Second Thoughts: Bigfoot
The 1967 video of “Bigfoot” having his stroll interrupted by some cowboys bearing cameras is up there with the most famous video clips of all time - you know, the JFK assassination, the Hindenburg disaster, Del Boy falling through a bar…Even now, so many years later, believers argue that it’s real, or at least that, “if it’s a hoax it’s a really good one.” But is there any truth to it? Was it footage of a real apelike creature, appearing right on cue in Bluff Creek, California, by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin? Or was it, em, a man in a baggy ape suit?
AI reconstruction of “that” Bigfoot video. It’s AI, but just as real.
To be fair, we should consider the evidence for its veracity. In the most general terms, there have long been stories (all over the world, in fact) of humanlike creatures living in the woods, and it’s still possible that there are small populations of primates to be found. And, more specifically, proponents argue that the 1967 video shows realistic musculature beyond anything possible at the time (Hollywood released Planet of The Apes in 1968), and that it’s just not possible for a human to walk in the bent-knee fashion seen in the film.
But on the other general hand, ecologists say the climate of North West America (which does not have any other hominid species) simply could not support a large species of great ape like this, and that any enduring population would certainly be sighted more often, and leave evidence like bones. And on the other specific hand, actual scientists (as opposed to fans) who’ve analysed the footage are less able to spot the alleged musculature (though some have claimed to see joins between glove and arm), and state that it’s clearly a human walk. As to the claims that humans simply cannot walk like that, they’re just not true either. In fact, in a bulky, baggy suit with extended feet (whose soles are also visibly white in some frames), it’s actually necessary to do it: a bit like walking with flippers.
And if all that’s not enough, well, most of the men behind it actually came forward decades ago to reveal the truth (though you wouldn’t know that from watching the endless Bigfoot films on Sky). While Patterson himself died without admitting anything, he was known during his life for his dubious claims. He also worked at filmmaking company American National Enterprises with Clyde Reinke, who remembered ANE and Patterson planning an eye-catching film that would attract tourists to the area (the area was already known for fake Bigfoot footprints made by a hoaxer called Ray Wallace)
Then there was magician-turned-costume designer Philip Morris, who revealed that he sold a modified six-piece gorilla suit to Patterson for the purpose. And there was Bob Hieronimus, a former friend of Patterson’s who wore the suit on the day because he was promised €1,000 for it - but, typically enough, Patterson never paid him. (There’s even one frame in the film which always puzzled scientists, in which sunlight reflects unusually strongly from the creature’s right eye…it turned out that, unknown to most people involved, Hieronimus had a glass eye, providing even more evidence that the whole thing is nonsense.)
