As the United States continues to suffer from an alarming overall decline in "weirdness," other countries are claiming new sightings of Yeti, giant apes, and other shaggy strangeties.

Investigators looking for the Jungle Yeti in Sumatra claim to have found fresh evidence, hot on the heels of footprints they documented only three years ago. The Jungle Yeti, or Orang Pendek as islanders call it, is in the Bukkantingi region of Sumatra.

In the Congo, scientists claim to have discovered a new type of Super Ape, over six feet tall, with characteristics of chimps and gorillas. They are reported in a remote, dangerous, and partly ungoverned region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the giant apes are savage and powerful enough to kill lions.

While Canada doesn't claim any recent sightings of Bigfoot, the British Columbia town of Creston had a plan underway to erect a 10-ft.+ Sasquatch statue. The Bigfoot bronze would have been sculpted carrying a case of Kokanee beer -- which is what ultimately wrecked the project, since it violated a town ordinance against funding commercial statuary. The town voted not to spend the $20,000 needed to match the brewery's contribution to build the statue, after residents opposed the idea.

It's just as well, because another town in British Columbia claims to be "Home of the Sasquatch" -- Harrison Hot Springs. They promote the legends of local Indians, historical records of a Bigfoot captured in 1884, and more reports in recent decades of sightings and encounters.

[10/17/2004]