How a Soviet geologist hunted for BIGFOOT in the Far North

In the Fall of 1978, Soviet geologist and biologist Vladimir Pushkarev went missing in the Subpolar Urals. As his wife Elena later recounted, he was fascinated by the search for Bigfoot and collected evidence of its existence.   

Stories of the Far North people

Vladimir Pushkarev (1939-1978) was one of the most famous researchers involved in the ‘Soviet Sasquatch’ phenomenon in the north of the USSR. The geologist often visited the regions of Chukotka, Yakutia, Komi and Yamal, where he would hear stories about this elusive creature from the locals. 

They called Bigfoot in different ways: the Nenets – ‘Tungu’, the Khanty – ‘Kul’, the Komi – ‘Yag mort’ and the Evenks – ‘Chuchunaa’. 

“According to all the legends and stories, the ‘Chuchunaa’ came from the east, that is, from the side of Chukotka,” Pushkarev wrote in an article in the ‘Vokrug Sveta’ (‘Around the world’) magazine in 1975.  

He recorded all the testimonies and published them in his articles. 

“In the 1920s, the people of our village met a ‘chuchunaa’ when they were picking berries one day. He was also picking berries and with both hands stuffing them into his mouth and when he saw humans, he stood up to his full height. He was very tall and thin. They say he was over two meters tall. His very long arms hung down below his knees. He was dressed in reindeer skin and barefoot,” Pushkarev cited the story of Evenk woman Tatiana Zakharova in the ‘Technics of Youth’ magazine in 1978.  

“Two 'kuls' came out of the forest. One was tall, more than two meters, the other was shorter,” is how Luka Tynzyanov, a dweller in the Shuryshkansky district of Yamal described his meeting with this creature. “They were walking towards me and, as they approached, they suddenly looked at me, only their eyes sparked. They had no clothes at all, just thick, but short, fur on their bodies. 

Pushkarev conducted a survey among students in Salekhard (the capital of Yamal) who were born into nomadic families. He asked if they had met a 'wild man' in the tundra, what the Nenets called him, how they described him. All 60 participants in the survey wrote that they called him ‘Tungu’. Almost all of them were sure that he was real, some of them had even seen him themselves or their relatives had even met him.  

The descriptions were also similar: they were huge, thickly furred creatures with long arms and a strange gait. 

Scientific approach in the USSR

You will find legends about Bigfoot in the folklore of many peoples of the world. There are no reliable facts of its existence, but, in the 1950s in the USSR, there were scientists who studied this issue at the highest scientific level. 

One of the leading experts of hominology was anthropologist and historian Boris Porshnev. Upon his initiative, a commission of the Academy of Sciences was established in 1958 to study the question of Bigfoot. The scientist called it a “relict hominid”, suggesting that it represented a preserved version of prehistoric man. There a large expedition was assembled to the Pamirs, which, however, did not bring any results. Since then, the search for Bigfoot has been conducted only by enthusiasts. Like Porshnev, they consider this creature to be some offshoot of the human species. 

The most interesting thing is the places where they supposedly live. In the 2000s, Sergei Gashev, a doctor of biological sciences from Tyumen State University, drew up a map of where people reported Bigfoot sightings. Although they were spotted even in the Moscow region, there were especially many testimonies in Yamal, above the Arctic Circle. This is where Pushkarev spent his last days. 

The last expedition

Every summer, Pushkarev went on expeditions to the Far North, where he communicated with the locals, but he had never personally encountered Bigfoot. And so, in October 1978, he went on what would be his last expedition to Yamal. As eyewitnesses recalled, he was hastily packing and was poorly equipped for this journey. 

“From Salekhard, he reached the village of Muzhi and, from there, he sailed with a guide on a boat for some time, then sent him back and himself reached the lake, which is located on the border with the Khanty-Mansiyskiy Okrug,” wrote his wife.   

Already in November-December she went in search of him. In the area of his expedition, she and other rescuers found a sleeping bag and personal belongings, but no trace of the scientist. He had disappeared without a trace.