The Barmanou: Northern Pakistan's 'Bigfoot'

The Barmanou, often called Pakistan’s Bigfoot, is said to smell like rotting garbage. Supposedly, it makes inhuman, guttural sounds and sometimes wears animal skins.

Most articles on the Barmanou say pretty much those same things, with some descriptions being more thorough than the others. They all say this cryptid is an ape-man creature residing in the mountainous region between western Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Barmanou allegedly possesses both human and ape-like characteristics and has a reputation for abducting women and attempting to mate with them. It is also reported to wear animal skins upon its back and head. The Barmanou appears in the folklore of the Northern Regions of Pakistan and depending on where the stories come from it tends to be either described as an ape or a wild man.

Virtually every Barmanou article that I have seen mentions the investigations of one man, a Spanish zoologist named Jordi Magraner. Tragically, Magraner and a boy were murdered in Afghanistan while searching for the creature in 2002.

Their deaths remain semi-mysterious, but it’s often said that violent political changes of the time were a major factor. Whatever the case, Jordi Magraner was definitely interested in the creature, collecting accounts of those who claimed to have seen it.

I recently came across the following account:

"The Barmanou are said to mostly exist in the Chitral Valley of Pakistan. Zoologist Jordi Magraner researched them in Pakistan's Kalash Valley in the 1990s. He reported hearing strange sounds and had met many men who'd seen it.

There was one article with an interview from a local man in Allai who reported their sightings. The Allai Valleys of the Battagram District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan are mostly uninhabited. If such a creature exists then these would be the best areas for it to inhabit.

Personally I've never seen such a creature but I have heard stories and accounts. My father is an avid outdoorsman. Back in his day he used to spend up to 40 days in the mountains fishing, hunting and exploring places. From my childhood I have heard one particular story from him of a creature in the Kashmir Valley of India. He described it as small and with an elongated whitish face with a humanoid-like body. From what he told me, he and his friend heard some voices from the roof of a nomad's stone winter house. They took a local with them to inquire but only saw a glimpse of the creature I described above.

Fast forward 14 years later, my father and I were returning from a trip north and decided to visit the Deosai Plateau in northern Pakistan. The sun set while we were at Chillum Chowki and we had to stay at a little wooden hotel. My father inquired from the owner about such a creature and he also described it in detail having the exact same features and told us of a place where they have been seen. He told about his great-grandfather who had caught one.

I cannot say about the authenticity of the hotel owner's account. But I will say that the Himalayas and the Hindukush are very mysterious and anything could be lurking in them." AW

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