Man admits: I was 'Bigfoot'

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Wednesday, March 10, 2004

[JohnHuang2]

HOAXBUSTERS
Man admits: I was 'Bigfoot'
Says famed footage depicts him in gorilla costume

---

Posted: March 10, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Thirty-six years after the fact, Bob Heironimus' conscience finally caught up with him: He confessed to having donned a gorilla costume and appearing in the famous 1967 footage of Bigfoot.

1967 footage of alleged 'Bigfoot' creature

"It's time people knew it was a hoax," Heironimus told the Washington Post.

For decades, the grainy film clip has fueled study and speculation about the existence of a large mysterious creature in the Pacific Northwest.

"It's time to let this thing go," he told the paper. "I've been burdened with this for 36 years, seeing the film clip on TV numerous times. Somebody's making lots of money off this, except for me. But that's not the issue – the issue is that it's time to finally let people know the truth."

The Post reported Heironimus makes his official confession in a new book, "The Making of Bigfoot" by paranormal investigator Greg Long. The author says he spent four years investigating the 60-second film and the people behind it.

Long traced the Bigfoot costume to Philip Morris, a North Carolina gorilla suit specialist, who says he sold it for $435 to an amateur documentary maker named Roger Patterson (who died in 1972), according to the paper.

The hoax was staged near Bluff Creek in Northern California, according to Heironimus.

"Patterson was the cameraman," Long told the Post. "They made a gentleman's agreement that Bob would get in the suit and walk in front of the camera for $1,000."

Heironimus' story is a bit different.

"I was never paid a dime for that, no sir," he said, adding, "Sure I want to make some money. I feel that after 36 years I should get some of it."

The news doesn't change the view of an open-minded Jane Goodall, a well-known primatologist.

"She's spoken to people whom she respects who say they have seen one of these hominids," said Nona Gandelman, an aide to Goodall, according to the report. "And to many other people she respects who have heard strange calls they thought were made by Bigfoot. As a scientist, she has a very open mind about this and has yet to close the door on the possibility."

An associate of the deceased filmmaker is challenging the veracity of Heironimus' story. The Post says it was contacted by Tom Malone, a Minneapolis lawyer, working on behalf of Bob Gimlin, an associate of Patterson's.

"I'm authorized to tell you that nobody wore a gorilla suit or monkey suit and that Mr. Gimlin's position is that it's absolutely false and untrue," Malone told the paper.

[JohnHuang2]

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Quote of the Day by AntiKev

[Porterville]

What will I believe in now?!!

[flashbunny]

He's a liar.

It was Janet Reno, sans costume.

[arm958]

Mr. Gimlin's position is that it's absolutely false and untrue

False AND untrue?

[JohnHuang2]

It's all Bush's fault!
Bush lied, Big Foot died! ;-)

[goldstategop]

It doesn't look like a man in a gorilla suit. Not in those daylight conditions and the camera work isn't what one expects from a hoaxer. There was a giant gorilla in prehistoric times called giganthopithecus. Who knows if any of these huge primates have survived. And more to the point, much of the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest are unexplored.

[JohnHuang2]

LOL!!

[RandallFlagg]

"Gooney-Goo-Goo"

[woofie]

You are correct ...this man is a liar. Bigfoot lives!

[The Duke]

I had an old high school friend who, many years ago, worked in Olympia state park up there in Bigfoot country. He told me that the local Indians spoke quite matter-of-factly about Sasquatch - and that such conversations never failed to make the hairs on his neck bristle.

[dokmad]

"He's a liar.

It was Janet Reno, sans costume."

That is just too funny LOLOL

[goldstategop]

More to the point, if its a hoax, how come we haven't seen a slew of Bigfoot films? I mean its easy enough to rent a couple of high quality gorilla suits right? And with today's digital camera technology one could produce a very convincing hoax.

[PRND21]

[Joe_October]

This shakes my confidence in all that I know is true. Next, they're going to tell me there are no black helicopters.

[Fledermaus]

I thought this guy confessed to the hoax over a year ago.

[Fledermaus]

Didn't Han Solo tell Chewbaca not to walk around naked?

[dfwgator]

[hershey]

Wrong! It was Hill sans weekly hot wax treatment.

[ppaul]

LOL!
Even Jane Goodall was duped.
That's what happens when a woman hangs around with apes for years.

[AgThorn]

first crop circles, now big foot ... next we'll loose nellie of loch ness! I tell you, it's the end of the world!!

[spetznaz]

For a long time the Mountain Gorilla was thought to be a myth until the beginning of the 20th century. People (read European explorers) had seen many Lowland Gorillas, but all the stories they had heard from people (read African Natives who have lived in the areas surrounding lush mountain bases for centuries)about huge apes, some with silverly backs (silver-backed male mountain gorillas) were thought to be delusions or local legends of earthen demigods in the form of apes. Mountain gorillas were very secretive, left no trace whenever they passed, and their remains were hard to find. When the natives would come up with hides they would be dismissed as stretched out lowland gorilla hides.

It was assumed that mountain gorillas were myths until one was shot and presented for study.

Sasquatch may be myth. I personally would not invest any time or money in a 'bigfoot quest.' However i would not go trekking on my own up those woods where sasquatch presumably calls home. The Native Americans seem to think bigfoot to be real. And they do not seem like the jocking kind. (The Yeti is another hairy creature that may very well be myth, but again, i would not trek up the Himalayas solo ....even without Yetis that would be foolhardy).

Anyways, there are many creatures that have been thought to be myths. The Okapi (a West African antelop that has the foreparts of a normal antelop and the hinds of a zebra), the coelecanth (a living fish 'fossil'), the tasmanian tinger (although now extinct when the first settlers in Australia heard of a marsupial that was large, stripped, and could open its mouth almosy 180 degrees they thought the aborigines had drunk too much eucalyptus juice), the snow leopard and cloud leopard (possibly the most beautiful large cats alive), and the Anaconda (tales of enormous serpents drifting down the Amazon were thought to be myths until the explorers came across some pretty nasty looking slitherers).

Again, i am not saying bigfoot stomps through the woods. All i am saying is there is a lot of land that has never been explored (which may seem surprising consider the age we are in), and who knows.

I hear it is hard to find a bear carcass. Who knows what else is hidden beyond the next ridge and behind the tree line yonder?

[thegreatbeast]

Barbrastreisand, I'm Bigfoot!

[ppaul]

Who knows what else is hidden beyond the next ridge and behind the tree line yonder?

An aging hippie with an M-16 guarding a patch of homegrown bud.

[wolficatZ]

[G.Mason]

"What will I believe in now?!!"

I don't know about you, but I still have the "Loch Ness Monster", and the "Flat Earth Scociety".

[truthandlife]

LOL

[Monty22]

I don't care what this guy says, he must be a government agent trying to debunk an obviously true bigfoot sighting.

[Monty22]

In all honesty, that pic really doesn't look much like a gorilla mask.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

[Hatteras]

"first crop circles, now big foot ... next we'll loose nellie of loch ness! I tell you, it's the end of the world!!"

Don't worry, we still have the cave paintings in the southwest U.S. depicting elephants and little men in flying crafts. Hmmm....

[Guvmint_Cheese]

Yup! You pegged it!

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

[SamKeck]

That's story's total fishwrap. Everybody knows that the real Bigfoot took the megabucks he made from his hit TV series "Harry and the Hendersons" and retired to Petaluma.

[Nita Nupress]

http://science.howstuffworks.com/bigfoot.htm

Interesting reading. Thanks for the thread.

[Nita Nupress]

Aren't you from northern California? What did you hear about Bigfoot while growing up?

From the link above:

In March of 1999, a man reported a strange occurrence in northern California. He was driving up Interstate 5 to visit friends in Oregon, and around 10:00 p.m., he took an exit off the highway to see if he could find a place to get some dinner. When he couldn't find a restaurant, he decided to pull onto the side of the road and make do with some snacks he had in the car. After he ate, he dozed off, and was soon awakened by a loud thump. When he got out to investigate, he found a good-sized rock on the hood of his car. He got back behind the wheel, started the car up and turned on the headlights. In the beams, he saw an 8-foot-tall creature covered in thick, dark hair. The creature watched him for a minute, turned in the road and walked slowly off into the woods.

[xsrdx]

Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization

[xsrdx]

Wanna see something REALLY scary...?

From BFRO FAQ; Are they Dangerous?:

Sasquatches have likely had many opportunities to attack humans. However, only two reports describe violent attacks on humans and just one describes the killing of a human -- the story told by President Teddy Roosevelt in his book, "The Wilderness Hunter" (1890).

A chapter in Roosevelt's book recounts the story of two trappers who were stalked by a sasquatch-like animal in a remote region believed to be in present day Wyoming or Montana. One of the trappers fired his rifle at the sasquatch during their first night in a new location, apparently missing, but the stalking continued. The trappers' camp was twice found ransacked, this occurring during the day while the trappers were out checking the beaver traps they had set.

After the second night, the trappers decided to vacate the area. Prior to their departure, while collecting their traps, the men split up. One was delayed for hours as he prepared beaver caught in the last of the traps, the other headed straight back to camp. His body was found by his partner later that day near the campfire. The dead man had a broken neck. The neck showed teeth or claw marks, but the body was not eaten.

There are no modern reports of humans being injured or killed by a sasquatch.

[TheBigB]

I thought Bigfoot was a robot who was created by aliens. I saw it on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN.

[kt56]

yu are baaaaaaddd.....LOL

[Vision]

What was the kicker was that the suit has breasts to it. Making the whole thing that more interesting.

[Nita Nupress]

I just love a good mystery. :) I hope I live to see this one solved once and for all.

http://www.bfro.net/news/challenge/home.asp

Frame 352 from the Patterson Gimlin footage (1967).	The best attempt so far to recreate the footage using 1967 costume technology.

[Rennes Templar]

In Montana we call these Saquatch-like animal "bears".

[PsyOp]

Shhh! I'm hunting bigfoot!

[xsrdx]

In Montana we call these Saquatch-like animal "bears".

LOL - I guess one would hope two professional trappers in Montana would know what a bear looks like, but you never can tell.

[Dog Gone]

About 15 miles into the Sierra Nevada foothills from where I lived is the closest thing to a bigfoot siting I experienced. An old-timer who lived in a cabin and lived by panning for gold claimed to have seen one. It had even left a good footprint in the mud by the creek, or so he said.

Reporters and photographers swarmed to the scene to cover the story. However, in their zeal to document this exciting story with a photo, a reporter slipped and fell on the footprint before any photos were taken.

The footprint was obliterated, of course, and it was very amusing to read the newspaper account the next day.

Was it real, or just the imagination of a hermit? I don't know. I spent years in Bigfoot country, hiking, fishing, just messing around. I saw a lot of animals, but never a Bigfoot.

[Spruce]

I'll believe there are bigfoot(s) when someone comes driving into town with one strapped to the hood of his truck.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Long traced the Bigfoot costume to Philip Morris

Big tobacco strikes again.

[aculeus]

The Post says it was contacted by Tom Malone, a Minneapolis lawyer, working on behalf of Bob Gimlin, an associate of Patterson's.

"I'm authorized to tell you that nobody wore a gorilla suit or monkey suit and that Mr. Gimlin's position is that it's absolutely false and untrue," Malone told the paper.

Don't you just love -- Will Lie for Fee -- lawyers?

[Nita Nupress]

Thanks for the story! I bet the clumsy reporter felt a little silly after obliterating the footprint!

[mhking]

Just damn.

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