About this episode
High up in the peaks of the Himalayas, a footprint in the snow baffles a mountaineer as he attempts to climb Everest for the first time. Pulling out his camera, he prepares to snap a shot, eyeing the horizon nervously before placing his icepick down alongside the print for scale and bringing the viewfinder up to his eye. In India, a tea planter reads about the photograph in a local newspaper and turns over the idea of going to hunt the creature that made the tracks, completely unaware that he was about to start what would eventually become a lifelong mission. On the other side of the world, a Texas oil baron reads about tales of adventure high up in the mountains of Nepal, a mystical land of incense and meditation, and dreams of uncovering the mysteries of the wilds. The trio was, it's safe to say, a fairly unlikely crew, but their fates would become intimately linked by a search that would carry them halfway around the world, hole up in damp caves for days on end and pull off one of the most unusual heists in all of history. It was a search for a myth, a symbol and a monster. It was a search for the Yeti. SOURCES Coleman, Loren (2002) Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology. Craven Street Books, Fresno, CA, USA. Taylor, Daniel C. (2018) Yeti: The Ecology of a Mystery. Oxford University Press, UK. Waddell, Laurance A. (1899) Among The Himalayas. Archibald Constable & Co. UK. Liechty, Mark (2017) Far Out: Countercultural Seekers and the Tourist Encounter in Nepal. The University of Chicago Press, IL, USA. McGarr, Paul M. (2013) The Cold War in South Asia: Britain, The United States & The Indian Subcontinent, 1945-1965. Cambridge University Press, UK. Princep, James (1832) The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Volume 1. Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta, India. Redfern, Nick (2016) The Bigfoot Book: The Encyclopaedia of Sasquatch, Yeti, and Cryptid Primates. Visible Ink Press, MI, USA. Dundee Courier (1951) Everest Has A Monster: Britons Find Footprints. Dundee Courier, Tuesday 04 December 1951, Page 3. Dundee, UK. Star Tribune (1921) Snowman! Star Tribune, Saturday 17 December 1921, p.20. Minneapolis, MN, USA. The Sphere (1954) The Abominable Snowman. Saturday 02 January 1954, p14. London, UK. The Press and Sun Bulletin (1961) Yeti Belongs in Legend Says Hillary, Disposing of Track, Scalp Evidence. The Press and Sun Bulletin, 10th January 1961, p.49. New York, USA ---------- For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072 or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices