Mystery Tracks of Arkhangelsk

Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 9th, 2006

Remember the James Bond movie GoldenEye? Well, it begins at a dam by a chemical facility near Arkhangelsk. Known to the Vikings, called Archangel by the English, Arkhangelsk is a historically significant port in Eurasia.

Now, from Russia with love comes a strange but remarkable record of new footprints found near Shogorka, Arkhangelsk Oblast. Of what could these be a record, in spite of the following headlines? You be the judge.

Arkhangelsk photos: Evidence of Yeti Existence?

Regnum (News Service) presents a photographic report from the place where footprints of, supposedly, a Yeti, most commonly referred to as an “Abominable Snowman,” have been found.

The footsteps were found near the village Shogorka, 35 kilometers off the Kargapor settlement in the Pinezh region of the Arkhangelsk Oblast by a local hunter Leonid Skomorokhov. He found 30 footsteps within the 24-meters area. The length of each footstep is 31 centimeter, it looks like a paw with a long triangular claw on the tip of each finger. The footstep length is more than 1.5 meters.

According to director of the Northern branch of the All-Russian research institute of hunting economy and fur farming Vladimir Korepanov, some of the footsteps belong to a bear, and some of them remind those of Primates and Ursidae simultaneously. Local residents have already made molds of the footprints. Dateline September 8, 2006.

What kind of animal belongs to these footprints? In general, tracks with these kinds of “claw-marks” indicate a bear (“Ursidae” in the Russian article) versus a primate. But these imprints look strange, having a length and shape similar to that of a human but with extremely triangular clawmarks (unknown in primates). These new tracks could be created fakes, of course. No known or previously found Yeti footprint tracks match these. What do these mystery footprints from Arkhangelsk look like to you?

Russian Yeti TracksRussian Yeti Tracks

Russian Yeti Tracks Russian Yeti Tracks

Russian Yeti Tracks Russian Yeti Tracks

Russian Yeti Tracks Russian Yeti Tracks

Russian Yeti Tracks Russian Yeti Tracks

Russian Yeti Tracks Russian Yeti Tracks

Loren Coleman 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.


25 Responses to “Mystery Tracks of Arkhangelsk”

  1. inspector71 responds:

    Extremely odd, from what I’ve seen in the past there is a little too much arch to the print, shape is good, heel not as wide depth of track not consistent. The one track of the ball of the foot is as if it is trying to step over an area or object it didn’t want to step in or on. Something in the wild will generally avoid something they are not sure of.

  2. ddh1969 responds:

    Looks like there could be a werebear runnin’ around, but they kinda remind me of that Abominable Snowman from that Scooby Doo episode. LOL!!!

    Later
    D

  3. cromcrom responds:

    fakes, look way too regular to me.

  4. Tengu responds:

    Its not like its a yeti area.

    Perhaps its the Wildman on a jaunt before xmas??

  5. stonelk responds:

    Zoinks, I was thinking this one would be a good case for Scooby and the gang then I read ddh1969’s comment and it made my day.

  6. captainadam_21 responds:

    While it would be most excellent if these prints turned out to be real, I am of the opinion that they are too perfect and defined to be real. Either than or good ol’ yeti needs a pedicure!

  7. Sunny responds:

    Gives a whole new meaning to the term “bearfoot”, now doesn’t it?

  8. Scotty responds:

    Looks like whoever was wearing these phony tracks over their boots, “plodded” rather than walked with the normal bending of the feet, or perhaps they do belong to a strange creature that just jumped straight up in the air, then came down off to the side somewhere, heh!heh!

  9. Sky King responds:

    A YETI, far from his ancestral homeland? Wearing funny shoes? Not even Almasty territory, far as I know…

    I smell something rotten not far from Denmark…

  10. Karon Booth responds:

    Are there troll legends in the area?

  11. crypto_randz responds:

    I’m really not sure about those prints. Maybe they are from an unknown primate or they could be a fake. I’m not sure.

  12. Jean Luc Picard responds:

    Looks like someone forgot their nike’s!

  13. shumway10973 responds:

    bottom photo on left I think says it all. Fakes, in fact I think the reason we are having such problems with them is that whoever did this created them inverted. Look at the claw mark on the big toe bottom photo left–I looks like the claw is coming out of the top of the toe, even though this should be the bottom. Plus, whatever/whoever did this wasn’t much bigger than the people taking the pictures. Notice in a couple pics we see shoe prints, and they are not much deeper than the mystery prints. I also find it funny that the “claw” marks are at varying depths, such as the second down left photo vs. 4 & 5 right. As muddy as it is, if there was any flexibility in the toes I think there would be more of an average depth. Not to mention with the length of the claws, wouldn’t there be a few marks where the tips dug in, but no necessarily the rest of the claw, especially 4&5 down right. I’m thinking more holes, not triangles.

  14. brineblank responds:

    The tracks seem almost ‘cut’ into the mud…very sharp edges and stiff with regards to depth as if the feet were made out of metal or wood.

  15. moonkitty62 responds:

    Somebody needs to trim their toenails!

  16. mystery_man responds:

    They don’t look like the imprints of a particularly heavy animal. The size is not that fantastic either. My own shoe size is 30centimeters, so a big guy walking around barefoot could have made these and added on the claws as a prank. The claws in one picture look a little too perfectly shaped and placed to be real.

  17. things-in-the-woods responds:

    Compare 2 & 3, with 8 & 10. They’re not even vaguely alike. mystery_man is right; someone has just added ‘claw marks’ to normal human footprints- they just haven’t been bothered to do it consistently.

    Still, no reason there shouldn’t be something in this part of the world- if you’ve got bigfoot in alaska, this ain’t so very different.

  18. Sunny responds:

    Unless this critter has found a place to get a pedicure, I have a little trouble believing that its toenails/claws would be completely symmetrical, and exactly the same shape on every phalange.

    Even we get broken toes and busted toenails when we walk around barefoot (not that it stops me), and we’re not tramping through a Russian forest.

  19. Lyndon responds:

    Not sure where the ‘not Yeti country’ comments are coming from.

    Sasquatch type creatures are well known to have been reported before in this general vicinity of northern Russia. Some years ago there was a report at Kargopol at a Russian army barracks. That is not too far from Arkhangelsk (only 200 miles south) and before that there was a multi witness encounter on the Koli Penninsula (200 miles north west).

    Reports of sasquatch type creatures are certainly not unknown in northern Russia.

  20. twblack responds:

    I think I vote for a fake on this one.

  21. YourPTR! responds:

    Yeah, looks pretty fake to me as well.

  22. Capt. Jack responds:

    Just a quick thought – usually the “big toe” of bigfoot/yeti, etc. tracks appear to be noticably offset from the other four digits, which presumably reflects an earlier evolutionary stages of hominid development.

    Lowdown is, these photos look exactly like an ordinary human footprint, albeit a little thin maybe? Toes, sole and ball all lined up nice and neat.

    However, the claw indentations are really interesting. It’s not like yeti tracks captured in snow that can distort with melting, or bigfoot tracks in mud that can also change shape over time. (where’s a good sasquatch butt-print when ya need one) These look like sharp-edged “nail” marks on the ends of the toes.

    A little scary to think of what this might be if it’s for real – It sure doesn’t look like yeti prints to me.

  23. captiannemo responds:

    The so called claw indentations go below the track itself in some of the prints.
    some look like the may have been made after the track was laid.
    Can you say sharp pointy stick?
    I knew you could!

  24. Rabbit responds:

    Are there even bears in the area?

    They look fake to this rabbit. As others point out they are too regular, and the weight appears to have been placed evenly in and out of the print. No roll. A bear might walk like this if it was walking on all fours, but obviously this hasn’t been the case..

    I think they’re fake.

  25. Mnynames responds:

    To quote from Twister- “Rabbit is good, Rabbit is wise.” I agree.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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