Losing the yeti in forgotten nation of Bhutan

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No one is sure how far back the stories go.

In A.D. 79, the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder described immensely strong Himalayan animals with "human-like bodies." Chinese manuscripts from the 7th century mention hairy creatures similar to the yeti.

The tales change from region to region across Asia _ yetis were man-eaters in some places, grass-eaters in others. In many places, the beast was seen as a harbinger of death, a combination of man, animal and demon.

Some things, though, were certain. It was tall, hairy and very strong. It lived mostly in the high mountains and avoided people. Only a handful of yak herders might report sightings with any regularity, but everyone knew it was out there, and feared it.

In Bhutan, most people call it the "migoi" _ strong man _ but it goes by any number of names across the Himalayas: glacier man, snow goblin, wild man.

To Westerners, though, it is known as the yeti _ a name believed to come from a Tibetan word for bear _ and it has gripped outsiders' imaginations since reports of a strange Himalayan creature began filtering out in the mid-20th century.

Mountaineers brought back many of the stories, telling of strange footprints in the snow, of mysterious animals spotted walking on two legs, of tales their porters told around campfires.

Just maybe, some thought, there could be truth in those tales. The high Himalayas are among the most isolated, forbidding parts of the world. Couldn't something _ perhaps a species of gorilla, or even a form of proto-human _ have hidden for centuries amid the crags?

Similar tales had proven accurate before. In 1902, a German soldier proved that central African legends of an enormous, hairy mountain beast were based in reality. But Capt. Robert von Beringe came home with proof: The body of a mountain gorilla that he had shot.

So the yeti hunt was on. In 1954, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper sent out a search party. In 1957, a Texas oilman took up the chase. Three years later, Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary searched along the Nepal-Tibet border. In their wake came Soviet expeditions, TV crews, scientists and hucksters.

Plenty of tantalizing clues have been found, from footprints to hair. But science can explain most _ they often turn out to be from bears _ and five decades of searching has turned up no body, no high-quality photograph. Eventually, even many fervent yeti hunters see the truth in more prosaic explanations.