Legends Rooted in Reality

Most nations have folklore that include strange, human-like creatures that seem monstrous and frightening. There are physical similarities among these descriptions widely separated by time and geography.  How did such similarities arise?  Perhaps some legends are rooted in factual experience from long-forgotten times.  Perhaps, too, those reality-rooted legends continue to exist in our world.

We have been enjoying books featuring all manner of mythical supernatural creatures during October SpookFest, but let's consider whether or not some legendary beasties are actual fact.  Let's reprise one of my blog postings from January.  What was it all about?  Hey, hyperlinks don't click themselves.

Scowl-Face also droned about this same book in his blog, so please feel free to read his take on the subject.  Don't take my napping spot, however.

Who's in Those Dark Woods With the Glowing Eyes?  Just Asking,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Paranormal Anthropological News Beat

P.S.  Discussions of primitive hominids would be incomplete without a musical reference to The Monkees.  Just kidding, of course.  Weren't all rock-and-roll bands considered primitive by the over-thirties back in the 1950s and 1960s, who would now be over-eighties and -nineties, possibly -hundreds?  Well, they surely wouldn't object to such nice, clean-cut young men as we see here performing the mildly political protest folk-rock song, "Daily Nightly," written by Michael Nesmith and performed by The Monkees themselves on their LP Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd. (1967).  This is THE first pop song to feature the Moog synthesizer, played by Micky Dolenz with programming assistance from musician Paul Beaver.  Micky was the proud owner of only the third Moog ever built up to that time (see what royalties from a few hit records can do?), and Peter Tork rightly characterized Micky's free-form playing of the instrument on this song as brilliant.  Anyone who thinks the Monkees couldn't make fantastic music wasn't paying attention.

That's MISTER Sasquatch to You!

Everybody has heard legends and folklore about Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, Abominable Snowmen, or other names assigned to large, humanoid/ape-like creatures that supposedly live in remote wildernesses.  Movies have been made spoofing the subject (e.g., Harry and the Hendersons [1987], starring John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, and Kevin Peter Hall, and directed by William Dear, who, believe it or not, got his directorial start with Michael Nesmith's pioneering music videos).  Did you know that Nesmith (of The Monkees TV and music fame) invented MTV?  His mother invented Liquid Paper. Amazingly talented people.  But I digress.

These legends (I'm back to Bigfoot) appear in folklore worldwide.  Could there be a historical root to these stories?  Are contemporary sightings factual or fanciful?  In short, could it be possible that these figures are actually survivors of other branches of the human family tree long thought extinct?  Could Yeti be Neanderthals?  Could they be some other near-relation to apes and humans?

Anthropologist Myra Shackley considers the evidence in her lively analysis, Still Living? Yeti, Sasquatch and the Neanderthal Enigma (New York: Thames & Hudson, 1983).  Our book trailer below sheds some light on the subject.

I'm no sabertooth, but even I know that there are some species previously thought extinct that have been rediscovered in modern times (the most famous example is the Coelacanth).  Scoffers scoff (what else would they do?) that it would be impossible for Hominid ancestors to remain undiscovered in today's world, but one must remember that there are still sparsely populated regions on the planet where such beings could survive (or even thrive) in isolated splendor.  Shackley presents the evidence in an objective fashion, so we should do her the courtesy of keeping an open mind while weighing her arguments and reasoning.

You may well ask why I, a feline (and obviously superior life form), should care whether there are still multiple species of people stomping about on the planet.  The plain truth is that cats like me (so-called "domesticated") need humans as servants.  Good help is so hard to find these days.  If there were more human (or human-like) folks around, then my dinner dish could be refilled much more frequently than is the current practice (op. cit., my previous comment about good help), and there would be more hands available for back scratches and cheek rubs, and there would be more ankles against which we felines could rub.  Such a world would be an improvement, provided that people remembered that we cats are the bosses!  (If people need somebody subservient, they know where to find slobberdogs.)

Homo Sapiens Sapiens (that's you, assuming you're a modern human) were once only one type of Hominid on a planet swarming with various different humanoid species (but not all living contemporaneously).  Survival of branches thought extinct is a tantalizing possibility, if for no other reason than the dinner dish-refilling perspective.  It is a mystery worthy of closer inspection.

Hey, I just realized that The Monkees would be a Hominid pop band, so that reference ties-in nicely with this general discussion.  Now, I'm not suggesting that Michael Nesmith is a Neanderthal; he seemed like such a nice fellow on the television program (1966-1968 on NBC, then Saturday mornings of CBS for several more years of reruns).  I know this because Scowl-Face has the entire series on videotape, which is a virtually extinct technology.  Or perhaps not?  Have there been "VHS sightings" equivalent to Bigfoot?  Do VCRs continue to survive in remote pool halls or other dank human hangouts?

If you can find a copy of Shackley's book, be sure to read it.  Still Living? will give you pause for thought and make you scratch your head a bit.  But why not scratch behind my ears instead?

Pretty Sure Neanderthals Worshipped Cats (Like Who Doesn't?),

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Large Dude News Beat

P.S.  Doesn't Sasquatch sound like an oversized Cabbage Patch doll?  If you missed the 1980s (remember, I've got nine lives), then Google it.