Remembering When Hollywood Icon Jimmy Stewart Smuggled A Yeti’s Finger Out Of Nepal
The famous actor and his wife allegedly helped a friend transport what was believed to be a rare artifact when returning home from vacation
Jimmy Stewart remains one of the most beloved Hollywood actors of all time due to classic roles in films like It’s a Wonderful Life and Vertigo. Sometimes, his life could veer into the fantastic just like the movies. This included an incident in the 1950s when he allegedly played a pivotal role in smuggling a relic out of Nepal, that at the time was believed to be the finger of a Yeti, although many years later it was determined to be a fake.
The Pangboche Hand was a revered and sacred relic kept at the Pangboche monastery in Nepal. It was widely believed to be the mummified hand of a Yeti (known by some in the western world as the Abominable Snowman), and coveted for its alleged mystical origins and rarity.
Texas oil tycoon Tom Slick became obsessed by the possibility of proving the Yeti’s existence. Accordingly, he funded an expedition to Nepal in 1957. One of his team members, Peter Byrne, was able to lay eyes on the Pangboche Hand during a visit to the monastery the following year and was determined to bring it back to…
