...Big hoaxes. At least that's what a lot people believe.In 1967 two men by the names Roget Patterson and Robert Gimlin took what is considered the best and most convincing evidence of the creature we all know and love as Bigfoot. The picture above, taken is Bluff Creek, California, is directly from the famous video footage by the two ranchers. The video can be seen below. Bigfoot, also known at the Sasquatch in some places, had been sighted well before this footage, but this really brought the legend to a whole new level.
In fact this creature had been spotted dating all the way back to 1924! A man by the name of Fred Black claimed he and four other miners were attacked by such creature in Ape Canyon in Washington state. The story goes that they saw large ape like creatures chucking rocks at them and their cabin. They went out and shot at what they described as "mountain gorillas". The next day they saw extremely large footprints.
Of course people have tried to debunk this event saying that a story came out that at the same time a group of young people were around throwing rocks in the canyon. Also it is reported these young people drew such footprints in the mud to prank the miners in the cabin. Thing is, we will never truly know.In 1941 a woman named Jeannie Chapman and her young daughter claimed they had to escape their home because a 7 1/2 foot Sasquatch approached their home and tried to attack them. No one has been able to debunk this story.
In 1958 a man named Jerry Crew brought a large casting of what he claimed was Bigfoot's footprint, to a newspaper office. He claimed this print came from their isolated work site in Bluff Creek, California ran by a man named Ray Wallace. However when Wallace died, his children came forward and revealed a large wooden footprint that their father used to fake the Bigfoot's big foot.
Since then their have been HUNDREDS of sightings all over the world. Most of them brushed off as being hoaxes. The only evidence that has truly stuck is the footage from Roger Patterson. This footage has been picked apart like crazy. People have claimed it is simply a man in a costume. Which by the way, Patterson's friend Robert Gimlin came out many years later saying it really was him in a costume. People still don't believe that. The fact is many people have tried creating such costumes and have attempted to walk the same way, and have been unable to recreate the footage exactly as it was.
Some analysts point out if you look real close, you can actually see the movement of muscles on the creatures legs. Now if a man was wearing a costume, like Gimlin ultimately confessed he was, you would not be able to see his leg muscles move. Costumes don't have such detailed leg muscles, especially in the late 60's. Also some scientists who have willingly analyzed the footage claim the creature's stride is very much not like a human. They say it would be near impossible for a man to create the form of stride.
Most men and women in the science field have blatantly laughed off this Bigfoot drama, saying it's just impossible for such creature to exist. But the fact remains, most of these scientists have not even given much thought or scientific analysis to any of the claims. They just automatically say it's all a great big hoax. There are the rare few, including Jane Goodall, who firmly believe Bigfoot is real. She says she has spoken with MANY Native Americans who have heard the sounds of Bigfoot as well as seen them. Some people in this field are just open to the possibility.
Of course though, there are plenty of hoaxes inside the Bigfoot world. One came very recently actually! Watch this video below to see the actual news footage of the men who claimed to find the body of Bigfoot.In 2008 Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton claimed they stumbled across the deceased body of a Sasquatch in a forest in northern Georgia. They put the body in a large ice chest and froze it to keep it safe and intact. They contacted Tom Bicardi, also known as the Bigfoot Hunter and asked him to come see for himself. Dyer and Whitton received $50,000 from Bigfoot Inc. as a good faith measure. In their press conferences and interviews, all 3 men boldly stated they wanted to make as much money as possible off this discovery. After their big press conference, the body was thawed and left in the hands of the Searching for Bigfoot team. It was soon discovered that the hair was not real, the head was hollow and the feet were made from rubber. Dyer and Whitton had no choice to finally reveal it was a hoax.
So you see, there are in fact people trying to make bank of this Bigfoot madness, but not all of it has to be fake! Like I've stated, there have been MANY respected scientists who have just brushed off Bigfoot without actually really looking into it. The fact remains there is more proof he exists then there is that he doesn't. You can't just look at a video and say, "oh that's not real" or "that's obviously a man in a costume" and then have no physical proof to back it up! That's stupid! People say these things to come off smarter than they actually are. They just want to be right and sound sophisticated when really they have nothing to actually give us. I'm sorry if that sounded rude in anyway, but it's the case in anything paranormal.
People just beat us down by trying to make us think these things aren't real and don't exist but all they have is words. They rarely come forth with evidence and samples, and what not. We have WAY more proof that these things are real then skeptics have that these things are not real. That's a definite fact folks! This battle between skeptics and believers is very one sided in my opinion. Now by no means are we right in every case, I'm not an idiot! I know that people do fake evidence (like with Bigfoot) and I know we can't physically prove everything, but dammit at least we try!! We at least analyze pictures and videos, and even try to recreate and debunk things. Skeptics just look at something and say, "I know that's not real, just because it isn't possible". That's weak! Yes there are some who do try, but not enough! Oops, I've ranted, sorry!
There have been way to many eye witness accounts of Mr. OR Mrs. Bigfoot. There have been TONS of pictures taken of him or her! There have been plenty of videos. Plenty of documentaries! Now about 90-95% of all of this evidence can probably be brushed off as a hoax or just debunked, but that still leaves a small percentage of evidence that leaves us wondering if the big guy himself really is wandering the woods of the world, just waiting for the next person to come by with a camera and snap a nice little picture of him! Is he really out there? I say hell yes, but I'll let you be the judge!
--Mike--
This is the original footage of the Patterson-Gimlin sighting of the world famous "Bigfoot" creature. Is it real? You be the judge.
I'm absolutely thrilled you wrote about Bigfoot--he's my guy! I've been a huge Bigfoot believer since I was a child. Something about it rang true inside of me and I just know that he does exist. I've never had even a blinking moment of disbelief. It's kind of like when you known a loved one is in trouble, I just have a gut feeling he's out there. It's my hope to encounter a glimpse of him some day. After the novel I'm currently editing, the second in the series is about Bigfoot and researching him will be great fun! I have to say I've seen everything I can get my hands on in respect to evidence/documentaries and the Patterson/Gimlin film still makes me shake my head. I used to think it was a total hoax, but the more times I saw it, something in it seemed right. They didn't make the beast run off in fright. She cruises along keeping her eye on them, but is hardly agile enough to run. I still think the sight of horses should have spooked her. Her fur looks beautiful and too neat, but then so do bear's fur. What's your take on it? Do you think the film is real? A little voice inside of me says--hey they went looking for bigfoot and happened to find him? Sounds like a couple of "hunters" in the south... Still, there's something about her movements and body stance that just feels very authentic. See, I go back and forth on that evidence thinking it's authentic and bogus. Still, all the other reports and footprints are just too real! p.s. I have just about every documentary on Bigfoot. A couple times a year when I have a rainy day off, I run them back to back all day long. I love them! Why can't they have a Bigfoot Hunters show? People are genuinely scared of sitting in dark woods and hearing things (Blair Witch syndrome). Even if they find nothing, their campouts will freak people out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Autumn, I believe they are real too. I spent last weekend watching the MonsterQuest marathon. Most of the episodes were on Bigfoot. They followed several different teams, in different parts of the world where the sightings occured and did their investigating. They picked up many interesting sounds that even the experts couldn't explain. I find the whole bigfoot phenomenon fasinating. So many people that have crossed the creatures paths tell the same story. Just because they haven't gotten a better video of Bigfoot, or pictures of the mysterious beast, doesn't mean it does not exsist. It just means they are smarter than we think and know how to keep dodging those people that are out looking for them, lol.
ReplyDeleteNice job Mike, thanks for posting this.
Personally I choose to believe that Patterson video is authentic. I have no other reason to think otherwise. I am no expert in video and audio analysis, so I can't sit here and pick the video apart with any credibility. I know what I see in the video, and to me it looks real! The way it walks, the muscle movement, the fur, it just seems so real to me. And you have to remember this was 1967! Video trickery was not an easy task back then, they did not have the amazing technology that we have now. And yeah, it COULD be a costume, but even people have been able to prove it would be very difficult for a man to wear such a costume and walk like that.
ReplyDeleteI do think that it was very convenient for these two ranchers to have a video camera on them however. Of all the hoopla over the video, that's the one thing that bothers me the most...the whole thing just seemed TO easy. But again, could just have been very coincidental.
And I agree with you Julie, just because people haven't caught the same kind of footage as the Patterson video, does not make Bigfoot fake! My goodness, it's not even that difficult to believe! It's essentially an animal! Did you know gorillas were believed to be a myth until the very early 1900's when they were "discovered"?? Hmmmm....
--Mike--
Yup, I agree about the Gorilla. Seems hard to imagine we missed that, but local legends described it and then we finally found it. That's how Bigfoot is, I think. Something we hear about until we actually find them. I don't know if you've read much about the White Mountain bigfoot in AZ, but it's the best documented sightings ever because there are so many police reporting it that it was documented well. The film, I have to admit over the years I've been leaning toward the "it's genuine" feeling. There's just something so right about the location near the stream and that it's a female and that it's not intimidated. You have to look at it in relation to its environment (streams are great places for water and food), it's reaction to humans/horses (decides to leave but doesn't run. It knows its size and power in comparison), it's physicality (plenty strong enough to have a walk like that, fur covering it for winter life--doubt it's hibernating). The concept that it came across the land bridges in the Behring Straits from China long ago makes perfect sense--as humans bridged that same gap. In fact, American Indians and Native Hispanic Indians are all found to be genetically tied to the Chinese. I think we'll find Bigfoot and Yeti are cousins. There's some other footage out there of bigfoot walking around, some of hokey, some of it chilling. The one of Yeti in the snow and the two people filming him as he's examining their footprints in the snow gave me a strange chill of recognition, as if I were seeing something I knew... I love this subject--keep writing about it!
ReplyDeleteI so agree with Autumnforest-so glad you posted about this-thanks as always for supporting me at my blog -I enjoy your blog very much and always look forward to it-I will have to come back to this article when I have more time-thanks again and best to both of you as always!!
ReplyDeleteGreat article! I especially like the ending about the battle between skeptics and believers. People should be able to weigh the evidence objectively before judging it one way or the other. I don't know if bigfoot is out there or not. But I'm willing to believe.
ReplyDeleteStephen thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, people need to way the options more. Most people are extremely stubborn in what they believe that they just won't see it any other way. They won't see the other side. It's a shame. I'm fully aware some of these things may not exist, but for now, until someone proves otherwise...I just believe!
--Mike--
I used to own one of those bigfoot rugs when I was a child. I was always fascinated with anything about this species.
ReplyDeleteI believe in the authenticity of this video. Like Autumn said, something about it just feeeels genuine.
I think this creature will actually be caught only when it/they choose to do so, given how highly intelligent I believe they are. My only hope is that it would never be captured alive. Much too barbaric.
Sceptics, by my definition that is, are doubtful but are open to a change of view and to the possibility that they are wrong. Speaking for yours truly, I was a UFO sceptic until I saw my first one. Debunkers on the other hand are out to close the lid on ANYTHING out of the ordinary, regardless of what is shown to them. They, I would say, are the idiots. And it's rather sad. They are missing out on SO much!
Cool blog!