Yeti. Cuba

This intriguing bit of information is followed by a lengthier report concerning another creature (referred to as ‘el yeti’, given that the nomenclature used for the abominable snowman has been extended to its cousin the Americas in Spanish sources) also in Sierra de los Oréganos.

A Cuban academic by the name of Manuel Iturralde, a renowned speleologist and geologist, mentioned in his book Aventuras en el Mundo de las Tinieblas (Adventures in the Realm of Shadows) published by Editorial Cientifico-Tecnica in Havana, 2001, that the quest for exploring larger cave systems in Cuba led him to join the Marianao-based Grupo de Exploraciones Cientificas, which had ventured into vast caverns containing river systems in the village of Sumidero, nestled in the Pica Pica Valley (Pinar del Rio).

Iturralde goes on to say that his expedition in the year 1962, consisting of eighteen men and two women, ventured to the remote island valley and accessed the Pio Domingo cave, an immense opening on the side of a local hillside. Their guide, local explorer Perfecto Hernández, told them that “el Yeti” had been prowling the vicinity in the dark, giving his son a fright. This creature had never been seen in the area before; it was described as strong and hairy, light brown in color, going about on two legs and all-fours. Colorful local accounts followed: how a man had been attacked by the creature and lost one of his arms in the process, how others had seen it tear a pig apart without any difficulty. Dogs would whine if they could feel its presence, and Perfecto’s son had gone to investigate the commotion. The youngster had been so overwhelmed by fear that he was left mute. Later he was unable to utter a single word about his experience. On a subsequent instance, another local was able to run the intruder off with gunshots, and it tore its way through branches and vines as it fled the torrent of rounds.

But the Caribbean odyssey becomes even more compelling. Iturralde writes: “In a separate instance, twenty men gathered together in order to surround the Yeti and capture it. After an extensive search, they reached a cave known as Los Soterráneos. It seemed that some of these creatures lived within, and they fled upon smelling human beings. Inside, they were able to ascertain the presence of large, new Yeti prints as well as an abundance of droppings. The footprints allowed us to ascertain that the animal had large claws that dug deep into the mud.”

Iturralde would have his own experience one evening in the valley, as the temperature dropped to a very un-tropical thirty three degrees. His slumber was interrupted by a sharp howl that sent a chill through his body as everyone else in the camp woke up to the eerie, echoing sound.  “The possibility exists that the strange creatures had formed part of the menagerie of a prominent zoologist from Pinar del Rio, whose specimens from other countries had escaped.”