Story of 'Monster Hunter' Tom Slick and the Theft of the Yeti Finger

Source: DATELINE ZERO

In 1957, the famous “monster hunter” Tom Slick, explorer Peter Byrne, Hollywood actor Jimmy Stewart, and a group of others conspired to smuggle a finger from the hand of an alleged Yeti out of a remote Buddhist monastery, through Indian customs, and into London.

The story behind the discovery and procurement of the “Yeti relic” reads like a Hollywood screenplay. Strangely, the finger mysteriously vanished sometime after arriving in London. Thankfully, the story of the finger no longer ends with its disappearance. It’s been found, and a DNA test has been conducted.

I’ll be nice and tell you right away that the finger is from a human. Moreover, it seems fairly certain that human originated from someplace in Asia. The Yeti finger was on display several years ago at the Royal College of Surgeons. What would be interesting to learn would be how a human hand ended up being a “Yeti” relic in a remote Buddhist monastery. But that’s probably a tale that will never be known.

What is an interesting tale is how the hand was discovered, and the finger removed and transported to London for testing by forensics experts.

The famous Tom Slick — who’s entire life is worthy of a film — financed and organized the procurement of the a Yeti finger with associate and fellow-explorer Peter Byrne. (Not before an unsuccessful attempt at getting the whole hand, of course.)

Byrne convinced some monks to allow him to swap the Yeti finger with a human one. It took a little negotiation and an unknown sum of money.

The next problem was how to get through customs. It so happened that Jimmy Stewart was willing to help. He was with his wife in Calcutta, and discussed the matter with Byrne at their hotel. It was hoped that the finger wouldn’t be discovered and confiscated if it was hidden among Mrs. Stewart’s personal garments.

Eventually, the finger ended up at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London where it sat for many years. It was recently rediscovered and a sliver was sent to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland for DNA analysis where it was (to the disappointment of many) found to be, without a doubt, human.

While many in cryptozoological circles are utterly let down at the news, I’m still glad that the finger was found — partly because I enjoy reading the story of the finding of the finger. I find the lengths that Slick and company went through to get it to London are both astounding and hilarious.

It’s but a chapter in the life of some fantastic people. Peter Byrne and Tom Slick were the kind of people that fictional treasure hunters like Indiana Jones, Adèle Blanc-Sec, Benjamin Gates, and etc are based upon. It’s no wonder why some folks in Hollywood would love to make a movie based on Slick himself. (Nicolas Cage, anyone?)

Read on, in the original post at DATELINE ZERO