RICHARD FREEMAN: YETI SIGHTED AT ZALUK, SIKKIM IN 2004

This is taken verbatim from the Proud to be a Sikkimese blog http://sikhim.blogspot.com/2009/02/yeti-sighted-at-zaluk-sikkim-in-2004.html YETI SIGHTED AT ZALUK, SIKKIM IN 2004 BY SHITAL PRADHAN I was at Zaluk last friday, the day most of the couples across the globe was busy celebrating Valentine Day. More or less an exciting adventure was awaiting us when we came to know that there was a Yeti sighting at this remote place in 2004 on the month of April. Zaluk is a small place where the population is below 300 and the world famous Changu Lake is an hour and half drive from Rongli Bazaar. We were five member team myself, Praveen, Rocky, Swarup and Beren. The video above is a short interview i took where the prime eye witness Nar Bhadhur Sunar confirms that he along with other 10 labourers and a GREF Officer had came across a Yeti in the April of 2004 while going for the daily work. Sunar a farmer now was a working as a baidar then. They were on a vehicle and the "animal man" as he called was on the other side of the road along the Valley walking on two feets along the bushes of pareng ( a bamboo variety). The distance between them was around 200 to 250 metre. They saw the back portion of the animal for over half an hour and suddenly it vanished around the bushes. It was noted that for over few days the army helicopter did had a vain search over that particular region but nothing more could be known. Such incident was not known till then and also not heard after that but the people of Zaluk also has confirmed that on particular times they do hear of strange voices coming from the nearby valley. Well the people who saw it claims it to be a "Sokpa" as Yeti is better called in this part of land. For them that animal was not a bear as it is commonly found in that region and they could identity with it. Another interesting part of the story is that after few days of the incident the villagers did found a foot steps on the marshy land near the over flowing water that were measured something like "from an elbow joint to a finger tip" long. Nar Bhadhur Sunar told a water pipes was recovered by the villagers along the bushes inside the forest that was crushed and thrown away from the water source that no man or any other animal could do it. We talked with Jeena Chettri, daughter of Nar Bhadhur Sunar who added that the animal was dragging his feet as such they could not realized whether the animal had its feet the opposite side as it is normally believed. The "thing" had black hair covered all over the body and the length of the hair was as such it looked as if a women had let free her hair, told Jeena in her own words. Those GREF workers whistled and made sound to that animal that it hurried inside the bushes, she added. Well it is too early to say that the animal man those people claimed was not the mysterious Yeti that the whole world is searching for. I had gone through the wrinkled face and the piercing eye of the man who was in his mid sixties and do believe in his word that the thing he saw along with his daughter and his fellow workers was a Yeti. I do believe him that he could differentiate a bear from an animal they had never seen before that they believed look more like a human.