Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film

[Jennifer O'Dell]

The film again, to decide for yourself:



http://www.bigfootencounters.com/files/mk_davis_pgf.gif

[Jennifer O'Dell]

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

[Martin E]

That was actually a hoax you are seeing Bob Heironimus in an ape suit.



http://whyfiles.org/shorties/150bigfoot_hoax/

[Jennifer O'Dell]

Hi Martin,

He claims he wore the ape suit, but has never got anyone to corroborate him, not to mention can't get his story straight on how it was designed. This comes from page one:

Bob Heironimus

Bob Heironimus claims to have been the figure depicted in the Patterson film, and his allegations are detailed in Long’s book. Heironimus was a tall (6-foot), muscular Yakima, Washington native, age 26, when he says Patterson offered him $1000 to wear an ape suit for a Bigfoot film.
Long uncovered testimony that he contends corroborates Heironimus's claims: Russ Bohannon, a longtime friend, says that Heironimus revealed the hoax privately in 1968 or 1969 (Long, 414). Heironimus says he didn’t publicly discuss his role in the hoax because he hoped to be repaid eventually. In separate incidents, Bob Hammermeister and Heironimus’s relatives (mother Opal and nephew John Miller) claim to have seen an ape suit in Heironimus’ car. The relatives saw it two days after the film was alleged to have been made (Long, 362). No date was given by Long for Hammermeister's observation, but it apparently came well after the relatives' observation, as implied by the word "still" in the justification Heironimus gave Hammermeister for requesting his silence: "There was still supposed to be a payola on this thing, and he didn't have it" (Long, 398). However, this is awkward for Heironimus's case, because his account implies that he had possession of the suit after his return to Yakima for only 24 hours. (Long, 363-66)
Long argues that the suit Morris says he sold to Patterson was the same suit Heironimus claims to have worn in the Patterson film. However, Long quotes Heironimus and Morris describing ape suits that are in many respects quite different; Long speculates that Patterson modified the costume.
•   Heironimus says he was told by his brother Howard that the suit was manufactured by Patterson from a “real dark brown” horse hide (Long, 344). This point is repeated several times: “It stunk: Roger skinned out a dead, red horse” (ibid). Heironimus also reports that he was told by Howard the suit’s fur was from an old fur coat.
•   Morris reports that the suit was a rather expensive ($450) dark brown model with fur made of Dynel, a synthetic material. Long writes that Morris “used Dynel solely in the sixties--and was using brown Dynel in 1967”.(Long, 449)
•   Heironimus described the suit as having no metal pieces and an upper “torso part” that he donned “like putting on a T-shirt” (Long, 344–45). At Bluff Creek he put on “the top” (Long, 349). Asked about the “bottom portion,” he guessed it was cinched with a drawstring.
•   Morris made a one-piece union suit with a metal zipper up the back and into which one stepped (Long, 449).
•   Heironimus described the suit as having hands and feet that were attached to the arms and legs.
•   Morris made a suit whose hands and feet were separate pieces. Long speculates that Patterson riveted or glued these parts to the suit. (Oddly, before Heironimus tried the suit on for size.)