Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

From southern Mexico’s tropical forests come accounts of beings called the Sisimite. Wendell Skousen, a geologist, said the people of Cubulco in Baja Verapaz reported: “There live in the mountains very big, wild men, completely clothed in short, thick, brown, hairy fur, with no necks, small eyes, long arms and huge hands. They leave footprints twice the length of a man’s.” Several persons said that they had been chased down mountainsides by the Sisimite. Skousen thought the creatures, which were said to travel sometimes on two legs and sometimes on all four, may have been bears. However, upon questioning the natives carefully, he wrote: “it looked like a bear, but it wasn’t from the description that they gave—no conspicuous ears, no ‘snout’” (Sanderson 1961, p. 159). Similar creatures are reported in Guatemala, where, it has been said, they kidnap women and children (Sanderson 1961, pp. 161–162).

People in Belize (formerly British Honduras) speak of semi-human creatures called Dwendis, which inhabit the jungles in the southern part of their country. The name Dwendi comes from the Spanish word Duende, meaning “goblin.” Ivan Sanderson, who conducted research in Belize, wrote (1961, pp. 164 –165): “Dozens told me of having seen them, and these were mostly men of substance who had worked for responsible organizations like the Forestry Department and who had, in several cases, been schooled or trained either in Europe or the United States. One, a junior forestry officer born locally, described in great detail two of these little creatures that he had suddenly noticed quietly watching him on several occasions at the edge of the forestry reserve near the foot of the Maya Mountains. . . . These little folk were described as being between three foot six and four foot six, well proportioned but with very heavy shoulders and rather long arms, clothed in thick, tight, close brown hair looking like that of a short-coated dog; having very flat yellowish faces but head-hair no longer than the body hair except down the back of the neck and midback.” The Dwendis appear to represent a species different from the large Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest of North America.

Most of Sanderson’s informants told him that the Dwendis carried what appeared to be dried palm leaves or some kind of large hatlike object over their heads. Sanderson (1961, p. 165) observed: “This at first sounds like the silliest thing, but when one has heard it from highly educated men as well as from simple peasants, and all over an area as great as that from Peten [southern Mexico] to Nicaragua, one begins to wonder.” He then pointed out: “There are many Mayan bas-reliefs that show pairs of tiny little men with big hats but no clothes, standing among trees and amid the vast legs of demi-gods, priests, and warriors. They are also much smaller than the peasants bearing gifts to the temples” (Sanderson 1961, p. 166).

From the Guianas region of South America come accounts of wildmen called Didis. Early explorers heard reports about them from the Indians, who said they were about five feet tall, walked erect, and were covered with thick black hair.

In 1931, Nelloc Beccari, an anthropologist from Italy, heard an account of the Didi from Mr. Haines, the Resident Magistrate in British Guiana. Heuvelmans gave this summary of what Haines related to Beccari: “Haines told him that he had come upon a couple of di-di many years before when he was prospecting for gold. In 1910 he was going through the forest along the Konawaruk, a tributary which joins the Essequibo just above its junction with the Potaro, when he suddenly came upon two strange creatures, which stood up on their hind feet when they saw him. They had human features but were entirely covered with reddish brown fur. . . . the two creatures retreated slowly and disappeared into the forest” (Sanderson 1961, pp. 179–180).

After giving many similar accounts in his book about wildmen, Sanderson (1961, p. 181) stated: “The most significant single fact about these reports from Guiana is that never once has any local person—nor any person reporting what a local person says—so much as indicated that these creatures are just ‘monkeys.’ In all cases they have specified that they are tailless, erect, and have human attributes.”

From the eastern slopes of the Andes in Ecuador come reports of the Shiru, a small fur-covered hominidlike creature, about 4 to 5 feet tall (Sanderson 1961, p. 166). In Brazil, people tell of the large apelike Mapinguary, which leaves giant humanlike footprints and is said to kill cattle (Sanderson 1961, p. 174).

10.7 Yeti: Wildmen of The Himalayas