From: Unexplained Mysteries

Stories of a species of ’wild man’ have been coming out of Central Asia and Mongolia for years.

Similar in concept to Bigfoot or the Yeti, the ’Alma’ or ’Almasty’ is said to be a large hairy hominid that lives in the wilderness. What makes this particular legend different to the others however is the fact that while the more well-known cryptids are speculated to be an unknown species of large ape, the Almasty is thought to more closely resemble Neanderthal man. While it seems unlikely, could there be a surviving pocket of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers living in the wilds of Russia ?

One particularly intriguing encounter is said to have occurred in 1944 when a group of men patrolling on horseback came upon a huge bipedal creature which shot away from them at an incredible pace. They later cornered it at a nearby cabin in an effort to capture it but it charged and escaped, leaving the men scrambling to safety. The identity of the mysterious assailant was never determined.

Nick Redfern: Across what used to be Soviet Central Asia, as far west as what are parts of Europe, and as far east as Mongolia, reports have long proliferated of hairy creatures known as Almas or Almasty that seem to be far more akin to men than they do apes; although they reputedly demonstrate clear and undeniable characteristics of both.