Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film

Ray Wallace
After his death in 2002, due to Loren Coleman asking the Seattle Times reporter Bob Young to investigate, the family of Ray Wallace went public with claims that he had started the part of the Bigfoot phenomenon with fake footprints left in California sites in 1958. In addition, David Daegling (an anthropologist from the University of Florida) stated that Wallace "had a degree of involvement" with the Patterson-Gimlin film, and that this gave grounds for suspicion of it (Daegling, 117). The evidence for this involvement is Wallace's statement (made while alive), "I felt sorry for Roger Patterson. He told me he had cancer of the lymph glands and he was desperately broke and he wanted to try to get something where he could have a little income. Well, he went down there exactly where I told him. I told him, 'You go down there and hang around on that bank. Stay up there and watch that spot.'" This quote is debated, however, as others suggest that Wallace made no such claims during his lifetime.

Wallace was well known for his dubious and attention-seeking claims, however, so most Bigfoot researchers discount Wallace’s involvement, and this particular claim is dubious on its face. It implies that Wallace masterminded the hoax without Patterson's involvement, and possibly even without his awareness. If this was the case, he could not have been certain that the men, upon seeing what they thought was a bigfoot would not open fire with their rifles. And it implies that his first attempt at a Bigfoot film hoax was far more convincing than the films Wallace subsequently made in the 1970s, and tried to pass off as genuine. It should be noted, as Loren Coleman has written, that Patterson as an early Bigfoot investigator, naturally, sought out and interviewed older Bigfoot event principals, which included Wallace due to the 1958 Bluff Creek incidents. However, Wallace had nothing to do with Patterson's footage in 1967. Coleman has pointed out in an analysis of the media treatment of the death of Wallace that the international media inappropriately confused the Wallace fake films of the 1970s with the Patterson-Gimlin 1967 film.


Robert B. Stein
Robert B. Stein, an expert on hoaxes in general and trick photography in particular, argues that the Patterson-Gimlin creature's apparent size is due to a photographic trick called forced perspective. This is an elaborate set of special effects used to make film characters look larger or smaller than usual, compared to their surroundings. It has been used to good effect in many recent fantasy movies, including The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series. He notes that at no point in the Patterson-Gimlin film is any recognizable human form in the frame for size reference. He also asserts that the apparent "muscle movement" in the film was probably the result of a tight-fitting costume that enclosed the feet.

As a teenager in the late 1970s, Stein tried to demonstrate that convincing UFO photographs could not be created without expensive equipment. However, he proved that they could be faked. Using only a Kodak InstaMatic, a Polaroid instant camera and an assortment of common objects thrown into the air, he created many convincing UFO pictures. Stein discovered how to use forced perspective to make his UFOs hover above trees or buildings. Claiming to be a "contactee", he later sold his pictures to several tabloids and UFO journals.

Stein comments on Patterson's incredible good luck. "Roger Patterson set out to make a Bigfoot documentary," he says. "He immediately stumbled upon a Bigfoot. Not only that, he stumbled upon a Bigfoot that was out in the open in bright, clear sunshine, perfect weather for filming. He didn't just beat the odds. He gave the odds a royal whipping."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patterson-Gimlin_film