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Almas
Also
Almasty, Almati and Albasty.
Strange hominid creatures
allegedly resembling Neanderthal
man that reportedly live in the
Caucasus and
Pamir Mountains of central Asia, in the
area of the republic of
Kazakhstan, and the
Altai Mountains of
southern Mongolia. Mainstream
science considers the Almas to be an entirely legendary creature.
However, in the
Caucasus, Almas
(which in the Mongolian language means 'wildman') are
well known by the local people, who tell numerous stories of an apparent familiarity
between humans and these creatures. Eyewitness accounts dating back hundreds
of years
describe Almas communicating with humans by means of gestures and their
ability to make stone tools. There are even stories of Almas bartering food for trinkets.
According to the latest reports, Almas are generally nocturnal and tend to stay
away from humans, although every now and then they are sighted in the vicinity
of farms, and have been said to raid cornfields and other crops.
Adult
Almases have been described as being at least 5 ft tall, shy, hairy, with
broad feet and splayed toes, humanlike hands with long fingers,
prominent eyebrow ridges, slanting forehead, nose very flat, a receding chin and a jaw that protrudes out.
Their diet allegedly consists of small mammals and wild plants.
Other names
by which these creatures are known, depending on the particular region, are
'Wind-Man', Abnuaaya,
Barmanu,
Bekk-Bok, Biabin-Guli, Gul-Biavan,
Guli-Avan, Golub-Yavan, Kaptar, Kra-Dhan,
Ksy-Giik
or Ksy Gyik, Mirygdy, Mulen and Voita.
Almas
Timeline:
1420 — The first
known printed reference on the Almas was made by a Bavarian named Hans Schiltberger.
He traveled through the Tien Shan mountains as a
captive to the Mongols. During
his imprisonment he kept a journal in which he wrote:
"In the mountains themselves live a wild people,
who have nothing in common with other human beings, a pelt covers the entire
body of these creatures. Only the hands and face are free of hair. They run
around in the hills like animals and eat foliage and grass and whatever else
they can find. The Lord of the Territory made Egidi a present of a couple of
forest people, a man and a woman, together with three untamed horses the
sizes of asses and all sorts of other animals which are not found in German
lands and which I cannot therefore put a name to."
1807-1867 —
Sightings reported at Khalkha, the Galbin Gobi and Dzakh Soudjin Gobi
as well as in Inner Mongolia; also at the Gourban Bogdin Gobi, Chardzyn
Gobi and the Alachan desert.
mid 1800s —
A wild reddish-black hair covered woman with both mongoloid and negroid features,
dark skin, broad body, large hands and feet and a sloped forehead, was
allegedly captured in the western Caucausus region of Abkhazia, and given the name Zana or Zanya.
According to accounts, she was very physically powerful, able to perform
feats of exceptional strength. While in captivity, Zana was passed on
through a succession of owners, including noblemen, and mothered several
children (she was reputed to have a fondness for wine, which supposedly
played a role in her pregnancies). According to the story, she had as many
as 6 offspring, by different men. Of these, the first 2 perished, due to
Zana washing them in cold water after birth. The other 4 survived with the help of the
local village women, who took care of the children. They were fairly normal, except for being dark and physically
powerful, and grew up accepted among the villagers. Each of these children reproduced and
allegedly had descendants throughout the region, up to nowadays. Zana died sometime in the
1880s.
1881 —
As almost to
confirm Hans Schiltberger's journal, a Russian named Nicholai Przewalski
rediscovered the horses the
sizes of asses and called them, of course, the "Przewalski
horses"; he also reported seeing 'wildmen' in Mongolia in 1871.
1906 — Badzar Baradiin, while on a caravan
at the desert of Alashan, reports seeing an "hairy
man standing on the top of a sand dune, outlined against the sunset." After being approached by the Imperial Russian Geographical
Society's president and asked not to publish the incident,
Badzar complies,
but relays the information
about his sighting to a personal friend, Mongolian professor Tsyben
Zhamtsarano,
who in turn begins a lengthy and determined investigation of the Almas.
1907-1940 —
Professor Tsyben Zhamtsarano compiles eyewitness' accounts and recruits an
artist to draw the likeness of the Almas based on the gathered
descriptions. He also plots sightings locations and dates on a map of the
region. After being imprisoned in Russia for a number of years, the
professor dies in 1940. His files vanish, and are rumored confiscated by
the authorities.
1910 — Russian zoologist V.
A. Khaklov reports meeting a Kazakh herdsman who claimed that he had once
observed a female Almas over a period of several weeks. She had been
captured by some farmers and chained to a mill, he said, and was later set
free. Her physical description contained nothing new, but Khaklov learned
rare details of her behavior. According to the herdsman, the creature was
usually quite silent, but she screeched and bared her teeth on being
approached; she also had a peculiar way of lying down, or sleeping,
squatting on her knees and elbows and resting her forehead on the ground
with her hands folding over the back of her head. She would eat only raw
meat, some vegetables and grain, and sometimes insects which she caught.
When drinking water, she would lap in animal fashion, or sometimes dip her
arm into the water and lick her fur.
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