Yeti experts are heading to Poland after a local man filmed a "monstrous, hairy creature" while on holiday in the Tatra mountains. There have been rumours of a Polish Yeti in the area for centuries but this is the first time one of the strange creatures has been captured on film.

Piotr Kowalski, 27, from Warsaw was on a walking holiday in the Tatra mountains in Poland when he saw a mountain goat on one of the slopes. As he started filming, his attention was suddenly grabbed by the Yeti creature emerging from behind some rocks.

"I saw this huge ape-like form hiding behind the rocks. When I saw it it was like being struck by a thunderbolt," he told the daily Superexpress. "Coming from Warsaw, I never really believed the local stories of a wild mountain ape-man roaming the slopes. But, now I do."

The film has been handed over for examination to the Nautilus Foundation, which deals with unexplained phenomena. "The film clearly shows 'something' that moves on two legs and is bigger than a normal man," says Foundation President Robert Bernatowicz. "But because the camera shakes so much it is difficult to say what it is exactly. We need to go to the site and see what traces, if any, were left."