New Indian “Bigfoot” Reports
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 4th, 2007
A researcher measures a footprint thought to be that of “Bigfoot.”
Villagers in Garo hills claim to have sighted mythical giant
“Gigantic, hairy, ape-like…” was all that Abu Marak could utter in between gasps for breath.
Surrounded by villagers in the safety of his house near Durabanda in the West Garo Hills, Abu’s eyes still mirrored the excitement of spotting the animal. Within a few days, Abu’s account, coupled with those of a few other villagers, became the raw material for a renewed scientific search for the legendary Bigfoot — mande burung in Garo.
Sasquatch in North America, Yowie in Australia, Yeti in Nepal — Bigfoot has its share of dedicated followers across the globe. The creature, which is supposed to be about eight feet tall, is said to have been last sighted at Rongrigittim in South Garo Hills in July 2005, before making a reappearance in May [2007] this year.
The Achik Tourism Society, which has been on this elusive animal’s trail for the past few years, said the best sighting data was recorded in between January and March in 2002.
This year, the animal was spotted in forests between Nokrek and Chokpot.
“Soon after receiving news from the villagers, we sent our team on the trail of this unknown creature, but unfortunately we could neither see it, nor record any footprints,” said Dipu N. Marak, general secretary of the Achik Tourism Society.
By the time the villagers reported their findings, the mande burung had shifted its location, rued Dipu.
Before coming together as the Achik Tourism Society, Marak and his friends were engaged in compiling data about Bigfoot.
“We started our data collection on November 15, 1997, when the creature was first seen near Andol Chiring, in South Garo Hills,” Dipu said.
Information on the mande burung are available in the form of video footages and photographs of footprints, which measure between 14 to 15 inches and impressions believed to have been left by the creature on trees and nests.
“We have already alerted the Wild Life Trust of India after hearing about its sighting this year, but the authorities have shown little interest in the creature,” Dipu said.
The Achik Tourism Society has also apprised the deputy director of tourism in Tura about the findings.
Conservationists and biologists believe that the creature, which could be a descendant of the ancient primate, may have been living in the dense jungles of the Nokrek peak.
Author and Sahitya Akademi award winner Llewellyn R. Marak, who is also an avid follower of mande burung data — is optimistic that “one day the efforts by the villagers and youths to trace Big Foot will be rewarded.”
“I have seen the footprints of this creature. It’s really big and I am convinced that such a creature has a home in Nokrek,” he said.
Llewellyn came down heavily on forest guards and officials for not heeding the villagers’ reports.
“Very frankly, they (forest guards) are lazy and instead of listening to the villagers, they scold them.”
All attempts by conservationists to persuade the forest department to initiate a research into the mande burung have also proved futile.
But that has not dampened the spirit of those who have ceaselessly been collecting every detail to prove that elusive Bigfoot does existence.Bigfoot search begins afresh
Correspondent, The Telegraph, Calcutta, India, June 3, 2007.
Which of the three types of yetis are we to assume these reports are about?
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
That’s important news, I only know of one report going back to 2006 around Kerala. An ape like creature in India is plausible.
I haven’t heard of many BF reports from areas in which it would be impossible for a wide-ranging hominid like h. erectus with it predilection for travel, and if as a solitary hunter it required really big territory, valued its anonymity, and knew something of the kind of treatment it would receive from the the other hominid it shares the landscape with, I’d be comfortable with the idea of the sub-continent being a good place for them to remain undetected. For all it’s population, India, like China, has some big rarely visited wilderness still.
Dogu4- Well, Bigfoot HAS been sighted in Hawaii…. 🙂 I think that the subcontinent is indeed a prime location for something like this to exist undetected. Although it is a highly populated region, there are still vast areas of relatively unspoiled wilderness. Japan is also a densely populated country and yet most of that population is concentrated in certain areas, leaving large amounts of serene mountain habitat relatively untouched. Just looking at a country’s population in relation to its size is not always a good indicator to how much good habitat is remaining, and so I definately entertain the thought of this creature being there. Any ideas on what the level of human development is in this particular area? I’d also be very interested to see what sort of “video footages” were turned up in this case.
Hey Mystery Man, Bigfoot sighted in Hawaii? Well, as has been famously stated before “one wants to keep an open mind, but not so open that….” well you know the rest. I guess I should have added “consistently and plausibly” though that does open up another can of worms, doesn’t it?
Interesting points on Japan and India’s wilderness/population situation. Having read J. Diamond’s “Collapse” one can see where it’s not just a matter of statistics but mindfulness.
How long has it been since Japan was connected to the mainland? I noticed some h. erectus finds in eastern China.
Likewise, eager to hear reports and see evidence…patience in the mean time.
Dogu4- Yeah, in Hawaii, apparently. Obviously ridiculous and one of the examples given by some on the other threads have been using as a report that should be expunged from the database. I had never heard of Hawaii reports either until i read some of the threads on eyewitness reliability. I personally am not ready to pack up and go bigfoot hunting in Hawaii. 🙂
In Japan, I certainly think mindfulness is one reason for the preservation of habitat in Japan. There does tend to be a high regard for nature and the natural world in Japanese culture. Another reason is simply geography. Japan is around 80 percent mountainous terrain so most of the population is concentrated in the coastal plains. So you have basically a very densly populated country where most of the people are concentrated into only a small percentage of the land. As a result, one may be inclined to look on paper and think that more than 120 million people living in an area roughly the size of California would not leave much wilderness left, yet that is not true. Incidentally, there is even a Japanese form of Bigfoot called the Hibagon.
I don’t know as much about India, but I suspect that as you said before, it has some big, rarely visited, pristine wilderness still. I think that it is an area highly likely to be able to support a creature of this kind. I would like to know more about this particular area, though. Knowing my luck, I could be saying all of this and it turns out there is an airport and a couple malls in the area. 🙂
Sounds like Llewellyn was talking about gigantopithicus, but that name got left out, but then referred to again.
Thanks for that insight, Mystery Man.
I will interrogate my Japanese confidante about that when she returns from her Oregon camping expedition.
One thing that very rugged or densely covered terrain does is confine humans to trails and having hiked the Sierras with Japanese, I know they are very observant, but I suspect that BF could live in closer proximity than is given consideration since they’d need to be as observant of trails as maintenance workers at a miniature golf course.
Additionally, if they are nocturnal or crepuscular, when human vision is at its worst, they could easily take advantage of that. I recently read an interesting essay by a BF researcher who experimented in his neighborhood and he was surprised how unawares we are when it’s dark. Cheers.
Oh..and I did just google earth the South Garo Hills and in stark contrast with India’s reputation of being dense with humans, this rugged densely forested region of steep hill and rivers is just north of the Bangladeshi lowlands. While I ususally favor h.erectus as the most likely candidate for cryptic hominids, because this area is tropical, it could provide the habitat for a less peripatetic primate whose diet and metabolism would be more similar to a gorilla or orangutang and its fermenting digestive processes. Giganto’s teeth and jaw fragments suggest it processed a specialized diet high in vegetation. H. erectus’ fossil context suggests something more omnivorous and the distribution of its fossils suggest wide dispersal over the pleistocene’s dominant landscape; mixed steppe and forest mosaic.
Hawaii, really? Wow!
Wonder what kind of juju juice they drink in Hawaii?
I will be happy to look for Bigfoot in Hawaii, Fiji, Aruba or any like locales if somebody wants to fund the trip. ;>)