Patterson-Gimlin Film Bigfoot Footage October 20, 1967
On October 20, 1967, Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin filmed a creature they claimed to be Bigfoot in Six Rivers National Forest in northern California. They claim that their film is a genuine Bigfoot recording, and over the years, hundreds of scientists and special effects artists have examined the footage for authenticity in attempts to repudiate or authenticate Patterson and Gimlin’s claims.
Close Up of Patterson Gimlin Footage
Patterson-Gimlin film Bigfoot footage October 20, 1967 is the apparent brain child of Roger Patterson, with Robert Gimlin taking a ‘backseat ride’ to Patterson’s Bigfoot obsession. Patterson became interested in Bigfoot previous to the filming and footage taken, his interests stemmed from reading an article about Bigfoot written by author Ivan T. Sanderson in 1959. Patterson also wrote a book of his own “Do Abominable Snowmen of America Really Exist?” previous to his filming expedition. A warrant for his arrest was made in connection with the return of the rented Cine-Kodak K-100 camera used in the making of the film, although the charges were dropped after Patterson returned the camera in working order. He also chose the northern California location due to the many reported sightings of Bigfoot like creatures in this area, and held the camera during filming while Gimlin stood by with a rifle, just in case.
Patterson and Gimlin’s intentions were to make a motion picture, a pseudo-documentary about a group of cowboys being led by an Indian tracker and a miner on an expedition to find Bigfoot. Gimlin wore a wig and played the Indian. Although, they succeeded in making the film, its success was diminished by legal problems. Patterson sold overlapping rights to the movie which resulted in costly legal problems and Gimlin exiled himself from the entire situation after Patterson and the films promoter, Al De Atley broke an agreement to share in the film’s profits. However even with the legal battle over the profits, Gimlin never disclaimed the film as a hoax nor did Patterson who still claimed to have seen and filmed Bigfoot on his death bed in 1972.
Many researchers dismiss the Patterson-Gimlin Film Bigfoot Footage from October 20, 1967 as a hoax, finding it entirely improbable that Patterson and Gimlin could set out to find a Bigfoot and succeed. However Bigfoot is still the subject of much controversy and thus the bigfoot footage is examined regularly when new technologies and scientific findings bring about more questions about Bigfoot’s existence and therefore the film’s authenticity.
Special effects technicians argue the film’s authenticity, finding that the technology available at the time would not have been sufficient to create a fake of such high quality. John Greene, a journalist and Bigfoot follower, reportedly contacted Disney executive Ken Peterson around the time the film was made . Peterson after watching the film claimed that despite Disney’s superior special effects department “that their technicians would not be able to duplicate the film.” Rumors circulate that, John Chambers, who designed the costumes for the movie “Planet of the Apes,” made the Bigfoot suit seen in the Patterson- Gimlin Bigfoot footage. Chambers denied any connection to Patterson or Gimlin when interviewed by Bigfoot researcher Roberta Short. Many scientists claim that it would be impossible for a human to recreate the muscle movements and gait of the Bigfoot as seen on the Patterson-Gimlin Film, although Robert Stein, an expert dis-prover of hoaxes claims that Patterson and Gimlin utilized a special effect called forced perspective and a tight fitting costume. In 2002, Phillip Morris claimed that he made the costume and told Patterson the wearer should don large shoulder pads and use sticks inside the long arms.
Scientists have mixed opinions about the film’s authenticity. Some like John Napier, Grover Krantz, Jeffrey Meldrum, and Dmitri Donskoy believe the film is authentic based on analysis of stride, center of gravity, and other biomechanics while others like D.W. Grieve, Bernard Heuvelmans, David J. Daegling and Daniel O. Schmitt suggest their findings were inconclusive due to poor film quality, the question of filming speed, and sheer disbelief in the entire Bigfoot phenomenon. The History Channel did a frame by frame microscopic study of the footage revealing before unseen facial movements that may prove its authenticity.
Perhaps Patterson-Gimlin Footage from October 20, 1967 is documentation of a new species of hominid or a surviving gigantopithecine, a real Bigfoot caught on tape.
