Timeline Sightings of the yeti
Circa 326BC
Alexander the Great is said to have coveted a yeti during his conquest of the Indus Valley in 326 BC, but locals told him the creatures could not survive at the low altitudes.
1925
The first publicised report of a Yeti sighting came from a Greek photographer. N.A. Tombazi, a photographer and member of the Royal Geographical Society, provided one of the clearest descriptions, of a “figure in outline was exactly like a human being, walking upright … It showed up dark against the snow, and as far as I could make out, wore no clothes.”
1938-39
Heinrich Himmler is said to have had an interest in finding the creature, with Ernst Schaefer, a hunter and zoologist, sent out to Tibet investigate.
1939-45
During the Second World War, Sławomir Rawicz, a Polish soldier, who claims he escaped from a Siberian gulag and walked across the Himalayas to India, said his path was blocked, at one point, by two yetis.
1951
Photographs published of several large footprints, taken by Eric Shipton, a respected mountaineer, sparked renewed interest, though critics claim the prints were distorted by melting snow.
1953
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reported seeing large footprints while scaling Mount Everest. Sir Edmund later discounted the reports.
1950s
After one expedition, James Stewart, the actor, is said to have helped smuggle parts of the supposed remains of a yeti from India to London, by concealing them in his luggage.
1986
Reinhold Messner, a celebrated mountaineer, claimed to have had a face-to-face encounter with a yeti.
1986
Reinhold Messner, a celebrated mountaineer, claimed to have had a face-to-face encounter with a yeti.
