View source for Patterson–Gimlin film

{{Short description|Alleged film of Bigfoot}}
{{Redirect|Roger Patterson|the bassist|Roger Patterson (bassist)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox mythical creature
|image            = Patterson Gimlin Bigfoot.jpg
|image_size       = 230px
|caption          = Frame 352 of the Patterson–Gimlin film, alleged to depict a female Bigfoot<ref name="Australian">{{cite news|title=DNA tests to help crack mystery of Bigfoot or Yeti existence|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/dna-to-test-bigfoot-mystery/story-e6frg6so-1226365397311|access-date=May 21, 2014|newspaper=[[The Australian]]|date=May 24, 2012|agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>
|Folklore         = [[Cryptid]]
|Country          = {{Plainlist|
* [[United States]]
}}
|Region           = [[North America]]
}}
{{Paranormal}}
The '''Patterson–Gimlin film''' is a 1967 American short [[Film|motion picture]], created by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, that depicts an unidentified subject that the filmmakers stated was a [[Bigfoot]]. 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 {{convert|25|mi|km|disp=preunit|logging-road |&nbsp;}} northwest of [[Orleans, California|Orleans]], [[California]], in [[Del Norte County, California|Del Norte County]] on the [[Six Rivers National Forest]]. The film site is roughly {{convert|38|mi|km|-1}} south of [[Oregon]] and {{convert|18|mi|km|-1}} east of the [[Pacific Ocean]].<ref>Murphy (2008), 32</ref> 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. It was rediscovered in 2011.<ref>"BIGFOOT'S bLOG," January 21, 2013, at http://bigfootbooksblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/gps-coordinates-for-bluff-creek-pgf.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714182324/http://bigfootbooksblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/gps-coordinates-for-bluff-creek-pgf.html |date=July 14, 2015 }}</ref><ref>''Bigfoot Times'' newsletter, August 2012</ref><ref>"BIGFOOT'S bLOG," at http://bigfootbooksblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/corrections-and-clarifications-to-peter.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714182040/http://bigfootbooksblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/corrections-and-clarifications-to-peter.html |date=July 14, 2015 }}</ref> 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 died of cancer in 1972 and "maintained right to the end that the creature on the film was real".<ref>McLeod, 128–29, 140</ref> Patterson's friend, Gimlin, has always denied being involved in any part of a hoax with Patterson. Gimlin mostly avoided publicly discussing the subject from at least the early 1970s until about 2005 (except for three appearances),<ref>In Toronto for Dahinden's book launch in 1973 (McLeod, 173); at the 1978 [[University of British Columbia]] Museum of Anthropology (McLeod, 140) Conference; and on ''[[Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World]]'' in 1980</ref> when he began giving interviews and appearing at Bigfoot conferences.<ref>Murphy (2008), 57</ref><ref name="Regal, 129">Regal, 129</ref>

The film is {{convert|23.85|ft|m}} long (preceded by {{convert|76.15|ft|m|disp=or|sp=us}} of "horseback" footage), has 954 frames,<ref>Munns, 29&nbsp;– he located two additional frames at the beginning that should be part of the "count"</ref> and runs for 59.5 seconds at 16 frames per second. If the film was shot at 18 fps, as [[Grover Krantz]] believed,<ref>Krantz, 89, caption</ref> the event lasted 53 seconds. The date was October 20, 1967, according to the filmmakers, although some critics believe it was shot earlier.<ref>Long, 373–74, 401, 420–21</ref><ref>Daegling, 147–49</ref><ref>McLeod, 81–82</ref><ref>Munns, 5</ref>

==Background==
Patterson said he became interested in Bigfoot after reading an article about the creature by [[Ivan T. Sanderson]] in ''[[True (magazine)|True]]'' magazine in December 1959.<ref>Perez, 6</ref> 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. in the Bluff Creek area, which heightened his interest. Thereafter, Marian Place wrote:

{{blockquote|In 1962 he visited Bluff Creek and talked with a whole host of Bigfoot-believers. In 1964<ref>However, Cliff Barackman's site notes that the year carved in the casts while they were drying is 1963. Cliff contends that the 1964 date in Patterson's book is likely an error. See http://cliffbarackman.com/bigfoot-prints/cast-index/1963-laird-meadow/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621143454/http://cliffbarackman.com/bigfoot-prints/cast-index/1963-laird-meadow/ |date=June 21, 2015 }}</ref> he returned and met a timber-cruiser named Pat Graves, who drove him to Laird Meadows.<ref>Murphy (2009) 51, 120, 146, 170; It is mistakenly spelt "Leard" in a couple of books</ref> There Patterson saw fresh tracks—for him an almost unbearably exciting, spine-chilling experience. What a tremendous feat it would be—what a scientific breakthrough—if he could obtain unshakable evidence that these tracks were not the work of a prankster, but the actual mark of a hitherto unknown creature! If he succeeded, he would be famous! And rich!

Alas, fame and fortune were not gained that year, nor the next, nor the next. Patterson invested thousands of hours and dollars combing Bigfoot and Sasquatch territory. He fought constant ridicule and a shortage of funds. ... he founded ... the Northwest Research Foundation. Through it he solicited funds . ... The response was encouraging and enabled him to lead several expeditions. ... In 1966 he published a paperback book at his own expense. ... He added the income from its sales and his lectures to the search fund. As each wilderness jaunt failed to see or capture the monster, one by one the thrill-seekers dropped out. But Patterson never gave up.<ref>Marian Place, 135–36</ref>}}

Patterson's book, ''Do Abominable Snowmen of America Really Exist?'', was [[self-published]] in 1966. The book has been characterized as "little more than a collection of newspaper clippings laced together with Patterson's circus-poster style prose".<ref>Hunter and Dahinden, 113</ref> The book, however, contains 20 pages of previously unpublished interviews and letters, 17 drawings by Patterson of the encounters described in the text, five hand-drawn maps (rare in subsequent Bigfoot books), and almost 20 photos and illustrations from others. It was first reprinted in 1996 by Chris Murphy,<ref>(under his publishing company, Pyramid Productions) in a very limited number (approximately 200, according to Murphy)</ref> and then again re-issued by Murphy<ref>under [[Hancock House Publishers|Hancock House]] Publishing</ref> 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 [[tracking (hunting)|tracker]] on a hunt for Bigfoot. 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. For actors and cameraman, Patterson used at least nine volunteer acquaintances, including Gimlin and Bob Heironimus, for three days of shooting, perhaps over the Memorial Day weekend.<ref>Long, 39, 109–10, 115, 228–29</ref><ref>This is the only stretch in that period that all the men would have had 3 free days.</ref> 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:
* Patterson drove to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] in 1964 and visited rockabilly songwriter and guitarist Jerry Lee Merritt, a [[Yakima, Washington|Yakima]] native who was living in Hollywood then.<ref>Long, 132</ref><ref>Patterson and Murphy, 15</ref> He was trying to sell his hoop-toy invention.<ref>Long, 176–77; Al Hodgson remembers that this was his mission on "the first time I met him [1964]" on his way south.</ref><ref>McLeod, 79</ref>
* In 1966 he visited Merritt again while he was still trying to sell his hoop-toy invention.<ref>Long, 107, 126</ref>
Merritt soon moved back to Yakima and became Patterson's neighbor, and later his collaborator on his Bigfoot documentary.<ref>Long, 99; see also Long, 100–33 and 312</ref>
* Later in 1966 he and Merritt drove down there for several purposes. Patterson visited cowboy film star [[Roy Rogers]] for help.<ref>Long, 73, 91, 230</ref> He tried to sell his ponies-and-wagon to [[Disneyland]] or [[Knott's Berry Farm]].<ref>Long, 230</ref>
* 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.<ref>Long, 110–11, 114, 130</ref> They copyrighted or trademarked the term "Bigfoot".<ref>Long, 127, 140</ref>

Both Patterson<ref>Long, 90. (This citation does not cover this entire sentence.)</ref> and Gimlin had been rodeo riders and amateur boxers—and local champions in their weight classes. 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]]. They drove in Gimlin's truck, carrying his provisions and three horses, positioned sideways. Patterson chose the area because of intermittent reports of the creatures in the past, and of their enormous footprints since 1958. 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 Willison Green|John Green]], Bigfoot hunter [[René Dahinden]], and archaeologist Don Abbott on and after August 28, 1967.<ref>Perez, 8</ref> This find was reported to Patterson (via his wife) soon thereafter by Al Hodgson, owner of the [[Willow Creek, California|Willow Creek]] [[Variety Store]].<ref>Byrne, 138</ref><ref>Jevning, ''Notes from the Field: Tracking North America's Sasquatch,'' 105, quoting Hodgson in an interview. Later, Hodgson said, he "branched out" into selling, e.g., clothing (and the "variety store" designation was dropped).</ref>

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 with a gun.<ref>Daegling, 115</ref>

==Encounter==
[[File:Patterson Gimlin film.webm|thumb|The film]]
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{{nbsp}}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".<ref>Perez, 9, 20</ref><ref>Gimlin, quoted in Perez, 9</ref>

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.<ref name="Meldrum, 139">Meldrum, 139</ref><ref name="Krantz, 87">Krantz, 87</ref>

Patterson initially estimated its height at {{convert|6|ft|6|in}} to {{convert|7|ft}},<ref>Patterson & Murphy, 195</ref> and later raised his estimate to about {{convert|7|ft|6|in}}. Some later analysts, anthropologist [[Grover Krantz]] among them, have suggested Patterson's later estimate was about {{convert|1|ft}} too tall. Gimlin's estimate was {{convert|6|ft}}.

The film shows what Patterson and Gimlin claimed was a large, hairy, [[bipedalism|bipedal]], apelike figure with short, "silvery brown"<ref>Patterson and Murphy, 195</ref> or "dark reddish-brown"<ref>Napier, 90</ref> or "black"<ref>Sanderson (1969), 66</ref> 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 {{Convert|25|ft}} 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,<ref>Perez, 9</ref> 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".<ref name="Perez, 10">Perez, 10</ref> 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 {{convert|60–90|ft}} of "Patty".<ref name="Perez, 10"/> Then, rifle in hand, he dismounted, but did not point his rifle at the creature.<ref>Meldrum, 140</ref>

The figure had walked away from them to a distance of about {{convert|120|ft}} before Patterson began to run after it. The resulting film (about 59.5 seconds long at 16 fps) is initially quite shaky until Patterson got about {{convert|80|ft}} from the figure. At that point, the figure glanced over its right shoulder at the men and Patterson fell to his knees; on Krantz's map this corresponds to frame 264.<ref name="Perez, 12">Perez, 12</ref> To researcher [[John Willison Green|John Green]], Patterson would later characterize the creature's expression as one of "contempt and disgust ... you know how it is when the umpire tells you 'one more word and you're out of the game.' That's the way it felt."

Shortly after this point the steady, middle portion of the film begins, containing the famous look-back frame 352. Patterson said, "it turned a total of I think three times,"<ref>Wasson, 69</ref> the other times therefore being before the filming began and/or while he was running with his finger off the trigger. Shortly after glancing over its shoulder on film, the creature disappeared behind a grove of trees for 14 seconds, then reappeared in the film's final 15 seconds after Patterson moved {{convert|10|ft|0}} to a better vantage point, fading into the trees again and being lost to view at a distance of {{convert|265|ft}} as the reel of film ran out.<ref>Krantz, 89–90</ref>

Gimlin remounted and followed it on horseback, keeping his distance, until it disappeared around a bend in the road {{convert|300|yd|m|spell=in}} away. Patterson called him back at that point, feeling vulnerable on foot without a rifle, because he feared the creature's mate might approach. The entire encounter had lasted less than two minutes.

Next, Gimlin and Patterson rounded up Patterson's horses, which had run off in the opposite direction, downstream, before the filming began. Patterson got his second roll of film from his saddlebag and filmed the tracks.<ref>Wylie, 12</ref> Then the men tracked "Patty" for either {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}}<ref name="Perez, 12"/> or {{convert|3|mi|spell=in}},<ref>Sanderson (1969), 68; Sanderson might have mixed up this with the {{convert|3|mi|km|adj=on|spell=in}} they traveled back to the campsite.</ref> but "lost it in the heavy undergrowth".<ref>Coleman and Clark, 198</ref> They went to their campsite {{convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} south, picked up plaster, returned to the initial site, measured the creature's step-length, and made two [[plaster cast]]s, one each of the best-quality right and left prints.

===Details===
According to Patterson and Gimlin, they were the only witnesses to their brief encounter with what they claimed was a sasquatch. Their statements agree in general, but author Greg Long notes a number of inconsistencies. They offered somewhat different sequences in describing how they and the horses reacted upon seeing the creature. Patterson in particular increased his estimates of the creature's size in subsequent retellings of the encounter.<ref>Long, 162–65</ref> In a different context, Long argues, these discrepancies would probably be considered minor, but given the extraordinary claims made by Patterson and Gimlin, any apparent disagreements in perception or memory are worth noting.

The film's defenders have responded by saying that commercially motivated hoaxers would have "got their stories straight" beforehand so they would not have disagreed immediately upon being interviewed, and on so many points, and so they wouldn't have created a suit and a creature with foreseeably objectionable features and behaviors.<ref>For instance, see "How Not to Plan a Hoaxed Filming," ''Bigfoot Times'', March 2004.</ref>

A more serious objection concerns the film's "timeline". This is important because Kodachrome II movie film, as far as is known, could be developed only by a lab containing a $60,000+ machine, and the few West Coast labs known to possess one did not do developing over weekends. Patterson's brother-in-law Al DeAtley claims not to remember where he took the film for development or where he picked it up.<ref>Long, 252–54</ref>

Critics claim that too much happened between the filming (at 1:15 at the earliest) and the filmmakers' arrival in Willow Creek (at 6:30 at the latest). Daegling wrote, "All of the problems with the timeline disappear if the film is shot a few days or hours beforehand. If that is the case, one has to wonder what other details of this story are wrong."<ref>Daegling, ''Bigfoot Exposed'', 147–49.</ref><ref>McLeod, ''Anatomy of a Beast'', 79–82.</ref> The film's defenders retort that although the time window was tight, it was do-able.<ref>Perez, ''Bigfoot Times'',</ref>

Chris Murphy wrote, "I have confirmed with Bob Gimlin that Patterson definitely rode a small quarter horse (which he owned), not his Welsh pony 'Peanuts'. Also, that Patterson had arranged to borrow a horse by the name of 'Chico' from Bob Heironimus for Gimlin to use{{nbsp}}[...] Gimlin did not have a horse that was suitable (old enough) for the expedition."<ref>Murphy (2008), 39</ref> Heironimus stated that Chico (a middle-aged gelding) "wouldn't jump or buck".<ref>Long, 347</ref>

==Immediate aftermath==
At approximately 6:30{{nbsp}}p.m.,<ref>McLeod, 79, quoting Hodgson in an interview with him</ref> Patterson and Gimlin met up with Al Hodgson at his [[variety store]] in [[Willow Creek, California|Willow Creek]], approximately {{convert|54.3|mi|km}} south by road, about {{convert|28.8|mi|km}} by Bluff Creek Road from their camp to the 1967 roadhead by Bluff Creek, and {{convert|25.5|mi|km|0}} down [[California State Route 96]] to Willow Creek. Patterson intended to drive on to [[Eureka, California|Eureka]] to ship his film. Either at that time, or when he arrived in the Eureka/[[Arcata, California|Arcata]] area, he called Al DeAtley (his brother-in-law in Yakima) and told him to expect the film he was shipping. He requested Hodgson to call Donald Abbott,<ref>Murphy, ''Bigfoot Film Journal'', 34–35</ref> whom [[Grover Krantz]] described as "the only scientist of any stature to have demonstrated any serious interest in the [Bigfoot] subject," hoping he would help them search for the creature by bringing a tracking dog.<ref>Murphy, ''Bigfoot Film Journal'', 34, 39</ref> Hodgson called, but Abbott declined. Krantz argued that this call the same day of the encounter is evidence against a hoax, at least on Patterson's part.<ref>Krantz, 122</ref>

After shipping the film, they headed back toward their camp, where they had left their horses. On their way they "stopped at the Lower Trinity Ranger Station, as planned, arriving about 9:00{{nbsp}}p.m. Here they met with Syl McCoy [another friend] and Al Hodgson."<ref name="Murphy, Bigfoot Film Journal, p 35">Murphy, ''Bigfoot Film Journal'', p 35</ref> At this point Patterson called the daily ''[[Times-Standard]]'' newspaper in Eureka and related his story.<ref>Murphy (2008), 40</ref> They arrived back at their campsite at about midnight. At either 5<ref>Perez, 14</ref> or 5:30<ref>Murphy (2008), 35</ref> the next morning, after it started to rain heavily, Gimlin returned to the filmsite from the camp and covered the other prints with bark to protect them. The cardboard boxes he had been given by Al Hodgson for this purpose and had left outside were so soggy they were useless, so he left them.<ref name="Murphy, Bigfoot Film Journal, p 35"/><ref>Meldrum, 145</ref>

When he returned to the camp he and Patterson aborted their plan to remain looking for more evidence and departed for home, fearing the rain would wash out their exit. After attempting to go out along "the low road"—Bluff Creek Road—and finding it blocked by a mudslide,<ref>Bob Gimlin's talk at the Lake Chautauqua (NY) conference, April 28, 2013; transcribed by Todd Prescott</ref> they went instead up the steep Onion Valley Road, off whose [[shoulder (road)|shoulder]] their truck slipped; extracting it required the (unauthorized) borrowing of a nearby [[front-end loader]]. The drive home from their campsite covered about {{convert|580|mi|km}}, the initial {{convert|28.8|mi|km}} on a low-speed logging road, and then about {{convert|110|mi|km}} on twisty Route 96. Driving a truck with three horses, and allowing for occasional stops, it would have taken 13 hours to get home Saturday evening, at an average speed of {{convert|45|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}; it would have taken 14.5 hours at a {{convert|40|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} average speed.

US Forest Service timber management assistant<ref name="Perez, 22">Perez, 22</ref> Lyle Laverty said, "I [and his team of three, in a [[Jeep]]] passed the site on either Thursday the 19th or Friday the 20th"<ref>''Bigfoot Times'' newsletter, Sept. 2006, p. 1</ref> and noticed no tracks. After reading the news of Patterson's encounter on their weekend break, Laverty and his team returned to the site on Monday, the 23rd, and made six photos of the tracks. (Laverty later served as an Assistant [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] under [[George W. Bush]].) [[Taxidermist]] and outdoorsman Robert Titmus went to the site with his sister and brother-in-law nine days later.<ref>Green (1978), 119–23, writes, quoting Titmus: "Aline was a skeptic and Harry a hard-headed non-believer. Both of them left there believing. ... Harry has hunted [[big-game hunting|big game]] all of his life. ... " (p. 123)</ref> Titmus made [[plaster casts]] of 10 successive prints<ref>Murphy (2008), 33</ref> of the creature and plotted Patterson's and the creature's movements on a map as well as he could.<ref>Titmus is profiled in Chris Murphy's ''Know the Sasquatch'', pp. 225–26, and in Coleman and Clark's ''Cryptozoology A to Z'', pp. 239–40.</ref>

==Long-term aftermath==

===Film-related===
[[File:Bigfoot Museum Willow Creek.jpg|thumb|The "Bigfoot Museum" in [[Willow Creek, California]]]]
[[Grover Krantz]] writes that "Patterson had the film developed as soon as possible. At first he thought he had brought in proof of [[Bigfoot]]'s existence and really expected the scientists to accept it. But only a few scientists were willing to even look at the film,"<ref>Krantz, 91</ref> usually at showings at [[scientific organization]]s. These were usually arranged at the behest of zoologist, author, and media figure [[Ivan Sanderson]], a supporter of Patterson's film.<ref name="Regal, 129"/> Seven showings occurred, in Vancouver, [[Manhattan]],<ref>Regal, 105–06</ref> [[The Bronx]], [[Washington, D.C.]], [[Atlanta]], and Washington, D.C. again (all by the end of 1968); then, later, in [[Beaverton, Oregon]]. Of those who were quoted, most expressed various reservations, although some were willing to say they were intrigued by it.<ref>Hunter & Dahinden, 117–25</ref><ref>Perez (1992), 15–19</ref><ref>Murphy (2009), 53–54</ref><ref>Buhs, 140–43</ref><ref>Daegling, 107–08</ref>

Christopher Murphy wrote, "[[René Dahinden|Dahinden]] traveled to Europe [with the film] in 1971. He visited England, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Russia. Although scientists in these countries were somewhat more open-minded than those in North America, their findings were basically the same . ... A real glimmer of hope, however, emerged [in Russia, where he met Bayanov, Bourtsev, and their associates]."<ref>Murphy (2008), 80–81</ref><ref>McLeod, 134–35</ref><ref>Perez (1992), 15–16</ref><ref>Bayanov, 27–40</ref>

Though there was little scientific interest in the film, Patterson was still able to capitalize on it. He made a deal with the [[BBC]], allowing the use of his footage in a [[docudrama]] made in return for letting him tour with their docudrama, into which he melded material from his own documentary and additional material he and Al DeAtley filmed.<ref>Long, 111, 248, 261–62</ref> This film was shown in local movie houses around the [[Pacific Northwest]] and [[Midwest]].<ref>Long, 263–64</ref><ref>McLeod, 118</ref> A technique commonly used for [[nature film]]s called "[[Four-wall distribution|four-walling]]" was employed, involving heavy local advertising, mostly on TV, of a few days of showings.<ref>Long, 263</ref> It was a modest financial success. Al DeAtley estimated that his 50% of the film's profits amounted to $75,000.<ref name="Long, 265, 424">Long, 265, 424</ref><ref>But Glen Koelling said, "It was my understanding that his [Roger's] brother-in-law made quite a bit of money off that movie. And Roger didn't get his share of it. ... Roger told me, and several other people too, you know, that I trust." (Long, 206) And Bigfoot-book author [[Michael McLeod (author)|Michael McLeod]] concluded similarly. (McLeod, 112:  "A lot of money was coming in (DeAtley has admitted to personally making several hundred thousand dollars from the film), but people close to the action agree that an awful lot was also going out. Whatever money filtered down to Roger Patterson wasn't near enough.")</ref>

The film generated a fair amount of national publicity. Patterson appeared on a few popular TV [[talk show]]s 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;<ref>Long, 203</ref> on [[Merv Griffin]]'s program, with [[Grover Krantz|Krantz]] offering his analysis of the film; on [[Joey Bishop]]'s talk show,<ref>Long, 258</ref> and also on [[Johnny Carson]]'s ''[[Tonight Show]]''.<ref>M. Place, 139; ''[[National Wildlife magazine]]'', April–May 1968</ref> Articles on the film appeared in ''[[Argosy (magazine)|Argosy]]'',<ref>February 1968</ref> ''[[National Wildlife Magazine]]'',<ref>August 15, 1968</ref> and ''[[Reader's Digest]]''.<ref>January 1969; (reprinted from [[West magazine]], a [[Sunday supplement]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'')</ref>

One radio interview, with Gimlin, by [[Vancouver]]-based Jack Webster in November 1967, was partly recorded by [[John Willison Green|John Green]] and reprinted in [[Loren Coleman]]'s ''Bigfoot!''<ref>Coleman, 83–95</ref> Patterson also appeared on broadcast interviews on local stations near where his film would be shown during his four-walling tour in 1968.<ref>Long, 266</ref>

Patterson subsequently sold overlapping distribution rights for the film to several parties, which resulted in costly legal entanglements.<ref>Long, 308, 325–26</ref><ref>Murphy (2008), 56</ref><ref>Buhs, 191</ref><ref>Regal, 121</ref>

After Patterson's death, Michael McLeod wrote, "With the consent of Al DeAtley and Patricia Patterson, the film distributor Ron Olson took over the operation of Northwest Research ... and changed its name to the North American Wildlife Research Association. ... He worked full-time compiling reports, soliciting volunteers to join the hunt, and organizing several small expeditions. A [[Bigfoot trap]] Olson and his crew built still survives. ... Olson ... continued to lobby the company [American National Enterprises] to produce a Bigfoot film. ... In 1974 ... ANE finally agreed. ... [It was released in 1975,] titled ''Bigfoot: Man or Beast''. [H]e devised a storyline involving members of a Bigfoot research party. Olson spent several years exhibiting the film around the country. He planned to make millions with the film, but says it lost money."<ref>McLeod, 138–40</ref><ref>Buhs, 230</ref><ref name="Wasson, 51–53">Wasson, 51–53</ref><ref>Buhs, 157, describes two prior, less ambitious Bigfoot movies by ANE</ref> Olson is profiled in Barbara Wasson's ''Sasquatch Apparitions''.<ref name="Wasson, 51–53"/>

On November 25, 1974, [[CBS]] broadcast ''Monsters! Mystery or Myth'', a documentary about the [[Loch Ness Monster]] and Bigfoot. It was co-produced by the [[Smithsonian Institution]], which cancelled its contract with the producer the next year. The show attracted 50 million viewers. In 1975, [[Sunn Classic Pictures]] released ''Bigfoot: The Mysterious Monster'' aka ''The Mysterious Monsters'', which remixed parts of ''Monsters! Mystery or Myth'' and another documentary called ''Land Of The Yeti'', and also included footage from the Patterson–Gimlin film.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://sharonahill.com/2019/07/05/the-mysterious-monster-mash|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190706030115/https://sharonahill.com/2019/07/05/the-mysterious-monster-mash/|url-status = dead|archive-date = July 6, 2019|title = The Mysterious Monster Mash of the Mid 1970s: Bigfoot hits prime time TV|date = July 6, 2019}}</ref>

From 2026, Bigfoot—in a pose identical to the film—will be available as an [[emoji]] officially titled "hairy creature".<ref>{{cite web | title=The next batch of emoji includes Bigfoot | url=https://www.theverge.com/news/709179/emoji-17-0-bigfoot-apple-core-orca-treasure-chest-trombone-dancer }}</ref>

===Filmmaker-related===
Patterson's expensive ($369)<ref>Murphy, 63</ref> [[16 mm film|16 mm]] camera had been rented on May 13 from photographer Harold Mattson<ref name=":0" /> at Sheppard's Camera Shop in Yakima, but he had kept it longer than the contract had stipulated, and an [[arrest warrant]] had been issued for him on October 17;<ref>Long, 167</ref> he was arrested within weeks of his return from Bluff Creek.<ref>McLeod, 112</ref> After Patterson returned the camera in working order, this charge was dismissed, in 1969.<ref>Long, 167, 169</ref>

While Patterson sought publicity, Gimlin was conspicuous by his absence. He only briefly helped to promote the film<ref name="Long, 265">Long, 265</ref> and avoided discussing his Bigfoot encounter publicly for many subsequent years; he turned down requests for interviews.<ref>Coleman, 83</ref> He later reported that he had avoided publicity after Patterson and promoter Al DeAtley had broken their agreement to pay him a one-third share of any profits generated by the film.<ref>Long, 159–160</ref> 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."<ref>Daegling, 114</ref><ref>Long, 182, quoting [[John Willison Green|John Green]]</ref><ref>Long, 269–70, quoting Al DeAtley</ref><ref>Regal, 129, writes: "For all his personal flaws and dubious behavior, Patterson seems to have genuinely believed in Bigfoot."</ref> 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.<ref>Long, 406</ref> Later, in December of that year, he was one of those present in [[Bossburg, Washington]], in the aftermath of the [[cripplefoot]] tracks found there.<ref>McLeod, 119–21</ref><ref>Hunter & Dahinden, 152, 154–55, 158</ref><ref>Coleman (2003), 125</ref> [[Grover Krantz|Krantz]] reports that "[a] few years after the film was made, Patterson received a letter from a man ["a US airman stationed in Thailand"<ref>McLeod, 121</ref>] who assured him a Sasquatch was being held in a [[Buddhist monastery]]. Patterson spent most of his remaining money preparing an expedition to retrieve this creature"<ref name="Krantz, 120">Krantz, 120</ref> only to learn it was a hoax. 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.<ref name="Green (1978), 129">Green (1978), 129</ref><ref name="McLeod, 121–22">McLeod, 121–22</ref>

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."<ref name="McLeod, 121–22"/>

Patterson died of [[Hodgkin's lymphoma]] in 1972.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Darling|first1=Dylan|title=Big day for Bigfoot believers|url=http://www.redding.com/news/big-day-for-bigfoot-believers|access-date=May 20, 2015|work=[[Redding Record Searchlight]]|date=October 20, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521054015/http://www.redding.com/news/big-day-for-bigfoot-believers|archive-date=May 21, 2015}}</ref> According to [[Michael McLeod (author)|Michael McLeod]],<ref>McLeod, 128</ref> Greg Long,<ref name="Long, 188">Long, 188</ref> and Bill Munns,<ref>Munns, 19</ref> "A few days before Roger died, he told Bigfoot-book author [[Peter C. Byrne]] that in retrospect, ... he [wished he] would have shot the thing [ie killed it] and brought out a body instead of a reel of film." According to [[Grover Krantz]]<ref name="Krantz, 87"/> and [[Robert Michael Pyle|Robert Pyle]],<ref>Pyle, 269</ref> years later, Patterson and Gimlin both agreed they should have tried to kill the creature, both for financial gain and to silence naysayers.

In 1995,<ref>Long, 29</ref> almost three decades after the Patterson–Gimlin filming, Greg Long,<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Greg Long – The Making of Bigfoot|url=http://www.pointofinquiry.org/greg_long_the_making_of_bigfoot/|website=[[Point of Inquiry]]|publisher=[[Center for Inquiry]]|access-date=March 17, 2015|date=September 26, 2008|archive-date=April 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402134803/http://www.pointofinquiry.org/greg_long_the_making_of_bigfoot/|url-status=dead}}</ref> a technical writer for a technology firm who had a hobby of investigating and writing about Northwest mysteries, started years of interviewing people who knew Patterson, some of whom described him as a liar and a [[conman]].
* "Marvin" (pseudonym),<ref>Long, 96–97</ref> Jerry Lee Merritt,<ref>Long, 105, 116, 120, 125, 127, 132</ref> Pat Mason,<ref>Long, 139–44</ref> Glen Koelling,<ref>Long, 198–202, 205, 215</ref> and Bob Swanson<ref>Long, 221–24</ref> suffered financially from their dealings with him, as well as 21 small local creditors who sued Patterson via a [[collection agency]].<ref>Long, 308, 315–17</ref>
* Vilma Radford<ref>Long, 299–313, 317–18</ref> claimed Patterson never repaid a loan made to him for a Bigfoot movie Roger was planning. Radford had corroborative evidence: a $700 [[promissory note]] "for expenses in connection with filming of 'Bigfoot: America's Abominable Snowman.{{'"}}<ref>Long, 300</ref> 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. He won his case in 1976.<ref>Long, 318–21</ref><ref>McLeod, 136–37</ref>

==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. Patty Patterson had 100 percent of all TV rights and 49 percent rights in the film footage. [[René Dahinden|Dahinden]] had ... 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."<ref name="ReferenceA">Long, 327; for fuller detail, see 318–29</ref>

==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. Thereafter, Greg Long writes, "Peregrine Entertainment bought the company. Then Peregrine was bought by Century Group of Los Angeles. 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. The company's films were in storage in [[Los Angeles]], but a search failed to turn up the Patterson footage."<ref name="Long, 188"/>
* In 2008, Chris Murphy thought a Florida lawyer might have the film, not realizing until later that the lawyer had contacted the Los Angeles storage company that held it, and that it had responded that the film was not in the location the lawyer's records indicated.<ref>Murphy (2008), 91</ref>
* Bill Munns writes that it was "last seen by researchers [[René Dahinden]] and Bruce Bonney in 1980, when René convinced the film vault [in [[Southern California]]] holding it to release it to him". He made [[Cibachrome]] images from it. Sometime between then and 1996, the film went missing from its numbered location in the vault.<ref>Munns, 306; also, 3–4</ref>

At least seven copies were made of the original film.<ref>*[[René Dahinden]] possessed one of the copies up until his death. The film now is in possession of Dahinden's family.
* [[John Willison Green|John Green]] still owns his copy. Munns, 378, implies the copy in Green's archives now is the one he copied from the original at Canawest in Vancouver.
* [[Grover Krantz]]'s copy "went to the [[Smithsonian Institution]] when he died".: Munns, 394
* [[Erik Beckjord]] (now deceased) offered his copy for sale for $1 million; it is not known if it was sold or what has become of it.
* [[Peter C. Byrne]] if he sold or donated his copy, there has been no news of that.
* A copy was made for American National Enterprises (ANE), for use in making its commercialized documentary: Munns, 395.
* Mrs. Patterson also has a copy in a bank vault, to which she granted access to Munns for his analytical work.</ref><ref>Bill Munns ''When Roger Met Patty'', Appendix 2, pp.&nbsp;31–32, 387–99</ref>

Bill Munns listed four other missing reels of derivative works that would be helpful to film analysts.<ref>Munns, 306–10:
* The [[Ektachrome]] master Canawest Labs made for [[John Willison Green|John Green]].
* A complete copy of the PGF theatrical documentary shown in movie houses by Patterson and DeAtley.
* The [[BBC]] documentary that included the PGF.
* ANE's ''Bigfoot: Man or Beast?'' documentary film.</ref>

===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,<ref>Murphy (2008), 36</ref> according to those who were there. 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."<ref>Murphy (2008), 46</ref> It has subsequently been lost. [[John Willison Green|John Green]] suspects that Al DeAtley has it.<ref>Long, 181</ref>

A ten-foot strip from that reel, or from a copy of that reel, from which still images were taken by Chris Murphy, still exists, but it, too, has gone missing.<ref>Murphy (2008), 46–47, 91</ref>

==Filming speed==
One factor that complicates discussion of the Patterson film is that Patterson said he normally filmed at 24 frames per second, but in his haste to capture the Bigfoot on film, he did not note the camera's setting. His [[Ciné-Kodak|Cine-Kodak]] K-100 camera had markings on its continuously variable dial at 16, 24, 32, 48, and 64 frames per second, but no click-stops, and was capable of filming at any frame speed within this range. [[Grover Krantz]] wrote, "Patterson clearly told [[John Willison Green|John Green]] that he found, after the filming, that the camera was set on 18 frames per second (fps). ... "<ref>Krantz, 306</ref><ref>Green (1978), 126</ref> It has been suggested{{By whom|date=June 2023}} that Patterson simply misread "16" as "18".{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}
* "Dr. D.W. Grieve, an anatomist with expertise in human biomechanics ... evaluated the various possibilities" regarding film speed and did not come to a conclusion between them. He "confessed to being perplexed and unsettled" by "the tangible possibility that it [the film subject] was real".<ref>Daegling, 109–11</ref>
* [[John Napier (primatologist)|John Napier]], a primatologist, claimed that "if the movie was filmed at 24 frame/s then the creature's walk cannot be distinguished from a normal human walk. If it was filmed at 16 or 18 frame/s, there are a number of important respects in which it is quite unlike man's gait."<ref name="Napier, 94, 2nd printing">Napier, 94 [2nd printing]</ref> Napier, who published before Dahinden and Krantz,<ref>Bayanov, 70</ref> contended it was "likely that Patterson would have used 24 frame/s" because it "is best suited to TV transmission," while conceding that "this is entirely speculative."<ref name="Napier, 94, 2nd printing"/><ref>Regal, 120, writes: "Krantz also found a copy of the camera's manual. It states, 'For normal screen action, when using a silent projector, use the 16 frames per second speed.{{'"}}</ref> In fact 24 frames a second is the rate used in motion pictures, and 30 frames a second is best suited to US TV's requirements. 
* [[Grover Krantz|Krantz]] argued, on the basis of an analysis by Igor Bourtsev, that since Patterson's height is known ({{convert|157|or|160|cm|ftin|0|abbr=on|disp=sqbr|order=flip}}), a reasonable calculation can be made of his pace. This running pace can be synchronized with the regular bounces in the initial jumpy portions of the film that were caused by each fast step Patterson took to approach the creature. On the basis of this analysis, Krantz argued that a speed of 24 frames per second can be quickly dismissed and that "[we] may safely rule out 16 frames per second and accept the speed of 18."<ref>Krantz, 96</ref>
* [[René Dahinden]] stated that "the footage of the horses prior to the Bigfoot film looks jerky and unnatural when projected at 24 frame/s."<ref name="Perez, 21">Perez, 21</ref> And Dahinden experimented at the film site by having people walk rapidly over the creature's path and reported: "None of us ... could walk that distance in 40 seconds [952 frames / 24 frame/s = 39.6 s], ... so I eliminated 24 frame/s."<ref name="Perez, 21"/>
* Bill Munns wrote, "One researcher, Bill Miller, found technical data from a [[Kodak]] technician that stated the K-100 cameras were tweaked so even when the dial is set to 16 fps, the camera actually runs at 18 fps. ... I have nine K-100 cameras now. ... I tried it on one camera, and got 18 fps, but the rest still need testing [and all with "film running through the camera"]."<ref>Munns, 326–27</ref>

==Analysis==
[[File:Bigfoot - Patterson-Gimlin Film - Stabilized - 10-20-1967.webm|thumb|A [[Stabilized images|stabilized]] version of the film ]]
The Patterson–Gimlin film has seen relatively little interest from mainstream scientists. Statements of scientists who viewed the film at a screening, or who conducted a study, are reprinted in Chris Murphy's ''Bigfoot Film Journal''.<ref>Murphy (2008), 59–66, 72–82</ref> Typical objections include: Neither humans nor chimpanzees have hairy breasts as does the figure in the film, and Napier has noted that a [[sagittal crest]] is "only very occasionally seen, to an insignificant extent, in chimpanzees {{sic}} females".<ref>Cited in Wasson, 74</ref> Critics have argued these features are evidence against authenticity. Krantz countered the latter point, saying "a sagittal crest ... is a consequence of absolute size alone."<ref>Krantz, 304</ref>

As anthropologist [[David Daegling]] writes, "[t]he skeptics have not felt compelled to offer much of a detailed argument against the film; the burden of proof, rightly enough, should lie with the advocates." Yet, without a detailed argument against authenticity, Daegling notes that "the film has not gone away."<ref>Daegling, 119</ref> Similarly, [[Grover Krantz|Krantz]] argues that of the many opinions offered about the Patterson film, "[o]nly a few of these opinions are based on technical expertise and careful study of the film itself."<ref name="Krantz, 92">Krantz, 92</ref>

Regarding the quality of the film, second-generation copies or copies from TV and DVD productions are inferior to first-generation copies. Many early frames are blurry due to camera shake, and the quality of subsequent frames varies for the same reason. Stabilization of the film (e.g., by M. K. Davis) to counter the effect of camera shake has improved viewers' ability to analyze it. Regarding "graininess," Bill Munns writes, "Based on transparencies taken off the camera original, ... the PGF original is as fine grain as any color 16mm film can achieve." He adds that graininess increases as images are magnified.<ref>Munns, 366–70</ref>

===Scientific studies===

====Bernard Heuvelmans====
[[Bernard Heuvelmans]]—a [[zoology|zoologist]] and the so-called "father of [[cryptozoology]]"—thought the creature in the Patterson film was a suited human.<ref>Sanderson, 78–79</ref><ref name="Strange 1997">{{cite news|last1=Chorvinsky|first1=Mark|author-link=Mark Chorvinsky|title=Some Thoughts About the Patterson Bigfoot Film on its 30th Anniversary|url=http://www.strangemag.com/pattersonfilm30th.html|access-date=May 20, 2015|work=Strange Magazine|date=October 1997}}</ref><ref>Krantz, 301–04</ref> He objected to the film subject's hair-flow pattern as being too uniform; to the hair on the breasts as not being like a primate; to its buttocks as being insufficiently separated; and to its too-calm retreat from the pursuing men.

====John Napier====
Prominent primate expert [[John R. Napier|John Napier]] (one-time director of the [[Smithsonian]]'s Primate Biology Program) was one of the few mainstream scientists not only to critique the Patterson–Gimlin film but also to study then-available Bigfoot evidence in a generally sympathetic manner, in his 1973 book, ''Bigfoot: The Sasquatch and Yeti in Myth and Reality''.

Napier conceded the likelihood of Bigfoot as a real creature, stating, "I am convinced that Sasquatch exists."<ref>Napier, 205 – 2nd printing</ref> But he argued against the film being genuine: "There is little doubt that the scientific evidence taken collectively points to a hoax of some kind. The creature shown in the film does not stand up well to functional analysis."<ref name="Napier, 95">Napier, 95</ref> Napier gives several reasons for his and others' [[Scientific skepticism|skepticism]]<ref>Napier, 90–94</ref> that are commonly raised, but apparently his main reasons are original with him. First, the length of "the footprints are totally at variance with its calculated height".<ref>Napier, 94</ref> Second, the footprints are of the "hourglass" type, which he is suspicious of.<ref>Napier, 126</ref> (In response, Barbara Wasson criticized Napier's logic at length.)<ref>Wasson, 72–76, 78–79</ref>

He adds, "I could not see the zipper; and I still can't. There I think we must leave the matter. Perhaps it was a man dressed up in a monkey-skin; if so it was a brilliantly executed hoax and the unknown perpetrator will take his place with the great hoaxers of the world. Perhaps it was the first film of a new type of hominid, quite unknown to science, in which case Roger Patterson deserves to rank with [[Eugène Dubois|Dubois]], the discoverer of ''[[Java Man|Pithecanthropus erectus]]'', or [[Raymond Dart]] of Johannesburg, the man who introduced the world to its immediate human ancestor, ''[[Australopithecus africanus]]''."<ref name="Napier, 95"/>

The skeptical views of Grieve and Napier are summarized favorably by Kenneth Wylie (and those of Bayanov and Donskoy negatively) in Appendix A of his 1980 book, ''Bigfoot: A Personal Inquiry into a Phenomenon''.<ref>Wylie, ''Bigfoot: A Personal Inquiry into a Phenomenon'', 237–42.</ref>

====Esteban Sarmiento====
[[Esteban Sarmiento]] is a specialist in physical anthropology at the [[American Museum of Natural History]]. He has 25 years of experience with great apes in the wild. He writes,<ref>"Conclusions Reached by Dr. Esteban Sarmiento ... (affiliations follow)," in Murphy (2009), pp. 94–99</ref> "I did find some inconsistencies in appearance and behavior that might suggest a fake ... but nothing that conclusively shows that this is the case."<ref>Murphy (2009), 94</ref> His most original criticism is this: "The plantar surface of the feet is decidedly pale, but the palm of the hand seems to be dark. There is no mammal I know of in which the plantar sole differs so drastically in color from the palm."<ref>Murphy (2009), 95</ref> His most controversial statements are these: "The gluteals, although large, fail to show a humanlike cleft (or crack)."<ref>Murphy (2009), 96</ref> "Body proportions: ... In all of the above relative values, bigfoot is well within the human range and differs markedly from any living ape and from the 'australopithecine' fossils."<ref>Murphy (2009), 97</ref> (E.g., the IM index is in the normal human range.) And: "I estimate bigfoot's weight to be between 190 and 240 lbs{{nbsp}}[{{convert|190|and|240|lbs|kg|round=5|abbr=on|disp=out}}]."<ref>Murphy (2009), 98–99</ref>

====David J. Daegling and Daniel O. Schmitt====
When anthropologists David J. Daegling of the [[University of Florida]] and Daniel O. Schmitt examined the film, they concluded it was impossible to conclusively determine whether the subject in the film is nonhuman, and additionally argued that flaws in the studies by Krantz and others invalidated their claims. Daegling and Schmitt noted problems of uncertainties in the subject and camera positions, camera movement, poor image quality, and artifacts of the subject. They concluded: "Based on our analysis of gait and problems inherent in estimating subject dimensions, it is our opinion that it is not possible to evaluate the identity of the film subject with any confidence."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Daegling|first1=David J.|last2=Schmitt|first2=Daniel O.|title=Bigfoot's screen test|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|date=May–June 1999|volume=23|issue=3|page=20|url=http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/SI_99_daegling.htm|access-date=June 20, 2015}}</ref>

Daegling has asserted that the creature's odd walk could be replicated: "Supposed peculiarities of subject speed, stride length, and posture are all reproducible by a human being employing this type of locomotion [a "compliant gait"]."<ref>Daegling, 127</ref>

Daegling notes that in 1967, movie and television [[special effect]]s were primitive compared to the more sophisticated effects in later decades, and allows that if the Patterson film depicts a man in a suit that "it is not unreasonable to suggest that it is better than some of the tackier monster outfits that got thrown together for television at that time."<ref name="Daegling, 112">Daegling, 112</ref>

====Jessica Rose and James Gamble====
Jessica Rose and James Gamble are authors of "the definitive text on human gait",<ref>publisher's blurb on Amazon</ref> ''Human Walking''. They operate the Motion and Gait Analysis Lab at [[Stanford University]]. They conducted a high-tech human-replication attempt of "Patty's" gait, in cooperation with Jeff Meldrum. Rose was certain their subject had matched Patty's gait, while Gamble was not quite as sure. Meldrum was impressed and acknowledged that "some aspects" of the creature's walk had been replicated, but not all. The narrator said, "even the experts can see the gait test could not replicate all parameters of the gait." It was shown in an episode of the [[Discovery Channel]]'s ''[[Best Evidence]]'' series.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Bigfoot |series=Best Evidence |series-link=Best Evidence |network=[[Discovery Channel]] |number=2}}</ref>

====Cliff Crook and Chris Murphy====
A computerized visual analysis of the video conducted by Cliff Crook, who once devoted rooms to sasquatch memorabilia in his home in Bothell, Washington,<ref name=jan111999 /> and Chris Murphy, a Canadian Bigfoot buff from Vancouver, British Columbia, was released in January 1999 and exposed an object which appeared to be the suit's zip-fastener.<ref name=jan111999 /> Zooming in on four magnified frames of the 16&nbsp;mm footage video exposed what appeared to be tracings of a bell-shaped fastener on the creature's waist area, presumably used to hold a person's suit together.<ref name=jan111999>{{Cite web |url=http://amarillo.com/stories/011199/usn_fake.shtml#.WeU8_oXnu48 |title=What? Bigfoot's a big fake? &#124; Amarillo.com &#124; Amarillo Globe-News |access-date=October 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017093515/http://amarillo.com/stories/011199/usn_fake.shtml#.WeU8_oXnu48 |archive-date=October 17, 2017 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> Since both Crook and Murphy were previously staunch supporters of the video's authenticity,<ref name=jan111999 /> Associated Press journalist John W. Humbell noted "Longtime enthusiasts smell a deserter."<ref name=jan111999 />

===Other analysts===

====Nike researcher Gordon Valient====
Krantz also showed the film to Gordon Valient, a researcher for [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]] shoes, who he says "made some rather useful observations about some rather unhuman movements he could see".<ref name="Krantz, 93"/>

====''MonsterQuest''====
A first-season episode of ''[[MonsterQuest]]'' focuses on the Bigfoot phenomenon. One pair of scientists, Jurgen Konczak (director, Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory, University of Minnesota) and [[Esteban Sarmiento]], attempts and fails to get a [[mime]] outfitted with [[LED]]s on his joints to mimic the Patterson Bigfoot's gait. A second pair, [[Daris Swindler]] and Owen Caddy, employs digital enhancement and observes facial movements, such as moving eyelids, lips that compress like an upset chimp's, and a mouth that is lower than it appears, due to a false-lip anomaly like that of a chimp's. The episode concludes, "the new findings are intriguing but inconclusive, until a body is found."<ref>{{cite episode |title=Bigfoot |episode-link=MonsterQuest#Season one (2007–2008) |series=MonsterQuest |series-link=MonsterQuest |network=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] |air-date=November 28, 2007 |season=1 |number=5}}</ref>

===Film industry personnel===

====Movie production companies' executives====
* Dale Sheets and Universal Studios. Patterson, Gimlin, and DeAtley<ref>Murphy (2008), 73</ref> screened the film for Dale Sheets, head of the Documentary Film Department, and unnamed technicians<ref name="Green (1978), 129"/> "in the special effects department at [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] ... Their conclusion was: 'We could try (faking it), but we would have to create a completely new system of artificial muscles and find an actor who could be trained to walk like that. It might be done, but we would have to say that it would be almost impossible.{{'"}}<ref>Hunter and Dahinden, 119</ref> A more moderate version of their opinion was, "if it is [a man in an ape suit], it's a very good one—a job that would take a lot of time and money to produce."<ref>Dick Kirkpatrick, ''National Wildlife'' Magazine, April–May 1968</ref>
* Disney executive Ken Peterson. Krantz reports that in 1969, [[John Willison Green|John Green]] (who owned a first-generation copy of the original Patterson film)<ref>Munns, 371, 378</ref> interviewed [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] executive [[Ken Peterson]], who, after viewing the Patterson film, asserted "that their technicians would not be able to duplicate the film".<ref name="Green (1978), 129"/><ref name="Krantz, 93">Krantz, 93</ref><ref>Daegling, 112–13</ref> Krantz argues that if Disney personnel were unable to duplicate the film, there is little likelihood that Patterson could have done so. 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. When Byrne told them it had been shot in the woods of Northern California, 'They shook their heads and walked away.{{'"}}<ref name="Long, 188"/><ref>Daegling, 150, n.25, wrote: "Peter Byrne, in an e-mail to the author September 8, 2002, indicates that he personally talked to the Disney people. ... "</ref>

====Bill Munns====
Bill Munns, retired, was a special effects and make-up artist,<ref>Munns, passim</ref> cameraman, and film editor.<ref>Munns, 54–55</ref> He argues that Universal and Disney were not the most knowledgeable studios to consult with. 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 (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''", would have been preferable.<ref>Munns, 16–20</ref>

Munns started posting his online analysis of the film in 2009 and summarizing it in the online Munns Report.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themunnsreport.com |title=TheMunnsReport.com |publisher=TheMunnsReport.com |date=May 15, 2009 |access-date=November 6, 2012}}</ref> In 2013 he and Jeff Meldrum co-authored three papers in Meldrum's online magazine, ''Relict Hominoid Inquiry''.<ref>(1) "Surface Anatomy and Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Features in the Analysis of the Patterson-Gimlin Film Hominid," ''Relict Hominoid Inquiry'' 2:1–21 (2013), online at:  http://www.isu.edu/rhi/pdf/Munns-%20Meldrum%20Final%20draft.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160824105039/http://www2.isu.edu/rhi/pdf/Munns-%20Meldrum%20Final%20draft.pdf |date=August 24, 2016 }}

(2) "Analysis Integrity of the Patterson-Gimlin Film Image." ''Relict Hominoid Inquiry'' 2:41–80 (2013), online at  http://www.isu.edu/rhi/pdf/ANALYSIS%20INTEGRITY%20OF%20THE%20PATTERSON-GIMLIN%20FILM%20IMAGE_final.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208235728/http://www.isu.edu/rhi/pdf/ANALYSIS%20INTEGRITY%20OF%20THE%20PATTERSON-GIMLIN%20FILM%20IMAGE_final.pdf |date=February 8, 2016 }}

(3) "Surface anatomy and subcutaneous adipose tissue features in the Patterson-Gimlin film hominid" ''Relict Hominoid Inquiry'' 2:125–30 (2013), online at: http://www.isu.edu/rhi/pdf/Munns%20&%20Meldrum%20Commentary_2013.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304173748/http://www.isu.edu/rhi/pdf/Munns%20%26%20Meldrum%20Commentary_2013.pdf |date=March 4, 2016 }}

Those three papers contain images that are the same as those in his book, ''When Roger Met Patty'', but they are larger and in color.</ref> In 2014, Munns self-published ''When Roger Met Patty'', a 488-page book incorporating material from those articles that analyzes the film and film subject from various perspectives.

He argues the film depicts a non-human animal, not a man in a fur suit. He proposes a new diagnostic test of authenticity, at the armpit: natural concave skin fold vs. artificial vertical crease.<ref>Munns, 229–37</ref> Munns' analysis has been featured in an episode of the [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] series ''[[MonsterQuest]]''.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Critical Evidence |episode-link=MonsterQuest#Season three (2009) |series=MonsterQuest  |network=History Channel |air-date=July 8, 2009 |season=3 |number=19}}</ref>

====Other special effects artists====
* [[Rick Baker (makeup artist)|Rick Baker]]. 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.<ref>Perez(1992), 21</ref> Baker said that John Chambers had "a crappy walkaround suit," that he sold as "a gag to be played on the guy that shot it [the film]".<ref>Mark Chorvinsky (summer 1996), "The Makeup Man and the Monster: John Chambers and the Patterson Bigfoot Suit," under the heading, "Howard Berger: An Earlier Account" (http://www.strangemag.com/chambers17.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714211847/http://www.strangemag.com/chambers17.html |date=July 14, 2015 }})</ref> Later on, Baker's studio stated in a fax, "He no longer believes this [that Chambers made the suit] is true."<ref>Mark Chorvinsky (summer 1996), "The Makeup Man and the Monster: John Chambers and the Patterson Bigfoot Suit," under the heading, "Back to Baker" (http://www.strangemag.com/chambers17.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031230105/http://www.strangemag.com/chambers17.html |date=October 31, 2022 }})</ref>
* Ellis Burman. The Guenettes ([[Robert Guenette|Robert]] & Frances) wrote of him, "I also spoke to Ellis Burman of Burman Studios in Hollywood, creators of all kinds of strange creatures, including a fake Bigfoot for a traveling 'pickled punk' carnival exhibit. Burman denied his company created the Patterson Bigfoot, but did say he could duplicate it—but for more than $10,000 in total costs."<ref name="Guenette, 117">Guenette, 117</ref>
* [[John Chambers (make-up artist)|John Chambers]]. [[Academy Award]]–winning monster-maker John Chambers is most famous for his innovative flexible masks in ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' (1968). 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."<ref>Coleman (2003), 99–100</ref><ref>''NASI newsletter, ''January 1998</ref><ref>''The Track Record ''newsletter, November 1, 1998</ref><ref>Transcript, 10/27/97: https://web.archive.org/web/20021208083704/http://www.n2.net/prey/bigfoot/</ref>
: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. It is not something they bought or rented in a store; it would have to be something tailor made. He also felt like it might have been made out of real animal fur."<ref name="Guenette, 117"/>
* [[Janos Prohaska]]. After viewing the Patterson–Gimlin film with [[John Willison Green|John Green]],<ref name="Green (1978), 129"/> costume designer and ape-suit mime [[Janos Prohaska]] (noted for his work in the late-1960s television programs ''[[The Devil in the Dark|Star Trek]]'' and ''[[Lost in Space]]'') concluded the film's subject looked real to him. When asked if he thought the film was faked, Prohaska replied, "I don't think so ... to me it looks very, very real." If the film was hoaxed, Prohaska thought, it was remarkably realistic and sophisticated, and the best costume he had ever seen, and the only plausible explanation was that someone might have glued false hair "directly to the actor's skin".<ref>Meldrum, 157–58</ref>
:However, film critic David Daegling speculates that the same effect could be had by gluing the hair to a set of tight but expandable, waffle-design long johns.<ref>Daegling, 146–47</ref>
* [[Chris Walas]]. [[Academy Awards|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. ... "<ref>Munns, 252</ref>
* [[Stan Winston]]. Academy Award-winning film special effects supervisor and makeup artist Stan Winston, after viewing the PGF, said "it's a guy in a bad hair suit, sorry!" He also added that "if one of my colleagues created this for a movie, he would be out of business." He went on to comment that the suit in the film could have been made today for "a couple hundred dollars" or "under a thousand, in that day".<ref>TV series ''Movie Magic'', which aired from 1994 to 1997.</ref>
* "Barry Keith" (pen name), "an experienced make-up and costume artist," accused "the Hollywood costume industry" of making "bravado claims of how easy such an event would be to fake". He said that their "cheats and shortcuts" are not detectable in "Patty".<ref>"The Patterson–Gimlin Film: What Makes a 'Hoax' Absolutely Genuine?", ''Relict Hominoid Inquiry'', 1:93–114 (2012), {{ISSN|2165-770X}}, a university-hosted online magazine edited by Jeff Meldrum, at http://www.isu.edu/rhi/pdf/Keith_rev.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723045602/http://www.isu.edu/rhi/pdf/Keith_rev.pdf |date=July 23, 2015 }}</ref>

==Hoax allegations==

===Patterson and/or Gimlin===
* Patterson and Gimlin both denied that they had perpetrated a hoax, but in a 1999 telephone interview with television producer [[Chris Packham]] for the [[BBC]]'s ''[[The X Creatures]]'', Gimlin said that for some time, "I was ''totally'' convinced no one could fool me. And of course I'm an older man now ... and I think there could have been the possibility [of a hoax]. But it would have to be really well planned by Roger [Patterson]."<ref>Long, 166</ref>
* Author Greg Long uncovered circumstantial evidence, of varying strength, of footprint hoaxing, and possibly even sighting and photo hoaxing, in the Yakima vicinity by Patterson.<ref>Long, 219–20, 389–94</ref> Long argues that this means that he faked the film, too.
:(One possible motive for the Yakima fakery would have been to make Bigfoot seem more real to local millionaire [[Floyd Paxton]], with whom he was acquainted and from whom he hoped to obtain funding for an expedition.<ref>Long, 220–21, 223</ref>)
:The film's proponents' position is that what is seen in the film is unfakable—especially not by a costume beginner like Patterson. 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. He filmed recreation attempts of his own that failed. Daniel Perez, writing in 1992, asserted "If the film is in fact a fake, a costumed man or a machine, surely science could duplicate the film with ease. Twenty-five years later, no one has come close."<ref name="Perez, 21"/> He later asserted, "It has never been convincingly replicated. To any thinking person, that should speak volumes."<ref>Daniel Perez, "The Patterson–Gimlin Film: A Discussion," in ''Fortean Times'', January 2005.</ref>
:Greg Long's response was, "The film they have just isn't going to do it. I'm sorry. That's not evidence."<ref>Bob Heironimus & Greg Long; Internet Interview on Seth Shostak's "Skeptical Sunday" Radio Show; August 1, 2004</ref>
* David Daegling, anthropologist, writes that the "more cynical skeptics" see Patterson's luck as "more than a little suspicious: He sets out to make a Bigfoot documentary, then almost literally stumbles across a Bigfoot." Daegling, however, offers the benefit of the doubt, noting that Patterson's reasoning is sound: In seeking something elusive, he went to where it had been reported.<ref>Daegling, 78</ref> Bluff Creek had also been the site of well-known Bigfoot hoaxer Ray Wallace's activities in 1958. In Patterson's book, he mentions meeting with Wallace once.<ref>Patterson & Murphy, 73–74</ref> Later, Daegling cites certain features in the film and the storyline as suspicious.<ref>Daegling, 143–49</ref>
* Krantz thought Patterson might have perpetrated such a hoax, given the opportunity and resources. (Roger was an accomplished 2-D artist whose drawings and painting of horses and other wildlife showed a detailed understanding of musculature and anatomy.) But he also argued that Patterson had "nowhere near the knowledge or facilities to do so—nor for that matter, did anyone else ... When I talked about some of the more technical details of [[biomechanics]], he (Patterson) showed the familiar blank look of a student who had lost the drift of the explanation, but was still trying hard to pay attention. Yet he must have known all these details to create a hoax. For instance, he could see the anterior position of the front of the [[Tibia|shin]], but how that related to foot [[lever]]age was quite beyond him."<ref name="Krantz, 120"/>
* [[Peter C. Byrne]], who interviewed Patterson and Gimlin many times, wrote, "both men lacked, primarily, the intellectual capacity essential to the production of a hoax ... termed a masterpiece."<ref>Byrne, 144</ref> Similarly, Daegling writes that "Most acquaintances of Patterson volunteered that neither he nor Gimlin were clever enough to put something that detailed together."<ref name="Daegling, 112"/>

===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"<ref>Long, p 453</ref> in the 1980s, but first addressed the public at large on August 16, 2002, on Charlotte, North Carolina, radio station [[WBT (radio station)|WBT]].<ref>Long, 444</ref> His story was also printed in ''[[The Charlotte Observer]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Jameson|first1=Tonya|title=Bigfoot just a big hoax?|url=http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/8637087.htm|access-date=April 27, 2015|work=[[The Charlotte Observer]]|date=May 11, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040526144507/http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/business/8637087.htm |archive-date=May 26, 2004}}</ref> 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.<ref>Long, 453</ref>

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".<ref name="Long, 446">Long, 446</ref> (Ordinarily the gorilla suits he sold were used for a popular sideshow routine that depicted an attractive woman, supposedly from some far-flung corner of the globe, being altered by a sorcerer or scientist into a gorilla or otherwise apelike monster.) After the initial sale, Morris said that Patterson telephoned him asking how to make the "shoulders more massive"<ref name="Long, 448">Long, 448</ref> and the "arms longer".<ref name="Long, 447">Long, 447</ref> Morris says he suggested that whoever wore the suit should wear football shoulder pads and hold sticks in his hands within the suit.

As for the creature's walk, Morris said:

<blockquote>
The Bigfoot researchers say that no human can walk that way in the film. Oh, yes they can! When you're wearing long clown's feet, you can't place the ball of your foot down first. You have to put your foot down flat. Otherwise, you'll stumble. Another thing, when you put on the gorilla head, you can only turn your head maybe a quarter of the way. And to look behind you, you've got to turn your head and your shoulders and your hips. Plus, the shoulder pads in the suit are in the way of the jaw. That's why the Bigfoot turns and looks the way he does in the film. He has to twist his entire upper body.<ref name="SkepticalInquirer2004">{{cite journal|last1=Korff|first1=Kal K.|last2=Kocis|first2=Michaela|title=Exposing Roger Patterson's 1967 Bigfoot Film Hoax|journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]]|date=July–August 2004|volume=28|issue=4|pages=35–40|publisher=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]]|issn=0194-6730}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Morris's wife and business partner Amy had vouched for her husband and claims to have helped frame the suit.<ref name="SkepticalInquirer2004"/> 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 recreation of the PGF was undertaken on October 6, 2004, at "Cow Camp," near Rimrock Lake, a location {{convert|41|mi|km}} west of Yakima.<ref>"Bigfoot Hoax Goes in Halls of Hooey," by Leah Beth Ward, ''Yakima Herald'', October 7, 2004, p. 1-A</ref> This was six months after the publication of Long's book and 11 months after Long had first contacted Morris.<ref>Long, 443</ref> Bigfooter Daniel Perez wrote, "''[[National Geographic]]'s'' [producer] Noel Dockster ... noted the suit used in the re-creation ... was in no way similar to what was depicted in the P–G film."<ref>Daniel Perez, "The Patterson–Gimlin Film: A Discussion," in ''Fortean Times'', January 2005, at www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/forteantimes05.htm.</ref>

Morris would not consent to release the video to ''National Geographic'', the recreation's sponsor, claiming he had not had adequate time to prepare and that the month was in the middle of his busy season.{{cn|date=August 2023}}

===Bob Heironimus===
Bob Heironimus claims to have been the figure depicted in the Patterson film.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sandsberry|first1=Scott|title=A look at Bigfoot film: What do you see?|url=http://www.yakimaherald.com/home/94408-8/a-look-at-bigfoot-film-what-do-you|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150428101008/http://www.yakimaherald.com/home/94408-8/a-look-at-bigfoot-film-what-do-you|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 28, 2015|work=[[Yakima Herald-Republic]]|date=July 10, 2012}}</ref> Heironimus says he had not previously publicly discussed his role in the hoax because he hoped to be paid eventually and was afraid of being convicted of fraud had he confessed. 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.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wasson|first1=David|title=Bigfoot Unzipped&nbsp;– Yakima Valley man who says he wore suit passes lie-detector test|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18463179.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924185654/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18463179.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 24, 2015|access-date=July 3, 2015|work=Yakima Herald-Republic|date=January 30, 1999}}</ref> He stated, "I'm telling the truth. I'm tired after thirty-seven years."<ref name=SkepticalInquirer2004/> Five days later, a second newspaper story reported that his "lawyer's office has been inundated with calls from media outlets. ... 'We're just sort of waiting for the dust to settle,' he said, explaining he and his client are evaluating offers." He also said, "We anticipate that we will be telling the full story to somebody rather quickly."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wasson|first1=David|title=Bigfoot believers say film no fake|work=Yakima Herald-Republic|date=February 4, 1999}}</ref>

Heironimus's name was first publicly revealed, and his allegations first publicly detailed, five years later, in Greg Long's book, ''The Making of Bigfoot'', which includes testimony that corroborates Heironimus's claims:
* Heironimus's relatives (his mother Opal and nephew John Miller) claim to have seen an ape suit in Heironimus's car. Opal said she saw the suit two days after the film was shot.<ref>Long, 363–64</ref>
* Russ Bohannon, a longtime friend, says that Heironimus revealed the hoax privately in 1968 or 1969.<ref>Long, 414</ref>
* Bernard Hammermeister, another longtime friend, said he was shown an ape suit in Heironimus's car. 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."<ref>Long, 398</ref>

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 different ape suits in many respects. Among the notable differences are:
* Suit Material: Horsehide vs. Dynel. Heironimus says he was told by his brother Howard that Patterson claimed he manufactured the suit from [[horsehide]].<ref name="Long, 345">Long, 345</ref> When Long asked how heavy the suit was, Bob replied, "It weighed maybe {{convert|20|,|25|lb|kg|0|spell=in|disp=sqbr}}. ... Horsehide would be heavy."<ref name="Long, 345"/> Bob added, "It stunk. Roger skinned out a dead, red horse."

:But Morris reports that the suit was made of [[Dynel]], a lighter-weight synthetic material with little or no odor. Morris said that it was his "standard suit that we sold to all our customers"<ref name="Long, 446"/> that cost $435<ref name="Long, 447"/> (cheaper than the competition).<ref>Long, 445</ref>

: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".<ref name="Long, 449">Long, 449</ref> But Morris wouldn't have wanted a "real dark" brown color, as he chose brown to contrast against the black background of the girl-to-gorilla illusion.<ref name="Long, 449"/>
* Suit: Top-and-Trousers vs. a Back-Zipped Onesie. Heironimus described the suit as having no metal pieces and an upper "torso part" that he donned "like putting on a T-shirt".<ref>Long, 344–45</ref> At Bluff Creek he put on "the top".<ref>Long, 349</ref> Asked about the "bottom portion," he guessed it was cinched with a drawstring.
* Hands and Feet: Suit-Attached vs. Separate. Heironimus described the suit as having hands and feet that were attached to the arms and legs.

:But Morris made a suit whose hands and feet were separate pieces. Long speculates that Patterson riveted or glued these parts to the suit, but offers no evidence to support this idea. If Patterson had done so, he must have done it before Heironimus did his test fitting and walk (because Heironimus describes a three-piece suit—head, torso, and legs, omitting separate hands and feet)—i.e., without adjusting their location to his dimensions. And Heironimus never described being measured beforehand.

Long speculates that Patterson modified the costume, but only by attaching Morris's loose hands and feet to the costume,<ref>His only comments are in items 7 and 12 of "Q & A&nbsp;– The Making of Bigfoot," by Greg Long, April 6, 2004,  where he wrote, "We know Roger Patterson owned a tool shed and worked in leather, clay, and wood. Modifying the suit parts—such as gluing or riveting the hands to the cuffs of the suit, as well as the feet to the leg cuffs—was well within his skill set."</ref> and by replacing Morris's mask.<ref>Long, 459</ref>

Some film proponents<ref>Murphy (2005), 242–43</ref><ref>Murphy (2008), 93</ref><ref>Daegling, 143, paraphrasing Green</ref> say that Heironimus's arms are too short to match that of a Bigfoot and that he was a few inches shorter than the creature on the film (up to {{convert|14|in|cm|abbr=out|disp=or}} shorter).<ref>Murphy (2009), 90–91</ref>

:But Heironimus said that he wore football shoulder pads,<ref name="Long, 448"/> which might explain why the shoulders and arms appear to be out of proportion to the rest of the body. However, Heironimus disclaimed the use of arm-extending sticks in his costume<ref>author Greg Long: "Bob told me about two nights ago there were no sticks in the arms." Speech to the Int'l. Bigfoot Society in Portland, OR, March 27, 2004, at the 1:45 mark; videotaped by IBS official Patti Reinhold and available from her.</ref> and said that he wore "gloves, a little bit longer than my actual hands were . ... "<ref>3rd ''XZone'' radio interview with Rob McConnell, August 23, 2007</ref>

===Ray Wallace===
After the death of [[Raymond L. Wallace|Ray Wallace]] in 2002, following a request by [[Loren Coleman]] to ''[[The Seattle Times]]'' reporter Bob Young to investigate, the family of Wallace went public with claims that he had started the Bigfoot phenomenon with fake footprints (made from a wooden foot-shaped cutout) left in Californian sites in 1958.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Young|first1=Bob|title=Lovable trickster created a monster with Bigfoot hoax|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20021205/raywallaceobit05m/lovable-trickster-created-a-monster-with-bigfoot-hoax|access-date=April 27, 2015|work=[[The Seattle Times]]|date=December 5, 2002|archive-date=July 11, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711030354/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20021205&slug=raywallaceobit05m|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Mark Chorvinsky, editor of ''Strange'' magazine, promoted Wallace's claim that he tipped off Patterson exactly where to look for a Bigfoot.<ref>See, for instance, "New $10k Bigfoot Photo Investigation 1993," by Mark Chorvinsky, at http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/10K-photograph.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923185050/http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/10K-photograph.htm |date=September 23, 2015 }}</ref> Chorvinsky wrote, "'Roger Patterson came [over] dozens of times pumping me on this Bigfoot,' Ray Wallace explained to researcher Dennis Pilchis in 1982. '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.{{'"}}<ref name="Strange 1997"/><ref>"Some Thoughts About the Patterson Bigfoot Film on its 30th Anniversary," by Mark Chorvinsky, at http://www.strangemag.com/pattersonfilm30th.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040409014541/http://www.strangemag.com/pattersonfilm30th.html |date=April 9, 2004 }}</ref> 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.<ref>Daegling, 117–18</ref>
* 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. Coleman has asserted that Wallace had nothing to do with Patterson's footage in 1967, and has argued in an analysis of the media treatment of the death of Wallace that the international media inappropriately confused the Wallace films of the 1970s with the Patterson–Gimlin 1967 film.<ref>Coleman, 2007</ref>
* Meldrum has written extensively about Wallace, his allegations (continued by his family after his death), and the significant problems with them in his book, ''Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Meldrum|first1=Jeff|author-link1=Jeffrey Meldrum|title=Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science|date=2007|publisher=[[Forge Books]]|location=New York|isbn=978-0765312174}}, 55–71</ref>

===Books on the subject===
The major hoax allegations are summarized and criticized in:
* Two of Christopher Murphy's books.<ref>Murphy (2005), 240–52</ref><ref>Murphy (2009), 100–03</ref>
* Loren Coleman's ''Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America''.<ref>Coleman, 97–110</ref>
* David Daegling's ''Bigfoot Exposed.''<ref>Daegling, 116–18, 140–41</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of photographs considered the most important]]
* [[Peter C. Byrne]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==

===Skeptical===
* {{cite book|
 author=Joshua Blu Buhs|
 title=[[Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend]]|
 year=2009|
 pages=[https://archive.org/details/bigfootlifetimes0000buhs/page/131 131–56, 187–92]|
 publisher=University of Chicago Press|
 isbn=978-0-226-07979-0}}
* {{cite book|
 author=David Daegling|
 author-link=David Daegling|  url=https://archive.org/details/bigfootexposedan0000daeg|  url-access=registration|
 title=Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend|
 publisher=[[Altamira Press]]|
 year=2004|  pages=[https://archive.org/details/bigfootexposedan0000daeg/page/105 105]–55|
 isbn=0-7591-0539-1}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Greg Long|
 title=The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story|
 publisher=Prometheus Books|
 year=2004|
 isbn=1-59102-139-1}}
* {{cite book|
 author=[[Michael McLeod (author)|Michael McLeod]]|
 title=Anatomy of a Beast: Obsession and Myth on the Trail of Bigfoot|
 pages=79–141|
 chapter=Part II, Obsession|
 publisher=University of California Press|
 year=2009|
 isbn=978-0-520-25571-5}}
* {{cite book|
 author=[[John R. Napier|John Napier]]|
 title=Bigfoot: The Sasquatch and Yeti in Myth and Reality|
 year=1973|
 pages=89–96, 126, 203|
 publisher=[[E. P. Dutton]]|
 isbn=0-525-06658-6}}

===Other by scientists===
* {{cite book|
 author=Dmitri Bayanov|
 title=America's Bigfoot: Fact, Not Fiction|
 publisher=Crypto-Logos|
 location=Moscow|
 year=1997|
 isbn=5-900229-22-X}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Jeff Glickman|
 title=Toward a Resolution of the Bigfoot Phenomenon|
 publisher=North American Science Institute / PHOTEK|
 url=http://www.photekimaging.com/Support/rptcol2.pdf|
 year=1999|
 pages=10–22}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Grover Krantz|
 author-link=Grover Krantz|
 title=Bigfoot Sasquatch Evidence (originally "Big Footprints: A Scientific Inquiry Into the Reality of Sasquatch")|
 publisher=Hancock House|
 year=1999|
 orig-year=1992|
 pages=87–124, 300–14|
 isbn=0-88839-447-0}}
* {{cite book|
 editor1=Vladimir Markotic|
 editor2=Grover Krantz|
 title=The Sasquatch and Other Unknown Hominids (OP)|
 year=1984|
 publisher=Western Publishers|
 location=Calgary|
 pages=174–85, 218–35}}
* {{cite book|
author=Jeff Meldrum|
author-link=Jeff Meldrum|
title=Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science|
publisher=Forge Books|
year=2007|
pages=137–78|
isbn=978-0765312174}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Robert Michael Pyle|
 author-link=Robert Michael Pyle|
 title=Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide|
 publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]]|
 year=1995|
 pages=207–11|
 isbn=0-395-44114-5}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Ivan Sanderson|
 author-link=Ivan Sanderson|
 title=More "Things"|
 year=1969|
 pages=65–79| 
 publisher=Pyramid Books}}

===Other by non-scientists===
* {{cite book|
 author=[[Pangboche Hand|Peter Byrne]]|
 year=1975|
 title=The Search for Big Foot: Monster, Myth or Man?|
 pages=[https://archive.org/details/searchforbigfoot00byrn/page/133 133–66]|
 publisher=Acropolis Books|
 isbn=0-87491-159-1|
 url=https://archive.org/details/searchforbigfoot00byrn/page/133}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Thom Cantrall|
 year=2013|
 title=Sasquatch: The Search for a New Man|
 others=The Prologue contains an interview of Bob Gimlin and a transcript of a talk by him at a 2010 Ohio Bigfoot Conference |
 pages=4–24|
 publisher=CreateSpace |
 isbn=978-1490567846}}
* {{cite book|
 author1=Loren Coleman|
 author2=Jerome Clark|
 author2-link=Jerome Clark|
 title=Cryptozoology A to Z|
 publisher=[[Fireside Books]]|
 pages=[https://archive.org/details/cryptozoologytoz00lore/page/55 55–56, 197–200]|
 year=1999|
 isbn=0-684-85602-6|
 url=https://archive.org/details/cryptozoologytoz00lore/page/55}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Loren Coleman|
 author-link=Loren Coleman|
 author-mask=2|
 title=Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America|
 publisher=Paraview Pocket Books|
 pages=[https://archive.org/details/bigfoottruestory0000cole/page/81 81–110]|
 year=2003|
 isbn=0-7434-6975-5|
 url=https://archive.org/details/bigfoottruestory0000cole/page/81}}
* {{cite book
 | author = Loren Coleman| author-link = Loren Coleman
 | editor = Greg Taylor
 | title = Darklore Volume 1
 | year = 2007
 | publisher = Daily Grail Publishing
 | location = Brisbane, Australia
 | isbn = 978-0-9757200-1-1
 | pages = 95–109
 | chapter = Bigfoot's Bogus Burial: The Media and Other Wallace Myths }}
* {{cite book|
 author=[[John Willison Green|John Green]]|
 title=Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us|
 orig-year=1978|
 year=2006|
 pages=113–31|
 publisher=Hancock House|
 isbn=0-88839-018-1}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Robert & Frances Guenette|
 title=The Mysterious Monsters|
 year=1975|
 pages=113–25|
 publisher=Sun Classics}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Don Hunter, with [[René Dahinden]]|
 title=Sasquatch/Bigfoot: The Search for North America's Incredible Creature|
 publisher=Firefly Books|
 orig-year=1973|
 year=1993|
 pages=114–25, 172–78|
 isbn=1-895565-28-6}}
* {{cite book|
author=William Munns|
title=When Roger Met Patty: 1 Minute of Film ... 47 Years of Controversy|
year=2014|
publisher=self-published|
isbn=978-1500534028}}
* {{cite book|
author=Christopher Murphy|
title=Bigfoot Film Journal: A Detailed Account & Analysis of the Patterson/Gimlin Film Circumstances|
year=2008|
publisher=Hancock House|
isbn=978-0-88839-658-7}}
* {{cite book|
author=Christopher Murphy|
author-mask=2|
title=Know the Sasquatch/Bigfoot: Sequel and Update to Meet the Sasquatch|
year=2009|
publisher=Hancock House|
pages=42–103|
isbn=978-0-88839-689-1}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Roger Patterson & Chris Murphy|
 others=Illustrated by Roger Patterson|
 title=The Bigfoot Film Controversy ''(contains Patterson's 1966 book,'' Do Abominable Snowmen of America Really Exist?)|
 orig-year=1966|
 year=2005|
 publisher=Hancock House|
 isbn=0-88839-581-7}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Daniel Perez|
 title=Bigfoot at Bluff Creek|
 orig-year=1992|
 year=2003|
 publisher=Bigfoot Times|
 isbn=99948-943-2-3}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Marian Place|
 title=On the Track of Bigfoot|
 year=1974|
 publisher=Dodd, Mead|
 pages=[https://archive.org/details/ontrackofbigfoot00plac/page/134 134–44]|
 isbn=0-396-06883-9|
 url=https://archive.org/details/ontrackofbigfoot00plac/page/134}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Barbara Wasson|
 title=Sasquatch Apparitions: A Critique on the Pacific Northwest Hominoid|
 year=1979|
 pages=65–85|
 publisher=self-published|
 isbn=0-9614105-0-7}}
* Tate Hieronymus (2018). Interview with Bob Gimlin in front of the big tree, visible in frame 352 of the Patterson - Gimlin Film. The full interview can only be seen at Cliff Barakman’s “North American Bigfoot Center” in Boring, OR.

==Further reading==

===Skeptical===
* [[Robert Todd Carroll]] (2003). ''The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions''. [[John Wiley & Sons]]. {{ISBN|0-471-27242-6}}. pp.&nbsp;55–57.
* {{cite journal|author=Michael Dennett|title=Science and Footprints|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|date=November–December 2008|volume=32|issue=6|pages=47–51|publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|issn=0194-6730}}
*[[Kal A Korff]] and [[Michaela Kocis]] (2004) [https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2004/07/22164653/p35.pdf ''Exposing Roger Patterson's 1967 Bigfoot Film Hoax''] publisher Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
* {{cite book|
 author=[[Daniel Loxton]] and [[Donald Prothero]]|
 title=Abominable Science: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids|
 year=2013|
 pages=[https://archive.org/details/abominablescienc0000loxt/page/44 44–50, 302–03]|
 publisher=Columbia University Press|
 isbn=978-0-231-15320-1|
 url=https://archive.org/details/abominablescienc0000loxt/page/44}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Kenneth Wylie|
 title=Bigfoot: A Personal Inquiry into a Phenomenon|  url=https://archive.org/details/bigfootpersonali0000wyli|  url-access=registration|
 year=1980|  pages=[https://archive.org/details/bigfootpersonali0000wyli/page/10 10]–14, 175–87, 237–42|
 publisher=Viking|
 isbn=0-9614105-0-7}}

===Other===
* {{cite book|
 author=Dmitri Bayanov|
 title=Bigfoot Research: The Russian Vision|
 year=2007|
 pages=112–41 (Section 5)|
 publisher=Crypto-Logos (pp. 140–41 contain a reward-offer for disproving the authenticity of the PGF)|
 location=Moscow|
 isbn=978-5-900229-36-2}}
* {{cite book|
 editor=Janet and Colin Bord|
 title=Bigfoot Casebook Updated: Sightings and Encounters from 1818 to 2004|
 year=2006|
 orig-year=1982|
 pages=90–102 <!-- (mostly pictures) -->|
 publisher=Pine Winds Press|
 isbn=0-937663-10-7}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Jean-Paul Debenet|
 title=Sasquatch/Bigfoot and the Mystery of the Wild Man: Cryptozoology and Mythology in the Pacific Northwest ''(translation from French)''|
 year=2009|
 orig-year=2007|
 pages=53–61, 66–73|
 publisher=Hancock House|
 isbn=978-0-88839-685-3}}
* {{cite book|
author=Eastman Kodak|
author-link=Eastman Kodak|
title=Cine-Kodak K-100 Cameras ''(The 1955 1st edition's title ended in "Camera," because the turret model was not included.)''|
year=1958|
orig-year=1955|
publisher=Eastman Kodak|
pages=1–28}}
* {{cite book|
 author= Mark A. Hall |
 title= The Yeti, Bigfoot, and True Giants ''(Primate Origins Series No. 1), chapter 3, "Patterson's Bigfoot"'' |
 publisher= Self-published |
 year=2005 |
 orig-year=1997 |
 pages=33–50 }}
* {{cite book|
author=Christopher Murphy|
title=Meet the Sasquatch|
year=2004|
publisher=Hancock House|
pages=40–89|
isbn=0-88839-573-6}}
* {{cite book|
 author=Mike Quast|
 title=Big Footage: A History of Claims for the Sasquatch on Film|
 pages=5–19|
 year=2001|
 publisher=Self-published}}

==External links==
* [https://skepdic.com/bigfoot.html The entry on Bigfoot] at [[The Skeptic's Dictionary]]
* {{IMDb title|0191831}}
* {{Skeptoid | id=4375 | number=375 | title=The Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Film | date=  August 13, 2013| quote= | access-date=}}

===Suit-related===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20021208083704/http://www.n2.net/prey/bigfoot/ Transcript of Bobbie Short's taped interview with John Chambers, October 27, 1997] (Original print copy of the interview: ''NASI Newsletter'', January 1998. Reprinted in ''The Track Record'', November 1, 1998)

===Heironimus-related===
* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/03/07/the-reliable-source/87511230-07b8-4c97-9424-602dbd413da3/ "Sasquatch Speaks: The Truth Is Out There" by Richard Lei] (Brief; quotes from Heironimus and counter-quotes by Goodall, [[John Willison Green|Green]], and a lawyer, March 7, 2004) at [[Washington Post|washingtonpost.com]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150706053543/http://www.countdownlibrary.com/2004_03_22_archive.html Interview of Bob Heironimus, March 22, 2004, ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann''] at countdownlibrary.com (begins 80% of the way through)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070111030342/http://www.northwestmysteries.com/makingofbigfoot/responsetocritics.htm "Response to Critics," by Greg Long, 2005] at northwestmysteries.com (via [[Wayback Machine]])
* [https://www.csicop.org/author/michaeldennett "Some Reasons for Caution about the Bigfoot Film Exposé," by Michael Dennett, ''Skeptical Inquirer'' Volume 29.1, January/February 2005] at csicop.org (paywalled)

{{Coord|41|26|25|N|123|42|7|W|type:landmark|display=title|name=Patterson–Gimlin film}}<!--Barackman site, general area undisputed--><!--Corrected after consultation with Barackman and his 2012 team members S.Streufert and Ian Carton. This is Patty's estimated position in Frame 1. (Roger Knights)-->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson-Gimlin film}}
[[Category:1967 films]]
[[Category:1967 in California]]
[[Category:1967 short films]]
[[Category:1960s American films]]
[[Category:Amateur filmmaking]]
[[Category:American silent short films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Bigfoot films]]
[[Category:Culture of Humboldt County, California]]
[[Category:Films shot in California]]
[[Category:History of Humboldt County, California]]
[[Category:Mass media-related controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:Surviving American silent films]]