This story probably doesn't come as a shock to many readers. In fact, I wonder if people under 40 even care about this topic at all. But if you grew up in the 1970s, there was definitely a moment where Bigfoot left a very big footprint on the culture. These were the days before the internet and cell phones, when there were only six to eight channels on most people's televisions. The bandwidth for visual information was so limited that it was almost impossible for a video to go viral and capture the attention of millions of people. But this one did:
That film was created by a Bigfoot hunter named Roger Patterson who shot it in 1967 when he was in the midst of making an independent documentary film about Bigfoot.
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. At sometime between 1:15 and 1:40 p.m., they "came to an overturned tree with a large root system at a turn in the creek, almost as high as a room".
When they rounded it, "there was a logjam—a 'crow's nest'— left over from the flood of '64," and then they spotted the figure behind it nearly simultaneously. It was either "crouching beside the creek to their left" or "standing" there, on the opposite bank. Gimlin later described himself as in a mild state of shock after first seeing the figure.
Patterson initially estimated its height at 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) to 7 feet (2.1 m), and later raised his estimate to about 7 feet 6 inches (2.29 m). Some later analysts, anthropologist Grover Krantz among them, have suggested Patterson's later estimate was about 1 foot (0.30 m) too tall. Gimlin's estimate was 6 feet (1.8 m).
The film shows what Patterson and Gimlin claimed was a large, hairy, bipedal, apelike figure with short, "silvery brown" or "dark reddish-brown" or "black" hair covering most of its body, including its prominent breasts. The figure in the film generally matches the descriptions of Bigfoot offered by others who claim to have seen one.
Patterson estimated he was about 25 feet (7.6 m) away from the creature at his closest. Patterson said that his horse reared upon sensing the figure, and he spent about 20 seconds extricating himself from the saddle, controlling his horse, getting around to its other side, and getting his camera from a saddlebag before he could run toward the figure while operating his camera. He yelled "Cover me" to Gimlin, "meaning to get the gun out". Gimlin crossed the creek on horseback after Patterson had run well beyond it, riding on a path somewhat to the left of Patterson's and somewhat beyond his position. Patterson estimates he came within 60–90 feet (18–27 m) of "Patty". Then, rifle in hand, he dismounted, but did not point his rifle at the creature.
This all probably sounds pretty silly now, but for a time in the late 60s and 70s it was endlessly discussed in elementary schools by kids who really wondered about Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster and ESP and ancient aliens, etc. And thanks in part to this film, Bigfoot became a permanent part of the culture. He even became a villain on a popular kids' show in the 1970s (played by Andre the Giant).
But of course all of this was really just a new kind of entertainment. The first viral video decades before that phrase was coined. Now there's a new documentary which promises to reveal the truth about that film. It is being released by Amazon's Prime Video.
What is the truth? According to the new documentary, a secret film remained locked in a family safe for 50 years. What's on it is a different version of the film (above) that everyone has seen.
The film, “Capturing Bigfoot,” which hits theaters and Prime Video on Oct. 20, features a top-secret canister of 16mm film stashed away in a safe for decades, showing a “test run” clip of the hairy guy, purportedly shot in 1966 — exactly one year before Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin’s famous film tricked the world...
The new footage is shot in a lush forest with a more svelte, ape-like creature retreating into the woods slowly, distinct from the Patterson-Gimlin film, which showed the Bigfoot stalking through leafless stretch of woods...
“That’s the answer we’ve been looking for, for years. That’s definitely faked and that’s definitely rehearsed,” said Larry Lund, known as the “Sasquatch Sleuth,” after being shown the film.
They hid the first take for decades, but the film eventually surfaced in 2017. Reportedly, members of the family didn't want the secret to get out because the original film is still a source of revenue.
Anyway, as silly as this all probably seems now, there's definitely a lesson here about how a single fake image can capture the world's imagination and lead to decades of people who become obsessed with the idea and many more eager to profit from it. There's a straight line between the Roger Patterson film and our day when new viral videos pop up every week. In this case, the original Bigfoot film circled the globe for many decades before the truth got its equally big boots on.
Editor's Note: Do you enjoy HotAir's conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join HotAir VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member