance of 15 m feeding on vegetation. They stood over 2 m tall, were entirely hair-covered, including the flat face, excepting the eyes and largo nose. He nervously coughed, alerting the yeren to his presence. They slowly retreated from the scene, remaining upright.

An identikit was provided, which included various photographs and depictions of bear and primates common to the region, various depictions of known great apes, artistic renderings of various hominins, and conceptions of the yeren as well as the North American sasquatch. Zhang was impressed by the color of the orangutan hair, but assertively selected the rendering illustrated in Figure 3 as most similar to what he saw.

In Shennongjia National Nature Reserve a park ranger, Yuan Yuhao, was interviewed. Yuan, who had been a lay member of the original 1970s investigations (Schmalzer, 2008), claimed to have observed a yeren in the reserve in 1995. He was on patrol climbing a slope near the head of a valley at an elevation of approximately 2100 m. The site is a mosaic of fir forest and sedge meadows. Yuan observed the yeren through binoculars at a distance of approximately 500 m. It was covered in reddish brown hair, reclining and sunning itself on the exposed facing slope. When Yuan called out to it, it returned his gaze and finally arose and walked away bipedally into the nearby treeline. Yuan estimated its height at 2.3 m. Yuan concurred with Zhang’s selection of the hominoid depiction in Figure 3. He subsequently tracked the creature and cast a clear pair of its footprints alongside a nearby spring.

The casts measure approximately 38 cm in length, 16.5 cm across the forefoot, and 10 cm across the heel (Fig. 4). The footprints indicate a plantigrade, pentadactyl foot lacking evidence of claws (Fig. 5). The hallux is larger than the lateral toes and non-divergent. A distinct midtarsal pressure ridge indicates a significant degree of flexibility in the midfoot. The deepest point on the cast lies on the medial margin just distal to the pressure ridge, apparently beneath the navicular. In all distinguishing characteristics the casts resemble footprint casts recovered at the Patterson-Gimlin film site at Bluff Creek, in northern California, 1967 (Figs. 6, 7).

Presumably the right and left footprints were left as the yeren squatted beside the spring. This action would have elevated the hindfoot, concentrating pressure beneath the forefoot distal to the transverse tarsal joint. The plasticity of the moist bare soil resulted in the pressure ridge proximal to the transverse tarsal joint (Fig. 8).

The remarkable similarity of the midtarsal pressure ridge in the yeren casts to that present in the example attributed to the sasquatch, i.e., referred to Anthropoidipes ameriborealis MELDRUM 2007 (Fig. 9, 10), denotes a common architecture of the foot, characterized by a flat flexible midfoot lacking a fixed longitudinal arch, and retaining considerable mobility at the midtarsus (Meldrum, 2004; 2007).

The interpretation of this feature is further evidenced by the occurrence of “half tracks” (Fig. 11) in which only the forefoot leaves an impression, due to the elevated heel segment when running (Meldrum, 2004, 2006). The fixed longitudinal arch of the human foot is an adaptation for endurance running, loading the well-developed calcaneal tendon as an elastic storage mechanism. The track is abbreviated to the ball of the foot at the metatarsophalangeal joints. Lacking a fixed longitudinal arch, the yeren (and sasquatch) foot collapses into flexion at the transverse tarsal joint when running, producing a “half-track.”

The possibility remains that the footprint casts attributed to the yeren were fabricated, however it should be noted that they originate from a time before that particular cast from the Bluff Creek site was widely publicized (Krantz, 1992); certainly before any discussions of its significance for a proposed model of midfoot flexibility (Meldrum, 2004). Therefore, the notable similarity in morphology between the yeren casts and the type and referred material of Anthropoidipes ameriborealis may provide independent corroboration of the footprint evidence for an unrecognized bipedal hominoid with a circum-Pacific distribution.

LITERATURE CITED

Dong P (2000) China’s Major Mysteries. San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, Inc.
Meldrum DJ (2004) Midfoot flexibility, fossil footprints, and sasquatch steps: New perspectives on the evolution of bipedalism. J. Scientific Exploration 18:67-79.
Meldrum DJ (2006) Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. New York: Tom Doherty Associates.
Meldrum DJ (2007) Ichnotaxonomy of giant hominoid tracks in North America. In: Lucas SG, Spielman JA, Lockley MG, editors, Cenozoic Vertebrate Tracks and Traces. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 42:225-231.
Shackley M (1983) Still Living? The Yeti, Sasquatch and the Neanderthal Enigma. New York: Thames and Hudson.
Schmalzer S (2008) The People’s Peking Man: Popular Science and Human Identify in Twentieth-century China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Zhou G (n.d.) The investigation of Shennongjia “Wildman.” The Institute of Paleoanthropology and Vertebrate Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Science. Unpublished Report (translated, 1979).
Zhou G (1982) The status of Wildman research in China. Cryptozoology 1:13-23.

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Figure 1. Satellite image of eastern Asia. Circle indicates region centered in Hubei Province, China,

where numerous sightings of the yeren have been reported

Figure 2. Some expedition members with Professor Zhou Gouxing (front row, second from right).

Figure 3. Eyewitnesses’ impression of the appearance of the yeren.

Figure 4. Footprint casts of the yeren collected by Yuan Yuhao in the Shennongjia Reserve.

Figure 5. Distal view of the footprint casts illustrating the digits.

Figure 6. Comparison of the yeren footprint casts with a cast from the Patterson-Gimlin film site (Bluff Creek, California)

attributed to the sasquatch (center).

Figure 7. Medial views of the yeren footprint cast (above) compared with the cast from the Patterson-Gimlin film site (Bluff Creek, California)

attributed to the sasquatch (below). Note the similarity in the midtarsal pressure ridge in each footprint.

Figure 8. Inferred arrangement of the pedal skeleton and triceps surae in the yeren and sasquatch (left)

as compared to the human (right) correlated with the presence or absence of the midtarsal pressure ridge (arrow). See text for discussion.

Figure 9. Footprint casts from Bluff Creek, California, made by Roger Patterson October 1967,

constituting the type of the ichnotaxon Anthropoidipes ameriborealis MELDRUM 2007.

Figure 10. Footprint casts from the Patterson-Gimlin film site at Bluff Creek, California, made by Bob Timus in 1967,

constituting the referred material of the ichnotaxon Anthropoidipes ameriborealis MELDRUM 2007.

Figure 11. Casts made by Meldrum in 1996 near Walla Walla, Washington,

comparing a full- length footprint with a “halftrack” illustrating the flexibility at the transverse tarsal joint.

                 The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 2:41-80 (2013)

Research Article

ANALYSIS INTEGRITY OF THE PATTERSON-GIMLIN FILM IMAGE

Bill Munns^1*, Jeff Meldrum²

¹Blue Jay, CA 92317
²Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Ave, Pocatello, ID 83209

*Correspondence to: Bill Munns, email: wmunns@verizon.net © RHI

ABSTRACT.

The Patterson-Gimlin Film (PGF), which depicts a walking figure suggestive of a cryptid hominoid species known as sasquatch (or Bigfoot), has been studied and debated since its filming in 1967. One issue not analyzed conclusively is the suspicion that the film itself has been somehow tampered with or otherwise edited to hide data that may point to a hoax. The integrity and quality of the film image have also been challenged and characterized as unreliable. A comprehensive study of these issues of contention has determined that the film was not altered or otherwise tampered with for deceptive intent, and that the image quality is sufficient for factual analysis of the nature of the subject as depicted.

KEY WORDS: Bigfoot, sasquatch, Bluff Creek, cinematography, photogrammetry

INTRODUCTION
Null Hypothesis: The original Patterson-Gimlin Film (PGF) has either been altered, or its image quality is insufficient for analysis, or both, invalidating its evidentiary reliability for conclusively determining whether it depicts a real and novel biological entity.

Alternate Hypothesis: The original PGF film was not edited or tampered with prior to copying, and its image quality is sufficient for reliable analysis and determination of the nature of the subject.

A number of points of contention have arisen in ascertaining the integrity of the PGF as evidence. The following questions must be addressed and determinations made before proceeding with further analysis of the film and its subject:

1. Has the film been edited?
2. What is the resolution of the camera original film stock and what level of image detail can be relied upon?
3. If copies are studied in the absence of the camera original, how were the copies made and how does the copy process alter the film image data?
4. Is the film in focus?
5. Is there motion blur, from either motions of the camera or motions of the subject being filmed?
6. Are there sufficient varying camera angles to allow an accurate and reliable three-dimensional reconstruction of the filmed event?
7. Can the camera positions be determined with factual certainty in relation to the landscape?
8. Can the walk path of the filmed subject be determined with factual certainty in relation to the landscape?
9. Can the position of the filmed subject be determined in relationship to the camera position?
10. Can copy artifacts and physical impacts and alterations of the film material (such as scratches, water stains, and dust or lint particles on the film) be accounted for?
11. Are there any other ways the film image data could be tampered with?

DEFINITIONS

A glossary of terms used in this document is provided:

Splice - To join two pieces of motion picture film together by use of a clear adhesive tape or glue.

Edit - To add, delete, or re-arrange the order of motion picture film segments.

Perforation (aka Sprocket Hole) - the rectangular holes along one or both sides of a motion picture film stock to allow the projection and printing mechanisms to control the movement of the film stock through the mechanism.

Single Perf - A film stock with perforations on only one side of the film stock, usually to allow an audio track to occupy the opposite side outside the central picture area.

Double Perf - A film stock with perforations on both sides of a film stock and thus no allowance for an audio track.

Camera original - The actual film stock run through a camera and capturing some type of filmed images.

Printing Original - The film stock with image data on it supplied to be copied. This is not necessarily a camera original. It is whatever film is supplied for copying.

Copy Stock - the raw (unexposed) film to be copied onto.

Copy - A duplicate of a printing original film.

Contact Print - A 1:1 copy process where the copy has the same number of image frames and the same image size as the source film (printing original).

Optical Print - Made on a device called an Optical Printer, the device is a projector coupled to a camera, and this device allows for various ways for a printing to occur, because the lens on the projector can project the source image to the camera at a 1:1 size ratio, or zoom in and magnify the copy image to larger than the source, the projector and camera can operate at different frame rates, to produce copies in slow motion or fast speeds, and other optical effects combining multiple source film segments onto the copy (crossfades, image composites, etc.)

Leader - Film stock which may be clear, opaque white or opaque black, and is generally used at the head and tail of a film roll or sequence. It allows for setup on a lab film processing machine, projector or printer before any actual picture segments are in the film gate for viewing, as well as for physical writings or markings to identify the film without marking the picture area.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The responses to the foregoing points of contention, based on extensive examination of archived scans of all available copies of the PGF, are hereafter provided, discussed, and the contended issues conclusively resolved.

1. Has the film been edited?

     This question is one that goes to the heart of the issue of evidence integrity. Is what we see what actually occurred? On a camera original, evidence of editing is obvious because the physical cuts and reassembling of film segments cannot be hidden from inspection. However, with Roger Patterson’s death in January, 1972 (less than 5 years after the event), and the camera original at that time in the possession of a film production company, American National Enterprises (ANE) the family trauma of his passing took all attention away from the question of reclaiming the camera original film. The ANE maintained possession of the camera original. The subsequent bankruptcy of ANE caused the film to be inadvertently acquired by another party in a bankruptcy liquidation sale of the assets of ANE. The new owner placed the film with a film storage service in Los Angeles, but in 1980, researcher Rene Dahinden convinced the film storage staff that he had rights to the film and thus had authority to check it out for further examination. There is no record of the film being returned, and so it is classified as missing, whereabouts unknown, at this time. However, before the original was lost, many copies were made and a systematic analysis of these varied copies and the processes used allows us to determine the condition of the original.

To understand how a question of splicing of the camera original can be analyzed from copies, it is incumbent to first understand the splicing process. What is commonly referred to as “splicing” is physically joining two separate pieces of film so they will run continuously through a projector or laboratory printer. “Editing” is the general practice of making physical cuts in a film, to separate the desired footage from unwanted footage (called “outtakes”), and then assembling the desired footage in a chosen sequence, by a given splicing technique. One may splice without editing, as in the example of using 50‘ magazine loads of film, and once they are processed, the lab may splice several such 50‘ segments together onto a larger reel so they may be projected and viewed continuously, as if being one longer segment. But editing does require splicing to assemble the edited segments.

The common editing process is a rather simple mechanical process requiring the following steps:

1. Cut the end of the first segment of film (which may be the actual end of the segment or before the end).
2. Cut the start point of the second segment of film (cut at the point in this segment the editor chooses to begin, and not necessarily the first frame of the segment).
3. Join the two together by either adhesive splicing tape or glue.

The way the film is physically cut has several options. The most common is a straight horizontal cut between frames, so the cut does not appear in picture area (Fig. 1).

A second type of cut is usually done in film labs, and it is a tab cut where the line is not straight but rather has a curved notch (the tab), which goes into the picture area of one of the adjacent frames, This tends to be reserved for splicing leader or other film stock which doesn’t have critical frame image data, or no image at all. Head leader, tail leader, and timing countdown footage may be spliced with this tab configuration, but rarely any usable image segments.

A third type of cut is an overlap cut, so one piece of film overlaps the previous piece, and provides a surface for gluing the two pieces together, or hot splicing them.

A fourth option is a diagonal cut, but this is uncommon for segments with pictures because the cut goes through the picture of both segments being joined and may show on projection and viewing. The diagonal cut is actually intended to cut audio magnetic film or tape stock¹ because a true horizontal cut tends to produce an audible “pop” at the edit, while a diagonal cut does not. (Appendix 1. cites multiple sources for this phenomenon). So a 16mm film splicer device with a diagonal blade was likely made to cut 16mm magnetic coated film stock used for an audio soundtrack, not photographic imagery. In examining archival film, the authors have found examples of this diagonal cut used on picture segments, but it is uncommon in practice.

Once the film segments are cut, they must be joined together. The two common options are a splicing adhesive tape, and a film splicing glue or hot splice (Fig. 2). The splicing tape allows the two pieces of film as cut to be butted against each other, so the resulting film is as flat as uncut film. The glue splice requires that one piece of film be cut into the image frame area and the other cut on the frame separation line, so there is a physical overlap, and the glue is applied to this physical overlap, like shingles on a roof. One must also scrape the emulsion (containing the image data) from one of the film parts that has the overlap, so there are not two pictures from two emulsion layers. Churchill (1971) describes the options and their relative advantages and disadvantages in detail (see Appendix 2).

When a 1:1 copy is made by contact printing (i.e., the copy image is the same physical size as the source image), a glue splice will always show on the copy for 16mm film. On an optically printed zoom in copy, it may not, as the zoom in may use only image area closer to center excluding the glue line.

The tape splice has several options as to tape format. Kodak’s standard splicing tape for consumer use and some professional use is a tape pre-cut to slightly more than the distance of two film frames. Thus it fully covers one frame on each side of the cut, but continues on beyond the sprocket hole so the tape edge is a smooth horizontal line across the film, and it positions that line in the picture area. Some editors apply a piece of tape to each side of the splice, so there are actually two tape lines in picture area on each side of the splice. The Kodak Splice tape package contains two tape pieces, intended for taping both sides of the physical film. These tape lines will show on a 1:1 film copy, and the splice will be obvious.
An alternate tape splicing technique is to use a tape which is precisely the height of two film frames (0.6in wide, each frame being 0.3in high) and the tape has its edge lines on the frame separation line so the tape edge is not in picture area. The tape is generally transparent and is often referred to as an “invisible splice” because the process does not put anything visible into the picture area.

Whether or not this splice actually is “invisible” depends on the film lab copy technique. A contact print is a simple mechanical method of running the source film and the copy raw stock physically pressed against each other and a printing light is shined through the source film to the copy stock as the two pieces of film run continuously through the printer (Hall, 1971, p. 141). It prints both the images and the frame separation lines alike onto the copy. So if there is a physical cut in the cellulose film base where the two film pieces are joined, that physical cut will invariably print some light through the cut onto the copy (Fig. 3). Thus, the splice is not invisible on inspection of the physical copy, but since the projector crops the image area slightly and thus doesn’t project the frame line between images, the splice would be invisible on projection of the film.

It is essentially impossible to hide the cut line print-through, so no splice would be truly invisible. If the copy is made on an optical printer, however, the optical printer has a projector aimed at a camera, and the copy camera side has its own aperture window, so a cut in the source film cellulose base at the frame separation line may not show on the copy film stock (Hall, 1971, p. 149). Under those circumstances, the splice cut line would not be seen on the copy.

The PGF has been copied several times and by several methods, but the first set of copies made for Roger Patterson himself in 1967 (herein referred to as the PAC Group) were 1:1 contact prints and so any splice where the cellulose base is cut would print through a cut line onto those copies. The author has examined every frame of several true contact prints, and there is no cut line anywhere in the contact print copy. This would be the single most conclusive indicator if the PGF camera original had been spliced before copying, and the indicator is absent. Therefore, it is conclusive that the original film had not been spliced before copying.

There are additional factors in evaluating the prospect that a film has been edited:

1. Absence of camera starts would be an indicator that the segment has been trimmed and early frames were deleted. PGF camera starts are intact. This factor does not support an argument for editing.
2. Lack of continuity of position of subject or camera would be an indicator of footage rearrangement, i.e. editing. However, continuity of the paths and positions of both film subject and camera operator are consistent with the event occurring as shown. This factor does not support any argument of editing.
3. Lack of continuity of shadows would indicate passages of time greater than the time the event is described to have occurred (within a minute or two in total), but there is no lack of continuity in the footage which would support any argument for film segments taken at different times with interruptions between in order to plan or choreograph the next filming segment before filming it. So there is no support for any argument of editing segments taken at different times of the day.
4. The light washout along the edge of the film is consistent with the last segment of a 100ft daylight load reel, and the subsequent unloading under low light (but not true darkroom blackness), indicating the PGF was the last segment of the 100ft roll. Copies of the entire first reel content, with the PGF as the last segment, account for almost 100ft and thus tend to support the entire content of the reel as described. No irregularities have been found to suggest the described and scanned complete first reel is edited.

Thus, aside from the lack of print through of physical cut lines on any contact print of the PGF, the four points above further substantiate that there is no evidence that the PGF original was edited in any way before it was copied. Thus the known and studied copies are a true and reliable frame-by-frame duplication of the camera original. These copies can be studied with the same confidence as if we were studying the camera original.

A point of confusion for those lacking knowledge of film editing is the fact that many copies have been made of this film, and some of those copies were in fact edited for specific television programs. As such, splices can be found on those programs, if one examines the program frame by frame (Fig. 4). Those determined to claim the PGF is edited, and therefore a hoax, have seen some of these program edits and splices and mistakenly claimed these as proof of the original being spliced. What they fail to realize is that modifications of editing and splicing of a copy does not alter the integrity of the original. Only if an edit and splice can be found on the same frame of every copy can there be any real suspicion of the edit and splice being present on the original.

¹An example of magnetic coated film is Kodak Magnetic Sound Recording Film, A704, as described in the ASC Manual, p. 264.

2. What is the resolution of the camera original film stock and what level of image detail can be relied upon?

    There is some confusion in various references pertaining to the measured resolution of Kodachrome II film. The resolution standard is described as “Lines per Millimeter” (or lines/mm). Popular Photography Magazine, in a lengthy series of articles reviewing the introduction of Kodachrome II film, states that Kodachrome II film has a resolution of 56 lines/mm (Drukker 1961).

Fahrenbach (1999)2 states that Koda-chrome II film has a resolution of 63 lines/mm. He then divides this number by 2 in order to determine “Line Pairs per Milimeter” at 31.5 line-pairs/mm. However, photography expert James K. Beard3 states, “The truth of the matter is that none of the color films exceeds about 65 line pairs per millimeter. Kodachrome, while it lasts, is a little better because the emulsion is thinner than that of any E6 or C41 process film.” Thus, he is describing Kodachrome II film as having twice the resolution that Fahrenbach describes and the Popular Photography expert staff lists.

From Wikipedia we find the statement: “Photographic lens and film resolution are most often quoted in line pairs per millimeter.”⁴

So there appears to be a situation here where people may write “lines/mm” and actually mean “line-pairs/mm.” To resolve this discrepancy, a physical examination of the sharpest and most highly detailed frame copy from the PGF is needed. This image is a 4x5in color transparency made by Kodak labs for Roger Patterson in 1967. Given this transparency is so much larger than the source original, the film grain of the transparency was sufficient to actually copy perfectly the grain pattern of the camera original, and thus may be considered of equal detail as the Kodachrome II camera original. It is the current benchmark of image quality for all PGF image references (Fig. 5A).

This transparency has been scanned twice. The first scan was done by Mr. Marlon Davis (date unknown) and he posted a 5K (5028x3549 pixels) scan image on the internet for people to download. The second scan was done by Munns, at a higher resolution (7656x5245 pixels) by scanning sections at 4272x2848 and assembling the scans into a single complete image.

The American Society of Cinematography (ASC) manual, compiled and edited by Joseph V, Mascelli, provides physical standard specifications for 16mm film, and lists dimension from bottom of one perforation to the next (labeled measurement “B”) as 0.3000in for long perf film, and 0.2994in for short perf film. According to www.cinema-tographyforum. com, Kodachrome films were long pitch (0.3000in) so we will calculate for long perf 0.3000in (and if the film is short perf, the margin of error is 0.2% (1/5th of 1%) (see p. 287).

Long perf film is 0.3in high for one frame plus the black frame dividing line, and this PGF Transparency has been cropped to exactly one image frame plus one black dividing line thickness (although as pictured, half that one black frame line is above and half is below the image). Study sections will be enlarged by a factor of two for more accuracy in comparing resolution lines, so the enlarged study areas will be from an original at 10,490 pixels high (twice the 5245 pixels high). This 10,490 pixels high equals 0.3000 in or 7.62mm.

If the resolution as stated by Fahrenbach is 63 lines/mm, the finest detail in this image should be a line 21.85 pixels (rounded to 22 pixels since Photoshop cannot display fractions of one pixel). Thus, by the Fahrenbach calculation we should not see any clear horizontal line below 22 pixels in height [calculation is (10,490/63)/7.62 = 21.85].

According to the Popular Photography Magazine, Kodachrome II film stock has a resolution of 56 lines/mm. Therefore, the film should not resolve any line object finer than 24.58 pixels high (rounded to 25 pixels).

According to Beard, Kodachrome can resolve at least 65 line-pairs/mm or 130 lines/mm. Therefore, the film should resolve a horizontal line object at 10.589.

Analysis of fine white branches of trees against very dark backgrounds provides good lines to appraise resolution of this film image. One of these branches is clearly defined and is about 11 pixels wide (Fig. 5B). This would tend to support the appraisal by authority James K. Beard, that the lines of resolution are in fact at or near 65 line-pairs/mm and that the Popular Photography source may have used the phrase “lines/mm” to mean “line-pairs/mm. This would also suggest that Fahrenbach is incorrect because he specifically describes “lines/mm” and then divides by two to get “line-pairs/mm”.

But even film analysis professionals do acknowledge that “sharpness” is somewhat subjective. Drukker (1961) states, “One of the advances claimed for the new film is sharpness. This is something we found very difficult to verify. The appearance of sharpness is extremely subjective.”

Considering that a 16mm film image can resolve a branch at about 11 pixels from a source full frame image 10,490 pixels high and the PGF Hominid is at the lookback frame about 1/6th of the frame height, she would be about 1748 pixels high in that source image. Dividing that by the determined 11 pixel lines as the smallest detail, that would mean the film can resolve 158.94 lines for her full height.

Arbitrarily assigning an example height of 6ft 6in (78in), the film would resolve a theoretical approximate 0.5in object on her body. Motion blur and lens influence slightly reduce resolution, putting the resolution of the PGF Hominid body aspects at somewhere between 0.5in and 1.0in. To calculate with greater accuracy would require extensive error analysis. For this discussion, the resolving accuracy is left as an approximation in the above range. Suffice it to say, a different determination of PGF Hominid height would affect the resolving dimension accordingly.

It can be concluded that the film resolution is excellent for a 16mm film stock, and image data taken from it for analysis has a very high degree of evidentiary integrity as a result, as long as we work within the resolution constraints described.

² http://www.bigfootencounters.com/biology/fahrenbach.htm
³ http://jameskbeard.com/Photography/Film_Pixels.html
⁴http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_resolution

3. How were copies of the camera original made and how does the copy process alter the original film image data?

    To begin, there are 5 known instances when the camera original of the PGF was copied. Accordingly, assemblages of copies are included in groups that can trace their “genealogy” back to each time the original went to the lab for copying, and each time by a distinct printing process. Within each group, there can be several generations. These copy groups are:

1. PAC Group. Roger Patterson himself sent the original film to a lab for full-frame contact prints in 1967. The Munns PGF database has complete scans of three copies, and partial scans of two other copies of this group.

2. Transparencies Group. Patterson had Kodak labs make 4x5in transparency enlargements from selected frames (5 are known, and currently in the possession of Mrs. Patricia Patterson, Roger’s widow). All five known frames have been examined and scanned by Munns.

3. Green Group. John Green and Rene Dahinden negotiated with Patterson for Canadian rights to show the film and were given the camera original so Canawest Labs could make copies. The lab made multiple copies in various formats (full-frame at real time, zoom-in real time, slow-motion, freeze-frame, etc.) on an optical printer. They printed to an Ektachrome master, and then struck multiple show prints from that Ektachrome master (Hunter & Dahinden, 1973). Munns has personally scanned all or parts of five different copies from this group.

4. ANE Group. In 1970-71, Patterson made a deal with American National Enterprises (ANE) to produce a feature documentary, titled “Bigfoot: Man or Beast,” released in 1971. It included a considerable amount of the PGF. The camera original was loaned to this company so their labs could make copies for the production edit. They used a liquid gate optical printer (aka “Wet Printing” – see Schmit, 1971) a process superior to the one used by Canawest lab services, because even though these were among the last copies made, they have the least scratches. The scratches occurred when Roger projected the camera original many times during the first few months after filming. The liquid gate process is excellent for removal of cel scratches (scratches on the cellulose base side; there is no process to correct for scratches on the emulsion side). These copies, used for the film production, are among the best available. Munns has obtained two 16mm copies for his archives and personally scanned each in its entirety.

5. Cibachrome Group., The camera original was stored in a film storage vault, placed there by the persons who inadvertently purchased the film along with other office property in the ANE bankruptcy sale. Sometime between 1978 and 1980, Rene Dahinden was able to borrow the film. He and Bruce Bonney then did some analysis of the camera original and Bonney made 12 high-quality frame copies by a Cibachrome photographic process. Reportedly both paper prints and transparencies were made. These have been scanned by Chris Murphy and Rick Noll at different times. They are, in general, excellent images of the PGF Hominid. The Munns image database has high resolution scans of both the Murphy and Noll scans of the Cibachromes.

While it is possible other copies may have been made, these are the five documented copy groups the authors can personally verify exist, and can identify specific copies as belonging to which group.

Each group has evidentiary value, in appraising the quality of both copies and the source camera original. For example, it is the Transparency Group which shows the intact Kodak K-100 camera identification notch in full form, and thus this group conclusively proves what kind of camera was used -- Kodak 16mm model K-100 camera. The PAC Group, being true contact printed full-frame copies, proves there was no editing of the original when the copies were made. The 4x zoom-in copies made by ANE are the best for study of the PGF Hominid during the lookback sequence of the film. The 2x zoom-in copies of the Green group are the best for early sequence studies.

But it is also the combined analysis potential of them all that provides the basis to determine what was, and what was not, on the camera original. Something on the camera original would be transfered to all copies. If not present on all, it is a copy artifact and not camera original content.

Another form of evidentiary appraisal of copy quality is copy generation and copy magnification. Both affect the quality of a copy. Copying is a method which is considered “lossy” in the sense that some image detail is lost with each generation, unlike digital imagery today, which is loss-less in copying because it is actually just numeric digital code. Film has an emulsion layer which is composed of silver halide particles, which are light sensitive, and exposure to light produces the image. These particles are randomly distributed, unlike a pixel order on a digital image, where each pixel has a specific address and a copied pixel has the same address, i.e., the same location in the image. The random dispersion of the film grain particles means when a copy is made, the film grain of the copy film stock does not exactly align point-for-point with the film

grain of the source film stock. There is no exact source-grain to copy-grain continuity. The random misalignment of grain from one film stock to another slightly diffuses the original sharpness of the source film image. Each subsequent copy generation diffuses the image detail further with loss of sharpness and detail. Any analysis must factor in the copy generation of a film image. To do so correctly, any given copy must be compared to other copies to appraise the copy generation level.

Another very important but much overlooked factor in copy quality is the effect of copy magnification from the camera original. With copies made at a 1:1 size ratio, the grain misalignment quickly makes each copy generation degrade noticeably. If the camera original is set up on an optical printer and the projector lens zooms in to magnify a portion of the source frame into the full copy frame, the image detail to film grain size-ratio changes and the resulting copy is closer to the original in quality and subsequent copies degrade less with each copy generation.
If for example, a 2x zoom-in magnification is made, the portion of the source image that copies is now twice as large as before, making the copy film stock relatively four times as fine a grain for the image content (for one source film grain, there are two copy grains wide x two copy grains high, thus a total of four grains to the source one). If a 4x zoom-in magnification copy is made, the copy film stock is relatively sixteen times as fine a grain as the source image was (four wide x four high). The increasing fine grain in relation to the original image insures far less detail is lost and so these 2x and 4x copy versions are among the best for analysis of the PGF Hominid. Unfortunately, the 4x copies made in the Green Group appear to be slightly out of focus (an error in the optical printer setup), but the ANE Group 4x copies are remarkably sharp, so they are generally the best 4x copies for study.

While copy generation, in general principle, causes degraded copies of lesser image quality and usable image evidence, the 2x and 4x enlarged copies are important in that the magnification reduces and almost nullifies loss of copy detail.

This methodology of comparing copies over the five copy groups is essential to the most accurate and reliable analysis of the film and its subject.

4. Is the film in focus?

An “in focus” film image is sharp and shows fine detail. A film image which is “out of focus” is fuzzy and lacks detail, often to the extent that objects cannot even be positively identified.
The degree of focus is determined entirely by the lens on the camera. But there is a common misunderstanding that assumes the degree of focus is global, that it is equal across the entire frame image. That is not so. A filmed image may be perfectly in focus for a close foreground object, and totally out of focus for distant objects, or a filmed image may be totally out of focus for close objects and perfectly sharp for distant objects, or a film may have middle objects in sharp focus and both very close and very distant objects blurred (Fig. 7). The optical principle at play here is what is generally referred to as “Depth of Field” (ASC Manual, pp. 185-187). Depth of Field is the near to far range of distance from the lens which is in clear or acceptable focus. Three factors influence how large or small this range is.

The primary factor is the diameter of the lens opening that lets light pass through the lens, a setting commonly referred to as the “F-Stop” setting. The F-Stop number is an inverse comparison of the lens focal length and the diameter of the opening or aperture (ASC Manual, p. 174). So F4.0 indicates the diameter of the opening is 1/4th of the lens focal length. F8.0 indicates the diameter of the opening is 1/8th of the focal length. The lens depth of field increases in near-far range as the F-Stop number increases, so the near-far range is much greater at F8.0 than it is at F4.0. Any lens which is “wide open” (set at the smallest F-Stop number the lens is capable of) will have the smallest depth of field, and when set at the largest F-Stop number, the depth of field will be the largest range near-to-far.⁵

The second factor influencing degree of sharp focus is the focus ring setting, if the lens has one. The Kodak K-100 standard lens, a 25mm F1.9 Cine Ektar lens, has a focus ring with settings from infinity to 14 in. The Kodak Model “E” camera has a standard lens which is a 20mm F3.5 Anastigmatic lens which does not have a focusing ring, and is classified as a “fixed focus” lens.
The designing principle for the fixed focus lens is that using a film like Kodachrome II, outdoors in clear sunlight, the F-Stop will likely be set at about F8 to F11 and everything from a few feet away to infinity will be in clear focus, because of the very large depth of field. Hence no need to focus.

The designing principle for the 25mm F1.9 Cine Ektar lens is that the F1.9 allows for lower light filming (including indoors) and the low F-Stop number means a shorter depth of field, so a focusing ring allows the user to focus on the most important object in the scene according to the distance that object is from the camera. Other closer or further things may be slightly out of focus, but the essential object is in focus.

The third factor is lens focal length, and a short lens focal length (relatively wide angle lens) has greater depth of field for any given F-Stop and focus ring setting than a longer focal length (telephoto) lens. Example: A 25mm lens on a 16mm camera, set at F8, and focused on 6ft, has a near/far focal range of 3ft 10in to 14ft 3in (a range of 10ft 5in). A 50mm lens set at F8 and focused on 6ft has a near/far range of 5ft 3in to 7ft 0in (a range of 1ft 9in) (ASC Manual, pp. 199 and 201).

But given that Roger Patterson used Kodachrome II film and he was filming the PGF outdoors in bright sunlight, the non-focusing 20mm set at about F8 (appropriate for the film type and the sunlight condition) would have given him an image that was fully in focus from the nearest objects to the furthest. That is evident in the best image copies from the camera original. Using the 25mm Cine Ektar lens set at F8, the lens could capture everything from 5ft to infinity in perfect focus (if the lens were set at a focus of 10ft). (ASC Manual, p. 199).⁶

The finest image example known from the PGF camera original is a 4x5in transparency made by Kodak labs for Roger Patterson of Frame VFC-352 (which is actually Verified Frame Count VFC-354)⁷. Mrs. Patterson currently possesses this transparency. Munns has personally scanned this transparency at a resolution of 7656 x 5245 pixels. It is the benchmark image for PGF image quality and it is in perfect focus from the closest object (about 10ft away from camera) to the farthest (about 300ft away from camera).

People are confused by very low resolution copies and motion blur, which is a separate factor described below, and they mistake these things for poor focus. It is their ignorance of photography which perpetuates the erroneous notion that the PGF is not in focus. Analysis clearly determines that the PGF was in perfect focus.

Adding to this misapprehension, people are often confused by watching video programs or video clips of the PGF, and seeing blurred frames. What they fail to understand is that the original film was shot at a filming speed established to be between 16-18 frames per second (fps). However, TV conversions have a speed of 30 fps. To keep the same sense of time and motion, the TV conversion process must add frames, by blending the existing frames of the source film to expand the frame count to 30 fps. These added blended frames are often a composite of two frames, and as such, the resulting image is blurred even if the two source frames were sharp. So any TV conversion is likely to generate many blurred frames.

⁵ A “T-Stop” is also on some lenses. This is a calculation that considers how much light is lost passing through the lens elements and thus adjusts the F-Stop accordingly. It is used to ensure the exposure setting is for the true amount of light actually passing through the lens, not just the mechanical ratio of lens aperture to lens focal length. T-Stops are most often used in high-level professional cinematography and generally not for the general consumer and amateur photographers. (ASC Manual, p. 174).

⁶ It should be noted that studies are ongoing to determine which lens was used for the PGF. Until these are completed both alternatives are described and considered.
⁷ In 2010, Munns organized a frame-by-frame inventory from several PGF copies, and determined that the Cibacrhome numbering was incorrect. He determined that some copies of the PGF (the PAC Group) start at Frame , and so frame counts based on these copies differed from others by 2 frames. VFC-1 was Version One of the frame inventory, but with increasing numbers of copies scanned, and Frame 954 found on a copy for the first time, the inventory system was revised as Version Two and Designated VFC-2 (e.g. VFC-2 354, is the famous lookback frame commonly called Frame 352).

5. Is there motion blur, from either motions of the camera or motions of the subject being filmed?

Motion blur actually occurs in most photography, because a camera shutter opens for a specific time duration, and either the subject being filmed or camera movement can cause motion blur during the time the shutter is open. Cameras on tripods reduce or eliminate camera motion blur, but the subject may still move and cause blur. A faster shutter speed reduces subject motion blur because it reduces the elapsed time the shutter is open, but changing shutter speeds is more common with still photography than cinematography. Higher end professional film cameras do have variable shutters that can open to nearly 180 degrees of the 360 degree shutter rotation and close down to lesser portions of that 360 degrees to decrease the shutter time and reduce motion blue. A decrease in shutter opening time must be compensated for either by more light, a lower F-Stop, or a more light-sensitive , or “faster” film, which will likely be more grainy than a “slow” film. One of the Hollywood standard top-of-the-line cameras of the era, the BNC Mitchell, has a variable shutter from 175 degrees (widest open) to 0 degrees (fully closed), in 10 degree increments (ASC Manual, p. 94). Another highly respected professional camera, the Arriflex 35-2CV has a variable shutter angle from 165 degrees to 0 degrees. (ASC Manual, p. 105).

The PGF camera had a fixed shutter, so the shutter speed was determined by the chosen filming speed (16 fps, 18 fps, 24 fps, etc.) Thus, as an example, if a 16 fps setting is chosen (the slowest camera speed for the Kodak K-100) the shutter opens for approximately 1/32 of a second. For hand- holding a camera, and especially running while filming, 16 fps is a shutter speed guaranteed to produce some motion blur, and the PGF reflects this.

If motion blur is caused by the camera movement, the blur is global (affecting the entire frame image equally) and directional (in the actual direction the camera is moving). But motion blur can occur for a few frames and then subsequent frames can be completely sharp and clear, and we see this in the PGF, indicating the motions were sporadic. During the portion where Patterson planted himself and held his camera steady, during the lookback sequence, the imagery is generally remarkably sharp (Fig. 8).

There is the secondary issue of motion blur of the film subject, because even when Patterson is holding his camera steady, the hominid body is walking forward and the arms and legs are swinging in motion of a walk cycle. The hands and feet are the fastest moving parts of the body in a walk cycle, so the feet do tend to blur more than the torso or head, and the hands tend to be the least sharp aspects of the arm. People who try to analyze the feet of the PGF hominid do sometimes fail to factor foot motion blur into their analysis and this can negate conclusions drawn about the feet, such as their dimensions, or visibility of toes.

There is no correction for substantial motion blur, and the film frames with motion blur are thus of lesser evidentiary usefulness than the sharp ones. This does not fully negate their value, just restricts their usefulness to forms of analysis where the blur can be accounted for. For example, if some vertical elements of the Bluff Creek landscape are being evaluated, and the motion blur is purely horizontal, the vertical relationship of landscape masses and objects would not be altered and the image would still have evidentiary value for issues of vertical relationships.

Putting this into perspective, the PGF contains 954 known film frames (by the VFC-2 system) and about 400 of those are sharp images, and the remainder has some noticeable degree of motion blur. Those sharp images still represent a very substantial inventory of image data, irrespective of the limited data of the blurred ones. So while people watching the film projected in real time tend to notice the motion blur and thus have concerns that the film’s evidentiary value is hindered by the blur, when studied frame by frame, the wealth of sharp image data is more fully appreciated.

Indeed, the PGF does contain considerable motion blur, caused by both camera motion and filmed subject motion, but there are enough sharp film frames to insure the film in its totality is an excellent evidentiary resource for analysis.

6. Are there sufficient varying camera angles to allow an accurate and reliable three dimensional reconstruction of the filmed event?
The principle of taking two-dimensional photographic data and reconstructing a three-dimensional object or landscape is commonly referred to as the science of stereo-photogrammetry. It has many applications, from mapmaking to accident investigation, and is now widely used in media CGI (computer graphics imagery) to take filmed footage and analyze the objects in the scene and the camera’s movement in the scene, so digital elements can be composited into that scene and appear as if they were actually there during original filming. So the process is well-established today in many varied applications.

In essence, the process requires a certain number of photographs of the landscape or object in question, and from several varied views, to allow for three-dimensional reconstruction.
In doing such an analysis, there are some software products which facilitate the process, but are constrained by certain camera/lens calibration protocols to work. But the basic principles can also be applied by reducing the task to basic principles of optics and manually working through the problem. Those principles include:

1. Line of Sight. A distant object directly behind a nearer object forms a true line of sight from distant object through nearer object to camera. No lens distortion will affect this true line of sight.
2. Distance. If a camera moves directly forward, and maintains a line of sight for some identified objects, those objects will increase in size, but the nearer objects will increase at a greater rate than distant objects. So the different rates of change in size are a direct correlation to the relative distance separating the near and far objects from the camera at its near and far position.
3. Perspective. When a camera moves left or right, up or down, changing perspective, near objects shift in the opposite direction, more so that more distant objects, and the shift is inversely proportional to the object distance.

From these basic principles, three-dimensional information is extracted from the various photographs and as objects are verified in relationship to other objects, a three-dimensional relationship is developed.

When we consider the photographic resources of and related to the PGF, the amount of usable data is actually quite astonishing. The PGF itself has the camera operator moving through the landscape in many different positions and varied camera angles over a course of more than 100ft. Then we have John Green’s filming of Jim McClarin in 1968 walking a path similar to the PGF Hominid from a close but slightly different camera angle than Patterson’s position filming the lookback. Then Green filmed McClarin in the landscape from two other camera positions varied from the walk filming. Then we have film footage of Rene Dahinden holding a scale bar in the landscape in 1972 from another camera position about 20 feet closer than Green’s position. We also have multiple still photographs taken by Dahinden and Peter Byrne, on various site visits from a multitude of varied camera positions. And we have measurements taken by both Green and Dahinden in their visits.

Further significant site evaluations were carried out by Steven Streufert and Ian Carton in 2009, adding Robert Leiterman, with contributions from Rowdy Kelley and Jamie Schutmaat in 2011. New measurements taken in July 2012 by Munns and a team of researchers8, with many specific and identifiable landmarks (trees, trees stumps, etc.) still very clearly identifiable and measureable, with assurance that they did not move since 1967. This wealth of photographic data and actual site surveys combined allows for an excellent 3 dimensional reconstruction of the Bluff Creek event landscape as it was in 1967 when the PGF was taken.

⁸ Cliff Barackman, Rowdy Kelley, Ian Carton, Todd Hale, Jaime Schutmaat, Robert Leiterman, Francis Leiterman, Bart Cutino, Terry Smith, Bill Munns, James "Bobo" Fay, Daniel Perez, Scott McClean.

7. Can the camera positions be determined with factual certainty in relation to the landscape?

While the average person looks at a photograph or motion picture film and is generally aware of what is seen in the image, a photographed image actually tells the trained analyst something about the camera as well. A camera taking multiple views of a subject or a motion picture camera moving through an environment while filming tells a great deal about what the camera is doing or where it is positioned in relation to the subject seen in the image.

The extent to which information about the camera (and the person operating that camera) can be determined is dependent on movement of the camera in the environment to produce varying perspectives of the filmed subject. So in that matter, every case is unique, but basic principles apply which are scientifically and optically standard and irrefutable. One issue to clarify is that such an analysis of the camera position in relation to the objects seen in the film footage is that the analysis does not scale the objects or positions in real world measurements. It determines a conceptual relationship which is proportional, object to object and object to camera. Something in the photographs of a known size, or some actual measurements from the site photographed must be introduced to scale the camera and object positions in real world measurements.

Appendix 3 illustrates how information is extracted from images to make determinations about where the camera is, as well as where objects are in relation to both each other and to the camera positions. The image data in total from the PGF is sufficient to determine the path of the camera through the Bluff Creek environment during the filming of this encounter.

8. Can the walk path of the filmed subject be determined with factual certainty in relation to the landscape?

Determining the path of the filmed subject follows the same principles as determining the landscape and determining the camera positions, and is in fact dependent upon these two actions being done first. But determining the path also requires some irrefutable link between the filmed subject and the landscape.

Size of the subject in the picture becomes the basic factor defining how far away the subject is from camera. The larger she is, the closer she is. The smaller she is, the more distant she is. That establishes a proportional distance at any given image frame number and corresponding camera position. Then line-of-sight studies look where the camera is and what is behind or in front of the filmed subject for positional consideration through the landscape. The “anchor”, in this case, is two shadows cast on her body by two trees she walks behind, after the lookback. One shadow cast as she passes the second tree is so close to the tree itself that it can only be made if she is literally rubbing her shoulder against the tree as she passes it (Fig. 9).

A walk path generally has a continuum of direction or a smooth arc of curvature. Nothing in the film suggests the walk path included the subject making sudden jumps sideways or any kind of “zig-zag” changes of direction. So once key positions of the walk path are determined, the sections in between can be interpolated according to directional lines or curves. The data in the film is sufficient to accomplish this.

9. Can the position of the filmed subject be determined in relationship to the camera position?
Once both camera path and subject path are determined, in relation to the landscape, determining the interrelationship between the two is elementary. This determination is especially crucial for determining what the body angle is, in relation to camera to subject line-of-sight, because this angle is essential in determining body proportions, especially breadths and depths.

10. Can copy artifacts and physical impacts and alterations of the film material (such as scratches, water stains, and dust or lint particles on the film) be accounted for?
Copy artifacts do occur in film copying, due to a multitude of causes. Dust, lint, and other debris, even at microscopic levels, can appear on 16mm film as visible shapes, lines, dots, or other imperfections. Scratches and imperfections in the emulsion layer can also produce image artifacts. The solution to identifying image artifacts from the copy process is to have as many samples from all the copy groups as possible, and a frame inventory so any individual frame can be positively identified and then compared across copies. If we see an artifact on one copy, or among one copy group, but not on other copy groups, we can be confident that the image data is artificial and was introduced in the copy process.

A notable image artifact is the apparent curled “fingers” seen in Cibachrome F352 (VFC 354). The apparent curled “fingers” do not exist on any other copy group sampled for that exact frame (Fig. 10). It is unique to the Cibachrome copy, and thus is dismissed as a copy artifact, and not a true image feature of the PGF subject’s hand.
A second image artifact, which resulted in some outrageous theories commonly called “The Massacre Theory” (with allegations that guns were fired as the PGF was being filmed and sasquatch were being hunted) is a light flare on one frame of one of the Green copies.

When it was converted for TV broadcasting and the conversion introduced some frame blending, the light flare spot looked sharp on one frame and half faded the next, before disappearing. Some analysts claimed this was a “muzzle flash” of a firearm being discharged (Fig. 11). However, examining the specific frame across multiple copies identified that the bright light flare spot was not on other copies, just on a single copy from John Green’s inventory, and that there was no faded second flare on the subsequent frame of a true copy. The absence of a flare on any other copy removed it from any prospect of being on the camera original, and thus was not true image data. The second faded flare was simply a result of an analyst using frames of a TV scan instead of a true film scan. There is no evidence that a gunshot was fired at the time of filming.
So in this analysis of the PGF, we have the necessary data and methods to identify image artifacts, and once identified, remove them from the analysis of evidence.

11. Are there any other ways film image data can be tampered with?
When we think of “tampering with film”, the general concept is to create some type of false image element that was not on the camera original and make it appear authentic on copies. In 1967, the techniques were rather limited, as compared to today’s image compositing technology.

Photo re-touching has been a well-established art form long before the PGF was filmed in 1967, but photo re-touching, which involves actual painting on a film print, negative or transparency, is rarely attempted on the scale of 16mm film. Using a true paint brush, you would need a brush with literally only one hair fiber and a microscope to try and paint any kind of image alteration. The alteration would have to be repeated consistently frame after frame. It is doubtful that anyone has ever accomplished it successfully. Most re-touching work was traditionally done on much larger format images, such as 8x10in negatives or prints. A film frame, a mere 0.3in high and 0.4in wide, is far too small for human ability to successfully paint on and be undetectable. Therefore, photo re-touching, while common for still photos, was rarely tried and even more rarely successful for 16mm or even 35mm film media.

Rotoscoping is a second technology used to alter film images, and it entails a projector, which projects a single frame onto a ground glass surface so the image is visible, and a cel (a cellulose acetate sheet with pin registration) is painted upon as it overlays the projected frame. Once all the cels are painted, frame by frame, they are photographed and composited onto the original film and the painted effect is introduced. In 1967, this was challenging to do with any level of realism, and particularly ineffective if the filmed image varies in sharpness and motion blur, as the PGF does. Also, the composite process was more successful with 35mm film than 16mm film. So the PGF contains no image features which could be attributed to rotoscoping technology.

Traveling matte composites is a third technology of the time and is described in detail in the ACS Manual (pp. 555-578). Two criteria for any successful traveling matte effect were that first, the original camera must be locked down solidly stationary and second, the film must have a continuous level of focus and lack of motion blur. The PGF has neither, and so it has essentially no potential for being altered undetectably by the traveling matte system.

Once printed as a still image, individual film frames have occasionally been altered. The famous “lookback” frame (“frame 352,” VFC 354) has become a public domain image, and has been used in numerous forms in various media. In March 2012 the magazine Vanity Fair (p. 126) printed the image, but an obviously re-touched version of the true frame image (Fig. 12). So re-touched or altered individual frame images do exist, and so it is always best to go back to true film frame scans to verify if still images are authentic or have been altered.

Patterson sold zoomed-in prints of frame 352 (VFN 354) to members of the Northwest Research Association. These included an 11x14in black and white print and a 5x7in color print. Meldrum is in possession of a set of these. The provenience of these prints relative to the film copy groups is not certain, but the clarity of the prints is exceptional and true to the film original, providing yet another check on image data integrity.

SUMMARY

1. The camera original was not spliced or edited in any way when the copies were made. Thus the copies are a true representation of the camera original and can be studied as truthful depictions of the filming event.

2. The film resolution is excellent, and has resolution as high as any 16mm film of its time. The detail is reliable and as much as one could expect for 16mm film.

3. The manner in which the copies were made maintains the image integrity of the original, with some allowance for slightly diminishing levels of detail. The copies are more than sufficient for analysis in the absence of the camera original at this time.

4. The film was in excellent focus. No
criticism of the image data can be attributed to poor focus, and the popular notion that it is blurry beyond credibility has no merit.

5. There is significant motion blur in portions of the film, but there are hundreds of frames without any such blur. There remains an abundance of evidentiary material to work with and even some of the motion blurred frames have evidentiary value for some forms of analysis.

6. Among PGF film itself, and other films and photos of the site, there are more than sufficient different perspectives to make a three-dimensional reconstruction of the landscape.

7. The extensive camera motions are highly conducive to analysis of the movement of the camera operator throughout the filming.

8. The path of the filmed subject can be reliably calculated from the film image data and placed into the landscape in a correct position relative to verified landmarks.

9. The inter-relationship of the camera operator and the filmed subject can be reliably analyzed frame by frame.

10. Image artifacts can be reliably identified and eliminated from consideration so no false data need be introduced.

11. The methods available for altering 16mm film at the time were inadequate for falsifying the image data in any way undetectable to modern technologies.

LITERATURE CITED

Churchill, H. B. Film Editing Handbook: Technique of 16mm Film Cutting. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1972.
Drukker, L. (1961) Special report on new Kodachrome II Film. Popular Photography Magazine, May 1961, 48(5): 56.
Hall, J.P. (1971) Film Printing, Black and White, and Color. SMPTE Proceedings 1971. Producer’s Service Corporation, Glendale, CA.
Hunter, D., with R. Dahinden (1973) Sasquatch. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, p. 126.
Schmit, J.W. (1971) Wet Printing. SMPTE Proceedings 1971 - Technologies in the Laboratory Handling of Motion Picture and Other Long Films, Hollywood, CA: Technicolor, Inc., pp. 172-175.
Mascelli, J.V. (ed.) (1966) ASC Manual, 2nd ed. Hollywood, CA: Official Publication of the American Society of Cinematographers.

APPENDIX 1.
Citations of audio “pop” from a horizontal cut and splice of magnetic audio tape or film, and why a diagonal cut reduces or eliminates that “pop” (Churchill, 1971, pp. 7 and 75):
http://www.folkstreams.net/vafp/clip.php?id=54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzhST6WdIk0

APPENDIX 2.
ASC Manual - The American Society of Cinemato-graphers, a Hollywood professional society formed by the most accomplished and experienced cinemato-graphers, published a professional industry reference manual. It was often referred to as “The Cameraman’s Bible,” and the factual integrity of its content is impeccable. The second edition, published in 1966, is specifically cited herein, even though there are newer editions available, specifically because the PGF must be analyzed in reference to technology of the 60‘s. The second edition was published one year before the PGF was filmed, so it is the most accurate reflection of camera, lens, film stock and other motion picture technologies at that time.

SMPTE/SPSE Proceedings - SMPTE is the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, an industry group who have been entrusted with establishing and defining standards of technology and procedure for the film and television media. SPSE is the Society of Photographic Scientists and Engineers. Together, these two organizations assembled the scientific papers presented at their 1971 two-day technical seminar and published them in a reference text titled “Technologies in the Laboratory Handling of Motion Picture and Other Long Films”. The 1971 publication is relevant because in 1971, copies of the PGF were still being made by the procedures described in the text, and between 1967 (when the PGF original was taken) and this publication, all the material content could be considered accurate professional documentation of industry standards and practices when the PGF was filmed and copied.

Film Editing Handbook - Technique of 16mm Film Cutting, by Hugh Churchill (1971). This reference has multiple citations as well, but its contents are summarized here. Pp. 5-10, “Chapter 1- Splicing Film” describes and illustrates various types of splicer machines and splicing techniques. The book’s Appendix B – Equipment, on p. 161, illustrates splicers as well, and describes types of splices on pp. 165-166. The diagonal cutting of magnetic audio film tracks is noted on p. 7, paragraph 4, and described in more detail on p. 75, paragraph 2, where the diagonal splicing reduces the “Bloop” (also called a “pop”) which results when an audio magnetic track is cut true horizontal to the film path. The text notes that the diagonal cut reduces or eliminates that sound phenomenon.

APPENDIX 3.
The following demonstration (Figures 13-1 through 13-7) shows how a camera’s position can be determined in relation to objects the camera photographs:

1. Two spheres, same size, and 2 spheres, different sizes.
2. Measure each sphere in both images and create double bar ruler for each.
3. Right sphere doubles in size, from camera a to b, so it shows the distance is half as much for b as a. so based on this, we can designate two points, a and b, for the camera, and the right sphere is twice as far as camera b from camera a.
4. Left sphere increases less, so it is further away. If the bar rulers are marked so the difference of each is the camera move, and we equalize the camera move segment, then the bar ruler will tell us how far away the left sphere is.
5. Comparing the right sphere distance to the left sphere distance, we see the left sphere is twice as far away as the right one. Yet in image one, they appear equal in size, so this proves the left sphere is twice the size of the right sphere, because twice as far away it looks the same size.

From these two images can be determined two camera positions, the relative position of the two spheres to each other, and the determined the relative size of the two spheres in relation to each other.

From these four demonstration images, we are able to calculate the size and relative position of the two spheres and four camera positions in relation to the two spheres. If there are more objects in the images and each object is seen in at least three images, we can accurately define that object’s size and position relative to the other objects. Any camera position which captures multiple located objects can itself be located.

It is this basic methodology, but extended to a much higher level of sophistication, which allows for the development of a Bluff Creek site model, which reliably locates the various trees and ground objects, locates Patterson’s camera for any given frame, and finally locates the PGF hominid in the scene relative to camera and landscape objects. The key to this analysis is understanding what the camera actually reveals about both the scene it photographs and its own position in relation to the scene, through the use of multiple varied camera positions and clear identification of multiple objects in these scenes.

                 The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 7:97-106 (2018)

Research Article

DOES THE YAHOO IN GULLIVER’S TRAVELS REPRESENT AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY DESCRIPTION OF THE SASQUATCH?

Debbie Argue

Correspondence to: Debbie Argue, Email: debbie.argue@anu.edu.au © RHI

School of Archaeology and Anthropology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

ABSTRACT

The source for Jonathon Swift’s inspiration for the ‘Yahoo’ in Gulliver’s Travels continues to challenge and intrigue. This paper suggests that Swift based the Yahoo on a creature now commonly called sasquatch that is derived from the ethnography of North American indigenous peoples. Detailed comparison between both creatures shows that their physical and behavioral characteristics closely correlate. Swift’s Yahoo could comprise a detailed eighteenth century description of the early accounts of Native American reports about such creatures.

KEY WORDS: Jonathan Swift, Native American.

INTRODUCTION

Gulliver’s Travels is a political and social satire by Jonathan Swift, published in 1726. Part IV of this fictional work is an account of Lemuel Gulliver’s voyage to the country of the Houyhnhms, in which he discovers two animal populations. One comprises horses, the articulate Houyhnhms, and the other is a subservient humanoid group called Yahoos. These populations are central to Swift’s social and political satirical objectives. For more than 60 years researchers have searched for Swift’s inspiration for the Yahoo, yet no source for the concept has emerged. Earlier ideas include native peoples encountered during voyages of exploration (Womersley, 2012, footnote 3); the ‘Yaios’ peoples (Kermode, 1950); and the ‘Caffares’ of ‘Mosambique’ (Higgins, 1986).

One possible source for the Yahoo, however, i.e. the Native American traditions about the sasquatch, has not been addressed in the literature. The physical characteristics, diet, and behavioral traits of the Yahoo closely correspond with those reported for the sasquatch, and it is possible that Swift obtained detailed knowledge of the sasquatch, leading him to use this as his model for the Yahoo.

NATIVE AMERICAN NARRATIVES

There are traditions of humanoid-beings in the oral traditions of some indigenous groups of North America. Most of the indigenous stories are from the tribes of the Pacific Northwest: Northern California, western Oregon, Washington State, British Columbia, Alaska and the Yukon.

The being is known by over 200 aboriginal names e.g. ba’oosh or ba’wis (Tsimshian group); boqs (Bella Coola group); dzozavits (Shoshoni) (Alley, 2003); choanito (Wenat-chee); nalusa falaya (Choctow) (Newton, 2005); the dzonokwa (Kwakiutl people) (Levi-Strauss, 1982); and ot-ne-yar-hed (Iroquois tribes) (Orrin and Redfish, 2016). Since the 1920s the term ‘sasquatch’, a name derived from suhsq’uhth of the Coast Salish language (Suttles, 1979) has been popularly adopted for this traditional concept.

The Bella Coola tradition describes a large monster called the sninq, that is covered in blue-grey hair and somewhat resembles a man. It walks almost upright on short hind legs, such that the forelegs touch the ground occasionally. These forelegs have sharp talons. It has no tail and great strength (McIlwraith, 1948).

The Haida people who traditionally lived on Haida Gwaii Island off the British Columbia coast have a concept they call gagiit, which means ‘man on all fours’ (Alley, 2003). It is represented as a wild man, whose vocalizations include chuckling, whinnying, screams or yells, and a sound like a crying child. The creatures are the size of people but covered in hair and have the ability to swim powerfully; and dive for shellfish. The Stalo people of the Coast Salish believe the sasquatch (McIlwraith, 1948) and the Witiko in Algonkian narratives can swim underwater (Preston, 1980).

The sasquatch-like ba’oosh of the Tsim-shean people is regarded as just another type of humanoid, but hairy, adapted to solitary life and without technology except for rocks and sticks. Ba’oosh translates to ‘ape, monkey, anything that imitates man’ in a recent dictionary of Tsimshean language (Alley, 2003).

The Kwakiutl people traditionally speak of dzonoq!wa or dsonoqua whose dark face is represented in masks that are dominated by projecting brow ridges, eyes deep set in their orbits, fat lips pursed in an ape-like manner representing the monster as it emits its characteristic cry, ‘uh! uh!’ (Levi-Strauss, 1982), hollowed cheeks, and the whole is decorated with black tufts representing hair, beard, and mustache (including females) (Levi-Strauss, 1982). Alley (2003) describes the creatures as giant-sized and as stout; the hands are hairy; their voice is loud; and they are so strong they can tear down large trees. Both males and females are represented with hanging breasts (Levi-Strauss, 1982). Another tradition of the Kwakiutl people is the buk’wus. These are man-sized or smaller, covered in hair and can run faster than a normal man. They are shy of man and have frightening countenances (Alley, 2003). Alley suggests they might dig or use caves as they are thought to travel underground. The Nootka have variations of buk’wus-like creatures but also traditional stories of the existence of a monstrous hairy giant referred to as matlox. These were reported in 1792 by Jose Mariano Mozina, a botanist and naturalist on a voyage of exploration along the present-day coast of British Columbia. He heard stories from the local people that there exists an inhabitant of the mountainous country that is covered in black animal hair, has a human-like head, the eyeteeth are very large and strong like those of a bear; the arms very large and the toes and fingers are armed with large curved nails (Mozino, 1970).

A mid-nineteenth century report about the Chehalis of Washington State by George Gibbs describes a ‘race of beings’ called ‘tsiatko’ whom the Chehalis say inhabit ‘holes in the ground’ in mountainous regions. The ‘tsiatko’ smell bad, are viewed as partly human and are not considered as spiritual beings; they ‘gibber and chatter’ excessively. Some say they are covered in hair (Forth, 2009).

The Iroquios believe in a race of ‘Stone Coats’ that are described as being about twice as tall as humans, with skin as hard as a stone that repels all normal weapons. They are associated with winter and ice, and they hunt and eat humans. In some narratives, Stone Coats were once human, and became cannibal monsters as a curse punishing them for evil deeds, like the windigos of Chippewa narratives. In other narratives, Stone Coats were never human, but were a tribe of primordial man-eating monsters (Orrin and Redfish, 2016). (Table 1).

CHARACTERISTICS OF SWIFT’S YAHOO

The physical characteristics of Swift’s Yahoo1 relate to body shape, feet and hands, facial features, and hair growth and these are summarized in Table 1. The Yahoo is humanoid in form and Swift describes the female body as ‘… not as large as the males’ (334) and that they have pendulous breasts (‘Their Dugs [breasts] hung between their fore Feet’) (334). The Yahoos have tough and thick skin that is ‘of a brown-buff colour’ (334). They have an offensive odor (‘They smell very rank’) (399); ‘...the Stink was somewhat between a Weasel and a Fox but much more disagreeable’ (399). The Yahoo is specifically pronounced as having no tail (334). Swift further describes the Yahoo as an ugly monster (334), odious animals (398), a beast, an abominable animal (342), and deformed (333).

Yahoo feet and hands are described by Swift of a generally modern human form, but with some notable differences ‘Fore-feet that differed from my [Gulliver’s] hands in nothing else but the Length of Nails, Coarseness and Brownness of the Palms, and hairiness on the Backs. There was the same Resemblance between the Feet, except as to Hairiness and Colour’) (343). Rather than nails on the feet and hands, the Yahoo has hooked and sharp claws (‘Strong extended Claws before and behind, terminating in sharp points, hooked’) (334).

Facial features are mentioned infrequently, but they are nevertheless informative: ‘...the Face indeed was flat and broad, the Nose depressed, the Lips large, and the mouth wide…’ (342).

The Yahoo is undoubtedly hairy and Swift characterizes its hairiness in the following terms: ‘Heads and Breasts covered in thick Hair, some frizzled, some lank’ ‘hair on Fore parts of their legs and feet, but the rest of their bodies were bare’ (333-334); ‘a long Ridge of Hair down their Backs’ (334) ‘nor any hair on their buttocks, except about the Anus’ (334). Some Yahoos possess beards ‘like Goats’ (334). Females are distinguished from males in having ‘long lank hair on their heads and only a sort of down on the rest of their bodies, except about the Anus, and Pudenda’ (334).

Behavioral characteristics of the Yahoo comprise physical abilities and food acqui-sition. Swift’s Yahoos have the following capabilities and were observed by the character of Gulliver behaving in these specific ways. They are strong, agile and hardy; and at ease in trees (‘one or two of their kind sitting in trees…’ (333); ‘They climbed high Trees as nimbly as a Squirrel’ ‘Several …leaped up into the Tree’ (334). ‘They would often spring, bound, and leap with prodigious agility’ (334). They can apparently move in a bipedal and quadruped manner: a Houyhnhnm observed that Gulliver walked continually on his two feet, ‘differing very much from’ (352) the Yahoos in this respect, and Gulliver observed the Yahoos ‘…often stood on their hind feet’ (334) suggesting that they stood on all fours at other times.

Swift conveys Yahoos as possessing non-human facial muscular abilities when Gulliver observes that one ‘distorted several Ways every feature of his visage’ (334). That they had no capacity for speech is inferred by Swift who describes their vocalizations as howling and (non-verbal) chattering (‘they would howl, and grin, and chatter…’ (393); make ‘horrible Howlings’; ‘she stood gazing and howling’ (401); ‘…stare and chatter and grin’ (397).

Yahoos use their limbs for digging (‘…dig deep Holes with their Nails on the Side of a rising Ground; wherein they lie themselves...’) (400); and are prodigious swimmers with excellent lung capacities (‘...swim from Infancy like Frogs, and are able to continue long under Water, where they often take Fish…’) (400).

Their diet, as observed by Gulliver when the Yahoos are in their natural environment, comprises herbs, roots, berries, rotting animal flesh, and fish, weasels and a kind of wild rat (‘eat Herbs, Roots, Berries, corrupted Flesh of Animals’ (393); ‘eat several Kinds of herbs, and search about for Carrion, or sometimes catch Weasels and Luhimuhs (a sort of wild Rat)…’ (400); and ‘they often take Fish which the females carry home to their Young’ (400) (Table 1).

1 The reference for the descriptions is Womersley, 2012; the numbers in brackets refer to the relevant page in that edition of Gulliver’s Travels.

YAHOOS, YAHUDIS, AND OTHER INSPIRATIONS FOR SWIFT

Inspirations for Swift’s Yahoo have long been sought (Crider, 1993; Chance, 1989; Gallagher, 1977; Higgins, 1986; Kermode, 1950; Moore, 1950; Womersley (2012) but none have been embraced. Descriptions of native peoples encountered during voyages of exploration have been considered likely in-spirations for the Yahoo but just which group of peoples has not been securely identified (Womersley, 2012: 329, footnote 3). Kermode (1950) alerts us to ethnological information from Robert Harcourt’s voyage in 1613 to Guiana in which Harcourt describes one of the peoples called ‘Yaios’, but this group wears garments and is described as rational, domesticated, and capable of conversation and has a class system. Moore (1950) predicts that Swift might have based the Yahoo on the Yahudis of northwest Africa to convey the degeneration of a great religious faith and national culture. The language of the Dubliner in which there was a contemptuous term of address ‘ya-hoo-er’ derived from ‘you whore’2 has been suggested by Gallagher (1977) to have contributed to Swift’s name for the Yahoos as it is a term he believes Swift would have heard in his local environment. Higgins (1986) is the first to approach the problem of the Yahoo by exploring some of its physical and behavioral characteristics to identify a source inspiration. He sees a parallel with a 16th century report in a voyage account by Linschoten, in which this traveler describes ‘Caffares’ of ‘Mosambique’ as going naked, having curled or ‘singed hayre’ on their heads and beards; broad flat noses that are thick at the end, and large lips; they also live like wild beasts or wild men, hunt in the woods, eat elephant flesh and other wild animals.

None of the suggestions for Swift’s inspiration for the Yahoo form particularly strong correlations between the proposed inspiration for the Yahoo and Swift’s description of it; no one has examined the minutiae Swift provides for the physical appearance and behavioral characteristics of the Yahoo. Nor has the sasquatch as a possible source for Swift’s Yahoo been noticed in the English Literature scholarship.

CORRELATIONS BETWEEN THE YAHOO AND THE SASQUATCH

There are correlations between Swift’s Yahoos and the American Indian concept of the sasquatch. Both represent a large, hairy, tailless, strong and agile humanoid form with tough skin; both have an offensive odor and are variously described as an ugly monster. Hands and feet have sharp claws or nails and the skin on their palms is coarse; females have pendulous breasts; both males and females may have beards. Neither has capacity for speech but they vocalize by chattering, howling, grinning, roaring (the sasquatch is said to yell, whinny, scream, gibber and chatter, and make a sound like a crying child). They both eat herbs, roots, berries, carrion, fish, and a wild rat-like (rodent) animal. Both entities ambulate bipedally or in a quadru-pedal manner, dig holes in the ground, and are prodigious swimmers, collecting fish (the sasquatch is said to collect shellfish) while swimming underwater. Both have large lips, but I have no information for other facial characteristics for the sasquatch; and the backs of the hands of both entities are hairy (Table 1).

NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS IN ENGLAND

The striking concurrence between the Yahoo and the sasquatch seems to be beyond that which could happen without a causal connection. It seems unlikely that Swift could conceive of the physical and behavioral characteristics, and dietary preferences, of the Yahoo that so closely correlate with a pre-existing concept, in this case, one that is embodied in Native American narratives.
It is, then, pertinent to investigate if Swift had heard of the Native American creature. Non-indigenous settlement on the North American continent occurred in the 17th century before Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels. Indeed, solid trading links were well estab-lished between England and North America by the 1700s (Clack et al., 2009). By 1690, over a quarter of a million newcomers had arrived and this population doubled every 25 years (Clack et al., 2009).

Trade with the North American Indians was dependent upon establishing and maintaining relationships with the indigenous populations and conversing with trading partners became a necessity. By 1625, one hundred words in the dialect of the Abenakis had been compiled (Vaughan, 2006). Companies such as the Hudson’s Bay Company trained their officers to learn local languages to better facilitate trade in furs and Cree became the dominant language of the trade (Carlos and Lewis, 2011).

Missionaries had been active from at least the mid-1600s and by 1715, several chapters of the Old and New Testament had been translated, for example, into the Mohawk dialect (Pascoe, 1901) which suggests that by this time there were translators with a comprehensive knowledge of English and the Mohawk language, at least.

Moreover, between about 1500 and 1776, American Indian and Inuit men, and occasionally women and children travelled to England where they conducted business, returning home where they influenced their people in Indian-European relations (Vaughan, 2006). Whilst in England they met with royalty and paupers, attended cockfights and operas, and formed a focus of wonderment among the public (Vaughan, 2006).

One of these visits may be of particular significance. In 1710, four American Indian sachems (‘sachems’ is interpreted as ‘Kings’ in England) from the Confederacy of five Indian nations, Mohawk, Oneida, Senece, Onondage, and Cayuga peoples, travelled to England for an audience with Queen Anne. The American Indians, Te Yee Nee Go Ga Prov, Sa Ga Yean Qua Prah Ton, Oh Nee Yeath Ton No prow and Elow Oh Kaom lamented that promised aid to support the Indians, allies of England against the French in Canada in the war of 1709, had not been forthcoming (Bond, 1952).

Accompanying the four Indians to England were Colonel Schuyler and his cousin, Abraham Schuyler, along with Colonel Francis Nicholson, Lieutenant Governor of New England, Maryland, and Virginia, Colonel Samuel Vetch, and Major Pigeon. Abraham Schulyer acted as interpreter; Colonel Schuyler was also fluent in Iroquois (Bond, 1952). Colonel Peter Schuyler was one of Britain’s foremost Indian agents and was the most active of the colonial leaders in the English action against the French in 1709. He kept the Iroquois from fighting with the French; he was the person closest to the Indian Kings who fought alongside him; he knew more about Iroquois affairs than anyone else and was the most admired, trusted and respected by the Iroquois of any white man of his time (Bond, 1952; Johansen and Mann, 2000). He was a prominent landowner, was elected the first mayor of Albany, and had long been on the board of Indian commissioners.

During their visit to England the sachems were entertained at the highest levels of society. On 20 April 1710, they travelled to St James Palace in the Queen’s coaches to address the Queen. The Queen commanded the Lord Chamberlain to entertain the sachems at her expense and that they be shown the city; and she provided them with goods amounting to several hundredweight with a value of £200. Colonel Schuyler, too, was much in favor with Queen Anne who also presented him with valuable gifts. The kings were feted for the month of their stay, entering into a strenuous round of official events, attending many diplomatic and social engagements, and become a sensation. They were entertained at Whitehall; visited Hampton Court; and were guests of the Bishop of Canterbury. They were taken to see Greenwich and the mathematical instruments there; heard a sermon at St James’s chapel by the Lord Bishop of London; and by the end of their visit they had been to see most of the noblemen’s houses. Prior to departure from England (15 July 1710) they had an audience of leave with Queen Anne, and later dined with Admiral Aylmer on his ship.

Also of interest is that there was potential for social and conversational interaction between the sachems and Swift’s friends. The Duke of Ormonde and his wife entertained the Indian visitors to dinner at their countryseat at Richmond on 20 April; the sachems visited the Duke again on 25 April and on the following day the Duke regaled them with a review in Hyde park of the troops of Life Guards. These activities were reported in the Dublin Intelligence on 2 May (Bond, 1952). Swift was living in Dublin at this time. As a political satirist and being politically active, we might expect that Swift read the Dublin Intelligence as a source for information pertaining to the political and social news from England; that he knew of the sachems visit; and that he noted his friend’s attention to the sachems.

On 7 September 1710, soon after his return to England from Ireland, Swift socialized with the Duke of Ormond, who it will be recalled had entertained the sachems during their visit, and Swift mentions several meetings with the Duke over the following months. Also following his return to England, Swift socialized and dined with his friend Addison, essayist and co-founder of The Spectator, on 18 occasions between 9 September 1710 and the end of October 1710 (Swift 1901, Letters II-VIII). Indeed, Joseph Addison was very interested in the Indian Kings. During their visit he writes about their activities in The Spectator, and, of particular interest, a year after the visit, he writes:

‘When the four Indian Kings were in this Country about a Twelvemonth ago I often mixed with the Rabble, and followed them a whole Day together, being wonderfully struck with the Sight of everything that is new or uncommon. I have, since their departure, employed a Friend to make many Inquiries of their Landlord the Upholsterer, relating to their Manners and Conversation, as also concerning the Remarks which they made in this Country: For, next to the forming a right Notion of such Strangers, I should be desirous of learning what Ideas they have conceived of us.’ [my italics] (Addison, 1711). We do not know the identity of the friend to whom Addison refers, nor what information was gleaned, but the interest in the many aspects of the sachems is palpable.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DATE 10 APRIL 1710: THE ARRIVAL OF THE FOUR AMERICAN INDIAN SACHEMS

Swift scholars have sought the significance of the dates Swift uses to chronicle the travels of Gulliver in the Land of the Yahoos and Houyhnhnms (Part IV of Gulliver’s Travels). Significant events in Swift’s life have been identified for two of the three dates used by Swift in this particular adventure of Gulliver’s:

i) On the 7th Day of September 1710, Gulliver sets sail from Portsmouth. This date corresponds to the date Swift arrived in London from Ireland, the 7th day of September 1710 (Womersley 2012; footnote 8).

ii) On the 9th Day of May 1711 (Womersley 2012) Gulliver, victim of a rebellion on board the ship The Captain, is cast ashore. Swift writes of a fatal duel between Sir Cholmeley Dering, Baronet, and Richard Thornhill occurring on 9 May 1711 (Womersley 2012).

There is, however, one date used by Swift for which no significance has yet been discovered – 10 April 1710. Swift uses this date for the arrival of Gulliver in London following his voyage to Laputa (Womersley 2012) and places it within three sentences of introducing us to the Yahoos. As the other dates in Part IV are identified as significant to Swift we may suppose that 10 April 1710 was also significant to him. 10 April 1710 is the date of arrival of the American Indians in London (as noted by Bond, 1950).

The close correlation between Swift’s Yahoo and the sasquatch suggests that Swift had knowledge of this entity. I propose that the importance of the date 10 April 1710 to Swift is the arrival of the people who held knowledge of the sasquatch, and that information about this creature was conveyed to any of the people with whom the Indians socialized. At some time, detailed information about this creature came to the attention of Swift. The intermediary source remains unidentified, but the possibilities include: the Schuylers, long-time friends and comrades-in-arms of the sachems; the captain or sailors of the ship in which the sachems came to England; the landlord, from whom Addison sought information about the sachems; other guests at the inn in which the sachems lived for the month of their stay; or any of Swift’s friends, including those whom we know were in close contact with Swift following his return to England from Ireland 5 months after the sachem’s visit.

SUMMARY

Two lines of evidence for Swift’s inspiration for the Yahoos are presented here. The first is the similarity between the sasquatch and the Yahoos (Table 1). The second is Swift’s use of the date of arrival in London of four American sachems, whose worldview, or that of their compatriots, included the sasquatch. It is argued here that there is a connection between these elements, that Swift at sometime heard about the sasquatch and this he obtained in minute detail. How he obtained the description of the sasquatch is not known, but during their sojourn in London, the sachems moved in the same circles as Swift, and at least two of Swift’s close friends, Joseph Addison and The Duke of Ormandy had the opportunity to acquire knowledge from the sachems during and after their visit.

CONCLUSION

While a number of models for Swift’s Yahoo have been posed over the past six decades, none have gained acceptance. The physical, dietary and behavioral characteristics of the Native American concept of the sasquatch and the Yahoo have not been compared in the literature. The detailed analysis presented here shows that these closely correspond, and demonstrate that Swift could have based his Yahoo on the sasquatch. This intriguing position is strengthened when considered in the context of England’s involvement with native American Indians in the early 1700s, and, in particular, the visit of the four American ‘kings’ who arrived on 10 April 1710, the date that Swift uses for the arrival of Gulliver in London that immediately precedes the introduction of the Yahoos in Gulliver’s Travels. It is possible, therefore, that the sasquatch was the original source of inspiration for the Yahoo. We are not privy to how information about the sasquatch might have been acquired by Swift, although careful study of the letters and documents pertaining to his friends, such as the Duke of Ormond, his wife and family, and Joseph Addison, might be productive.

LITERATURE CITED

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Debbie Argue is a Visiting Fellow in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. A paleo-anthropologist and archaeologist, she was awarded Bachelor of Arts Honours in Archaeology in 1992. She practiced as an archaeological consultant then accepted a position in local government where she worked in Australian Aboriginal and historic archaeology and conservation. At the same time, she studied part time and was awarded her Masters’ degree in 2003; her thesis focused on human evolution in the Middle Pleistocene. Following this, received a scholarship from the Australian National University to undertake her Doctorate, studying human evolution in the Early Pleistocene. For this she studied fossil hominin collections in Africa, Asia, and Europe. At this time Homo floresiensis was discovered and Homo floresiensis became one of her primary academic interests.

A chance chat with a colleague introduced her to the Australian Aboriginal concept of a Yahoo. She recalled the strange beings called ‘yahoo’ in Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift that she had studied in her high school English Literature class. Wondering about the coincidence of two widely disparate uses of this rather unusual term, she looked into whether Swift could have heard about the Yahoo from English colonisers of Australia who may have heard the term used by Aboriginal people, but the dates did not pan out: Australia was claimed by the English in 1770 and settled soon afterwards. But Swift had published Gulliver’s Travels 46 years earlier, in 1726. She therefore searched for other possible models for Swift’s yahoo among other indigenous cultures. This paper presents a hypothesis for Swift’s source concept of his yahoo.

Table 1. Characteristics of Swift’s Yahoo and the sasquatch entity in the traditions of Native Americans.