| Jordi Magraner (1958-2002) | June 10, 2004 |
| Gregory Panchenko | June 8, 20088 |
| Sagid Didanov ( 1931- 2002) | June 20, 2009 |
June 10, 2004
Jordi Magraner (1958 - 2002)
In the August 2002 Jordi Magraner, the Spanish zoologist, was murdered in North Pakistan while conducting fieldwork on unknown hominids. Since 1987 he worked in the Chitral region and was the first to do systematic research there. His expedition resulted in a number of findings including footprints, hair samples and eyewitness accounts.
The fieldwork methodology practised by Magraner promised to be highly successful if it had been continued for a longer time. The correctness of this style of working was one of the important conclusions reached by researchers in Eurasia during the last century: Tailored to budget restriction on time, personnel etc. the researcher chose a limited working area to achieve the highest possible precision in obtaining population size, migration etc. data. He or she worked for many years in the area, learned the local languages and dialects to gain the trust and friendship of local people which enabled a better understand of their psychology and values.
The differences between oriental and occidental thinking are normally totally undervalued and misunderstood. Herien lies one of the main causes of conflict between the two worlds in the present time. Oriental thinking ia also a prerequisite for the close coexistence of Homo sapiens and non-sapien hominids in this region and for the occasional lifelong relationship between members of both species, even today.
Magraner´s field investigation supplemented our knowledge about unknown hominids in Asia and it is to be hoped that his colleagues will continue his work. His death also shows how dangerous many potentially promising Eurasian research areas have become in the recent years. Magraner´s work on the question of unknown hominids is important enough, although unfinished due to his tragic fate, that it should never be forgotten.
Andreas Braun, May 2004
Gregory Panchenko
Gregory Konstantinovich Panchenko [1] (*1966) is a biologist from the east Ukrainian metropolis Kharkov, where he studied at the Kharkov state university. Like many others he started his field work as a student in Dr. Marie-Jeanne Koffmanns team. According to her, he has participated in her expeditions in the Caucasus since 1984. [2] But according to the journalist Matt Salusbury Panchenko first heard about Almasty during his military service in 1986 from Georgians who had seen it. He got Koffmann's confidence and became one of her closest young coworkers. His name first became known in the west through the publications of Bayanov and Koffmann in 1992: According to them, he had in the Caucasus a night-time encounter with a creature, which is thought to have been a Almasty, near Sarmakovo village in Kabardino-Balkaria, in 1991. [3]
Today he belongs to the close circle of the Moscow “hominologists” around Bayanov, Koffmann, Makarov and Trachtenherz and he is one of the few researchers of the younger generation who has access to all the results of more than 40 years of field research of this group and their coworkers in the former Soviet Union. This was also possible for him because he has explicitly followed the confidentiality policy of this group regarding selected field results and special Russian literature. Considering this knowledge and his education, Panchenko today must be considered one of the most important specialists for field work in the northern Caucasus, following Koffmann. Some results of his Caucasus expedition in 2005 he published in the German periodical Pterodactylus. He works in the same region as Koffmann and in close cooperation with her: In western Kabardino-Balkaria, mainly in the Zolsk district. According to Matt Salusbury, he directs a cryptozoological organisation in the Ukraine. He is a board member of the Moscow Russian Society of Cryptozoologists. [4]
In October 2007, he held a lecture in Great Britain about the Almasty in the Caucasus. His lecture contained mostly general statements about the ecology and ethology of these hominids, but he also made some significant statements, such as: ” […] But in the end of the 1990s […] we heard that in some regions the extinction of Almasty stopped.” Locals observed again juvenile specimen of Almasty. An unusual colar bone has been found by the group of A. Sidorenko.[5] He further explained that he could hear the screams of the hominids four times – not only during one expedition.
Panchenko lives since several years in Hannover/Niederachsen, Germany. According to Fortean Times, he is working there as a recruiter of Russian science personnel. But in Hannover he declared several times that he lives from his income as a writer of books and articles, which he publishes mainly in the Ukraine and Russia.
In the Ukraine, he is a well-known author of fantasy and science fiction literature. Short biographies outlining his writing activities may be found of the website of Zvedzdnij Most, an annual fantasy festival which takes place every year in Kharkov, and in the Russian Fantasy: Who is Who? He won a literature prize for his most recent book in this field: Gorizonty Oruzhija (Horizons of Weapons, 2007).[6] He regularly participates in literature conferences and festivals of the fantasy and science fiction scene in Russia and Ukraine. Among others he held lectures at the fantasy festival Portal 2005 in Kiev and in May 2008 at the European Science Fiction convention Eurocon-2008 in Moscow. The subject of his lecture in Moscow was current German fantasy literature. He has also publishes on historical weapons and the art of fighting.
Among others his articles may be found in Russian journals such as Real'nost' Fantastiki (Reality of Fantasy) Kempo, and Partner-Nord, a regular Russian-language journal published in Hannover. Some of his articles in this journal can be read in the website of Partner-Nord. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the new journal Ochevidnoe Neverojadnoe (Obviously Unbelievable) which appears in Kharkov in Russian language since April 2008. This first number contains articles on cryptozoology, flying saucers, futural architecture, "electrical tanks" and others.
In addition to his real name, he also publishes, among others, under the pseudonyms Christopher Lawrence McNamara [7], Isaak Bromberg [8] and Grigorij Urinson. Urinson is the last name of his father, Konstantin, with whom he lives together in Hannover.[9] Together with his father and grandmother Panchenko arrived during the wave of Ukrainian immigration to Germany from 1999-2001. He is registered under the name “Pachenko” at this Hannover address.
Some years ago he has been looking for support for his field research in German cryptozoological circles. Regarding this search, he is to have said that he himself could observe Almasty "several times". He is the author of the book Catalogue of Monsters (2002) which considers the Almasty in the Caucasus, among other subjects. At the present, it is not known if additional publication on Almasty or other cryptids from him exist – possibly under pseudonym. Current internet research in this field also does not yield any results.
Andreas Braun, June 2008, August 2010
[1] Also written as "Grygoriy Panchenko", "Grigoriy Panchenko", "Grigorij Panchenko", "Grigory Panchenko"
[2] Koffmann, Marie-Jeanne (1992) Comment on G. Panchenkos`s report Observation d'un hominoid relique
au Caucase du Nord. (unpublished) In: Archiv Bernard Heuvelmans, Musée de zoologie, Lausanne.
[3] Bayanov, Dmitri. Bigfoot Co-op. Februar 1992. repub. in: Bayanov, Dmitri. 1996 In the footsteps of the
Russian Snowman. Moccow: Crypto-Logos.pp. 53-62.
Koffmann, Marie-Jeanne. 1992. L’Almasty du Caucase. Mode de vie d’un hominoide.
Archeologia, 276, 1992. p. 62.
[4] Bayanov, Dmitri. 1996. In the footsteps of the Russian Snowman. Moccow: Crypto-Logos. p. 53.
[5] AnatolySidorenko is a teacher from the Donezk district of the eastern Ukraine and a close coworker of Koffmann's
and Panchenko's fieldwork since many years. Probably it is the same colar bone Panchenko wrote about
in 2005 in the German periodical Pterodactylus.
[6] A collection of his books can be seen in books.imhonet.ru and ozon.ru.
His newest books Bows and Crossbows in the Battle and Bate in the Fight. 5000 years of Battle
came out in spring 2010. Other texts by him can be read in the website Russkaja Fantastika
[7] Among others, he published under this pseudonym the fantasy novel Gorez (Mountaineer). Volumes 1-2 (1993),
and volumes 3-4 (1994)
appeared in Russian language in together 80.000 copies.
[8] Among others, he published under this pseudonym about himself in connection with Russian fantasy literature
in the Russian-German journal Partner Nord. Furthermore he edited under his real name in 2009 the military-
historical fantasy anthology Idu na my! Drang nakh... in Russian language. He is one of the authors.
[9] It is common to find that children were given the name of a gentile parent, because of the anti-Semitism in
the Soviet Union.
 |
Sagid Didanov (1931-2002) |
I learned that he had spent most of his life the village Sarmakovo, Zolsk district, where he lived in the village centre in Dr. Marie-Jeanne Koffmann’s close neighborhood. Since the 1962 until today Sarmakovo is the research center of the Moscow "hominologists" in the Caucasus. One of the first facts that emerged was that, in all of the publications I know of, his nickname “Dina” is given rather than his first name. He even signed his publication of his own encounter with “D. Didanov.” His real name was Sagid Medovich Didanov (on the photo with his granddaughter in 2000 in his home in Baksan). During my first talk with him, he described his encounter once again, at my wish: In the 1950s, he was spending the night with herders in a hut in the mountains. At night, a strange, hairy woman with long, disheveled hair came into the hut and ate from a kettle filled with meat and broth. Shocked, he asked the old herder lying next to him: “What was that?” The old man explained that he shouldn’t pay attention to this being. According to Didanov, this occurred in the Mushta valley, just as he had published himself. [4]
As he was describing his encounter, he mentioned what happened next, which not included in all the current known publications of this encounter: the old herder, who had seen the Almasty together with Didanov, announced that she would return in the coming night, which also happened. Didanov quotes him as saying the following words: “ […] And he said: `She’ll come again tomorrow. If we’re here, she’ll come every day […]. And the next day he said: `Today we cooked some meat, and there’s also bread, so she’ll definitely come.” [5] According to Didanov, the Almasty also appeared in the second night. He explained: “On the second night, she came again, looked around attentively, saw the stove, took some meat, and quietly, quietly left.” He stressed that by then he wasn’t afraid like he was the first time, because he had expected her to appear. On the third day, he left the place. He did not have any further encounters. Didanov does not mention in his own article that the Almasty came again. When asked about this, he said that it did not seem important to him.[6]
For the field researcher who is searching for Almasty, a return to the same place is significant. Regarding the return of Almasty to a specific place, Koffmann writes the following: “The times in which the hominid consistently appears alone or in groups, usually attracted by a meal, occurs in the past […] Today, these stories are rare and are completely outside the patterns of our current statistics. In order to find him, there is one rule to follow: If an Almasty is seen in a certain place today, one only loses time when one waits on him, unless there are unusual circumstances.” [7] Alain and Katja Mahuzier quote Koffmann as follows: “Paradoxically, I said to my friends that one doesn’t need to follow or stalk an Almasty that was seen today, because he’ll maybe come again in two years or three months, but certainly not on the next day.” [8]
Koffmann’s close coworker since the early 1980s, Gregory Panchenko, has also expressed this opinion in his book Catalogue of Monsters (2002): "A paradox among the cryptozoologists who work in the Caucasus can be summed up in the following formulation: If some local observer saw an Almasty yesterday, he will probably not return to the area for a year. When – and even if – he returns is completely unknown."[9] The same he declared in a lecture he held in 2007 in the UK.[10] But in a non published report about his encounter in the Kuruko valley in 1991[11], translated by Koffmann from Russian into French, Panchenko writes: “According to our knowledge of the ethology of the Almasty, we could expect further visits.” […] “We know that the Almasty will visit a certain place many times after another, but as soon as his visits end, that’s it for a long time.” [12] In an intern publication of the Moscow Russian Society of Cryptozoologists (RSC) and not available for the public until 2005, Dr. Mikhail Trachtenherz, one of the vice presidents of the RSC, published recommendations for behaving after an encounter with a hominid that was a surprise: On the next day, the researcher should leave food at the encounter location. If the food isn’t taken, different food should be left at the same time the next day. Trachtenherz: “One can assume that the baiting method is one of the richest in perspective.”[13] According to questionnaires conducted on the Kabardinian and Balkarian population by the German study group, there are also cases today in which the Almasty visited a certain locality numerous times in a few days, particularly in connection with food.
According to Sagid Didanov, his publication I saw such a being about his encounter in a local newspaper peaked also the interest of one of the powerful men of the former Soviet Union: Alexej Adshubei, the son-in-law of the Soviet Party - and State leader at the time, Nikita Khrushchev. At this time, Adshubei, was the editor of Izvestiya, one of the largest newspapers of the Soviet Union. Izvestiya also published messages about the “Snowman” from time to time. Adshubei was also one of Khrushchev’s advisers. [14] After his publication, Didanov was invited by Alexej Adshubei to a government vacation house in the spa town Kislovodsk, about 18 miles from the location of Didanov´s encounter. Adshubei wanted to hear Didanov’s story himself. He encouraged Didanov to work on this more and catch a “Snowman”. Didanov quoted Adshubei with the following words: “If you catch him, we’ll invite you to Moscow, but not with the train or an airplane, but rather with your own escort.” [15]
Didanov also told of how, during the 1960s, a group of Mongolian scientists, under the direction of a Ph.D., worked on the problem in Sarmakovo. At the time, Didanov lived on his lot with lots of bushes, in which sometimes strange noises could be heard at night. One of the Mongolians collected long hairs in the bushes in the yard, which were considered to be possible Almasty hair. A few years later, Didanov was visited by a Czech scientist. She asked him to show her the location of his encounter and he rode with her there. Additionally, he also told of his meetings with Koffmann, who invited him numerous times to participate in her field research. He remembered his last contact with her at the beginning of the 80s. Koffmann visited him at that time in his house in Baksan. She had information that a skull had been found near the village Psychokh near Baksan and she asked him to mediate between her and the locals - probably the discoverers.
I visited Didanov three times, but it was after my last talk with him that I became known of the publication from Petrov and Kudrjavtsev, Neanderthals alive? (1964), who visited Didanov in February 1964 in Sarmakovo. According to them, he placed the time of his encounter in “fall of last year”- in other words, starting from 1963. [16] All other publications give 1950 as the year of his encounter. Because of Sagid Didanov’s dead, this discrepancy couldn’t be cleared up.
K. C. Beyer, May 2009
1 The encounter has been published for example in: Kudrjavtsev, M.; Petrov, A.(1964) Neanderthals alive? Nauka i Religija, 11, pp. 61- 70 (in Russian);
Green Beckley, Timothy (1970) Russia searches for the Abominable Snowman, Fate, April 1970, vol. 23, no. 4, issue 241, pp. 57-63;
Mahuzier,
Katja and Alain (1982) Les Mahuzier au Caucase. Presses de la cité, p. 86; Koffmann, Marie -Jeanne (1991) L'Almasty yeti du Caucase.
Archeologia 269, p. 34;
Anonymous (1994) Gruss mit dem Fuss vom Neandertaler. Illustrierte Wissenschaft. 3;
Makarov, Vadim (2002) Atlas of the Snowman. Sputnik Company, Moscow, p. 57 (in Russian).
2 Didanov, D. (1964) I saw such a being, Zarja Kommunisma, 86 (202) July 22, p. 4 (In Russian).
3 Mushta is a sub valley of the Khazaut valley on the western border of Kabardino-Balkaria with Karachay-Circass According Koffmann (1992, note 7, p. 54)
this yalley is a location of frequent encounters. A part of this valley is known as 'Dolina Narzanov' (Valley of the Narzan - a local mineral water).
This was the location of the well known tracks found in March, 1978 (For more details on this found see: Footprints in the Northern Caucasus in 1978:
Finder and circumstances). The distance between the locality of Didanov’s encounter and this 1978 tracks is about six miles. Koffmann’s description of
Didanov’s encounter, published in Archeologia (1991) is a shortened translation of Didanov’s own publication in the local newspaper Zarja Kommunisma in 1964.
Her translation in french does not include Didanov’s naming of the location of the encounter: Mushta valley. Instead of “Mushta” Koffmann
wrote “… on the pastures of Elbrus”, which includes a territory of several hundred square kilometers.
4 Talk with Sagid Didanov, tape recording from August 30, 2000.
5 op. cit. (note 4).
6 op. cit. (note 4).
7 Koffmann, Marie-Jeanne (1992) L'Almasty du Caucase. Mode de vie d' un hominoide. Archeologia 276, p.63
8 Mahuzier, Katja and Alain (1982) Les Mahuzier au Caucase. Presses de la cité, Paris, p. 86
9 Panchenko, Gregory. 2002. Catalogue of Monsters, Olma Press, Moscow (in Russian).
10 Panchenko, Gregory. 2007. The Russian Snowman. Lecture in the UK.
11 From inhabitants of Sarmakovo it became known that Panchenko in summer 1992, one year after his encounter in the Kuruko valley,
used sirup baits on several locations in the same valley.
12 Panchenko, Gregory. 1992.Observation of a relic hominoid in the northern Caucasus. Translated and with a comment by M.-J. Koffmann, p. 4 (in French, unpublished) Archives
Bernard Heuvelmans. Musée de Zoologie, Lausanne.
13 Trachtenherz, Mikhail in: Zeligman, E.; Rogov, V. 1990. Collection of Methodic Field Instructions for Field Work on the Problem of the Relic Hominoid. Teberda: Selenchukskaja.
(in Russian). The complete content of this booklet has been published in www.alamas.ru.
14 Montefiore, Simon Sebag. 2004. Stalin. The court of the red tsar. London: Phoenix, p. 566.
15 op.cit. (note 4).
16 Kudrjavtsev,M.; Petrov, A. (1964) Neanderthals alive? Nauka i Religija, 11, pp. 61- 70 (in Russian).