Patterson-Gimlin film
 |
| Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot |
The Patterson-Gimlin film is a movie of a purported bigfoot taken by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin on October 20, 1967. These two researchers were on a horseback expedition in the Six Rivers National Forest in northern California, USA to find clues for the existence of a bigfoot. This region had been chosen because of Bigfoot sightings and footprints reported there in 1958.
Patterson and Gimlin were riding horses when they saw the creature. His horse was startled by the creature and reared, throwing Patterson. He recovered and ran toward the creature while preparing his 16mm camera.
The resulting film--about 50 seconds long--is initially quite shaky until Patterson gets about 30 feet from the creature. Patterson estimated its height at about seven and one-half feet. The film shows a bigfoot or sasquatch--aparently female due to prominent breasts. It turns and seems to look at Patterson while walking quickly from Patterson into a grove of trees.
The Patterson film has been studied many times, by biologists, anthropologists, photographers and others, both amateur and professional. Some conclude the film depicts a real creature, while others have ruled it a hoax showing person in a suit. However, Doctor Grover Krantz of Washington State University, a noted expert on Sasquatch, said that it would have been a physical impossiblility for a person in a suit to "fake" Patterson's film. Krantz pointed out the tremendous width of the creature's shoulders and said there was no way a person in an ape suit could fake this unless his arm was broken and a new hinge added. Krantz also interviewed Patterson extensively.
Rumors circulated that the creature seen in the Patterson-Gimlin film was a suit designed by special effects legend, John Chambers. Some reports state that film director John Landis started such rumors. Chambers designed the ape costumes seen in many of the original Planet of the Apes films, and was reportedly an acquaintance of Ray Wallace and Bob Gimlin. In an October 26, 1997 interview with Bigfoot researcher Bobbie Short, Chambers denied any knowledge of the Patterson film before its public exposure, and further denied any involvement in a hoax. Chambers stated he was good at his craft, but "not that good" when it came to creating such a purported disguise. (Loren Coleman & Jerome Clark, Cryptozoology A to Z, p 56)
Ray Wallace, an amateur "Bigfoot expert" who produced many well-circulated photos and reports of Bigfoot sightings, claimed late in his life he had engaged in a continuous and elaborate hoax. After his death in 2002 his family went public with many of the details. Wallace, who had suggested to Roger Patterson where he should go in hopes of filming Bigfoot, claimed to have staged the sighting and that the "creature" was a friend of his in costume. Many consider Wallace's claims to have taken much credibility from the Bigfoot research movement.