Man Beasts and Beast Men

[From “Encounters #3”. 1996.]

Every culture on Earth has its legends about man-beasts; shambling, hairy, humanoid figures who wander purposefully through the wilder parts of the countryside. The people of Nepal, Tibet and Northern India, believe unequivocally in the yeti, the 'abominable snow-man' of the Himalayan mountains (1). These creatures have been seen many times well within living memory. There has never been a conclusive photograph, many of the most famous pictures of footprints in the snow have turned out either to be fakes or misidentifications of well known phenomena (2), and all the so-called yeti 'scalps' have turned out to be man made artefacts, cunningly fashioned from the pelts of local domestic livestock (3). Many scientists, however still believe that 'the abominable snowman is a living, flesh-and-blood creature.

In the late 1950's Belgian zoologist Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans, defined the nascent science of Cryptozoology - the study of mysterious, or 'hidden' animals. He proposed a scientific name for the yeti, and called it Dinanthropoides nivalis, - the giant ape of the snows (4). Several quite convincing theories which have been promulgated to explain its identity. One theory is that in parts of Nepal and Tibet there is a relict population of a long extinct animal related to the Orang Utan. Another, is that the yetis are nothing but wandering religious hermits, who avoid contact with other people to preserve their sense of spiritual harmony It has been suggested that it is an evolved descendant of an extinct giant primate called Gigantopithecus first described after giant teeth were discovered in an apothecary's shop in Hong Kong by Dutch zoologist, Ralph Von Koenigswald shortly before the second world war. (5). Yeti-like creatures have been seen in North-America for centuries. The Native Americans were familiar with the creature, that some of them called 'Sasquatch'. It has been suggested that these animals are close relatives of the yeti, which crossed to North America from mainland Asia via the long-submerged land bridge across the Bering Straits (6).

But there also seems to be a second unknown primate in North America. In the southern states of the USA there are recurrent reports of chimpanzee-like creatures, known popularly as 'skunk-apes'. US cryptozoologist Loren Coleman has suggested that these are evolved descendants of an extinct ape called Dryopithecus. There are many reputable zoologists prepared, at least to consider his hypothesis. (7). Unfortunately, there is no evidence to suggest that Dryopithecus - or Oak Ape - so called because the fossils were all found in areas that had been covered in deciduous forests, ever existed in North America!

The original inhabitants of what is now Queensland in north-west Australia, believe in a man-beast that they called 'the yowie'. Their folklore refers to yowies as being as real as the kangaroos, wombats and thylacines that the prehistoric artists painted on the walls of caves and secret, holy places. (8). There are also cave paintings of shambling, gorilla like creatures, which the native Australians, unerringly identify as yowies. Although these 'creatures' are still seen occasionally in the wilder parts of the Queensland 'bush', the scientific community is divided on the veracity of the reports. There are a number of reasons behind this controversy.

The main problem is, that if it does exist as a living creature, how did it get to Australia in the first place? Although Australia was once connected to mainland Asia, the land bridge ceased to exist about 64,000,000 years ago (9). This was many years before even the most primitive primates evolved. Apart from a few small rodents (brought by man) and bats (which flew), and some long extinct, and little known animals, like Tingamarra, a tree-shrew like creature from the Eocene which was found in fossil form at Riversleigh in about 1992, (10), all the mammals in Australia are Marsupials, or the even more primitive egg-laying Monotremes. Man is a relatively recent arrival, having colonised the virgin continent in crude boats across the sea from what is now Indonesia (11).

The eyewitness reports suggest that even if yowies are human it seems unlikely that they could have had the ability to build the boats essential for them to have arrived in Australia. It has, however, been suggested that the yowie is a de-evolved human. This theory would mean that the yowie shared the same ancestors as the native Australians of today, but that for sociological and/or physiological reasons, they abandoned the complex social structures of tribal existence, and now live as 'wild men'. If, however, the yowie is an ape, the same question arises. How did it get there? The nearest anthropoid apes, geographically speaking are the Orang Utan's of Java and Sumatra (12). It seems inconceivable that these apes could swim such a distance across shark infested waters. It is almost equally unlikely that the earliest human settlers in Australia, or indeed any subsequent visitors, should have taken anthropoid apes along with them as 'travelling companions'. For these reasons the theory that the yowie is an unknown species of non-human primate, which is, surprisingly, beloved of many researchers, seems unlikely to say the least.

Possibly the most exciting, and certainly one of the most plausible explanations for the riddle of the Australian man-beasts is that it isn't a primate at all! Through the marvel of evolutionary divergence, marsupial mammals have evolved to fill every ecological niche on the continent. The grazing animals such as deer, and antelope, of Africa, Asia, America and Europe have been replaced by kangaroos and wallabies. The ecological niche left unfilled by the larger carnivores like wolves and big cats has been filled by animals such as the Tasmanian Wolf, and the recently extinct (in palaeontological terms at least) Thylacoleo - or marsupial lion (13). One of the only niches left, apparently vacant, is that filled over the rest of the world by bears. Logic dictates that the discovery of a bipedal, omnivorous, marsupial bear-like creature would not, in zoological terms at least, be that surprising, although, of course, it would make headline news across the world (14).

There is another group of so-called 'man beasts', and these are ones that have been unjustly ignored by most cryptozoologists. Whereas logical scientific explanations have been proffered for all the animals discussed above, there are some that are not so easily explained. The Himalayan mountains, the Australian 'outback', and the vast forests of the north-western United States are relatively unexplored, and whilst they have been mapped and visited many times there are still places where large animals could live, relatively free from fear of detection. Some man beasts sightings take place in parts of the world where the putative existence of large primates is far more improbable. There have even been sightings in various parts of the British Isles. For the purposes of this article I would like to ignore the 'man-beast' sightings that have taken place in England, Ireland and Wales, in order to concentrate on a selection of Scottish reports.

One particularly intriguing series of records comes from the area around Torphins, near Aberdeen and took place in 1993 or 1994. Three young men, who have asked to remain anonymous were walking along a wide track through a forestry plantation when they encountered, what, if this sighting had occurred in the USA, we would have no compunction in identifying as a 'bigfoot'. One of the youths saw a dark human-shaped figure run across the track, from the left hand side to the right two hundred yards in front of them. He felt an immediate sense of terror and foreboding, but his friends saw nothing. They were teasing him and accusing him of having made up the whole incident, when all three saw a face, that they afterwards described as being "human...but not human", peering out at them from between the branches of the fir trees. One of them threw a stone in the general direction of this apparition, and the creature disappeared (15).

As one of this country’s few working cryptozoologists I am quite prepared to accept the possibility that various species of undiscovered primate, whether monkey, anthropoid-ape, or even hominid, await discovery in various far flung parts of the world. I am happy to consider each of the quasi-scientific hypotheses given earlier in this article as explanations for the yeti, yowie and bigfoot phenomena, in a favourable light. To ask me to believe that a hitherto undiscovered species of primate is lurking anywhere in Europe, let alone in the wilds of Scotland is asking me to suspend belief to an unacceptable degree. We must look for alternative rationalisations of these phenomena.

The three young men described above had a second encounter with the same (or a very similar) creature, a few weeks later. They were driving into the town of Torphins, about two miles away from the site of their first experience, when a large, dark and hairy figure appeared at the side of the road. It began to run up the road behind them and was soon running level with the car. What was particularly surprising was that although the figure was running at a speed which sometimes approached forty five miles an hour, it did not seem to be fatigued. At one point the 'creature' stared into the car at the three youths, with an inquisitive expression, but after about five minutes it stopped, abruptly in the middle of the road, leaving the three friends to carry on, feeling somewhat flustered, with their journey. One of the three who have asked to remain anonymous, claimed later that a female friend of his, living in a secluded cottage has twice seen a dark, hairy figure standing in the forest watching her cottage, before slinking away into the undergrowth (16).

The 'running man' is a fairly familiar figure in Scottish folklore. It is, I believe, significant that these sightings are still being made today. One particularly interesting sighting, by Lothian investigator David Coleman was reported in the June issue of Encounters, (17), and appears to be related to some of the UFO activity that has been reported in Scotland in recent years. Another well attested, and very similar phenomenon, is 'Jack the Runner', a phantom seen regularly in the drive of Glamis Castle (18), the site of yet another, well known semi-legendary monster. Glamis Castle in Angus, which apart from being the ancestral home of the Queen Mother is also the site for one of Scotland's best known mystery humanoids; the monster of Glamis Castle. He is supposed to have been the hideously deformed heir to the Bowes-Lyon family who was, according to popular rumour, born in about 1800, and died as recently as 1921. He is supposed to look like 'an enormous flabby egg', having no neck and only minute arms and legs (19). His physical shortcomings are made up for by his immense physical strength, and according to some accounts his propensity for evil. There is a family 'secret' concerning the monster, which is only told to the male heir of the Bowes-Lyon family when they attain majority. According to Peter Underwood, however: "The present Lord Strathmore knows nothing about the monster, presumably because the creature was dead when he reached his majority, but he always felt that there was a corpse or coffin bricked up behind the walls" (20).

Perhaps the best known apparition of a Scottish 'man-beast' is 'The Big Grey Man of Ben McDhui' (21). This yeti-like creature has been reported on many occasions over the past hundred years or so. A similar entity has been reported from Dundonald Hill in Ayrshire (22). I have already given my reasons for rejecting any suggestion that these reports are of a hitherto unrecognised species of Scottish primate. Indeed, even supposing that such a species were zoologically and ecologically feasible, the more detailed reports, like that of David Coleman (23), suggest that something less tangible than an unknown animal is at work.

It is one of the ironies about the hunt for 'unknown' animals that many of the 'animals' that we spend our lives and careers looking for are not, in fact, living creatures. At least not in the way that most people understand the term. Janet and Colin Bord described such phenomena as "Animals that Aren't" (24). I have dubbed them "Zooform Phenomena". I have written elsewhere of the classification of such phenomena into six distinct, and easily recognisable categories. (25). One of these categories was named, (again by Janet and Colin Bord) 'Big Hairy Men' or BHM's (26), Whilst it is almost certain that there are no flesh and blood man-beasts roaming the wilds of Scotland, reports such as the one I have quoted suggest that the presence of zooform BHM's is indisputable.

For reasons of space, I have chosen to omit the man-beasts seen, even today, across Africa (27), in what used to be Soviet Central Asia (28), and in the mountains of China (29). It seems eminently likely that there are, indeed new species of anthropoid ape awaiting discovery. It is also a probability that there are populations of pre-human hominids, living undetected in the wilder parts of the world. It is impossible, however to try and catalogue all the sightings of 'man-beasts', and indeed other mystery animals that are seen every year, purely within zoological terms of reference. Some are undoubtedly 'real' animals, (whatever that means), and will eventually be discovered, and either shot, stuffed and put in a glass case in some museum, or caged, like King Kong, and put on display in a theme park somewhere as proof of our own species' mastery over the forces of nature. In the darker places, however, zooform phenomena like Scotland's own 'bigfoot' will continue to be seen, acting as a reminder to our own, supremely egotistical and unpleasant species, that we still don't understand all the secrets of the universe and that some mysteries are unlikely ever to be solved!

WCSRO, 2006.