Recent surprising claims and headlines touting the existence of a Yeti, also known as a Siberian Snowman, Snowsquatch, or Ice Foot, helped close out 2023. While those three names may or may not be 100 percent factual, the latest definite proof out of Siberia has reportedly been outed as a fabrication.
According to Huff Post, a group of international scientists claimed they were “95 percent” sure they’d found real evidence of the mythical beast. However, one of the scientists has blown the whistle and showed that Siberian officials staged the entire scenario for publicity.
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“It was a very awkward feeling because here I was a guest and this was clearly orchestrated,” Idaho State University anthropologist and anatomist Jeffrey Meldrum said. “Since nobody has demonstrated to me any corroborating evidence, like footprints in direct association or hair intertwined in any of these [tree] structures, I’m much more inclined to think the majority of them are just natural occurrences.”
Meldrum was one of half a dozen scientists and investigators invited to Russia to check out the Kemerovo region around 2,000 miles to the east of Moscow back in October. The reason for the invite was to examine evidence claimed to prove the existence of the yeti.
“I was happy when I learned there was interest by Russian government authorities to promote and sponsor the organization of a [Yeti] institute,” Meldrum added. “I thought that, at the very least, the official recognition of an institute — of the need and the desirability to investigate these claims — was a positive step.”
Meldrum is the author of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science and was the only American scientist in the group that made the trip to a cave in Siberian territory. His alarm bells start to go off after the organizer of the trip, Igor Burtsev, the head of the Kemerovo State University Yeti Institute, claimed the group might find footprints.
“Somebody found a right footprint,” he added. “But I thought it was a little vague and not real distinct. It was a pretty expansive cave and there could’ve been footprints all over the place, if there was something tromping around in there in the sand.”
He also said he was scolded for trying to go deeper into the cave on his own, with a cameraman following behind. Meldrum described the incident as coming off “rather harshly” and they blocked them from going deeper. “I thought that was kind of odd, and then someone picked up a little tuft of hair that was apparently pressed into the footprint. At that point, I wasn’t comfortable with the situation and had an inkling of what might be happening,” he said. Soon he doubted everything and started to treat the visit with caution.
Several more curious acts cemented his doubts, including the pattern of the footprints, a faux bed, and several confusing decisions by the locals. “They were talking about having this conference become an annual event,” he said, “and I’m quite confident I will not be invited back.”
