Lovelock "giants" revisited (Post 5)

Continuing with the Lovelock Cave redheaded giants series, in this post we will explore the comment made by Dorothy P. Dansie in her 1975 article, published in the Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, Fall 1975 (John T. Reid's Case for the Redheaded Giants) in which she added a curious piece of information: a cryptid, man-eating, hairy giant in the lore of the Paiute people.

After recording the native stories about the redheaded people that were exterminated in Lovelock Cave, Dansie noted that Gilbert Natchez, the Paiute friend of John T. Reid, who had told him about Lovelock Cave, had also told him about a native myth about a child-eating creature.

This is the full series of posts on Lovelock Cave's "giants":

  • Post 1
  • Post 2
  • Post 3
  • Post 4
  • Post 5
  • January 2014 post mentioning Lovelock Cave.

The monster that ate children

This is what Dansie wrote about Natchez and the native tales:

"Off the subject, but perhaps related, is another tale told that day by Natchez of some large beasts which had once roamed the Humboldt region. They were dangerous carnivorous animals which devoured unprotected children and he claimed that Indian mothers still threatened their children with, "Ooh-queetz will get you, if you are not good." Reid adds that he had heard similar mention of a "cave man" who would get the children if they were unruly. Another term for a terrifying child-eating beast was Pi-Ee-tsah."

I have encountered similar myths in Patagonia, child, and woman-eating creatures, hairy man-like beasts living in caves. They probably reflect the megafaunal creatures that existed until some 10,000 years ago (sloths, large cave bears, sabre tooth felines, etc.) In this case it seems that Dansie added the story because somehow, she believed they were linked to the redheaded "giants" that lived in the region. Perhaps a tribal memory about them.

The tule-eaters

Before looking into the hairy giants myths, I'd like to refer to the the "real" people who lived in this area by the lakes, who were well adapted to its environment. They were, according to the Paiute, tule-eaters. The ones that have been documented histocrically, and have survived until today, lived in California: the Modocs in the Northeastern corner of the state, and the Yokuts in central California, along the San Joaquin River Valley.

As mentioned in a previous post (see: Modocs on Pitt River (and Lake Tule), and Lake Tulare in the south) these people based their subsistence on the tule bulrush (Schoenoplectus acutus). They made houses, mats, boats, baskets, nets, and footwear out of the rushes. They ate the tender shoots, and ground the roots into tule flour. Indeed they were tule-eaters. They also hunted the wildlife that lived in the wetlands around Lake Tulare and Lake Tule.

It may seem an adaptation to a strange, possibly unique environment, but it wasn't. The region was completely different 15,000 years ago. Nevada, western Utah, southeastern California and northern Arizona may be arid nowadays, but back then the region was very humid, and had many vast lakes.

It would have been an ideal environment for the first Paleoindians, providing water, food, and natural resources. The Paiute people were latecomers to the region. Mark Q. Sutton suggested in 1958, that the Northern Paiute reached the region around 1000 AD. "presumably supplanting earlier inhabitants" Yes, they did, they exterminated the tule-eaters.

During the Pleistocene Ice Age periods over the past two million years (a period of time long enough to cover potential migrations of archaic hominins into America), glacial ice melt and grater rainfall formed a network of large lakes across the Great Basin Region.

It gets its name because it is a closed drainage basin (no outflow into the oceans that surround North America).

At the end of the Pleistocene, deglaciation brought with it a gobal warming period and climate change that altered rainfall patterns and led to an increased dryness in that region. As arid conditions set in, evaporation increased and the lakes started to shribnk. Water levels dropped, and the lakes broke up into smaller ones. Most of them dried up quickly while others shrunk to their current size some 8,000 years ago. Their ancient coastlines are etched high up, along the valleys that were once filled with freshwater.

Now, this area has former lake beds that became salt flats or sinks that seasonally carry water. However, some of the modern lakes, are remnants of those vast Ice Age lakes: Great Salt Lake in Utah, Lake Provo, Bear Lake, Lake Mono, Carson Lake, Lake Tahoe, etc.) The following map, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey (Paleoclimate Variability of the American Southwest) shows, the ancient (dark blue) and modern (pale blue) lakes of the Great Basin Region.

Pleistocene Lakes in the Great Basin Region. California, Nevada, Utah. U.S.G.S.

The area around Lovelock contained a vast lake, Lake Lahontan, with a surface area of 22,000 km² (8,500 sq. mi.) it was almost 270 m deep (900 ft.) An ideal setting for humans to thrive.

Not far from this lake, in the region west of the Sierra Nevada, south of Sacramento, California (and possibly north, along what now is the Sacramento Valley), was another vast lake (Lake Corcoran) that was formed around 760,000 years ago and emptied around 650,000 years ago into the newly formed San Francisco Bay.

In the Southern Part of the Californian Central Valley some parts of Lake Corcoran survived. Nowadays, the San Joaquin River runs along it, with a SE-NW course. It has its sources in the Sierra Nevada, to the East, and its valley is enclosed on the west by the Southern Coastal Ranges, that run parallel to the Pacific coast. Just south of Fresno, was a large lake (Lake Tulare).

Below is the map prepared by Narváez, of Alta California, who visited California in 1822, and published it in 1830. You can see the "Ciénagas de Tulares" (Tulares Marshes - after the Tule bulrushes) running along the San Joaquin River Valley, south of Sacramento all the way to Bakersfield. I highlighted some landmarks on the map.

Narvaez probably exagerated in the extent of the wetlands, basing his knowledge on native informants. But we do know that Lake Tulare was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. It covered an area of over 1,750 km² (~700 sq. mi.) which could grow to almost 1,100 sq. mi. (2,800 km²) during very wet spells.

The surrounding areas were marshes. Starting in the 1870s, the lake was dissecated to make room for farming, the rivers dammed and the overflow used for irrigation.

Something similar took place in NW California where Lake Tule - also named for the bulrushes, (53 km² or 13,000) was drained in the 1920s. It was much bigger in the past, covering between 50,000 and 100,000 acres (200 to 400 km²) depending on the snowpack and precipitation.

The native people who lived by these lakes were displaced by Western settlers after 1850, and their unique lake-based lifestyles vanished. Below is a short summary about these people.

The Modoc

These were mentioned by John Reid's informants, as the source (in some versions) or the survivors (in other versions) of the giant readheaded tule-eating people who were exterminated by the Paiute in Lovelock.

The Modocs lived on both sides of the Oregon-California border, around Lake Tule and along the Lost River that feeds it. Contact with westerners in the late 1700s introduced disease (smallpox) that wiped out most of them. Then came the pioneers heading for Oregon in the 1850s which led to war, uprooting and relocation with other ethnic groups (Klamaths, and Paiutes). Finally they rebelled and war broke out in 1872. They were defeated and some relocated to the Indian Territories (now Oklahoma), where a band of Modoc still live, in Miami, OK. (Source).

The Lake Tulare People

The first people of Tulare spoke the Yokut language, and were not related to the Modoc, they spoke a different language. But they shared the same lacustrine environment and adaptations. Over 35,000 people spread into more than 40 tribes lived in the region. The Tachi Yokuts of Leemore, CA, and the Tule River Indian Tribe of Porterville, CA are the current remnants of the tribe. (Source).

The Mayak-Datat - "Hairy Man"

Just like the Paiute, who had their myths about the child-eating caveman, the Lake Tulare natives also have oral traditions about a "hairy man". Their ancestors depicted the creature in their rock art.

An article by Kathy Moskowitz Strain, 2012 (The Relict Hominoid Inquiry 1:1-12, Mayak Datat: The Hairy Man Pictographs) decribes the myth and the rock art. The following image is a composite adapted from Strain's article:

Three different "hairy men" (Father, Mother, and Child). K.M. Stain, 2012

The paintings are between 700 and 2000 years old, most likely 500-1000 years old, and represent animals, and the "Hairy Man". Strain says that the "Tule River Indians equate Hairy Man to Bigfoot".

The natives call it Mayak datat or sunsunut. It is depicted as a hairy biped. There is a male, a female and a "child" painting at the site. The creatures have five finters, and "an unusually rounded head, suggestive of a sagittal crest."

The story of the Hairy Man can be found on the Tulare people's website , and I quote it below:

"Big Foot, The Hairy Man

Big Foot was a creature that was like a great big giant with long, shaggy hair. His long shaggy hair made him look like a big animal. He was good in a way, because he ate the animals that might harm people. He kept the Grizzly Bear, Mountain Lion, Wolf, and other larger animals away. During hot summer nights all the animals would come out together down from the hills to drink out of the Tule River. Big Foot liked to catch animals down by the river. He would eat them up bones and all.
It was pleasant and cool down by the river on hot summer nights. That is when grown ups liked to take a swim. Even though people feared that Big Foot, the hairy man, might come to the river, people still liked to take a swim at night.
Parents always warned their children, "Don't go near the river at night. You may run into Big Foot." Now Big Foot usually eats animals, but parents said, "If he can't find any animals and he is very hungry, he will eat you. Big Foot, the hairy man, doesn't leave a speck or trace. He eats you up bones and all. We won't know where you have gone or what has happened to you."
Some people say Big Foot, the hairy man, still roams around the hills near Tule River. He comes along the trail at night and scares a lot of people. When you hear him you know it is something very big because he makes a big sound, not a little sound. Children are cautioned not to make fun of his picture on the painted rock or play around that place because he would hear you and come after you.
Parents warned their children, "You are going to meet him on the road if you stay out too late at night." The children have learned always to come home early.
Told by Ruby Bays Jennie Franco From Big foot and other stories."

Similar stories can be found among other native groups living in the area (see "Rock Giants" in C. Hart Merriam's book The Dawn of the World Myths and Weird Tales Told by the Mewan [Miwok] Indians of California, published in 1910. The Mewan are a different group from the Yokut, but share the myths of man-eating giants.

Comments

I am skeptical about bigfoot or a similar cryptid. Some have suggested it could be a species similar to the Asian gigantopithecus, but it seems unlikely. However, this "hairy man" and the other references to child-eating cavemen, and rock men, may indicate the presence of "wild men". Wild men are a common myth in South America and Patagonia, and in my posts I have suggested that they were exactly that, wild hominins, probably Neanderthals, Denisovans or Homo erectus. In my next post I will go into this hypothesis in detail.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

Gigantopithecus

The largest ape to have ever existed was the Gigantopithecus blacki. Its name combines the Greek words that mean precisely that: gigantos = giant and pithekos = ape.

To be more precise, it was the largest hominoid, a superfamily (Hominoidea) that comprises three families; the: Hylobatidae (gibbons), Pongidae (orangutans), and our closest relatives, the Hominidae (gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees, and humans); as well as our extinct ancestors, the erectus, Neanderthals, Denisovans, etc.).

Gigantopithecus lived in Asia, and was closely related to the Pongo group (which includes the orangutan), it was a gigantic variety of orangutan. It was definitely Asian, as it descended from a line of Asian apes that included the 12 million year old Sivapitheucs and the 6.5 million year old Indopithecus, both from India.

The image above depicts a band of Gigantopithecus being watched by hominins (Source).

Gigantopithecus lived in the subtropical forests of Central China, close to what is now Chongqing on the Yangtze River, and fromt there southwards into to Vietnam and as far as Java, in Indonesia. It thrived between 2 million and 300,000 years ago. Like gorillas and orangutans, it munched fruit, leaves, and juicy stems, and maybe, tubers and roots.

It was discovered by a German paleontologist Ralph von Koenigswald (1902-1982), whose sharp eye noted a large primate tooth being sold as "dragon bones" in a traditional Chinese medicine shop in Hong Kong, in 1935. He named it after Canadian anthropologist Davidson Black (1884-1934), who had passed recently. Black had identified the remains of Homo erectus in Beijing, China, naming it Sinanthropus Pekinensis (China Man of Beijing).

Gigantopithecus lived up to its name, it was very big, probably weighing 200 to 300 kg (440 to 660 lbs). It was tall, measuring 2.7 to 3.7 m (9 to 12 feet). Twice the size of a modern gorilla.

Extinction

It was well adapted to its environment, yet, vanished suddenly around 300 kya. Orangutans managed to survive in the same habitat, which makes us ask why did the Gigantopithecus become extinct.

Zhang et al., 2024 attribute its demise to environmental changes that took place between 215 and 295 kya. Climate swings altered the vegetation coverage of that region, which switched from a blend of forests and grasslands to an open forest. Gigantopithecus didn't manage to adapt, and died out. Orangutans did, and survived until now.

Tool maker?

Han et al., 2024 reported the discovery of gigantopithecus teeth associated with teeth of "an undetermined hominid" between 1 and 1.5 million years ago at the Jianshi Longgudong site in China.

These hominid teeth were studied by different scholars over the course of the past 50 years, and have been attributed to a wide variety of hominids: Australopiths, Australopithecus robustuss, early Homo, Homo erectus, and even the Meganthropus. This suggests an overlap of archaic hominids with the Gigantopithecus. Could these hominids have hunted the Gigantopithecus and caused its extinction?

There is another site in China, Longgupo Cave, where Gigantopithecus co-existed with an archaic hominin believed to be either Homo erectus, or to "have the affinities with African Homo habilis and Homo ergaster (Huang et al., 1995). Since 2009, this specimen has been considered to belong to a “mystery ape” instead of Homo (Ciochon, 2009)."

This is really interesting, hearing about typically African hominids like Australopiths and Homo habilis, whose remains have not been found (yet) in Asia.

Others, however, believe it is an Asian variety of ape, like Wu, 2000.

Surprisingly, a primitive paleolithic stone tool "culture" that has been unearthed at the Longgupo site. Over 1,000 stone artifacts have been discovered there, dated between 2.5 and 1.8 million years old. These are old dates, and would more or less overlap with the most ancient remains found to date in Asia (mostly attributed to Homo erectus, and the H. georgicus from the Dmanisi site in Georgia), and even older than those as 2.5 million years corresponds to a very early date, for which no fossils have yet been discovered outside of Africa.

Wei et al., 2014 wrote that they are of an "evident human agency such as bipolar hammer, cores, flakes, choppers, points, scrapers, proto-cleavers, drilling tools, proto-picks and proto-hand-axes... Who the creators of Longgupo culture were is still a mystery. Three types of highly-evolved primate fossils have been unearthed from Longgupo Site. They are represented by a mandibular fragment with p4-m1, an upper incisor, and 14 isolated teeth of Gigantopithecus blacki respectively. All these three types could be the possible creators of Longgupo culture. On the other hand, we cannot exclude a possibility that an ancient human still unknown but similar to Homo habilis could be revealed with the forthcoming excavations." The image above is from Wei, 2014 and shows these remarkable stone tools.

Again, a paper suggesting the presencce of Homo habilis in Asia! Even more surprising is the suggestion that these stone tools could have been made by a non-hominin ape, the Gigantopithecus. This would be a unique situation as these tools are more sophisticated than the stone tools used by monkeys.

Han, et al., 2017, in an article, review the discussion on who made the tools as an ongoing controversy, and add that "the evidence of Gigantopithecus teeth and stone artifacts on the site is still interesting, as it could provide the first indication of non-hominin tool-using apes in East Asia..."

There is a third site showing an overlap of hominids and Gigantopithecus. And, once again the Chinese authors of the paper mention Australopiths! Wei et al., 2005 also report Gigantopithecus teeth in a cave at Mohui, in Guangxi, Southern China. They were found with teeth that have a strong resemblance to Australopith teeth, but "as there is no evidence supporting the existence of Aus-tralopithecus outside Africa to date, it is difficult to attribute [it] to this genus", instead, and despite the fact that they are larger than Chinese erectus teeth, they ".temporarily assign these teeth to Homo erectus." The stone tools at the site are crude, and date back to between 1.6 and 0.8 million years.

Closing Comments

There have been suggestions (see Stringer) of an ancient, first migration of prehuman hominins out of Africa (or originating in Eurasia) or one close to Australopithecines and Homo habilis that could have been the hominid mentioned in all of these Chinese-authored papers.

Regarding Gigantopithecus, I seriously doubt it managed to survive until the present, and although some publications have proposed it as an explanation for the North American bigfoot, I don't think it could have handled the cold, icy conditions of Siberia and Beringia. Others have proposed the Gigantopithecus as the answer for the myserious Yeti. This may be based on very ancient oral traditions, but it seems unlikely.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

Bigfoot, Hoaxes, and Science

Bigfoot, the famous North American sasquatch was spotted in Washington state, US in the late 1960s, and these sightings were investigated in by a formal scientist (Grovern Krantz) and some amateur laymen who fell for a hoax (or maybe even created it!).

The article mentioned below shows how hoaxes and fake cryptozoology can mislead scientists who refuse to adopt a healthy skeptical attitude and apply critical scientific methods to their investigations.

Read the article here: What a Bigfoot Hoax Teaches Us About Public Mistrust of Science

Bigfoot evidence or hoax?

Fake Bigfoot track casts.

A paper by Brian Regal (2006) had alread addressed this issue, its title: "Entering dubious realms: Grover Krantz, science, and Sasquatch" although it is behind a paywall, its abstract is revealing, it paints Krantz as a good intentioned a scientist attempting to legitimate bigfoot, and rejected by orthodoxy and also by the amateurs whom he was working with:

"Physical anthropologist Grover Krantz (1931-2002) spent his career arguing that the anomalous North American primate called Sasquatch was a living animal. He attempted to prove the creature's existence by applying to the problem the techniques of physical anthropology: methodologies and theoretical models that were outside the experience of the amateur enthusiasts who dominated the field of anomalous primate studies. For his efforts, he was dismissed or ignored by academics who viewed the Sasquatch, also commonly called Bigfoot, as at best a relic of folklore and at worst a hoax, and Krantz's project as having dubious value. Krantz also received a negative reaction from amateur Sasquatch researchers, some of whom threatened and abused him. His career is best situated therefore as part of the discussion about the historical relationship between amateur naturalists and professional scientists. The literature on this relationship articulates a combining/displacement process: when a knowledge domain that has potential for contributions to science is created by amateurs, it will eventually combine with and then be taken over by professionals, with the result that amateur leadership is displaced. This paper contributes to that discussion by showing the process at work in Krantz's failed attempt to legitimize Bigfoot research by removing it from the amateur sphere and repositioning it in the professional world of anthropology."

An interesting paper by Lewis and Bartlett (2024) suggests that bigfoot exists, but only as a cultural object created by bigfooters (those who seek it and investigate it): "Bigfoot exists. If not as a biological creature, then as a cultural object about which people know with a high degree of stability. It also exists as an object which some people organise their lives around. Those who collect evidence of Bigfoot’s existence as a biological creature are known as Bigfooters" The paper is worth reading, it is skeptical and gives a short historical introduction to bigfoot, and then explains how rational, people get involved in bigfooting, constructing the creature with seemingly logic evidence.

As U.S. Defense Secretary (1961-1968), Robert McNamara, said: “We see what we want to believe.” (source), this applies to bigfooters and the credulous audience that backs them.

So, what is Bigfoot?

I tend to agree with Foxom (2023) whose paper, with a genuine scientific method, suggests that bigfoot sightings are actually misidentified black bears.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

Bigfoot a Fake according to an Oxford study

A recent paper published by Bryan C. Sykes, Rhettman A. Mullis, Christophe Hagenmuller, Terry W. Melton, and Michel Sartori (Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and other anomalous primates Proc. R. Soc. B. 2014 281 1789 20140161; doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.0161 (published 2 July 2014) 1471-2954) indicates that the Bigfoot and Yeti hair samples that were studied do not belong to unknown hominins but to other extant mammals:

In the first ever systematic genetic survey, we have used rigorous decontamination followed by mitochondrial 12S RNA sequencing to identify the species origin of 30 hair samples attributed to anomalous primates. Two Himalayan samples, one from Ladakh, India, the other from Bhutan, had their closest genetic affinity with a Palaeolithic polar bear, Ursus maritimus. Otherwise the hairs were from a range of known extant mammals.

The team was part of the Oxford-Lausanne Collateral Hominid Project, a project that began in 2012 to study these "anomalous hominids".

The scientists worked through a set of 57 hair samples which they screened and classified (some were not even hairs: the "hairs" were plant fibre or glass fibre) and the remaining group was analysed. mtDNA was extracted and sequenced in a broad manner allowing the identifiaton of the genus but not the species (i.e. canid but not wolf, coyote or dog).

The mtDNA was compared against known databases and... all were clearly identified as belonging to well known mammals: American black bears, canids, cows, horses, deer, and odd creaturs such as Malaysian tapir, serow or North American porcupines!.

A human hair was identified and, amazing find: an American racoon which came from a sample gathered in Russia (far away from the racoon's territory), a clear sign of cross-contamination or a deliberate fake.

The extinct bear

Two of the samples (#25025 and #25191) matched the sequence of a now extinct Pleistocene polar bear (Ursus maritimus). The samples are modern but the bear lived 40 kya in the Arctic islands of Svalbard, Norway. Also, they were not found in the polar regions: sample #25025 came from Ladakh, India, from an animal that was shot over 40 years ago. The other sample came from Bhutan in a high altitude bamboo forest (11,500 ft. or 3,500 m). What do these locations have in common with extinct polar bears?

Please see my post On Yetis and Polar Bears (Dec. 2013), which now, I see, is an advance report on the findings that were finally published early July 2014.

Implications and comments

It is a pity that they did not manage to confirm the existence of our well known Yeti and bigfoot, but it is also nice to know that good science can counter the poor science of some other "scientists" such as the bigfoot DNA of Melba Ketchum; by the way Ketchum is asking the public to donate money so she can keep up with her great research. Not a joke, see for yourself, I'd call it sponsoring non-science.

On the other hand I am persuaded that the bigfoot - hominin myths and those of South American Patagonian giants are not related to unknown apes but to our closer relatives such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus which probably reached America long before H. sapiens did, and shared the New World with them until relatively recently. If the Flores hominin co-existed with modern humans in an insular setting c. 13 kya and originated the local myth of "Ebu-gogo", why wouldn't our more primitive human relatives cause a similar reaction among the Paleo Indians in the Americas?

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall © 

Paracas: Some jokes.. and some serious thoughts

In my (rational) mind, the Occam's razor point of view clearly signals that the people at Paracas, Peru, believed that an oblong skull was cool. So they bound their children's heads to deform them into shapes that they found cute. They were normal human beings like you or me.

Now, to imagine that they were aliens and that they had alien DNA in them is, to put it mildly, really crazy.

In the first place: why would aliens have DNA at all? The means for replicating protein could be based on some other set of molecules. The Universe is vast, I don't expect Star Trek-like aliens with humanoid appearance to be found when we finally encounter intelligent extraterrestrial beings.

They could have their biochemistry based on any kind of molecule! How about silicone?

The panspermia theory proposed by Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius is very interesting and even probable (Panspermia: hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe and is distributed by meteorites and comets as they collide with newly formed planets), but it is very different from the idea of extraterrestrials copulating with humans.

I found the paper about their HLA. And will post on it soon.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall © 

Paracas mtDNA or selling snake oil to the gullible

As usual something that might be interesting if (and this is a big if) it was studied in a serious scientific manner. Instead it is treated with the usual slapdash paranormal bunkum ways of pseudoscientists who are always trying to make a fast buck with candid suckers who buy the nonsense they put forth as "scientific".

I am interested in an early peopling of the American continent either by Homo erectus or Neanderthals. I am also keen on the idea that modern Homo sapiens entered the Americas a long time ago, shortly after leaving Africa. Clues for this could be found in the remains of ancient Paleo Indians and Indians.

Paracas mtDNA

So when I read that the mtDNA of some mummies found in Paracas, Peru by Julio Tello in 1925 had been sequenced, I was quite thrilled.

I am well aware that most people who are interested in the Paracas mummies are considered either racists or wackos (the former because they promote an "arian" peopling of America and some mad notions of white supremacy, see, for example Alexander Kemp's book on the subject), the cranks on the other hand believe in Aliens (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Atlanteans or hybrids of some or all of the above.

A minority (which includes me) are drawn by the oddness of these Paracans, they have a Caucasian air and light colored hair (reddish, brown and even fair) which is also wavy and fine. This is in stark contrast with the typical Amerindian features of coarse black hair and, which are Mongoloid (as opposed to Caucasian). Some of their funerary masks have blue stones embedded in them, in the place of the eyes, perhaps hinting at that kind of colored eyes!

An mtDNA analysis would be of great help to trace their origin (Asia, Europe, North America), stray Greeks or Phoenicians, Romans or Vikings. There is a lot to be learned from these mummies.

Coneheads = Aliens

That is what most believe when they see a deformed Paracas skull.

A genuine Paracas skull, note the color of the hair.
And, a skull from Indiana Jones "Aliens" movie

But, people focus on their deformed skulls. Many American Natives deformed the skulls of their babies into an elongated form, the Paracans were no exception (New: 10.Feb.2014 See my post on this).

Getting back to the mtDNA, the museum where the mummies are kept, authorised that their mtDNA be tested, and samples were taken by an "authority" on these elongated-skulled-people, Brien Foerster, who recently revealed the findings of the "geneticist" he hired to do the tests:

"it had mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far. But a few fragments I was able to sequence from this sample indicate that if these mutations will hold we are dealing with a new human-like creature, very distant from Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans [...] I am not sure it will even fit into the known evolutionary tree"

Fake science and hot air

Well, it turns out that the "expert" Foerster, has organized his livelihood around the mummies, he wrote and writes books, organizes tours and of course is keen on keeping his business growing [2].

He chose a rather strange analyst for the tests: "The samples were sent to Lloyd Pye in the US, famous as the caretaker of the Star Child skull, who has now delivered the samples to his geneticist in Texas" [2].

Star Child is a skull found in Mexico which (some non-scientists) believe is of extraterrestrial origin. Pye is therefore not a neutral, unbiased scientist interested in gleaning a human origin from the Paracans

In case you are wondering which is the University or Renown Laboratory that did the tests (i.e. the "geneticist in Texas"), don't expect a reliable institution, no, not at all, the analysis was done by "Dr. Melba Ketchum" [3]

You will recall that Dr. Ketchum said that she had sequenced bigfoot's DNA, which turned out to be so unscientific that she had to invent her own "peer-reviewed" journal to self-publish it.

I posted on thish Bigfoot DNA sequenced? or is it some fantasy?. And concluded in a later comment: "Actually, the whole paper seems to be based on poor science, incorrect assumptions and published in an unknown online publication apparently set up to specifically host this "paper". So I am extremely skeptical about the whole subject of the DNA testing." (I was trying to be polite. The Bigfoot mtDNA is fake science based on clumsy testing and incorrect interpretation of the results).

Having said this about Dr. Ketchum's credentials on mtDNA analysis, even though the "formal" paper with the Paracas mtDNA results has not been published, I can assure you all that it will display the same kind of "science" as the Bigfoot case. They will surely come up with an Alien origin for Paracans.

The press release hints at this, calling the Paracas people "new human-like creature[s]", worse still: their mtDNA has "mutations unknown in humans, primates or animal" which, is of course impossible.

Sources

[1] Tello, Julio C. Obras completas: Paracas. Primera parte. 2005. Fondo Editorial de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2004.
[2] B. Foerster Hidden Inca Tours
[3] Sharon Hill, February 6, 2014 Foerster, Pye and Ketchum collaborate: Paracas elongated skull exposed! (UPDATE)Dobutful News

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall © 

Four years online. This is the beginning of our fifth year. And I want to thank you all for your patience and support, this is only possible thanks to you being over there, reading, posting comments and giving me feedback.

My recent trip to the US has (after seeing and feeling those wonderful forests from Arizona through Colorado to Oregon, Wyoming and California) given me me plenty of things to chew over. Bigfoot may not roam those mountains now, but H. erectus or our neanderthal ancestors must have surely roamed those forests!.

Patagonian forests, though distant and different may also harbor (or, in the recent past, harbored) a similar creature.

We must somehow come across definitive evidence in the form of stone tools that prove this beyond any doubt.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2013 by Austin Whittall © 

Bigfoot or a trip to the Rockies

A few weeks ago my wife and I visited Western USA, and in our road trip (by chance thanks to a fortuitous encounter with a couple who had just visited the place), ended up visiting Pikes Peak, Colorado. The mountain of 14,100 feet (4,300 m) is right next to Colorado Springs, in the Pike National Forest. A densely forested area in the Rockies. The road takes you all the way up to the summit. The view is amazing (there is also a cog railway that reaches the summit).

To our surprise there were road signs showing a "Bigfoot crossing", a wood carving (see below, with me next to it) of Bigfoot and an imprint of the creature's "big" foot in concrete (next to me on the ground in the photo). A sign informed tourists about a sighting here in 1989.

An amusing place indeed. However I must admit that the thousands of square miles of pine and aspen forests that we saw on our journey across Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming as well as the thick woods of Western Oregon and California (especially the Redwood and Sequoia forests, so similar to the Patagonian alerce Fitzroya cupressoides to which they are related)impressed me deeply. It could be the home to this "bigfoot" creature. There is plenty of space for it as well as other forms of wildlife.

Patagonian forests on the other hand, with their "Southern Beech" forests (Nothofagus), are quite different, more somber perhaps, more ominous, with plenty of underbrush, which lacked among the pines in North America. But also quite different: no squirrels, deer, elk or bears. More birds perhaps (no crows of course, they are not found in Patagonia) but less mammals.

Enjoy the photos:

Summer 2013 road trip to the US, Bigfoot and Austin Whittall at Pikes Peak
Click to see the full photo. Copyright © 2013 by Austin Whittall

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2013 by Austin Whittall © 

The Chilludo - A Patagonian Yeti

Lon Chaney as the werewolf. Would The Chilludo look like him?

The Chilludo is another Patagonian hominid, which I mentioned briefly in a post (Patagonian Bigfoot?). Today’s entry will deal with this strangely named being.

Origin of the name

Though the word “chilludo” may seem to derive from the Spanish verb “chillar” which means to scream, to yell, to screech, to squeal or to squeak, it actually comes from a local Argentine word: “Chilludo: Said of people who have long straight and bristly hair or the body covered with this type of hair”.

The word is applied to sheep and goats that have long straight wool (Lincoln variety sheep are “chilludos” while Merino sheep are not).

Sightings

The only “old” source that I can find referring to it is in Gregorio Alvarez (1889-1986), who was Patagonia’s first native born to graduate as a Doctor in medicine in 1919. His book El Tronco de Oro compiles his anecdotes and experience during his years as a country doctor who rode about on horseback taking care of the ill children in the Andean region of Neuquén province.

Trivia: a dinosaur discovered in that region in 1991 bears the name Alvarezsaurus.

So, getting back to the Chilludo. Alvarez recorded it in the 1950s:

”The Chilludo” is the name of a giant that appeared for the first time at Colo Michi Co, a rugged place where the stones engraved by the ancient Pehunches can be found, and whose meaning is still a mystery. According to don Julio Della Cha, the first report of the apparition of The Chilludo was around 1950. A youth, upon seing it, lost his mind.
[...]
He is described like “a big man” covered with long hair (chillas), that runs and jumps about the mountain slopes and gullies; a kind of yeti or snowman like those seen in the Himalayas

He adds that in that same place, Colo Michi Co, a Hungarian miner named Bela Beico also went mad (Patagonian Cabin Fever?)

According to another source, this man, Della Cha, owned a ranch in the area, at Cancha Huinganco, close by, so the man existed.

The stones mentioned by Alvarez, engraved by the native Pehuenche Indians, can be seen online at the following site:
Colo Michi Co rock art, they date back to about 500 AD.

Sources

Gregorio Alvarez. (1981) El tronco de oro: folklore del Neuquén. pp. 116.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2012 by Austin Whittall © 

Oxford-Lausanne Collateral Hominid Project

Yes, you can now prove that those tufts of hair or organic matter that you believe belongs to bigfoot or yeti, are real. A team of scientists has requested that you send them these samples for DNA Analysis and publication in a formal scientific journal!

The Oxford-Lausanne Collateral Hominid Project

Prof. Bryan Sykes and Dr. Michel Sartori, write at their site: "As part of a larger enquiry into the genetic relationship between our own species Homo sapiens and other hominids, we invite submissions of organic material from formally undescribed species, or “cryptids”, for the purpose of their species identification by genetic means.".

Read more at the Oxford University's Wolfson College site

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2012 by Austin Whittall © 

Ape Men (Neanderthal?) sightings in South America

 

The human-like "Nondescript", an ape-man from the early 1800s, former British Guiana, South America. From [1]

There have been many posts in this blog aiming at supporting the idea that perhaps some of our distant relatives, either Homo erectus or our close cousin, Neanderthal, somehow got into America long before modern humans did, and survived until recent times, and in the process, gave birth to the many native American myths about "ape men".

Today I will write about South American ape-men. Note, not the Canadian - American bigfoot, but instead, a creature sighted in South America, closer to Patagonia than those North American beings. Lets cover the strange nondescript ape-man.

Human like ape beings have been reported in South America since it was discovered. Today I will focus on the region of Guyana:

First Report, 1769

English naturalist Edward Bancroft wrote about them in 1769, [2]. He mentioned the creature that All the natives called “Wild Man” and it is clear that they were not “Apes”, which he dealt about in the following paragraphs.

These Wild Men were about 5 feet (1,5 m) tall, the walked in an upright position and had “human form, thinly covered with short black hair” the “Indians” “greatly dread them and instantly flee as son a sone is discovered”. They share some features with the Trauco hominid found in Patagonia: “they will attack themales, and ravish the females of the human species.” [2]

Second Report and a specimen

British naturalist Charles Waterton (1782-1865) described his four voyages to America in his book Wanderings in South America (1825) which has many observations of the American fauna. Among these creatures was one very peculiar one, an “ape-man” which he named “Nondescript”:

I also procured an animal which has caused not a little speculation and astonishment. In my opinion, his thick coat of hair and great length of tail put his species out of all question; but then his face and head cause the inspector to pause for a moment before he ventures to pronounce his opinion of the classification. He was a large animal, and as I was pressed for daylight, and moreover, felt no inclination to have the whole weight of his body upon my back, I contented myself with his head and shoulders, which I cut off, and have brought them with me to Europe....

[Footnote: My young friend Mr. J. H. Foljambe, eldest son of Thomas Foljambe, Esq., of Wakefield, has made a drawing of the head and shoulders of this animal, and it is certainly a most correct and striking likeness of the original.][1]

The drawing is the one shown at the begining of this post.

This incredible speciment which he brought with him to the UK, was obtained during his fourth voyage to America in 1824, when he visited the Demerara River in what is now Guyana.

The embalmed specimen can be seen at the Waterton Gallery at Wakefield Museum in Britain. [4]

According to the museum, the “Nondescript” was created by Waterton, who used his specialised taxidermist skills to fashion the head and shoulders from a howler monkey carcass. He worked on the face so that it looked just like the face of a customes officer who inconvenienced him when he returned from his 1821 trip. The man is said to be named Lushington.

Nondescript at Wakefield Museum. From [4]

Third report, 1868. The “Didi”

It was forty years later later, in 1868, that a British surveyour, who worked for the government of the colony of British Guiana, Charles Barrington Brown, reported these “ape men” once again, this time they were called “Didi”:[3]

The first night after leaving Peaimah we heard a long, and most melancholy whistle, proceeding from the direction of the depths of the forest, at which some of the men exclaimed, in an awed tone of voice, "The Didi." Two or three times the whistle was repeated, sounding like that made by a human being, beginning in a high key and dying slowly and gradually away in a low one.…

The "Didi" is said by the Indians to be a short, thick set, and powerful wild man, whose body is covered with hair, and who lives in the forest. A belief in the existence of this fabulous creature is universal over the whole of British, Venezuelan and Brazilian Guiana. On the Demerara river, some years after this, I met a half-breed woodcutter, who related an encounter that he had with two Didi—a male and a female—in which he successfully resisted their attacks with his axe. In the fray, he stated, he was a good deal scratched.[3]

Closing comments

So here we have some true and maybe some false reports concerning ape-men in Guiana, in north eastern South America. They are not the run of the mill South American monkeys, these are ape-men. Perhaps the remains of the original Neanderthal or H. erectus people that reached the Americas long ago.


Sources
[1] Charles Waterton, (1825). Wanderings in South America, the north-west of the United States, and the Antilles, in the years 1812, 1816, 1820 and 1824: With original instruction for the perfect preservation of birds &c. for cabinets of natural history .(Google eBook). Mawman. pp 293.
[2] Bancroft, Edward, (1769). An essay on the natural history of Guiana, in South America: Containing a description of many curious productions in the animal and vegetable systems of that country. Together with an account of the religion, manners, and customs of several tribes of its Indian inhabitants. Interspersed with a variety of literary and medical observations. (Google eBook), T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt. pp 131.
[3] Charles Barrington Brown, (1876). Canoe and camp life in British Guiana
[4] Waterton Gallery at Wakefield Museum.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2011 by Austin Whittall © 

Patagonian Yeti. Fact and Fiction

 
FFabio Picasso, who seriously delves in the fantastic and cryptozoology,[1] has published on the web an interesting article on a “snow man” at Rengo, Chile in 1956 and 1957. I believe it is interesting, considering all my previous posts regarding Homo erectus and its possible entry into America before the arrival of modern humans.

The creature was described as a potbellied being about 2 m tall (6.6 ft.), clad in furs. It was referred to as an “ape man”, with long arms and long hair (it reached its waist).

The exact location is the following: VI Region, Cachapoal province, on the slopes of the extinct Palomo Volcano, close to the border between Argentina and Chile, and just north of Tinguirrica Volcano (home to some dwarves, the Tinguirricas – see map showing location).

Palomo (34° 36’S, 70° 17’W), is 4,850 m (15,901 ft.) tall, and is very close to the village of Popeta.

Carlos Soto, an eyewitness said he saw “an enormous man covered with hairs” [1].

Though not in Patagonia, it is quite close to it, just to the north of its northernmost reaches. Its habitat is similar to that of the other Patagonian mountains, which are all part of the Andean mountain range.

Could the hairy being (dressed with furs like a cave man) be an extant Homo erectus?

A hairy apeman has been reported in Patagonia, close to Taitao Peninsula: it is a variety of Yeti or snowman seen on Guaitecas Islands.

Maybe a hoax

Then again the whole thing may have been a hoax, a joke. At that time the “yeti” abominable snow-man was in the media. Yeti tracks were photographed and published in Life magazine and other newspapers in 1951. [3]

This “caused a sensation and the world was launched into a yeti craze” [4], which surely would have reached even the remote village of Popeta in Chile.

In 1953, Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first men to climb Mount Everest on the border between Nepal and China. And, they said that they had seen large prints in the snow (yeti footsteps). [2] Hillary returned to lead another expedition searching for yeti evidence. [3]

Some websites that deal with cryptozoology also mention some "snowman" sightings further north along the Andes, in the Argentine provinces of Salta and Jujuy, and, the witness who saw the creature in the mid 1950s was a fellow named: Audio Level Pitch.

This is evidently a joke (someone got the name from a radio manual on how to handle the gadget's volume!), furthermore Audio is not a name (nobody is called Audio in Argentina), it is as fake as being called: Ipod Gigabyte Broadband.

However the "Ucumar" myth is true and can be found in the northern reaches of Argentina but it may be related to a local variety of bear, which is very rare (the only South American Bear), the Spectacled bear.

Sources.

[1] Fabio Picasso, (2008). El abominable Hombre de las Nieves de Rengo (Chile). EL FUEGO DEL DRAGON. Boletin Mensual de Ovnilogia. No. 113 Jan. 2008.
[2] Sue Hamilton, (2007). Monsters. World of Horror. ABDO- pp. 13
[3]Epitaph to the elusive abominable snowman. Life Magazine. Jan. 13, 1961. Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. +72.
[4] David H. Childress, (2001). The Yeti, from Far Out Adventures: The Best of World Explorer Magazine. Adventures Unlimited. pp. +465.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

2011 International Year of Forests Copyright 2009-2011 by Austin Whittall © 

Homo Erectus in America - More

 

Map of Melanesia. From [2]

Came across a very interesting article online today, it relates to some remains found in a Siberian cave, at Denisova, (I posted about this in my entry on Homo erectus in America - Part 2), which shared a common ancestor with modern humans about one million years ago.

"Densiovians" and Melanesians

Well, this article "DNA says new human relative roamed widely in Asia" mentions that these Denisovians were not restricted to their cave habitat in central Asia, but, seem to have spread out across Asia:

Scientists found evidence that in the genomes of people now living in Melanesia, about 5 percent of their DNA can be traced to Denisovans, a sign of ancient interbreeding that took researchers by surprise.[1]

Melanesia, as the map above shows, is just above Australia and comprises not only Papua New Guinea, Fiji and New Caledonia, but also Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

Somehow these distant relatives got their DNA into modern Melanesians in Southeast Asia, but there are two possibilities:

1. Mating with modern humans after we came out of Africa and reached that area some 55,000 years ago.
2. No intermixing. Both Denisovians and modern Melanesians have retained ancestral strands of DNA in our genes, sequences that other modern humans have lost.

"Denisovians" in America?

It would be interesting to see if modern Amerindian populations have the same ancestral DNA as Denisovians, which would indicate that either the Denisovians came to America first, and mixed with the later humans when we arrived in America later.
Or, that a group of humans with Denisovian DNA moved into America and settled there.

Perhaps Denisovians could explain the "hominid" ape men or "Bigfoot" sightings in America just as easily as Homo erectus could. What is needed is to prove that one or the other came to America: we must find remains or artifacts made by them.

Melanesians in America?

Regarding people in South East Asia and their possible migration to America, I wrote about it in my book [3]:

mtDNA taken from skeletons of the now extinct Yagan, Selk’nam and Alakaluf populations as well as Aonikenk Tehuelche show that they, from a genetic viewpoint, were different from all other American natives (including the Mapuche in northern Patagonia).
[...]
Human remains discovered in Brazil show a very strong resemblance to modern South Pacific people, suggesting that America was first colonized by the generalized human (Homo sapiens) population that inhabited East Asia in the Late Pleistocene. These people arrived in America in very ancient times long before the Mongolid morphology of the forebearers of the Clovis had evolved [3]

Portuguese anthropologist Mendes Correia (1888-1960) proposed a migration route for these "Austronesians" from their homeland in Australia via Tasmania, the Antarctic and Drake Passage, instead of a trans-Pacific oceanic route, entering South America at Tierra del Fuego some 8,000 years BP. It his a highly disputed concept and lacks archaeological proof. Alternatively they could have sailed across the Pacific Ocean.

This same notion, but regarding the Melanesians reaching America through Polinesia was put forward by Erland Nordenskiold in 1931, [4] an event which would have happened long before the arrival of modern Polynesians in the region. This could account for many similar myths shared by peoples on both sides of the Pacific, and particularly, some that are common to Australians and Patagonians regarding mythical (or maybe real) monsters and entities such as: Yowie, Gubba, Mimi, Bunyip, the "Dreamtime". Or maybe these coincidences can be due to the "genetic memory" mentioned in yesterday's post, a shared "archetype" common to all humans.

Interesting reading on Homo erectus in America and very interesting topics regarding our ancient ancestor: The Pleistocene Coalition, they challenge conventional (or should I say "orthodox" views in a scientific way).

Sources.

[1] Malcom Ritter, (2010). DNA says new human relative roamed widely in Asia, AP Science writer. 22.12.10.
[2] ANU College of Asia & the Pacific. The Australian National University
Melanesia
[3] Whittall Austin. (2010). Unpublished. Patagonian Monsters. Zagier & Urruty. Soon to be released.
[4] Kenneth Emory, (1942). Oceanian Influence on American Indian Culture. Nordenskiold's veiw. Volume 51 1942 > The Journal of Polynesian Society. Vol 51 No. 2 pb 126-135

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

2010 International Year of Biodiversity Copyright 2009-2010 by Austin Whittall © 

Homo erectus in America?

 

In a previous post on Patagonian ogres and hairy giants, I suggested that this variety of Patagonian Bigfoot, might be a surviving Homo erectus, a direct ancestor of modern man (we are Homo sapiens).

Today I will look into this interesting subject. Interesting because, official orthodox archaeology does not believe that H. erectus ever reached America, and does not place modern man here earlier than some 20,000 years ago.

However, there is some controversial evidence (dismissed by mainstream archaeologists) that suggests an earlier peopling of America, roughly a quarter of a million years ago.

Recent survival of Homo erectus.

Homo erectus is an extinct species of humans that lived between 1,8 million years ago and at least 200,000 years ago (and probably even later than this last date). That is, during the Pleistocene Epoch. These hominids were intelligent creatures and manufactured stone tools, which we classify as belonging to the Acheulian culture. They were the first men to master fire. They were also explorers and were the first humans to break out of Africa, our birthplace and spread across the Old World.

Their remains have been found in Europe, Asia (as well as Africa). The oldest fossils are found in Africa, where they continued evolving into modern men. The African strain is different in comparison to the other H. erectus populations of the Old World and have been classed in a separate species named Homo ergaster. There is some debate whether H. ergaster or H. erectus is our direct ancestor.

Their use of a novel stone tool technology and fire, made them successful in spreading around the Old World and occupying different environments.

This may have been due to their larger brain size in comparison to our other older and more primitive ancestors. Their cranial capacities ranged from between 700 cm³ to 1,250 cm³, averaging 900 cm³. Their skulls had a thick cranial bone and large browridges over their eyes. Their braincase was long and low, with a receeding forehead.

They were not small like their ancestors, an adult H. erectus could weigh over 45 kg (100 lb) and measure 1,67 m (5 ft. 6 in).

Fossils of H. erectus found at Ngandong, Java, have been dated to as recently as 53,000 to 27,000 years ago. These dates were obtained by Carl Swisher of the Berkeley Geochronology Center and colleagues. [1]. This is interesting because, it indicates an overlapping with modern man who arrived in that area roughly some 40 to 50 thousand years ago. So, if they managed to get to America, they could have also overlapped with modern man during some 20 to 30,000 years (which, would mean that they may have survived until a relatively recent date, or even still be alive somewhere out there).

In America?

During the late 1960s, at a site close to Mexico City, Mexico, named Valsequillo Reservoir, in the State of Puebla, some geologists of the United States Geology Survey (USGS) dated possible hominid remains as being 250,000 years old!. The team was led by archaeologist Cynthia Irving-Williams, and the results were published in a reputable scientific journal in 1969 [5] but were quickly dismissed by mainstream archaeologists as being ridiculously old (nearly ten times the accepted dates for human presence in America - the Clovis First theory). [2]

Click to see Photographs of the excavations and the artifacts.

These remains are part of a:

"rapidly growing dating evidence from fission- track, U-series, diatoms extinct by the end of the Last Interglacial Stage (Sangamonian), etc. for (pre-Wisconsinan) humans in America (>80,000 yr BP), which has been ignored or denied by members of the American archaeological establishment " . [3]

So, they may be modern human (i.e. Homo sapiens) remains that predate the orthodox time-frame of some 20,000 years for human arrival to America.

Other ancient remains of stone tools have been found at Calico [4] in California, US at around the same time. They have been dismissed by mainstream archaeology as natural (not human) artifacts.

Conclusions

As far as I am concerned, the case remains open and undefined. The evidence is interesting and definitively points to an early peopling of America.

H. erectus had the brains and the physical aptitude to trek from China (his known northernmost habitat) to America through Beringia, just like modern man would do later. He could also have rowed along the coastal waters of Asia, Beringia and America all the way down to Southern Chile.

Lack of interest and funding (specially in South America, where research is restricted due to lack of governmental or private support) to look into these non-conventional ideas may delay the final proof, but it will surely be unearthed in the near future.

Impact on cryptozoology. Leaving aside Bigfoot for my North American colleagues, as it is not a Patagonian "monster", the presence of H. erectus could account for many native Patagonian myths regarding "ogres" or "man slaying" primitive men, it can also explain the "wild-men" legends and some "hairy" or "ape-like" creatures reported in Patagonia.

Continues tomorrow in Part 2, Homo erectus in America?

Sources.
[1] Mark Rose, (1997). Homo Erectus Survival. Archaeology. Vol. 50 Number 2, March/April 1997
[2] Christopher Hardaker and Charles Naeser, (2007). The First American: The Suppressed Story of the People Who Discovered the New World. Career Press.
[3] Sam L. Vanlandingham. Extraordinary Examples of Deception in Peer Reviewing: Concoction of the Dorenberg Skull Hoax and Related Misconduct. Online.
[4] Chris Hardaker, (2010). The Abomination of Calico. Pleistocene coalition news, Vol 2. No. 5 pp. 10. Oct. 2010.
[5] Barney J. Szaboa, Harold E. Maldea and Cynthia Irwin-William, (1969). Dilemma posed by uranium-series dates on archaeologically significant bones from Valsequillo, Puebla, Mexico. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Vol. No. 4, July 1969, Pages 237-244

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

2010 International Year of Biodiversity Copyright 2009-2010 by Austin Whittall © 

On Tourism and Cryptids

 
A cynical point of view regarding cryptozoology: the whole thing is a big lie made up to promote tourism.

This is not a new theme, actually, back in 1922, when an expedition was sent to hunt and capture a plesiosaur in Patagonia, some hinted that the whole thing was a publicity stunt to place Patagonia in the public eye.

In my book, I also suggested the same motive: [1]

Taking a more prosaic tack, some have suggested that the whole issue was made up by a local tycoon, Primo Capraro to promote Bariloche as an international tourist resort and, coincidentially, it was in 1922 that Argentina’s Federal government created the country’s first national park at Nahuel Huapi and set its headquarters in Bariloche.³⁶ Frey was named its first Superintendent. [1]

I have already posted on this supposed PR stunt: Plesiosaur Carnival float which shows the headlines and the pageant at Bariloche to celebrated the expedition.

Russian Tourism and Yeti

Today I came across not one, but two articles on the famed Yeti cryptid, on regarding its appearance in Russia (below),[2] the other about a scientific expedition that is being organized in China to search it [3].

The Russian article is worth quoting regarding the "tourist" aspect:[2]

Creating a non-existant tourist attraction has a long pedigree. Visitors to Verona, Italy, have the chance to see Juliet's Balcony, inspired by the famous scene in Shakepeare's drama "Romeo and Juliet".
[...]
Meanwhile the Scottish city of Inverness has traded heavily on the nearby Loch Ness Monster to boost its tourist trade [2]

The article adds: that these reports "about finding Bigfoot as fodder for gullible tourists" and that the site of the sightings was "an emerging tourist destination". [2]

The Russian yeti article can be found following the link below:

Yeti to entice tourists to Siberia

12/10/201016:57

China to search for the Yeti

Regarding the Chinese, the Hubei Wild Man Research Association, are seeking international volunteers and funding (about 1 million Euros) from private organizations to search for the Yeti, which was last seen in 2007. Chinese are more open minded about cryptids and the government organized several expeditions in the 1970s and 80s to track down the beast. [3]

This seems to be a more serious effort and not something staged to promote a tourist site.

If you are wondering if yeti has a relative in Patagonia, the answer is yes, The Patagonian Bigfoot, which is not a bigfoot but some variety of hairy hominid that has been sighted all over Patagonia.

Bibliography

[1] Whittall, Austin. (2010) Book in preparation. To be published shortly. The Monsters of Patagonia: A Field Guide to its Giants, Dwarves, Lake Creatures and Forest Beasts
[2] Washington, Tom. Yeti to entice tourists to Siberia. The Moscow News. 12.10.2010.
[3] Peter Foster. China to embark on Yeti expedition . Telegraph. London. UK. 12.10.2010


Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

2010 International Year of Biodiversity Copyright 2009-2010 by Austin Whittall ©