According to Wikipedia, "The Yeti may be considered a sort of parallel myth to the Big Foot of North America."

I have a problem with Wikipedia's conclusion about the Yeti and Big Foot.  Instead of researching and examining the evidence, they have done what any institution that is in the business to teach should not do.  They had only examined one aspect of a subject or used someone else's analysis without researching and drew an erroneous conclusion.  If they have done what I did then their conclusion would be a lot different.

Both the indigenous people of the Himalayan region, Native Americans of the United States and the First Nations of Canada have rich oral history of this bipedal primate.  It is part of their culture, history and mythology.  In certain regions of the indigenous people of both continents there are distinct differences in their perception of the bipedal primate.  In North America the further west you go it is seen as more a flesh and blood being.  In the eastern part of North America they are seen more as a sign and mythical being.  In the Himalayan bipedal primate the more south you go the more mythical being versus the northern area where they are seen as a being with more human characterizations.  All of them regard them as a living being and part of their world.  The myth part may be explained as an explanation of what they did not know.  Like their legends explaining how certain things happen and why.  It is not wrong but a way for them to understand their world and how they and others live in it.

In the 1800's the indigenous people of central Africa talked about the "Bush Man".  The descriptions, oral history and stories almost parallel the Yeti in Asia and Big Foot in North America.  If history has taught us anything it has taught us that it will repeat itself again and again.  Why are we still doing this?  In the 1920's the gorilla was finally discovered by our world.  Of course it was already discovered and known by the locals.  The so-called experts refused to listen to the natives saying that it was fear and superstition. 

We have oral history ourselves in regards to the bipedal primate.  The sightings and reports made to certain Big Foot organizations continue to be recorded.  In the 1800's a pioneer wrote in his journal about coming across huge bare foot prints in the dead of winter.  In 1951 while attempting to scale Mount Everest, Eric Shipley took photographs of a number of large prints in the snow.  I personally have found a 16, 17 and 19 inch prints.  The list can go on. 

Why do the so-called experts and our society jump to the conclusion that the Yeti and Big Foot is a myth?  Or that it is the superstitions and fears of uneducated or simple folks?  My conclusion to that question is that our science community and society feel it is too bizarre to be actually true.  Anything that bizarre can't be true.  I have heard and read many experts say that simple people or the uneducated have vivid imaginations and let their superstitions color what they saw or heard.  Of course the experts have all the answers to our world, nature and science.  The first mistake any educated person with this mindset is narrowing our world to predictable conclusions.  If anything our world and the surrounding universe is a wonderful mysterious place just waiting for more exploration.  Science answers the questions of our world but is not the absolute answer to our world.  The day we draw absolute conclusions about nature and science is just asking for Pandora's Box to be opened.  When the pictures and writings about the platypus was sent to England it was dismissed as a hoax.  Sound familiar?  They had to send an actual specimen there to prove their existence.  The experts were so sure it had been sewn together that they dissect it to prove it was a hoax.

I know there are people out there that are perpetuating Big Foot hoaxes.  You can't dismiss all for a few.  If you look at what has been collected and reported you will find a certain pattern of similarities that should not be evident in hoaxes, superstitions and fears.  It is that pattern that had me look closer. 

Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature.  And that is because in the final analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.   -Max Planck