Bigfoot Hoaxes
In chronological order, the four biggest hoaxes perpetrated on the public that had the largest negative effects on legitamate bigfoot research.
2001 Patterson/Gimlin Suit Wearing Hoax (Heironimus, Morris)
The 1967 release of the Patterson/Gimlin film showing what is belived by many to be a female sasquatch at Bluff Creek, CA, is still today a landmark piece of evidence. Despite the many attempts over the decades, no one has been able to successfully debunk the authenticity of it.
However, in 2001 an individual named Bob Heironimus claimed he donned a gorilla suit back in 1967 and portrayed "Bigfoot" in the film.
Never mind the facts that he couldn't produce the suit, his build at the time did not match the creature and both Patterson and Gimlin always maintained the film was real. Skeptics jumped on the story as proof bigfoot did not exist, so the facts didn't bother them. Costume maker Phillip Morris paraded out a gorilla costume in 2001 to prove he made the costume in 1967 for the film. However the costume shown isn't really close to what is seen in the film, and no one can come up with any movie costumes circa 1967 that look anywhere near as convincing.
But Bob Heironimus's false claim is always pointed to as alleged proof that the Patterson Gimlin film was a hoax.
2002 Fake Footprint Making Hoax (Wallace)
In 2002 Mike Wallace and his family members tarnished the reputation of their father, Ray Wallace, by alleging he was the one who had hoaxed footprints in Northern California in 1958 using stompers he made from wood. They trotted out some stompers and feabily tried to show how they were used. Again, the skeptics jumped on the story and again proclaimed bigfoot was a hoax. And Again they didn't let the facts bother them.
Out of all the stompers the Wallace family could produce, none matched the casts taken of the footprints back in 1958. None.
But, once more, the legitamate bigfoot researchers were set back by the false publicity.
These last two hoaxes have arguably done more harm to Bigfoot research than any other hoaxes because they were perpetrated by someone that has claimed to be a researcher himself.
2005 Live Captured Bigfoot (Biscardi)
In 2005, Tom Biscardi, known as the Bigfoot Hunter, made a claim on the Coast to Coast Radio Program that he had been contacted by a woman who was in possession of a live Bigfoot. He claimed he believed the woman, set up pay-per-view webcams and promoted the release of video of the creature.
Lo and behold, the creature came up missing (allegedly kidnapped by a jealous veterenarian) and Tom Biscardi said he was hoodwinked by the unnamed woman.
2008 Georgia Bigfoot Body (Biscardi, Whitton, Dyer)
In July, 2008 Tom Biscardi, the now infamous Bigfoot Hunter, and two new arrivals on the scene conspired in a hoax regarding the alleged finding of a bigfoot body in Northern Georgia on or about June 10th, 2008. The co-conspirators were Matt Whitton and Ricky Dyer.
Tom Biscardi did an interview on Fox News on August 12th, 2008, where he confirmed he had actually seen and touched the alleged body and therefore new it was real.
On August 15th, 2008, three men held a press conference in Palo Alto, CA. They confirmed their stories to the media and handed out some obvously fake photographs as proof.
On August 18th, 2008, Tom Biscardi, through friend Steve Kulls (The Squatch Detective) released a statement basically saying he had been hoodwinked (again), the body was found to be a fake and that Whitton and Dyer had vanished with the money he had fronted them.
Supposedly, Monday August 18th was to be the day some scientists were to examine the body. However, according to Steve Kulls story, only he, Bob Schmalzbach (VP of Searching for Bigfoot) and TJ Biscardi (Director of Field Operations for Seraching for Bigfoot) were present. On the day that the biggest find of the century was going ot be examined, Tom Biscardi wasn't even there. But then again, neither were any of the promised scientists.
Things that make you go hmmmm?
Mr. Kulls' explanation of the "facts" indicates that Tom Biscardi had never actually seen the alleged body, other than in a block of ice, and didn't know it was fake until Mr. Kulls informed him. It is not known at this time if Mr. Kulls knows about the contents of the Fox News interview previously mentioned.
Either Tom Biscardi lied in his interview, lied about the body, or is just an incredibly inept researcher and investigator. Or possibly some combination of all three.
The best source of information on the biggest Bigfoot hoax of all time can be found at
www.cryptomundo.com.