Mecheny, the "marked" wildman of Siberia

A report by Maya Bykova

In 1985, on my way back from the trip to Western Siberia, where I gathered folklore and eyewitness accounts about relict hominoids, my fellow-traveller on the train happened to be a young man named Volodya, an ethnic Mansi (the indigenous people of Western Siberia). He took a deep interest in the purpose of my trip, listened to me with great attention and asked many questions. When I said I was not one of those who dream of shooting or catching a hominoid, he suddenly avowed that he himself, his father and grandfather had seen such a creature.

Volodya told me that he had a hunting log cabin standing in an out-of-the-way cedar forest Surrounded by bogs, some seventy kilometres from his settlement. The cabin was built by his grandfather who, about forty years ago, began to notice someone approach the dwelling after dark, and especially at dawn. Peering out of the window, Volodya's grandfather and father had glimpsed, on several occasions, a strange forest-dweller who looked both like and unlike a man. He was big and bulky, without clothes, covered from head to foot with red-brown hair, except the left forearm which was white. For that reason they called him Mecheny (Marked).

Surprisingly, he announced his arrival by a knock on the window. They had no idea why he did that: was it a warning or an invitation? But the scared people would never go out the cabin when he appeared. The hunting dog they brought along would disappear when Mecheny came and re-appear when he was gone. Having knocked on the window, Mecheny would wander for some time near the cabin, looking down as searching for something on the ground and muttering away to himself. As a rule, he showed up in August. Some years they did not see him at all but in 1985 he was seen twice.

I was not in a hurry to swallow the story and, seeing that, Volodya invited me to come to his cabin and see for myself that he was telling the truth. The area in question is very far from Moscow and in 1986 I was unable to go. In the meantime, Volodya wrote to me saying that in 1986 Mecheny had been seen three times near the cabin. Then came a letter from him with an invitation for the summer of 1987. His condition: I can tell about my observation, should it take place, but withhold Volodya's surname and address from the press. Naturally I complied.

I took a bag of plaster to cast footprints, in case I found them, but did not take a camera. I was sure I would not be able to take good pictures given the conditions of Mecheny's appearance, as described by Volodya. Besides, an attempt at photography would distract me from observation and might frighten away the subject whose trust I needed most of all.

In August 1987, I arrived at a remote Siberian settlement in the Tyumen Region, by a tributary of the Ob. Volodya, his wife Nadya, his father and grandfather warmly welcomed me and confirmed the information I already had from Volodya.

On Saturday, August 15, Volodya, Nadya, myself, and their three-month old puppy, named Box (the old dog was no longer alive) set out for the cherished hunting cabin. The path was difficult, the last leg passing through bogs, so we reached our destination in the evening pretty worn-out. Before settling down for the night, Volodya put some logs under the window and covered them with a piece of plywood used for drying cedar nuts. "Lest he surprises us," said Volodya.

His foresight was not in vain. At dawn we heard someone step on the plywood and make two quick knocks on the window. I shot out from the bed, dashed to the door, threw off the hook, and popped outdoors. Volodya and Nadya, fearing for my safety, followed suit.

It was dawning and the first thing I saw in front of me was a white spot against a dark background of trees. After that I saw his figure. He was standing five metres away. His right shoulder leaning against the barkless trunk of a dead cedar. Sharply in view were the white forearm and brightly glowing red eyes.

It was sufficiently light and I was close enough to see him in detail. He stood two metres, give or take five centimetres. Looking down at us (Volodya is 180 centimetres tall, I am 168, Nadya is shorter), he shifted his glance from one to another and made a sound, something like "Khe" as if clearing his throat without parting the lips. On the whole, judging by his build, especially the lower extremities, he resembled a man, not an ape or a bear standing on the hind legs. But like an animal he was covered all over with fur, some six or seven centimetres long, red-brown in color, except the left forearm which, as already mentioned, was white.

I drew the creature's portrait from head to foot as it stuck in my memory. The head, when facing me, looked round, but later, when he turned, I noticed that the back of the head was elongated. The hair on the head was short, no more than three centimetres, I did not see any skin on the face, it was all covered with hair, including the ears, the nose and the nostrils. I could only see his eyes, almond-shaped like a man's but sunken under prominent brow ridges. The jaws were slightly put forward and showed a long narrow slit of the mouth. The head sat right on the shoulders, without a neck. The shoulders were strikingly wide and strongly muscled. Such musculature in humans can only be seen in body-builders. The chest was powerful and barrel-like. Hefty arms, set somewhat forward, hung loosely down. Their relative length seemed within human proportions. The hands were enormous and shaped like scoops.

I could see the skin of the palms and it was reddish. In the groin the hair was longer, the genitals were not seen. The legs were long and straight, with enormous feet. They were also covered with hair and I did not see any skin.

Compared with the sasquatch of the Patterson-Gimlin film the similarity is obvious, considering such characteristics as size, bulk, hairiness, the barrel-like chest, the sitting of head, the difference between them is mainly connected with the different sex of the creatures: breasts in the sasquatch and their absence in Mecheny; the latter's musculature is more developed and pronounced than in the female sasquatch, besides he seemed devoid of body fat that is apparent in the female. It must be remembered though that I saw Mecheny mainly Facing me and standing still while his American counterpart is from the side and rear and on the move.

I often manage without a watch and can measure time by inwardly counting seconds. In spite of unspeakable fear and emotional shock, I inwardly counted seconds while scrutinizing the creature. My head was clear. There came a moment when I thought, "What next? Shall we approach him or he approach us? But do we need that?"

When I counted sixty, the confrontation ended as abruptly as it began. With a hysterical barking and howling, our canine guard Box came running from behind the cabin and pressed himself against Volodya's legs, either trying to defend its master or seeking his protection. Mecheny made a quick turn to the right, stepped behind the tree and vanished in the forest.

As if by command we sat down on the ground and began to rub the legs which were numb and refused to obey. Legs brought under control, we returned into the cabin and locked the door. After a while, having sufficiently recovered, we went out and walked over to the dead tree the creature had been standing by. I looked for hairs on the trunk but it was as smooth as bone and I did not find a single hair. Then we measured the height of the trunk where his head had reached.

We looked for footprints under the tree and in the direction of Mecheny's retreat but the ground was covered with a thick mat of cedar needles which did not retain any prints. Then we went round the cabin and searched for tracks at the edges of the forest where it touched the swamp, but all in vain, we never discovered any footprints.

We made sorties into the forest the three of us together, not counting the puppy that accompanied us in the best of humor never showing any fear. As for ourselves, we were in pretty low spirits. Volodya and Nadya said on several occasions "Why did we go out to him?" I began to suffer from insomnia and tried to catch sleep in the daytime.

The encounter with Mecheny took place on August l6th. We stayed there for another eight days and then returned to the settlement because Volodya's leave was coming to an end. We took no actions to attract the forest-dweller, by leaving him offerings. We figured he would come again of his own accord, if he wished to, as he did the first time. There were barrels with berries standing by the cabin, as well as mushrooms drying in the yard, but Mecheny never touched them. "He is damned honest", commented Volodya. Besides mushrooms and cranberries, the place abounds in salmonberries, cowberries and red bilberries. Game is also plentiful and includes such species as hare, squirrel, hazel-grouse, wood-grouse, sable and bear.

Mecheny did not show up again. I returned to Moscow and the first letter from Volodya told me they felt anxiety, not knowing how Mecheny would behave the next time people visit the cabin. The letter contained the following words: "Don't know how we shall carry on." I decided to re-visit them without delay and live for some time in the cabin so as to reassure them.

In mid-October, just like the first time, the three of us were on the scene, not counting Box who had grown up and now turned five-months old. Neither the first, nor subsequent nights did anyone knock on the window. Only once at night did we hear a strange plaintive cry in the forest and thought it was a bird. In the morning we did not see Box and called him but he did not show up. We searched in the forest and some hundred metres from the cabin found his body ripped apart from the tail to the clavicles. The skull under the skin on the right side was crushed, the jaws clamped tight, the tongue sticking out on one side and pierced by the teeth. We were shocked by this sight. "Mecheny's job," said Volodya. Indeed, no other known animal can treat its victim in that manner. It takes hands and tremendous strength.

We surmised that Mecheny had stalked Box, grabbed him by the hind legs and smashed him against a tree, breaking the skull. Before his death the dog made the cry we heard at night and bit the tongue. Then Mecheny may have stepped on one hind leg of the dog, pulled at the other and ripped the body apart.

The frozen ground revealed just a puddle of frozen blood but no tracks of the killer. We buried Box in the swamp under a heap of moss. That was on October 22nd. A fearless woodsman, hunting bears, Volodya was seriously worried by what had come to pass and started to pack up. That very day we left the place.

That's the story in a nutshell. The main result is that Mecheny, for me, is now a real zoological specimen. I could not have been mistaken because I was prepared for such an encounter. Many years of active interest in relict hominoids gives me the right to say so. My experience testifies to the recurrence of encounters. Sightings of the specimen in question go back over forty years.

The continuation of the relationship depends on two factors. First, on the behaviour of Volodya and his family, who feel the strongest fear of Mecheny, an anxiety after the killing of their dog and no need for a closer contact than the one they've had for years. Second, on the behaviour of the hominoid himself, who is advanced in age and probably not inclined to change his habits. As for me, I'll do my best to give this contact a happy ending.

From: In The Footsteps of the Russian Snowman (Dmitri Bayanov, 1996, Moscow: Crypto-Logos)