The Ucu, a South American Yeti?

The Ucu, also known as Ucumar or Ukumar-zupai, is Bigfoot type creature reported as being seen in the Andes range of mountains in South America particularly in Chile and Argentina. The Ucu is said to be the size of a large dog and walks erect. Unlike the Yeti it prefers the more tropical regions of the Andes mountain range, rather than snow covered peaks. The locals say the Ucu likes to eat payo, a plant similar to cabbage, and emits a sound like uhu, uhu. It is not just locals who have reported hearing or seeing the creatures.

In 1956, geologist ,Audio L. Pitch, while walking on the Argentinean side of the Andes, found foot prints 17 inches long ( about 42 cms)at a height of about 6000 feet( 2000 metres).( some reports say 16000 feet( 5333 metres) which sounds a bit high up).

In 1957 similar tracks were reported in the province of La Salta, Argentina. The same year(1957) residents of Tolor Grande told journalists about a nightly chorus of eerie sounds like calls of an animal, emanating from the near by Curu-Curu Mountains. The cries were attributed by the locals to the Ukumar-zupai and the community remained frightened for some time afterwards. Anthropologist Pablo Latapi Ortega wrote that traditional stories of these giant ape like creatures continue to be told today.

In May 1958 a group of campers in Rengo, 50 miles from Santiago, Chile, reported that they saw an ape man. Police were called and they took statements from the witnesses. Carlos Manuel Soto, one of them, gave the statement to the police: “I saw an enormous man covered with hairs in the Cordilleras” .

The stories sound very similar to traditional bigfoot and yeti reports. There appears to have been no recently reported sightings. As always the similarity of sightings and creatures in different parts of the world does make you think, could there be a population of unknown hairy bipeds still alive in the world today. Well gorillas were considered a myth at one time, now they are on TV documentaries, so maybe not as impossible as some sceptics would have us think.