Memo: What to do in case of Yeti

The US National Archives have released a 1959 Embassy Memo detailing regulations for Yeti hunters in Nepal. Source: Supplied

YETI fever was so intense in the 1950s the United States government attempted to restrain it with red tape – laying out a set of guidelines on how to hunt the abominable snowman.

The US National Archives recently recovered the extraordinary document from its archives, featuring it among its daily historical snapshots.

With dead-panned bureaucratic seriousness, the “Regulations Governing Mountain Climbing Expeditions in Nepal – Relating to Yeti” was issued after more than a decade’s worth of excited expeditionaries.

Abominable Snowman hunters now had to do things by the book.

The American Embassy in Kathmandu issued the memo on November 30, 1959, shortly after it first opened. The document details three Yeti-specific regulations:

1. “Royalty of Rs. 5000/- Indian Currency will have to be paid to His Majesty’s Government of Nepal for a permit to carry out an expedition in search of `Yeti’.”
2. “In case ‘Yeti’ is traced it can be photographed or caught alive but it must not be killed or shot at except in an emergency arising out of self defence. All photographs taken of the animal, the creature itself if captured alive or dead, must be surrendered to the Government of Nepal at the earliest time. “
3. ” News and reports throwing light on the actual existence of the creature must be submitted to the Government of Nepal as soon as they are available and must not in any way be given out to the Press or Reporters for publicity without the permission of the Government of Nepal.”

The scalp of what is said to be a Yeti is kept in a glass box in the Sherpa village of Khumjung in the Himalayas, Nepal.

But amid the emotionless bureaucratic tone is a hint of official disapproval by ambassador Ernest H. Fisk for the subject: Every mention of the word “Yeti” was contained within quotes as an expression of doubt.

But, if anyone ever finds such a beast, they’ll know who owns it and how to go about revealing the news to the world.

The US Government Yeti-hunting memo from 1959

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Memo: What to do in case of Yeti