Chuchunaa

Chuchunaa (transliterated from Russian, also as chuchuna, chuchunya, chuchun, tjutjuna; compare in Russian, from Yakut: чучуна, or чуучус, translated as "ghost, evil spirit") is an appellation of Yakut/Sakha origin for a folkloric wild people of the Siberian geographical region of Russia. Soviet historian B. F. Porshnev, a collaborator of Bernard Heuvelmans (L'Homme de Néanderthal est Toujours Vivant, 1974), suggested that the folklore may refer to a relict population of Paleo-Asiatic Aborigines or Neanderthals, linking the chuchunaa to crypto-hominids like Yeti, Sasquatch, or Bigfoot.