The investigation into the Shennongjia "wild men" made great
progress when witnesses identified two footprints left along the
Licha River where the two mysterious creatures had been
spotted.
An investigative team consisting of journalists and officials
from the local government and scientific investigators were sent
out along the Licha River to conduct a thorough investigation on
November 20. Two days later professionals from China Association
for Scientific Expedition joined them.
The bigger footprint
discovered was 30 centimeters long with a width of eight
centimeters at the heel and 12 centimeters at the sole.
The team discovered a series of irregular footprints, averaging
one meter apart, along the riverbank. They also found three
branches believed to have been broken by the "wild men" in the
shrubbery beside the footprints. Two barefoot prints of different
sizes were discovered behind a stone. Pointing in the same
direction, these adjacent footprints were both identified belonging
to left feet. The bigger one was 30 centimeters long with a width
of eight centimeters at the heel and 12 centimeters at the sole.
The smaller one was 18 centimeters long with an arch-like outside
edge.
Veteran forest rangers rooted out the possibility that the
footprints belonged to known animals such as bears, antelopes or
deer.
The team then reached two of the witnesses, a local resident
Wang and his friend Zhang from Xiangfan, Hubei Province. They
recalled their encounter with the two mysterious creatures on the
morning of November 18. Zhang, along with his guide Wang and other
friends, was driving along the Licha River, heading for Laojun
Mountain. They were approaching a sharp curve in the mountain road
when they spotted two giant, dark figures standing behind a tangled
mass of shrubbery some 50 meters away from their car.
According to the witnesses, the two "wild men" were skinny and
covered with black hair. The taller one was about 1.7 meters high
and the other one was approximately 1.3 to 1.4 meters. Both were
quite agile because they quickly fled into the dense forest as soon
as they saw the car.
The witnesses' testimony was in accordance with the
investigation results. The investigation team has made a
preliminary conclusion that the thrilling event was indeed a real
life sighting of a group of upright human-shaped creatures.
According to Luo Yongbin, an official from the foreign affairs
office of Shennongjia Nature Reserve government, all the
investigation results and evidence, including two plaster models of
the footprints, will be submitted soon to the central government.
The whole investigation process has been videotaped. All suspicious
evidence has been photographed for further analysis.
(China.org.cn by Huang Shan November 27, 2007)
