First Western Account of the Yeti — Northern Nepal (1832)

The first known account of the Yeti by a Western observer appeared in 1832 in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, when B.H. Hodgson, the British Resident at the court of Nepal, published an account of his experiences trekking in the northern Nepalese highlands. Hodgson described how his local porters and guides became extremely frightened when they spotted a tall, bipedal creature covered in long, dark hair that fled on their approach. The guides identified the creature as a 'rakshas,' or demon, and refused to continue along the trail. Hodgson himself did not see the creature clearly but noted his guides' genuine terror and their detailed description of a large, ape-like being. This 1832 account marked the beginning of over a century of reports from Western mountaineers, explorers, and military officers encountering either the creature itself or its enormous footprints in the snow at high altitudes throughout the Himalayan range. The Sherpa and Tibetan peoples of the region had maintained extensive traditions about the Yeti — known by various names including 'Meh-Teh' (man-bear) and 'Kang-Mi' (snowman) — for centuries before Hodgson's encounter. Their descriptions were remarkably consistent: a large, bipedal, ape-like creature inhabiting the remote alpine and subalpine zones of the Himalayas.