Zana Was NOT a Neanderthal
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 6th, 2013
An excerpt from Bigfoot Files: Episode 3.
AUDIO ONLY! The ‘Almasty’ is Russia’s very own Bigfoot. It has been written about for over 300 years, and Russia’s Almasty hunters claim there have been over 10,000 encounters over the years. The big theory in Russia is that it’s a surviving hominid, possibly even a Neanderthal. Mark Evans travels to Russia and investigates one of the highest profile Bigfoot stories in the world: the tale of Zana, the so-called Wildwoman: a living Almasty said to have been found in the remote Caucasus in the 1870s. She was alleged to have had four children by her captors over the years. Almasty hunters have tracked down her descendants and Bryan Sykes uses cutting edge tests to analyse their DNA and test the Neanderthal theory about Zana. In Moscow, Professor Sykes reveals the results of his DNA tests on Zana’s relatives. The results are unequivocal, extraordinary and totally unexpected.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
I have always thought the story of Zana to be one of the most fascinating aspects of the Almasty question. Finally, the question has largely been answered. I think that she was possibly a descendant of ancient race of African people still surviving in the remote areas of the wildest parts of Russia makes the most sense and would also account for the existence of the Almasty.
This is really a huge discovery and supports my own believe that the Zana story had to be true at least to a certain extent, based on all the details that were known.
Grover Krantz established that Zana wasn’t a Neanderthal or any other non homo sapien hominid decades ago when he personally examined Khwit’s skull.
Craig, a suggestion: for each of these sorts of audio/video clips, blog references, etc… that refer to someone in the field of cryptozoology, could you please provide a quick reference to who they are? Longtime regulars may be familiar with every name that appears here, but that is not the case for the rest of us. I have been visiting this site for quite a few months and the name Mark Evans seems vaguely familiar, but I can’t place who he is. If you could provide the background info for each such person, that would help a lot – e.g. “Mark Evans, from the BBC series XYZ….” or “John Doe, author of the books ABC and LMN.”
I imagine that if any outside source quotes or refers to one of the entries/posts here, it would provide more credibility to both your site and to cryptozoology in general by making the post fully comprehensible to everyone.
Thank you.
Kopite: Yeah, it’s pretty-well established from DNA analysis that Zana was indeed NOT a Neanderthal… nevertheless, the DNA analysis also establishes Zana as a bonafide cryptid.