Alleged Yeti footprint found by Michael Ward and photographed by Eric Shipton taken at Menlung Glacier on the 1951 Everest Expedition with Edmund Hillary in Nepal (Photo Credit: Gardner Soule [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons]

Tales of the Abominable Snowman, or Yeti, that roams the Himalayas have been a fixture in the Nepalese, Tibetan, and Bhutanese cultures since the 1800s. The belief in the mythical creature spread to the western world in 1951, following British explorer Eric Shipton’s discovery of a massive footprint in the snow, while seeking an alternate route to Mt. Everest. Numerous expeditions, many sponsored by large organizations, spent months searching the mountain ranges for the elusive, ape-like creature. Though none succeeded, the belief in the Yeti’s existence never waned.