Comments on: Nepal Yeti Museum

By: Fhqwhgads

Fhqwhgads — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:23:33 +0000

Well, the museum is no doubt trying to appeal to foreign tourists; note that all the labels appear to be in English. Many of the tourists will expect a Yeti, so a Yeti is there. Others visitors will feel a sense of superiority to the “superstitious natives”, so for them there is the reassurance that “Of course, all educated people (that’s you and me, dear tourist) know that it’s really just a brown bear.”

By: Jonathan Poulsen

Jonathan Poulsen — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:12:35 +0000

I was under the impression that acceptance of the Yeti’s existence was universal among residents of Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan. Evidently, this is not so. Also ‘accepted fact’? Even if a single person denies this, it’s no longer an entirely accepted fact, because as you and I both know, scores of people around the globe support the existence of the Yeti.

By: Fhqwhgads

Fhqwhgads — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:09:25 +0000

I’d like to know how much research they had done before making that conclusion. Even cryptozoologists who spend a life time working on claims of the Yeti don’t know the answer for sure, yet these museum curators who haven’t heard the word ‘meh-teh’ yet seem to know it all right off the bat! In short, they should have at least kept it open as a possibility.

Where do you get that they “haven’t yard the word ‘meh-teh’”? Nothing in Loren’s writeup suggests that this museum is operated by anyone but the Nepalese themselves. When it comes to knowing the local names and, crucially, understanding the culture that describes the Yeti, I’ll presume the locals in Nepal to know more than anyone reading this blog from America (or Canada, or the UK, etc.).

Its important to keep in mind that the Yeti of Western imagination, the Yeti of Himalayan imagination, and the animal(s) described as being Yeti are different even if related things. (Heck, the lion, the fox, and even the dog in our stories are different from the animals themselves. Also it’s a sure thing that brown bears have been mistaken for Bigfoot, since in fact stumps have been mistaken for Bigfoot.)

By: Jonathan Poulsen

Jonathan Poulsen — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:08:11 +0000

By: Fhqwhgads

Fhqwhgads — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:34:14 +0000

Even if the Yeti really *is* just the brown bear, it’s not out of line to put up the clearly non-bear statue. That is to say, the Yeti is not the brown bear, but it may be a creature of legend inspired by the brown bear. This is sort of like the case with Robin Hood; he may have been inspired by an historical person, but by now he is a fictional literary figure. I’d say the same thing is true of the Kraken and he giant squid.

If Bigfoot ever is confirmed and studied, I wonder how similar he will turn out to be to what cryptozoologists expect?

By: Ulysses

Ulysses — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:24:13 +0000

A Brown Bear ? That would be the conclusion of many but I guess it depends on who put that sign up! I know we can’t look at the world the people from outside the US as intellectual inferiors with dimished capacities for thinking on their own as our antiquated Imperialistic ideas might think. It’s one opinoin from one person or group in Nepal but I wonder ; Why put up the ” Yeti ” statue at all ? Why not a bear ? Why ? Because iit sells ! Tourist money is good money . Still , I would like to think there is more there than people conclude to be untrue . I want to believe !