Cryptomundo » Exclusive from Josh Gates on Yeti Tracks

Exclusive from Josh Gates on Yeti Tracks

Posted by: Loren Coleman on December 4th, 2007

new yeti cast

Joshua Gates (R) displaying alleged footprint of Yeti.

Updated with new video. See at bottom.

On this way back from Nepal, Josh has deplaned in Zanzibar and written a quick report for us here.

Meanwhile, my coauthor Patrick appeared on Fox National News to talk about our field guide’s sense of these new Yeti reports in the broader sense of the Abominable Snowmen accounts from the area. (I had to decline the appearance due to emergency dental surgery that had been prescheduled. Time for a nap for me, but I wanted to post these important breaking developments.)

Here’s word from Josh Gates:

Loren,

Here is my take on things for your Cryptomundo readers:

Hello from Zanzibar.

My team and I have arrived here after a long but amazing two weeks of research in the Himalayas in search of the truth behind the Yeti legend.

I’m very excited about our time in Nepal. The general Western image of the Yeti is a narrow one (the abominable snowman), and to have the opportunity to experience the diverse and profound views of this animal from the varying perspectives of the Nepalese people is a discovery in and of itself.

Both feared and revered, there is no doubt in my mind that a great number of people, often separated by vast geographical boundaries, are having real and fundamentally similar experiences in the Himalayas that have not been fully accounted for.

As to whether or not the Yeti is real as we envision it, I think it’s more than safe to say that with thousands of years of history and legend surrounding this creature, it’s a complicated task to separate the zoology from the mythology, but that’s exactly what needs to be done.

We are all overwhelmed and excited at the discovery of this print and look forward to having it analyzed by specialists who should have a chance to weigh in on this issue. More than anything, I think this print reminds us that beyond the legend, there is something very real here that needs to be more fully explored.

Our team has, for the first time, documented the discovery, casting, and extraction of a large, unexplainable print - a process which will allow our viewers to become a part of our exploration and get them engaged with the search for one of the most enduring mysteries of the cryptozoological world.

In terms of the assertions that the print bears a striking resemblance to the one discovered in Johor, Malaysia, it does not. There are a few similarities that are worth noting: The splayed toes and wide ball of the foot are similar to the Johor print. However, it’s there that the similarities end.

One of the fundamentally troubling things about the Johor print has always been that, anatomically, it’s difficult to account for. The large toe is strangely jutted out to the side, and the general curvature of the foot seems to be almost reversed with what we would expect.

Josh Gates Finds Yeti Prints Near Everest

Josh Gates is shown above with the Yeti footprint cast, dated December 1, 2007, from his Nepal expedition.

This print is smaller and, to me, appears to be a more viable looking. Also, as it was found in a series - there are two additional impressions which, in situ, show clear signs of weight distribution and movement across the muddy expanse. Once we’re able to present the series of prints and show how they were discovered, I think most of your readers will agree that these are uniquely different than the single print found in Malaysia.

On a separate note, if a hundred humans stepped in the same track of mud, most of the prints would look largely the same. When we took the Johor print to a specialist in evolutionary morphology, I was amazed at the number of similarly featured prints in his lab. Having said that, this is a unique looking print. The few photos that have been released of it do not do it justice.

It’s also important for me to add that the routing of our investigations in the Himalayas were largely improvised, based on eyewitnesses and experts and that, as the print was first spotted by one of our Nepalese support crew, the idea that the prints were fabricated by someone in advance of our group is, as we see it, not a viable explanation.

We were in a very remote area and chose the river valley that we trekked down in the moment, which would not offer anyone the time to pull off what would be an elaborate hoax. Also, we start our cameras at the beginning of the night and roll continuously - fully documenting our trek and discovery.

I hope this sheds a bit more light on things and we look forward to being in touch soon with more information from the field.Cheers, Josh.

Josh Gates Finds Yeti Prints Near Everest

Updated with new video from Asian news conference.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Abominable Snowman, Artifacts, Breaking News, CryptoZoo News, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptotourism, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Expedition Reports, Footprint Evidence, Forensic Science, Malaysian Bigfoot, Photos, Pop Culture, Television, Yeti. You can follow responses via our RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is not allowed.

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29 Responses to “Exclusive from Josh Gates on Yeti Tracks”

sschaper responds: December 4th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
So the earlier image published as being the yeti cast, was actually of the Johor cast. I had wondered if that isn’t the case.

I can see in the new pic that the cast is a different one, and I wonder how closely it resembles the “three-toed” tracks from the Big Thicket area.

While it almost reads like a press release (it probably is partly one, Josh Gates no doubt has contractual obligations on what he can and cannot say outside of the actual show) it was excellent of him to write Cryptomundo - and apparently he has been reading it.

Kudos.
Benjamin Radford responds: December 4th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Am I the only one less than impressed with this? Gates and his TV crew fly in to tape a show, spend only a week or two in Nepal, find only one complete print they think is odd, call the press claiming it’s a Yeti print, and head home?

“Our team has, for the first time, documented the discovery, casting, and extraction of a large, unexplainable print”

Really? This is the first time anyone has documented the discovery, casting, and extraction of a large “unexplainable” print?

And just because Josh doesn’t know what made the print, it’s “unexplainable”? Wow! I guess Josh is such an expert that if he can’t explain it, then no one can. This is the sort of superficial pseudo-investigation that gives cryptozoology a bad name.
sasquatch responds: December 4th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I guess Fox News gave Josh a rash of_ this morning. My wife told me about it. I don’t think Mr. Radford needs much help in giving Cryptozoology a bad name tho.
Ceroill responds: December 4th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Interesting. Thanks for the update.
Benjamin Radford responds: December 4th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
“I don’t think Mr. Radford needs much help in giving Cryptozoology a bad name tho.”

Bringing science and an alternative point of view is hardly giving cryptozoology a bad name. I’ve done more for cryptozoology than most people on this Web site, never ridiculing it and giving it legitimacy. I’ve also made more contributions to cryptozoolgy than most here.
squatch-toba responds: December 4th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I have to agree with Benjamin Radford & Sasquatch on this one. Something smells fishy about this. By the way, lots of people have found “large, unexplainable prints”…..hhhhmmmmmm.
btgoss responds: December 4th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
I have been trying to work up the nerve to leave what some might feel are negative comments about Josh Gates for at least a week, and the other questions in the post give me hope that my comments may be seen as legit and not simple negative.

Josh Gates is an actor/photographer who happens to have a degree in archeology. I don’t get the feeling that science is his number one concern. I think having a highly rated show is number one. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.) However unless he interviews a Yeti live on camera, with a priest as a witness (a joke from the used car commercial he is in now…) I just cannot get excited about anything he is connected with. That is just the opinion of this lurker.
Loren Coleman responds: December 4th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Updated with new video.
Lee Pierce responds: December 4th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Josh Gates and a buck will get you a cup of coffee at Mickey D’s. I agree with btgoss. Anybody that hangs a chicken in a tree to catch a dinosaur and then as soon as he hears a sound in the brush rushes out of hiding to inspect the chicken that he has on camera is an actor not a serious Cryptozoologist.
bill green responds: December 4th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
hey loren, your very welcome for posting this new update article about the yeti footprints. yes fox news channel been covering this story for the past 2 days. im sure other news networks are as well. thanks bill green
cryptidsrus responds: December 4th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
My cup of coffee at Mickey D’s—

(In “honor” of Lee Pierce)—

How would you expect Gates to react?
That’s all I want to know.
I’m not an expert on cryptozoology, but I tend to believe Loren that there was no “deception” involved. Now whether this has been botched, probably.

BTGOSS—

At least admit this is worth investigating—if only to get to the bottom of what actually happened here.
Anything else is condescending, patronizing b—s–t coming from you, LEEPIERCE, and BENJAMIN RADFORD.
cryptidsrus responds: December 4th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
BENJAMIN RADFORD—

Are YOU an expert on the YETI?

If so, then why not go over there and “legitimize” the expedition?

Gates may not be an “expert” but until we get an expedition with zoologists, wildlife biologists and the like to go over to Himalaya and take this stuff seriously (like it should be)—we will have to do with these “experts.”
Benjamin Radford responds: December 4th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
“BENJAMIN RADFORD—
Are YOU an expert on the YETI?
If so, then why not go over there and “legitimize” the expedition?”

In fact, I am much more of an expert on the Yeti than Gates is…. while Gates has been busy pursuing his TV career over the last decade, I’ve been doing real investigation and making contributions to cryptozoology.

I have nothing against Gates, he seems like a nice guy, but he thinks he can do a real investigation in a week? My investigation of the Lake Champlain monster took several months.

And you should check your facts before you get snippy, cryptidsrus– I have always said cryptids should be taken seriously and are worth investigating.
olejason responds: December 4th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
No, he isn’t a serious ‘researcher’ and no he doesn’t have any education in zoology or biology but I would venture to say the great majority of people perusing the cryptid sites do not either.

Perhaps it’s unfortunate that, because of the tv show, cryptozoology can get a bad name in the press but it already gets a pretty bad rap most of the time.

I guess I’m pretty indifferent about the whole thing. Do I think they found something significant? Not really. Am I somehow offended or appalled by the way the production goes about it’s business? Not really.

The show is for pure entertainment, not serious committed research. Serious research more than likely wouldn’t make good tv.
EastTexan responds: December 4th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Loren - thanks for the updated information.
It will be interesting to see the video footage Josh Gates mentions in his article and have a comparison of this cast with others, since it is of a somewhat unusual shape. Then maybe we will be on a little better ground as to which way this discovery takes the search.
thehoch responds: December 5th, 2007 at 1:51 am
No offense to anyone on here, as everyone’s opinions have validity BUT…..
I am so sick of uppity high brow PHD types who think their contributions are mightier because they take things more seriously.

Are you serious? Get a grip! While Josh is an actor of sorts, he has a job, which allows him to go out and look for Cryptids. His job demands that he makes the search for these creatures interesting, hence is dramatic presence. Overall, I think he does a good job.

But my point is that your definition of “contribution” is exactly that…Your definition. If someone wants to take a week to search for a creature instead of a month, so be it. I wish that Josh was allowed to hang out for several weeks, it does make sense, but at the very least, his attempts is just that an attempt.

Please stop your critical and arrogant rants just because others don’t pass your litmus test.

I for one enjoy Destination Truth and I think it’s doing a lot of good to open others eyes to our environment and the creatures that live within them.
Atticus responds: December 5th, 2007 at 2:53 am
I’m with Thehoch on this.

Any TV show strives for one thing: ratings.Without them, the show wouldn’t exist.

What type of ratings would the show get when they don’t find anything at all? Many viewers may be entranced by what is going on but, in the end, they would feel a major letdown if nothing was found.
mrbf2007 responds: December 5th, 2007 at 5:01 am
I for one enjoy Mr. Radford’s contributions to the cryptozoology debate, and I do not see why some have to get so upset with him every time he expresses an opinion. Sure, he is a skeptic, but he is much more informed than most skeptics, who seem to be just scoftics and not true skeptics. I think he is right-on with this story myself. Mr. Radford, more power to you, sir.
jamesrav responds: December 5th, 2007 at 7:17 am
Minor point, and I may be wrong, but are Joshua Gates and Josh Gates different people (brothers?), because the top person (Joshua) and ‘Josh Gates’ from farther down appear to look very different. Maybe just lucky, we (believers) all agree P & G were lucky, so why not this ‘pro-monster’ TV show? However, my gut feeling that the producers likely say “don’t come back without something interesting” makes it a little suspect.
wrath of the real responds: December 5th, 2007 at 10:47 am
WOW……Josh Gates is not a zoologist or a biologist, but he claims to have found and cast prints from a likely unknown hominoid in 2 different locations. Just my 2 cents but he has brought more to my eye than Mr Radford ever has. So he gets 2 weeks to do an investigation, and finds evidence. (whether it is real is up for debate) However like everyone said this is for a tv show that requires ratings. How the hell do we know he or his crew were not out there for a month and say it is a week. Listen I am not out to say either side of this argument over Gates legitimacy has better ground. And thank you Mr Radford for all your “contributions”. But lets take this for what it is. A print that is getting cryptozoology “good” media. Eventually the scientific world is going to get fed up and organize the biggest investigation we have ever seen to either prove or disprove these claims. And when that happens we will have our truth. So let the media do its thing, and us do ours. It will come out “smelling like roses in the end”. Thank you.
AlbertaSasquatch responds: December 5th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Just to make a point, I have watched many episodes of Destination Truth and Josh and his team rarely find anything of interest.

But its still interesting to see him at least try to find, prove or disprove some of the cryptids he has been looking for since this show started. Actually I have never seen him find any evidence except the Johor footprint and not this nepalese footprint. So I really don’t think the finds were to boost his tv show ratings. Just my two cents.
Lee Pierce responds: December 5th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Some people take blogs way too seriously. Anyone who has watched “Destination Truth” has to realize that it is for entertainment only. Josh Gates is a nice looking guy with a bit of charisma and I wish I had his job (but I’m ugly with no charisma). I hope he finds some real evidence on any cryptid. It would be outstanding and he and his crew would deserve monumental praise. It would also be an incredible accident.
mystery_man responds: December 6th, 2007 at 3:39 am
I do think the whole thing has played on the “mystery” and “unexplained” to the hilt, but I suppose that’s TV for you. I don’t think these shows can possibly expect to do an in-depth, scientific treatment of the subject matter in the time they have and still maintain viewer interest. Unfortunately, it seems not everyone who watches these shows is necessarily heavily into cryptozoology or that bothered about the science involved.

I too am a bit disappointed, as others are here, that so much weight would be given to what to me looks like a rather inconclusive print. I am not a big fan of bold proclamations or assumptions that may not be based on the soundest evidence, nor the excited pursuit of things going bump in the night. I don’t really think Josh is intentionally hoaxing, but perhaps he is being a bit too quick to rush to make more of these prints than they perhaps warrant. I personally would not say that they are “unexplainable” or of a definite yeti at this time. But hey, it makes for good copy.

Despite what I see to be a lacking in any real thorough, concrete scientific approach to these phenomena, the show is useful in that it is raising awareness and interest in cryptozoology, bringing these stories to people who may not know anything about the things presented. As far as I’m concerned, that counts for something.
dogu4 responds: December 6th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Hear, hear!
Benjamin Radford responds: February 13th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Hey everybody…

Still waiting for Josh Gates to provide us with the DNA analysis from his track… When’s it coming? Anytime soon?

Or was this just a publicity stunt? To quote a slogan from the 1980s: “Where’s the beef?”
Loren Coleman responds: February 13th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Come on, Ben. You are setting up a weak argument for your outrage here. You know as well as the next person that DNA results and other evidence findings for documentary-funded programs are held until the specific episodes are aired.
Benjamin Radford responds: February 13th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Loren says: “DNA results and other evidence findings for documentary-funded programs are held until the specific episodes are aired.”

You’re right, Loren. I had forgotten that the series is ongoing and the context of the show.

Still, if it really is the long-awaited DNA evidential proof of the Yeti, the DNA results should be made public immediately, as it will rewrite history. This evidence, if it is what Gates claims it is, should be reported in the New York Times and in science journals around the world. It should not be held hostage to an airdate for a TV show.

Unless, of course, this turns out to be only the latest in a long series of inconclusive analyses…
Loren Coleman responds: February 13th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Once again, I will re-state what I’ve noted hundreds of times: All DNA results from the analyses of Yeti, Bigfoot, and other unknown hominoid samples are bound to come back “inconclusive,” or “near human but not human,” or “primate, species unknown,” until a type specimen of a new hominoid species is available through a body or live specimen.

So that’s why documentary companies, who are more interested in popular science, entertainment and ratings, versus mainstream anthropology, will always hold off until their air dates to broadcast results, which, of course, must be “inconclusive” without the body at hand (dead or alive).

Any outrage at such realities is misplaced.
starbuckle responds: January 30th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Josh is without talent and just a typical idiot. His voice is annoyingly nasal and his acting, while pretending to find mysterious creatures, is awful. He could care less about what he’s supposed to be looking for, and he’s definitely no outdoors-man as he claims. Just a buffoon with a camera in his face. It’s actually pretty sad. A Cub Scout would be more effective.

This is just the same formula that “Most Haunted” uses. One more useless show to help you become hypnotized by your television. Don’t even bother with this one.

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