To finish off January, on the 30th, David Wasson of the Yakima Herald-Republic, (509) 577-7678, did an article on a man who has come forward to say he wore the suit in the Patterson film (number 64 Dahinden says).
Zillah attorney Barry M. Woodard, (509) 829-5600, “confirmed he’s representing a Yakima man who says he wore the elaborate monkey suit in the Patterson-Gimlin film, and that his client has passed a lie detector test to prove it.” The unnamed man (Bob, drives a truck for Pepsi), 58, wanted some help in negotiating a deal for rights to his tale. Supposedly, Sun tabloid bought his story, and it should be published before you read this (not by 16th). They usually pay about $2,000 for a story like that, true or not. Maybe that explains why a hoaxer would dress up in a big breasted female animal costume, and later admit he was a cross-dresser.
A retired Yakima police officer, Jim McCormick, did the lie-detector work. He is a certified polygraph examiner and did a 75 minute test on the unnamed man, and stated that he was telling the truth. In a personal phone interview 1/29, Wasson said that question #43 of the test was, “Is it true you were in the Bigfoot suit when Patterson shot that film in 1967?” To which the answer was “yes.”
Peter Byrne went to Yakima on 2/3 and had lunch with Wasson, and talked by phone to both Woodard and McCormick. Wasson said he’d been swamped with over 100 phone calls about the article...calls from England, Germany, and 12 calls from Eric Beckjord. He finally had to tell him not to call back again, to which Beckjord replies that he’ll sue them. Wasson gave him his editors number and hung up on him.
As Peter Byrne has, using several methods, determined that Patty was 7’3” tall, he was concerned with the size of the hoaxer. Attorney Woodward said his client was about 6’ tall, 200#. Said also that they would be having a press conference and releasing more information in a few days. Peter thought the attorney commented that the client was a truck driver. Woodward asked his client if a “suit” could be produced, and he answered, “I’ll try.”
McCormick when interviewed said that he thought the fellow was about 6’1”, and 200 pounds. Almost the same as Woodard’s reply, and both heights are far too short for the 7’3” Patty creature. Peter asked if the fellow had passed the lie detector test, and McCormick hesitated, saying, “well, I better not give you the answer to that.”
Wasson interviewed Mac McEntire, a retired Yakima salesman that recalls Patterson (Roger died in 1972). He said that at parties in the old days Patterson and others would laugh at the hoax, and at the anthropologists that had said the creature was authentic.
Also, Bob Swanson, former owner of the Chinook Press in Yakima in the mid 60’s, said he had printed 10,000 copies of the Patterson book on Bigfoot sightings in 1966, before the famous film. A large printing bill and sluggish book sales were reversed when the film became famous. At one time he indicated that Patterson had replied to a question after a Bigfoot sighting, that the suit “didn’t itch too bad.” By 1967 they had parted company.
In balance though, one of Roger Patterson’s better friends at the time was Jerry Merritt. “I was supposed to go with Roger and Bob but had to cancel at the last minute.” Seems his wife, a non-believer, wouldn’t let him go on the now famous, trip. He said Roger went to the grave convinced he’d seen Bigfoot, Ron Olson being at his side. Larry Lund knows Merritt well, and he had said that Roger was his friend, and would never lie to him. If there was a hoax, Roger would have told him, he said. Larry and I plan to do an extensive interview with Merritt soon, and also with Ralph Mason, former business manager for Roger. An earlier interview with Mason produced piles of old business records which he allowed us to borrow and duplicate.
Before I leave this editorial, would like to mention that there has been considerable discussion about the height of Bigfoot on the Internet relating to Grover Krantz’s earlier estimate of Patty’s height in his 1992 book, “Big Footprints.” Using a foot-to-height ratio from the 14.5 inch long foot (from track), he concluded the creature’s standing height was 6’6”.
Peter Byrne took a photo of Mike Hogdson, 6 foot, 160#, waist 32”, in the same spot, and with the careful use of a caliper on comparable slides (making sure stumps and such the same size), determined that Patty was 7’3.5” Using comparable methods, Jeff Glickman of NASI came to the same conclusion.
By chance, Chris Murphy, noted a limb that the creature stepped on in the original film, was in the possession of Rene Dahinden. Using this as a “ruler.” Chris determined that the creature was 7’3.3” in height. Krantz and Dr. Jeff Meldrum now apparently agree with the over 7’ height.
Byrne, using the waist size of Mike Hogsdon, determined that the 2.5 times larger Patty, had a waist size of about 80 inches.
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