The storyline called for Patterson, his Indian guide (Gimlin in a wig), and the cowboys to recall in flashbacks the stories of Fred Beck (of the 1924 Ape Canyon incident) and others as they tracked the beast on horseback.
It is just south of a north-running segment of the creek informally known as "the bowling alley". The filmmakers were Roger Patterson (1933–1972) and Robert "'Bob" Gimlin (born 1931).
Patterson chose the area because of intermittent reports of the creatures in the past, and of their enormous footprints since 1958.
Bluff Creek had also been the site of well-known Bigfoot hoaxer Ray Wallace's activities in 1958.
Stay up there and watch that spot.'" David Daegling summarized Chorvinsky's argument and concluded that Wallace "had a degree of involvement" with the Patterson–Gimlin film, and that this gave grounds for suspicion of it. Loren Coleman has written that Patterson was an early Bigfoot investigator, and that it was only natural that he sought out and interviewed older Bigfoot-event principals, which included Wallace, because of the 1958 Bluff Creek track incidents.
Sanderson in True magazine in December 1959.
In 1961 Sanderson published his encyclopedic Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life, a worldwide survey of accounts of Bigfoot-type creatures, including recent track finds, etc.
For decades, the exact location of the site was lost, primarily because of re-growth of foliage in the streambed after the flood of 1964.
Patterson would have needed a costume to represent Bigfoot, if the time came to shoot such climactic scenes. Prior to the October 1967 filming, Patterson apparently visited Los Angeles on these occasions: Roger drove to Hollywood in 1964 and visited rockabilly songwriter and guitarist Jerry Lee Merritt, a Yakima native who was living there in Hollywood then.
Thereafter, Marian Place wrote: Patterson's book, Do Abominable Snowmen of America Really Exist?, was self-published in 1966.
He was trying to sell his hoop-toy invention. In 1966 he visited Merritt again while he was still trying to sell his hoop-toy invention. Merritt soon moved back to Yakima and became Patterson's neighbor, and later his collaborator on his Bigfoot documentary. Later in 1966 he and Merritt drove down there for several purposes.
The footage was shot in 1967 in Northern California, and has since been subjected to many attempts to authenticate or debunk it. The footage was filmed alongside Bluff Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River, about northwest of Orleans, California, in Humboldt County.
The date was October 20, 1967, according to the filmmakers, although some critics believe it was shot earlier. ==Background== Patterson said he became interested in Bigfoot after reading an article about the creature by Ivan T.
It was first reprinted in 1996 by Chris Murphy, and then again re-issued by Murphy in 2005 under the title The Bigfoot Film Controversy, with 81 pages of additional material by Murphy. In May/June 1967 Patterson began filming a docudrama or pseudo-documentary about cowboys being led by an old miner and a wise Indian tracker on a hunt for Bigfoot.
Patterson would have needed a costume to represent Bigfoot, if the time came to shoot such climactic scenes. Prior to the October 1967 filming, Patterson apparently visited Los Angeles on these occasions: Roger drove to Hollywood in 1964 and visited rockabilly songwriter and guitarist Jerry Lee Merritt, a Yakima native who was living there in Hollywood then.
He tried to sell his ponies-and-wagon to Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm. In the summer of 1967, apparently after getting $700 from the Radfords and shooting some of his documentary, they tried unsuccessfully to attract investors to help further fund his Bigfoot movie.
Patterson had played high school football. In October 1967, Patterson and his friend Gimlin set out for the Six Rivers National Forest in far Northern California.
(His familiarity with the area and its residents from prior visits may also have been a factor.) The most recent of these reports was the nearby Blue Creek Mountain track find, which was investigated by journalist John Green, Bigfoot hunter René Dahinden, and archaeologist Don Abbott on and after August 28, 1967.
This find was reported to Patterson (via his wife) soon thereafter by Al Hodgson, owner of the Willow Creek Variety Store. Though Gimlin says he doubted the existence of Sasquatch-like creatures, he agreed to Patterson's insistence that they should not attempt to shoot one. ==Encounter== As their stories went, in the early afternoon of Friday, October 20, 1967, Patterson and Gimlin were riding generally northeast (upstream) on horseback along the east bank of Bluff Creek.
Gimlin did not have a horse that was suitable (old enough) for the expedition." Heironimus stated that Chico (a middle-aged gelding) "wouldn't jump or buck ..." ==Immediate aftermath== At approximately 6:30p.m., Patterson and Gimlin met up with Al Hodgson at his variety store in Willow Creek, approximately south by road, about by Bluff Creek Road from their camp to the 1967 roadhead by Bluff Creek, and down California State Route 96 to Willow Creek.
Patterson appeared on a few popular TV talk shows to promote the film and belief in Bigfoot by showing excerpts from it: for instance, on the Joe Pyne Show in Los Angeles, in 1967, which covered most of the western US; on Merv Griffin's program, with Krantz offering his analysis of the film; on Joey Bishop's talk show, and also on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
Chris Murphy wrote, "I believe the screening of this roll at the University of British Columbia on October 26, 1967, was the first and last major screening." It has subsequently been lost.
For instance, most of Bill Munns' book makes detailed examinations of film features that he argues could not have been created with 1967 special effects technology.
Morris claims he was reluctant to expose the hoax earlier for fear of harming his business: giving away a performer's secrets, he said, would be widely regarded as disreputable. Morris said that he sold an ape suit to Patterson via mail order in 1967, thinking it was going to be used in what Patterson described as a "prank".
Morris offered no evidence apart from his own testimony to support his account, the most conspicuous shortcoming being the absence of a gorilla suit or documentation that would match the detail evidenced in the film and could have been produced in 1967. A re-creation of the PGF was undertaken on October 6, 2004, at "Cow Camp," near Rimrock Lake, a location west of Yakima.
Morris said that it was his "standard suit that we sold to all our customers" that cost $435 (cheaper than the competition). Another contrast is that Howard reported that the horsehide was a "real dark brown" and Long writes that Morris "was using brown Dynel in 1967".
again (all by the end of 1968); then, later, in Beaverton, Oregon.
Opal said she saw the suit two days after the film was shot. Russ Bohannon, a longtime friend, says that Heironimus revealed the hoax privately in 1968 or 1969. Bernard Hammermeister, another longtime friend, said he was shown an ape suit in Heironimus' car.
After Patterson returned the camera in working order, this charge was dismissed, in 1969. While Patterson sought publicity, Gimlin was conspicuous by his absence.
Another factor was that his wife objected to publicity. Daegling wrote, "Bigfoot advocates emphasize that Patterson remained an active Bigfoot hunter up until his death." For instance, in 1969, he hired a pair of brothers to travel around in a truck chasing down leads to Bigfoot witnesses and interviewing them.
Krantz reports that in 1969, John Green (who owned a first-generation copy of the original Patterson film) interviewed Disney executive Ken Peterson, who, after viewing the Patterson film, asserted "that their technicians would not be able to duplicate the film".
Opal said she saw the suit two days after the film was shot. Russ Bohannon, a longtime friend, says that Heironimus revealed the hoax privately in 1968 or 1969. Bernard Hammermeister, another longtime friend, said he was shown an ape suit in Heironimus' car.
Gimlin mostly avoided publicly discussing the subject from at least the early 1970s until about 2005 (except for three appearances), when he began giving interviews and appearing at Bigfoot conferences. The film is long (preceded by of "horseback" footage), has 954 frames, and runs for 59.5 seconds at 16 frames per second.
Of those who were quoted, most expressed various reservations, although some were willing to say they were intrigued by it. Christopher Murphy wrote, "Dahinden traveled to Europe [with the film] in 1971.
Patterson died of cancer in 1972 and "maintained right to the end that the creature on the film was real".
He learned this only after having sent Dennis Jenson fruitlessly to Thailand (where he concluded that the airman was "mentally unbalanced") and then, after receiving a second untrue letter from the man, going himself to Thailand with Jenson. To obtain money to travel to Thailand, "Patterson called Ron, who had returned to ANE, and sold the company the theatrical rights to the clip for what Olson described as a pretty good sum of money." Patterson died of Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1972.
bought out Gimlin, who himself had received nothing from Patterson; and Mason and Radford, promised part of the profits by Patterson, had nothing to show for their investment or efforts." ==Ownership of the physical films== ===First reel=== The whereabouts of the original is unknown, although there are several speculations as to what happened to it. Patterson had ceded ownership of the original to American National Enterprises, which went bankrupt a few years after his death in 1972.
Greg Long writes, "Byrne cited his trip to Walt Disney studios in 1972, where Disney's chief of animation and four assistants viewed Patterson's footage and praised it as a beautiful piece of work although, they said, it must have been shot in a studio.
He planned to make millions with the film, but says it lost money." Olson is profiled in Barbara Wasson's Sasquatch Apparitions. On November 25, 1974, CBS broadcast Monsters! Mystery or Myth, a documentary about the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot.
Radford had corroborative evidence: a $700 promissory note "for expenses in connection with filming of 'Bigfoot: America's Abominable Snowman.'" Patterson had agreed to repay her $850, plus 5 percent of any profits from the movie. In 1974, Bob Gimlin, with René Dahinden's financial assistance, sued DeAtley and Patterson's widow, Patricia, claiming he had not received his one-third share of the film's proceeds.
[It was released in 1975,] titled Bigfoot: Man or Beast.
He won his case in 1976. ==Legal status== Greg Long reports that a 1978 legal "settlement gave Dahinden controlling rights—51 percent of the film footage, 51 percent of video cassette rights, and 100 percent of all 952 frames of the footage.
In a 1997 interview in a nursing home with Bigfooter Bobbie Short in her nurse's uniform, he denied rumors that he had created a costume for the Patterson subject, saying "I'm good, but not that good." Some time before 1976 the Guenettes reported that, in answer to their questions, "He concluded that if the creature is a man in a suit, then it is no ordinary gorilla suit.
He won his case in 1976. ==Legal status== Greg Long reports that a 1978 legal "settlement gave Dahinden controlling rights—51 percent of the film footage, 51 percent of video cassette rights, and 100 percent of all 952 frames of the footage.
Morris says he discussed his role in the hoax "at costume conventions, lectures, [and] magician conventions" in the 1980s, but first addressed the public at large on August 16, 2002, on Charlotte, North Carolina, radio station WBT.
Chorvinsky wrote, "'Roger Patterson came [over] dozens of times pumping me on this Bigfoot,' Ray Wallace explained to researcher Dennis Pilchis in 1982.
Famed Hollywood creator of Harry (from the movie, Harry and the Hendersons), Rick Baker, told Geraldo Rivera's Now It Can Be Told show (in 1992) that "it looked like cheap, fake fur," after seeing the subject in Patterson's filmstrip.
It was first reprinted in 1996 by Chris Murphy, and then again re-issued by Murphy in 2005 under the title The Bigfoot Film Controversy, with 81 pages of additional material by Murphy. In May/June 1967 Patterson began filming a docudrama or pseudo-documentary about cowboys being led by an old miner and a wise Indian tracker on a hunt for Bigfoot.
When Century Group went bankrupt in 1996, Byrne rushed to Deerfield Beach, Florida, where an accountant was auctioning off the company's assets to pay creditors.
Sometime between then and 1996, the film went missing from its numbered location in the vault. At least seven copies were made of the original film. Bill Munns listed four other missing reels of derivative works that would be helpful to film analysts. ===Second reel=== The second reel, showing Patterson and Gimlin making and displaying plaster casts of some footprints, was not shown in conjunction with the first reel at Al DeAtley's house, according to those who were there.
In a 1997 interview in a nursing home with Bigfooter Bobbie Short in her nurse's uniform, he denied rumors that he had created a costume for the Patterson subject, saying "I'm good, but not that good." Some time before 1976 the Guenettes reported that, in answer to their questions, "He concluded that if the creature is a man in a suit, then it is no ordinary gorilla suit.
pp. 55–57. ===Other=== ==External links== The entry on Bigfoot at The Skeptic's Dictionary ===Suit-related=== Transcript of Bobbie Short's taped interview with John Chambers, October 27, 1997 (Original print copy of the interview: NASI Newsletter, January 1998.
After speaking with his lawyer he was told that since he had not been paid for his involvement in the hoax, he could not be held accountable. A month after watching the December 28, 1998, Fox-television special World's Greatest Hoaxes: Secrets Finally Revealed?, he went public, via a January 30 press release by his lawyer, Barry Woodard, in a Yakima newspaper story.
pp. 55–57. ===Other=== ==External links== The entry on Bigfoot at The Skeptic's Dictionary ===Suit-related=== Transcript of Bobbie Short's taped interview with John Chambers, October 27, 1997 (Original print copy of the interview: NASI Newsletter, January 1998.
He says that Fox, MGM, and special effects artist Stuart Freeborn in England, "who had just completed his groundbreaking ape suits for 2001: A Space Odyssey," would have been preferable. Munns started posting his online analysis of the film in 2009 and summarizing it in the online Munns Report.
termed a masterpiece." Similarly, Daegling writes that "Most acquaintances of Patterson volunteered that neither he nor Gimlin were clever enough to put something that detailed together." ===Philip Morris=== In 2002, Philip Morris, owner of Morris Costumes (a North Carolina-based company offering costumes, props and stage products) claimed that he made a gorilla costume that was used in the Patterson film.
Morris says he discussed his role in the hoax "at costume conventions, lectures, [and] magician conventions" in the 1980s, but first addressed the public at large on August 16, 2002, on Charlotte, North Carolina, radio station WBT.
Academy Award-winning "makeup artist Chris [Walas] in the BigfootForums [site] (in 2004) presented a theory that the arching hip line represents the overlap line between a fur costume leggings section and the torso section.
Morris offered no evidence apart from his own testimony to support his account, the most conspicuous shortcoming being the absence of a gorilla suit or documentation that would match the detail evidenced in the film and could have been produced in 1967. A re-creation of the PGF was undertaken on October 6, 2004, at "Cow Camp," near Rimrock Lake, a location west of Yakima.
Gimlin mostly avoided publicly discussing the subject from at least the early 1970s until about 2005 (except for three appearances), when he began giving interviews and appearing at Bigfoot conferences. The film is long (preceded by of "horseback" footage), has 954 frames, and runs for 59.5 seconds at 16 frames per second.
It was first reprinted in 1996 by Chris Murphy, and then again re-issued by Murphy in 2005 under the title The Bigfoot Film Controversy, with 81 pages of additional material by Murphy. In May/June 1967 Patterson began filming a docudrama or pseudo-documentary about cowboys being led by an old miner and a wise Indian tracker on a hunt for Bigfoot.
He says that Fox, MGM, and special effects artist Stuart Freeborn in England, "who had just completed his groundbreaking ape suits for 2001: A Space Odyssey," would have been preferable. Munns started posting his online analysis of the film in 2009 and summarizing it in the online Munns Report.
It was rediscovered in 2011.
In 2013 he and Jeff Meldrum co-authored three papers in Meldrum's online magazine, Relict Hominoid Inquiry.
In 2014, Munns self-published When Roger Met Patty, a 488-page book incorporating material from those articles that analyses the film and film subject from various perspectives. He argues the film depicts a non-human animal, not a man in a fur suit.
Twenty-five [now fifty, as of 2017] years later, no one has come close." He later wrote, "It has never been convincingly replicated.
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