Artist Claims Encounter With Yeti
Like the Lock Ness monster, summer is the usual time for sightings, but until now there had been no known appearances this year by the 'mythical' Yeti in eastern Russia.
This has changed with well-known Tashtagol artist and sculptor Andrey Lyubchenko's claim that he came face to face with an Abominable Snowman less than a month ago.
What's more the Yeti posed for him - allowing the artist to draw his picture on birch bark - and the pair even managed to 'speak', he claimed.
'It happened so unexpectedly and fast that I had no time to get scared,' he said. 'There was a clear feeling that this was a thinking creature, I felt he was trying to 'talk' to me.
'The Yeti was about two and a half metres tall, with thick dark brown hair like a bear's - but a lot softer. He was holding a wooden stick, with bits of hair wrapped around it. But the main thing was his eyes, they were just like light-coloured human eyes.'
At the time he was in the remote taiga in Kemerovo region, well known as the Russian region with the most Yeti sightings.
'It was in the morning of 27 July, I went in into taiga to gather materials for wooden sculptures,' he said. 'I usually need a lot of curved and unusually shaped branches. I live right next to the edge of taiga, so I left early in the morning. It was 5 am, I was getting close to Chernukha mountain, which is right next to the Tashtagol TV must.
'I went out onto a small open patch, and there I felt the Yeti's presence. I turned back and saw him standing up, deeper in the woods, not going away and trying to communicate. It happened so unexpectedly and fast that I had no time to get scared.'
Lyubchenko explained further: 'I am saying 'He' because shape of his body, his gestures, his behaviour were clearly male. His body was very toned, with lots of visible muscles. His hands and feet were proportionate to his body, the same way as with humans. His face was expressive, too, just like his eyes. Also I remember that he had huge legs - by human sizes, his feet were size 60.'
This is suggests his feet were 46 cm in length - or 18 inches.
'I can't describe or understand how we spoke, because - well because it sounds unbelievable. It felt like we heard each other's thoughts, as if it was telepathy. There was only one word that the Yeti actually said when I asked his name. His voice was low and chesty, and the name sounded as if somebody hit a tambourine twice - 'Ta-ban'.'
After the encounter he sought a person who spoke the local Siberian Shor language and asked about a meaning of the word, without explaining where and how he heard it. He told that there can be several translations, one meaning 'a sole', and another one meaning 'the one that wasn't discovered'.
The artist said he was 'talking' to the Yeti for about 40 minutes. He admitted he could not prove his encounter, and that he was previously pre-disposed to believe in the existence of the Yeti, factors which are in common with many supposed sightings.
'I didn't have my phone with camera on me, or a camera - but I always carry a pencil and something I can draw on, this time it was a piece of birch tree bark,' he said. 'I made a drawing of the Yeti and showed him. The Yeti studied it really carefully for a while, and then drew a symbol next to my drawing.
'I still can't find what this symbol means, I've been going through books and internet, but found nothing similar. There is a similar looking symbol of friendship, but I am not sure this is it.'
If Yetis live so close to people, he was asked by Natalya Guzeva, a journalist from 'Kuzbass 85' newspaper, why they did not show themselves more to humans.
'I wonder if they are scared to intervene. Do you think it was easy to put up with this meeting? I am still in a state of shock, I can't believe it happened to me,' he said.
Why was he chosen by the Yeti?
'I guess it was a pure coincidence. Or perhaps it happened because I sincerely believed in Yeti's existence and imagined how one day I'd meet them. I've been dreaming about meeting them, to be honest. I also don't think that I am the only person that met Yeti. Others simply don't speak about it, rightly fearing they might be called insane.
'All I can say about myself is that I am as normal as one can find, I am physically and mentally healthy, I don't drink or take drugs. I think one day I'll get back to the place where we've met... I think we might see each other again.'
The newspaper said it has asked about him and 'he is a reputable person in the city, quite well-known, and certainly isn't seen as a nutter'.
Russia's best known Yeti hunter Igor Burtsev - head of the Russian International Centre of Hominology - has previously estimated that as many as 30 Yetis roam Kemerovo region. 'We are on the brink of finding the Yeti at long last,' he said in 2011.
However, many sightings or finds of 'Yeti hair' or footprints have been disputed by other experts who point out no remains of the animal have ever been discovered. - Artist claims he had close encounter with Yeti
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Outback Ghost?
A hiker has captured the image of a strange figure while out walking near a Toowoomba water hole.
Brokc David had been out walking in the Australian wilderness recently when he was overcome by a sudden sense of dread and an overwhelming feeling that he was being watched.
When he later went through the photographs he'd taken he noticed one that seemed to show a bearded man dressed in red peering out at him from behind a pile of roots and branches.
"I felt like the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, I honestly don't believe in ghosts or anything supernatural," he said. "Oddly enough I've been experiencing a similar feeling of dread every once in a while over the last week."
The eerie photograph has since proven quite popular on social media with some Internet users even claiming to have experienced a similar sense of unease just from looking at it.
Whether the picture shows anything genuinely paranormal however remains a matter of debate.
NOTE: Mmmm...looks like an app overlay to me. Lon
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2nd Bi-Pedal Wolf Encountered - Northwest Clearfield Co., PA
Penfield Wolfman - As a result of two credible eyewitness reports, the UFORCOP / P&M Fortean Research teams are preparing for an investigation in this area during the Fall. In light of these recent sightings, and for public concern, the teams will probably ramp up the start date. If you have any information or evidence, please contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com - http://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2015/08/2nd-bi-pedal-wolf-encountered-northwest.html
Lon Strickler
410-241-5974
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Arcane Radio: The Strange Stories Podcast - 8/24/2015
Sean and Lon are joined by JC Johnson and Jules Godwin of Crypto Four Corners, Roy Clark, and Steve Stockton to discuss their strange stories. This is the first episode in a new featured series, Arcane Radio: The Strange Stories. Recorded Live on Monday August 24, 2015.
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