Many independent researchers made their way into the remote areas of Russia; some with the intention of studying the strange man-like, hairy creatures, and others who ran across them while traveling or while conducting their other research.

K.A. Satunin was a leading student of vertebrates in the Caucasus. He had an accidental encounter in the Talyish Mountains. He discovered a female "Biaban-Guli", which was the name used by the southern Caucasus people. When he reached a nearby settlement, he tried to obtain more information on these hairy, man-like animals who appeared unable to speak.

In 1959, Y.I. Merezhinski was a senior lecturer in Anthropology and Ethnography at Kiev University. While in Azerbaijan, he was taken to a place where a "Kaptar" was known to come to drink.  He had promised his guide that he would only photograph it but encountered anger when he instead attempted to shoot it. His shot missed and his guide was no longer helpful. The creature was thin and its body was covered in hair. This matched the descriptions the local people had given.

Jumping back in history, N.A. Baikov, an eminent zoologist, met with a Manchurian hunter in 1914. The hunter was accompanied by an assistant, a "half-man", hairy being who walked stooped over, and was unable to talk. Although Baikov expressed amazement at seeing such a creature, he did not give any more detail about it. However, the basic description he did give seems to match the descriptions of the "wild men" of the area.

A partial list of quick sightings and encounters include :

1941: V.S. Karapetian, a physician, examined a male "wild man" in Daghestan.

1925: M.S. Topilski, an army general, described in detail an examination made of a 'wild man' accidentally killed in the Pamirs. (this report in detail next post).

1937: Marshal P.S. Rybalko, commanding an army unit in Sinkiang reported catching a "wild man" in the marshes.

1937: G.N. Kolpashnikov, a soldier, saw and described two "wild men" that had been accidentally killed by a sentry.

1906: B. Baradin, an explorer from St. Petersburg, encountered a creature at close range during an expedition.

1905: Knight, a British 'adventurer' while returning from Tibet had a sighting.

1906: H.J. Elwes, a British botanist, also had a sighting.

1925: Tombazi, an Italian topographer saw a 'wild man' in the mountains of Sikkim.

1957: A.G. Pronin, a hydrologist, reported his sighting while in the Pamirs.

1942: M.M. Bespalko, an artist, also had a sighting in the Pamirs.

1934: B.M. Zdorik, a geologist, saw one sound asleep in the mountains of Tajikistan.

1948: M.A. Stronin, geologist, Tien Shans region. It seemed to become frightened and ran across a nearby slope.

1948: A.P. Agafanov, geological engineer, while in Tien Shans, was shown a family relic - a cut-off and dried-out hand of a 'wild man'. The back of the hand was covered with brown hair.

1954: Professor Hoy Vai-Loo, a Chinese historian, claimed to have captured a kind of "wild man" while in a mountain village in the Shansi province. He used the creature for simple labor.

1950: N.Y. Serikova, a Russian livestock specialist, had just started his new job in the Karbarda, Caucasus, and had not yet heard any local stories of the "Almasti".  He had no idea what he witnessed from a short distance, but his detailed description identified it as one of the Almasti.

Next post: Major General Mikhail Topilski