Kemerovo's Association with the Yeti Continues: Meet the Coal Miners Mascot

Competition-winning illustration of Shorya coal miners mascot 

"The scientific community has no trust in such studies and has not even bothered to take a look at the materials collected."  -- Igor Burtsev 

"According to Burtsev, Shorya, which is a part of the Altai coalmining system is where the snowman reproduces..." -- Voice of Russia

You can read about the Kemerovo region's association with the yeti in our previous Kemerovo Posts. We also have a few post on Igor Burtsev.

While we have speculated that the association to Yeti is due to an effort to increase tourism in the Kemerovo region, Igor Burtsev's is convinced the area is rich in evidence and continues his 40-year research. Burtsev even believes he has a good indication where the Yeti reproduce.

The article below begins with the mascot story and then continues with a few gems from Igor Burtsev. 

The Shorya coal pit in the Kemerovo region, which the locals say has the largest number of "Yeti"-the strange species known as“Big Foot” now has its own mascot, in the shape of a blue-eyed smiling yeti with a miner’s helmet on his head and a miner’s pick on his shoulders. A sketch depicting the image of a  snowman won the open  competition titled "Yeti Talisman". The entry of a 19-year old student, Roman Zhilian was chosen as the best among the more than 600  entries in  the  online contest. 

The imaginary creature, which has evoked heated debates and hypotheses in the world has variously been known as “Bigfoot, Snowman, Forest-Dweller and many more”. It is more correct to talk about a snowman who lives alongside us, says Igor Burtsev, Director of the Moscow International Center for the study of the snowman. 

"They live in squalid conditions, live like animals, don’t use work instruments, don’t wear clothes or use fire, and don’t compete with people. But they have sufficient intellect and rely on the paranormal ability They live in a different orbit, not in the other world, but nocturnal. They avoid contact with people and live in inaccessible places."

The scientific study of the yeti is still unrecognized in the world, but people of different professions are studying them on a voluntary basis, said Igor Burtsev.

"I have been studying the so-called snowman for  over 40 years now and  I have gathered enough material about their existence within that period of time. Enthusiasts have been studying the snowman for more than 50 years, but the scientific community has no trust in such studies and has not even bothered   to take a look at the materials collected.  There had been great scientists who spent a great deal of energy and time studying the snowman phenomenon. They included the French zoologist, Evelmans, founder of the crypto zoology, which in1968 studied the corpse of a creature found in the U.S. together with another zoologist, Ivan Sanderson. They concluded that it was the corpse of a Neanderthal who died from a gunshot. But the corpse disappeared as soon as the information was published in the press. The frozen corpse of a  real snowman, 2.60 meters tall was displayed in France in 1997. It also disappeared mysteriously after the news appeared in the press."

The Yeti is a tourist brand of the Shorya mines since February 2009, when the local hunters saw in the taiga a human like creature covered in furs, for the first  time. According to Burtsev, Shorya, which is a part of the Altai coalmining system is where the  snowman reproduces.. Every two years, the  Day of  the snowman is marked, there is  a yeti museum and  souvenirs showing their pictures can be  bought everywhere. An International Scientific  and Applied Conference, devoted to ther problems of the snowman was held in Kuzbass last October. After exchanging information, experts from the U.S. Canada, China, Mongolia, Sweden, Spain and  other countries visited the Azassky cave  in the clay field, where fresh footprints of the bigfoot can be found.
Source: Voice of Russia.