Hoaxes: How Pervasive Are They?

Thousands of Sasquatch sighting reports are logged every year. Of those, many are straight misidentifications, hallucinations or mistaken identity. However, there are those that fall under the category of the hoaxer. Many people enjoy hoaxing Sasquatch researchers by telling them such nonsense as, "Yeah, I saw Sasquatch. He's sitting right here with me enjoying a beer. Do you want to talk to him?" or "Ahhhhhhhhh! The Sasquatch is eating me! Help!" Some even go so far as to create false wooden feet and go stomping around in the woods making tracks, or putting on a gorilla costume and parading around in front of a video camera. It has been said about the hoaxer, that once he/she hoaxes one sighting/footprint/video, they continue with it, putting out multiple hoaxes. To be sure, these hoaxes are pervasive, and they do hurt the cause of legitimate research. Witness the story of Ray Wallace from nearly 2 years ago; it was so blown out of proportion by the media that it really hurt the cause of Sasquatch research. We must be on our guard against the hoaxer, however, because if we aren't, we can be fooled into believing anything.