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Friday, August 29, 2014

Daily 2 Cents: Shipton's Yeti Footprint Photographs On Sale -- 15th Human Foot Washes Ashore In Pacific Northwest -- Sewer Fishing


Shipton's Yeti footprint photographs on sale at Christie's

In 1951 Sen Tensing, Shipton, and I descended from the Menlung La ... at about 16,000-17,000 feet we came across a whole series of footprints in the snow, on the lower part of the glacier. There seemed to be two groups, one rather indistinct in outline leading on to the surrounding snowfields. The others were much more distinct with, in places, a markedly individual imprint etched in the 2- to 4-inch covering of snow. We had no means of measuring so after examining them Shipton took four photographs: two of the indistinct prints with myself, my footprints, and rucsac beside them for comparison; the other two photographs were of one of the most detailed and distinct group of prints, with my ice axe for scale, and a second one with my booted foot. The footprint was about the same length as my boot, and I take a size 42 continental, or 8½ British, which is about 12 to 13 inches long. The print was nearly twice as broad as my boot (3 to 4 inches) and had clear-cut edges in the crystalline snow on a base of firm snow ice. There was the definite imprint of a big toe that was broader and shorter than the other rather indistinct toes, of which there seemed to be four or five. We followed these tracks for some way down the easy glacier and noticed that whenever a narrow 6-inch-wide crevasse was crossed there seemed to be claw marks in the snow at the end of the toe imprints. ... Two days later we were joined by Murray and Bourdillon, who, after visiting the Nangpa La ... had followed our route into the Menlung Basin. All tracks had been deformed by the sun and wind.' (Michael Ward, 'Everest 1951: the footprints attributed to the Yeti -- myth and reality', Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, 8, 29-32 (1997)).

Shipton's photographs ignited speculation about the existence of a Yeti which had been growing since N.A. Tombazi made the first European sighting during an expedition to the Sikkim Himalaya in 1925.

Edmund Hillary had a further encounter in 1952 on a pass between the Ngojumba and Khumbu glaciers: 'We were climbing quite a steep pitch when Pemba stopped and picked something off the rock. Obviously greatly excited, he showed it to Angpemba. Feeling somwhat curious, I asked them what it was all about. They placed in my hand a tuft of long black hairs -- thick and coarse, they looked more like bristles than anything else. "Yeti, Sahib! Yeti!" I couldn't help being impressed by their conviction, and it did seem a strange place to find some hair. We were well over 19,000 feet and the Abominable Snowman was obviously no mean rock climber' (Hillary, High Adventure, 1955, p. 103).

Following these various incidents, Hillary mounted an expedition in 1960 to collect and evaluate evidence of the Yeti, with inconclusive results. British mountaineer Don Whillans was a fervent believer, claiming he encountered the Yeti while scaling Annapurna in 1970. He observed a few human-like footprints in the snow around his camp one morning and, that evening, claimed that through binoculars he watched a bipedal, ape-like creature for about 20 minutes as it apparently searched for food not far from his camp.

The Yeti, one of cryptozoology’s highest profile creatures. Does it really exist? There is a distinct lack of hard scientific evidence for it, but the members on this expedition swore blind that they didn’t hoax the photographs … so what made them?

Christie's Online Auction - Yeti footprints in the Menlung Basin

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15th human foot washes ashore in the Pacific northwest

A human foot, still inside a New Balance tennis shoe washed ashore in Seattle this week — and if that wasn’t mystery enough, it’s the FIFTEENTH foot that’s washed ashore along the Pacific Northwest coast since 2007!

15 human feet have washed ashore along the Pacific Northwest coast — from Canada down to Tacoma — over the last seven years.

And no one seems to know where they’re coming from.

“Who knows where they originated?” resident Albert Hulsen told FOX31 sister station Q13 FOX in Seattle. “Maybe it’s not from this area at all but from one of the surrounding islands.”

FOX6’s sister station, Q13FOX in Seattle says the latest foot was discovered last Tuesday, August 19th — by volunteers picking up trash.

A forensic anthropologist with the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, where the foot is being examined says the foot likely wasn’t severed, but detached from the body as it decomposed at sea.

“The bones fall apart. They (feet in shoes that have washed ashore) are not being severed. They’re not being purposely cut off. Tennis shoes not only protect the feet but they’re also buoyant, and so they either float on the surface, or they’re in the high part of the water column, so they will float in with the tide,” the forensic anthropologist said.

The Medical Examiner’s Office has released a picture of the tennis shoe in which the foot was found in an attempt to identify the person who wore the shoes.

Q13FOX reports it is a New Balance shoe, men’s size 10 1/2. It is a white sneaker with blue trim.

This model of shoe was first available for purchase in April of 2008.

A black, cotton Hanes sock was on the foot when it was found.

There is no word on whether authorities have made any effort to link this foot to the other 14 that have washed ashore since 2007.

So where are these feet coming from?

A local expert on tides told Q13FOX the feet could be local — or they could be winding up in the Northwest by way of the Strait of Georgia in Canada or the Strait of Juan de Fuca that connects the Puget Sound near Seattle to the Pacific Ocean. - Fox6Now

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Sewer Fishing in Katy, TX

A teenager from Katy, near Houston in Texas has taken to using the sewer grate in front of his home to catch fish.

It's 16-year-old Kyle Naegeli's hobby. And the Katy High School junior is quite good at it. He claims to have caught hundreds of fish using this method.

Naegeli has been a drain angler for four years now, using a hook and fishing line, with hot dogs (“the cheap ones” he says) and shad fish acting as bait.

“Sometimes it takes a few hours to catch something,” he says, maintaining that sewer fishing takes patience. Naegeli doesn't eat the sewer fish, owing to its questionable origins. The fish swim into the sewer line from a nearby pond.

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'ARCANE RADIO' HAS LAUNCHED

The 'Preview Show' podcast is loaded at www.arcaneradio.com...just click the 'LISTEN' button. Enjoy!

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'COAST TO COAST' AM APPEARANCE

I will be a guest on 'Coast to Coast AM' this Sunday (Monday morning) at 3-5 am ET / 12-2 am PT

Guests: Dr. Melba S. Ketchum / Lon Strickler

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