The Pangboche Hand
A Himalayan monastery kept a withered hand said to be a yeti's, until part of it was taken away and tested.
What was reported
For generations the monastery at Pangboche, in the Everest region, kept a mummified hand said to come from a yeti. In 1958–59, an expedition funded by the American oilman Tom Slick examined it. By the expedition's own later accounts, the climber Peter Byrne took some finger bones, replacing them with human ones, and the actor James Stewart helped smuggle them out of India.
The hand itself was stolen from the monastery in 1991.
Explanations offered
A finger kept at the Royal College of Surgeons in London was DNA-tested in 2011 and found to be human. The Pangboche hand is now understood to be human remains, venerated as a relic. A replica has since been made for the monastery.
- When
- Examined from 1958
- Where
- Pangboche, Khumbu, Nepal
- Witnesses
- Monks at Pangboche, and expedition members
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.