Introduction
This story appeared in issue 347 of Duda (English: Doubt), a Spanish language magazine from Mexico which frequently discussed the supernatural. This issue was published on 22 February 1978 and can be found online at: http://revisteriaponchito.com/duda/347/
My translation:
A “Yeti” also lives in Siberia
For many decades there has been information about the presence of a hairy monster -similar to the “Yeti” of the Himalayas and the American “Big Foot”-, in the Soviet Republic of Yakutia [note: now Republic of Sakha] in Eastern Siberia. Nevertheless, the existence of this monster called “Chuchunaa” in the local dialect -which means “fugitive or outcast”-, has never been officially accepted, until an exhaustive investigation of the information has been done. Well then, said investigation is being developed and in the course of the years the Soviet scientists have gathered a large archive with witness accounts which saw the Chuchunaa.
At the start of this year, the news agency TASS sent to all the world the first conclusions of the Soviet team that carries out the investigation into the Siberian “Yeti”. In this information TASS highlights that the last believable encounter with the monster occurred in the decade of 1950, in the remote territory of Verkhoyansk, and that according to the scientific investigation it measures about two and a half meters, is very skinny and very hairy; it’s probably covered in reindeer skin, walks barefoot, eats raw meat and wild strawberries, and if encountering a human being flees in terror at great speeds, taking huge leaps in the air.
TASS reported verbatim: “The reindeer herders, the hunters and the gatherers of strawberries and mushrooms, generally have encountered the monster in the early morning or in the last hours of the evening”.
Who directs the investigation team is the scientist Semyon Nikolaev, of the Science Academy of the Republic of Yakutia. Nikolaev pointed out that in the last years there have been no credible reports on the presence of Chuchunaa, although there is no doubt in his mind that the monster has been seen in the past. Probably, supposes the scientist, Chuchunaa perished or moved to wilder region in the mountain or in the tundra, where it is very difficult for a human being to go.
Nikolaev also declared: “The manuscripts in the possession of our institute contain many witness statements. Almost all speak of the being as a reality, without fantastical details, so common in the legends. The supplied descriptions in many of the statements have matching details of its appearance, ways and behaviours of the creature”.
The most solid theory as to the origin of the Chuchunaa, according to the Soviet scientists, is that it belongs to one of the most primitive families of the Paleo-Asiatic Siberian race, which with the passage of the centuries has been pushed by the other races to more remote regions.
And although the authorities have tried by all methods to eradicate the legend of the Chuchunaa, seeking to convince the locals that it is an animal species, the truth is that the elderly people warn the travellers who arrive from far away, telling them: “Don’t go out alone in the dark, be careful in the mountains, don’t go to the river, Chuchunaa could show up”.
Original text:
