October 23, 2023

The Monstrous Life of Zana of Abkhazia

20 minutes

This week we travel to the Kingdom of Abkhazia, a Black Sea land nestled amongst the Caucasus. At a date lost to history, but believed to be around 1860 - hunters trap what they believe is a monster in their bear pit. The creature is shackled and brought to a nobleman named Edgi Genaba. This week is all about monsters - but the monster may not be who you are thinking of.

Trigger Warning: This Tale contains discussion of rape and dehumanisation.

Sources Include:

In The Footsteps of The Russian Snowman by Dmitri Bayanov.

This DNA Explained article on Zana (author not listed.)

This travelogue on Abkhazia.

This Weird NJ article on Oliver the Humanzee by Mark Sceurman.

I referred to Britannica to confirm several details that were already in my head

And came around a dozen news articles from 2015 with much the same text one to the next…

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