INTRO:

Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

I hope you had a lovely holiday whatever you celebrate. I actually hosted at my house for 5 of my family members this year and it was incredibly stressful - I find Christmas an actual nightmare, and even the thought of it freaks me out with the stress of buying presents and socialising with everyone. But I love seeing everyone and such, so that’s nice, but I do have crippling anxiety - I hope yours was lovely though!

DESCRIPTION:

The weather outside is still frightful so we’re looking at an equally snowy and scary monster this week which screams winter time! It’s the Yeti from Sherpa and Tibetan folklore and cryptozoology - neither of which we have covered on the podcast before so that’s also super fun. 

BUT FIRSTLY - WELCOME TO THE HIMALAYAS!

The Yeti is a monster which is usually described as a bipedal ape man, with white fur, massive sharp teeth, horns and at least 7 foot tall. They are primate looking creatures, with massive feet and hands, whilst being incredibly strong. They are usually considered incredibly aggressive, and tend to stay away from people and live in cave groups, occasionally coming out to eat whatever they can find in the wilderness of the cold mountains. They’re mainly noticed when they leave large footprints in the snow, but otherwise, they tend to keep to themselves. Humans only really bump into them when they are hunting at night, or when they are seeking refuge in a cave that a Yeti is living in.

However, in contrast to this, this is usually just a flung together myth of all the different types of Yeti. You might be surprised, but these types have all been put together and are used to classify the type of Yeti you may have seen. There are actually three types of Yeti, the Nyalmo, the Chuti and the Rang Shim Bombo that have been identified by cryptozoologists throughout history. Surprisingly, it’s actually very uncommon for Yeti to have white or grey hair, they’re mostly brown or red coloured, and therefore stick out in the white snow - looking very similar to their sasquatch cousins, which I’ll get more into later.

The more ape-man Yeti that we tend to think of are the Chuti or the true Yeti. These are the ones most often leaving footprints in the snow, and are considered the closest to humans in the way that they look. They are around 8 feet tall and have reddish brown hair, a pointed head and a monkey-like face. They are peaceful creatures, and they live in the mountain forests at around 8-10,000 feet up.

The smaller ones are called Rang Shim Bombo or little yeti, and they are said to be around 3 ft in height with reddish-grey hair. They are usually in warmer lands, and tend to live in the mountain valleys at ground level below the snow line, where they eat smaller animals. Sometimes it’s said that the teh-ima are actually female Yeti, or even juvenile ones that live below the mountain waiting for the older, male Yeti to come back to their homes.

Lastly, we have the Nyalmo, or the big yeti. These ones are actually more quadrupedal, but can walk bipedally too, standing at least 8 to 10.5 feet tall with very dark hair. They are considered more bear-like than ape-like, and they are immensely strong and wild, often known for attacking yaks living in the snowy mountains - ripping their heads off by yanking their horns and twisting them round to kill them, disturbing local farmers. They live in the top most part of the mountains between 15 and 18,000 feet up, enduring the coldest part of the mountains for food. These ones are especially aggressive, and are definitely more the ones people think of when describing Yeti. Sometimes it’s even considered a completely different monster in comparison to the others due to its size and nature, but we’ll keep it in here for ease this time.

These monsters live in the Himalayan mountains, which are situated between China, Tibet, Nepal, India and Bhutan. There are very few sightings from Westerners, but the people of Tibet especially really do believe this monster exists and have claimed to have seen them more than most. For obvious reasons of course, that most Westerners will not venture to the Himalayas unless scaling the mountains of Everest or the other big ones around the range, and the locals do tend to venture up for foraging or hunting purposes, therefore are more likely to spot them.

Yeti in general tend to eat whatever gets in their way, or looks decent enough to eat to them - however, up at these heights, yaks are particularly delicious looking, but sometimes even bears can be eaten by Yeti that are larger than them. They are known to just leave the bones and fur of the creatures they devour behind, which the locals will often fashion into something warm for the local populace.

I did mention Sasquatches earlier, and it is commonly believed that Yeti are a type of sasquatch that has adapted to the icy regions of the Himalayas. Due to their ape-like looks and actions, as well as their elusive nature, they are very often put in the same category of monster - the apeman. However, the most common misconception is that Yeti are white, which I spoke about earlier, but they look immensely similar to their American cousins with darker hair, but different to the black or dark brown from across the pond.

ORIGIN:

For their etymology, they actually have two as they are often called two different names. Yeti is derived from the Tibetan word yache, which comes from ‘ya’ meaning rocky, and ‘che’ meaning bear - although rocky bear doesn’t really summarise our monster too well. 

The other name for them is Abominable Snowman, which was a term coined by the British in 1921 when Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury led the British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition. He wrote about what he had heard from the locals and found footprints at about 21,000 feet up which he thought were originally caused by a great grey wolf - but then rethought and figured they looked more like a mans. When he told his Tibetan guides about this, they said that they belonged to the Wild Man of the Snows, and called it metoh-kangmi meaning man bear snowman. Then a journalist got wind of this in India, and wrote about the expedition but mistranslated the word metoh or man-bear to filthy, and changed this to abominable, which is where this term came from! Great etymology this week honestly, and if you’re a long term listener, you’ll know I live for a good etymology deep dive!

In terms of their history, we know that they have been around for a great deal of time through word of mouth, and we know this is pre-19th century, as the first noted explorer to have an interaction involving Yeti said that they existed in the pre-Buddhist beliefs of the people in the Himalayas. They would worship a ‘glacier being’ as the god of the hunt and believe that the blood of the wild man was a powerful tool for rituals. It was then adopted into Tibetan Buddhism, as a non-human animal, which you could hear in stories helping religious figures or sometimes even as guardians against evil spirits. In some texts they are even celebrated or worshipped because of this, but in others they are considered enforcers of Dharma or cosmic law and order, and so seeing or hearing one was a bad omen, to imply you were about to shift something out of balance. 

The first ever mention in text of the Yeti was in 1832 by an English writer who published other British explorers' findings when venturing around northern Nepal. The explorer, B H H Hodgson, went exploring with two guides who spotted the monster and ran away in fear, but he concluded that they had just seen an orangutan, which is a typical British thing to do - we’re not a very superstitious bunch honestly.

Then it was mentioned again in 1899 in Laurence Waddell’s exploratory book Among the Himalayas - where he found a bunch of ape-like prints and concluded that they were a bear this time, whilst choosing to believe that the Nepalese people telling him stories of these creatures were poppycock. 

The sightings of these monsters picked up in the 20th century, with mentions of them from 1925 all the way to 1983, mostly made by mountaineers or explorers throughout the 1900’s. And actually in 1983, an American scholar, Daniel C Taylor went on the biggest expedition yet to find proof of the Yeti and found skulls and footprints that are still on show at the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution to this day - however, it was concluded that they were most likely tree-bears or something like a koala than anything ape-like at the time.

This obsession went on into the 21st century, with more and more expeditions going out thanks to the development of better technology and snow/cold safe gear, with even the BBC going out to investigate in 2008 and comparing hair found in the region to those of regular apes - however, it came back to show that it was actually Himalayan goral hair, a type of local goat.

This monster has also not been without its hoaxes - much like the Bigfoot hoaxes we all know and love in the cryptid community. The biggest one being quite recently in 2011 in Russia. A hunter reportedly had seen a bear-like creature trying to kill a sheep, but was scared off by gunfire. Then it was said that the border patrol found two female ape-like beings and detained them - turns out this was all a publicity hoax, but no one is sure why, but some people believe it was for charity.

Of course, in terms of explanations - I’ve covered a few here, it’s believed that the Yeti could just be a big bear species, or maybe one of the very rare tree bear species living in this region. There’s actually an incredibly rare Hiamalayan brown bear or the Tibetan blue bear which could explain the rare sightings and lack of being able to get DNA from this creature as they can both walk on all fours, or on two legs. It could even be a great yak species that has evolved smaller over the years that this myth has been about, as we also know these are common in the area too - although are a little harder to imagine being misidentified as giant monkeys.

Another great explanation is that of an extinct giant ape called the Gigan topi thecus, however, it’s said that this ape was quadrupedal and they think it actually evolved into the apes we know today as well as the quadrupedal ape, the orangutan, which are of course endangered themselves, and even potentially us - humans, which we know evolved from the apes of old. If you don’t believe in evolution, this podcast is definitely not for you by the way - and please do not try to reason with me on this one, I would consider you an idiot - quite frankly.

Lastly, in 2013 there was a call out from Oxford University here in the UK to anyone claiming to have a Yeti sample to bring it in for DNA analysis. Some really interesting results came up with two samples from India and Bhutan. These both linked to a polar bear jaw from Svalbard, an island off of Norway that dated back 120,000 years ago - which is just wild. However, it has been concluded that the Himalayas are too inland for polar bears to ever be, so it might have been imported or a hoax.  But most of them came back as either domestic dog hair, Asaitic black bears, Tibetan blue bears and the rare Himalayan brown bear, which is great for those rarer species as we have a good indication that they’re still about somewhere!

To finish off too, they’re a beloved monster in Nepal and Tibet, there’s even a domestic airline in Nepal called Yeti Airlines, and were the mascot for the Visit Nepal campaign in 2020, although maybe not the best year to choose. If you’re into Disney lore too, they’re the main monster in the Expedition Everest ride in Animal Kingdom and they have a 25ft audio-animatronic of a Yeti on this ride. I have seen it myself in Florida Disney. You can also see it on the Matterhorn Bobsled ride - if you’re into this stuff at least.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, there are loads - so I really hope you’re ready for this one! Special style - I’ve actually whittled these down by how often they feature or how prevalent they are in the show, movie or video game - so if you’ve seen something with a Yeti in only once, I’m probably not going to mention it here for the sake of time and not bombard you.

For art, it’s a cryptid - so there’s not much this time around, but I recommend looking into independent stuff this week.

In movies, we have; Abominable, Missing Link, Rise of the Guardians, Everest, Monsters Inc, Smallfoot, The Abominable Snowman, Cabin in the Woods, The Snow Creature, Man Beast, Half Human, The Werewolf and the Yeti, Yeti; Curse of the Snow Demon, Caveman, The Mighty Peking Man, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, 7 Faces of Dr Lao, Shriek of the Mutilated, Snow Beast, Star Wars, To Catch A Yeti, Yeti: A Love Story, Yeti Giant of the 20th Century & Russian Yeti: The Killer Lives. 

For TV, we have; Digimon, Expedition Unknown, One Piece, Goblin Slayer, The Electric Company, Doctor Who, The Mighty Boosh, Lost Tapes, Power Rangers, Ultraman, Salvage 1, Castle, Natural History Museum Alive, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Backyardigans, Ben 10, Ducktales, Futurama, Donkey Kong Country, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Camp Lazlo, Johnny Quest, Men in Black: The Series, The Legend of the Three Caballeros, Monster High, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Regular Show, Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends, Scooby Doo, The Secret Saturdays, Thundercats, Total Drama, Summer Camp Island, The Smurfs, Wishfart, The Wild Thornberrys & We Bare Bears.

In video games, we have ones such as; Alpiner, Animal Crossing, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Aztec Wars, Quake, Battle for Wesnoth, Bug!, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Darkstalkers, Diablo, Eternal Card Game, Fairune 2, Far Cry 4, Final Fantasy 6, Guild Wars, Skylanders, Super Mario Odyssey, League of Legends, King's Quest, Hytale, Legend of Zelda, Megaman X8, Mother 3, NewHack, Nibblers, Overlord 2, Plants vs Zombies, Primal Rage, Pokemon, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, Scooby Doo! And the Spooky Swamp, The Simpsons: Bart vs The World, SkiFree, My Nutz, Spelunky, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, Titan Quest, Top Hunter: Roddy and Cathy, Village Monsters, Warcraft, World of Warcraft, Zoo Tycoon, World’s End Club, Viva Pinata & Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. 

My book recommendation this week is for Yeti: An Abominable History by Graham Hoyland which is a great in depth book on the history of Yetis and their links to other monsters and their surroundings. Or for a scientific look into the Apeman, Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal: A Geneticist's Search for Modern Apemen by Bryan Sykes, which is a great one for looking into Sasquatches and if they exist or not.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

No, I’m sorry - it’s a pretty easy one for me this week honestly. I think it’s a massive case of misidentification and a nice added zest of hoaxing in here. I think it’s probably been a bear that has gotten smaller and rarer over the time it's been spotted, and people just love to make stuff in foreign lands that might kill and eat them - are the Himalayas not dangerous enough without a giant man-eating ape-man running around?!

However, I do always love when popular myths like this get some proper airtime and scientists do start to look into them and see if we can prove they exist - so I’m also very grateful that these hoaxes bring so much exposure to these monsters from time to time. Of course, it doesn’t happen as much with these smaller monsters, but we like to hope that someday someone will actually prove Mothman to be real. 

The debate around Sasquatches and Bigfoot of course always continues, and to be honest - so does the Yeti as long as it’s involved in the same conversation as the other two. So will we ever find actual peace from the Sasquatch myth? I don’t think so, for as long as there are cryptozoologists and documentaries, we’ll keep looking into all these monsters I’m sure. 

Although, I will say the amount of times I said ‘WELCOME TO THE HIMALAYAS’ when writing and recording this episode is unreal - honestly I cut so many of them out, you’re quite lucky. But, snowcone? They’re lemon flavoured!

But what do you think? Did the Yeti roam the icy mountains of the Himalayas? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

Well that’s it for this year folks! What a great second year it’s been doing this podcast - as always, thank you so much for your support and for tuning in, you make it super fun to keep doing this. But I hope you have a fabulous new year, however you spend it and keep safe! I’m personally going up to Manchester and the Lake District for a lovely new year on the Lakes with my family - and I hope yours is fantastic!

Next week, we’re heading into the new year and over to Korea for the first time to look at another fabulous hybrid monster, the Inmyenonjo! Get ready to be schooled by this clever bird next Thursday!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.