Creature record / 1925

Topilsky's Pamir wild man

1925 · Vanch Mountains, Pamirs, Vanj District, Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan

22Thinly documented Cryptid Creature 18 sources

1925. The Pamir Mountains. A Red Army unit under Mikhail Stepanovich Topilsky had a band of fighters cornered in a cave in the Vanch Mountains. The soldiers opened fire on the entrance. Then something ran out. A wild, hairy creature. It was shot and fell, mortally wounded. A captured survivor told a stranger story. Inside the cave, he said, he and his comrades had been attacked by several apelike creatures. Topilsky examined the body. It was covered with fur. Yet to him it looked "far more human than ape-like, indeed fully human." The soldiers buried it under stones at the cave mouth. No one has ever reported finding the grave.

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Key facts

When	1925
Time of day	not recorded
Where	Vanch Mountains, Pamirs, Vanj District, Gorno-Badakhshan,Tajikistan
Duration	not recorded
Witnesses	2
Witness roles	military
Found	testimony only
Evidence	none confirmed
Investigations	USSR Academy of Sciences Commission for the Study of the "Snowman" Question (collected testimony, no verdict)
Status	undisputed

The creature

A man-like male about 165 to 170 cm tall, covered in thick grayish-brown hair, with a dark face without moustache or beard, sloping forehead, heavy brow ridges, flat nose, hairless pointed ears, massive jaw and human-like teeth. It ran from a cave and was shot. Topilsky judged it "far more human than ape-like."

Size	about 1.7 m (body measured at about 165 to 170 cm tall)
Colour	grey, other colour

The ahool of Mount Salak (Ernst Bartels, 1925 and 1927) (related)

The cave

The unit cornered a band of fighters in a cave and opened fire on the entrance. Then something came out. In one retelling, "a wild hairy creature ran from a cave's mouth and was shot, falling mortally wounded."

Sources (18, most influential first)

1925 - Russia's Caucasus Pamir Range, the Vanch Mountains · bigfootencounters.com · Wiki, blog, podcast · blog
Red Army Kills Wild Man · Sasquatch Chronicles · Wiki, blog, podcast · blog
1925 Soviet 'Almas' Wildman Shooting · Bigfoot Evidence blog· 2011-07 · Wiki, blog, podcast · blog
Scientist reports seeing Abominable Snowman · UPI· 1988-01-20 · Press, book, documentary · news
Найти йети. Как советские учёные снежного человека ловили · Argumenty i Fakty· 2019-11-23 · Press, book, documentary · news