Defending Sasquatchery
Overall I would commend your writing style...very well written. Unfortunately it was poorly researched...rife with errors which could have been easily verified with just a little more effort. Most notably, is the naive acceptance of Mr. Long's "research" with regard the famous Patterson-Gimlin film of 1967 ("For “the inside story” one need only skim The Making of Bigfoot by Greg Long to learn how malevolent (and profitable) Patterson’s “hoax” truly was."). I have had the pleasure of meeting with both Mr. Long and Gimlin on several occasions and, while Greg had a clear agenda (prove the PG film as a fake), I have spent enough time with Bob to come to know him as a very sincere and humble man. As for a profit motive, I assure you Mr. Long has likely made more money from his books than Patterson and Gimlin combined. Greg Long insists that Bob Heronimus (a former neighbor of Bob Gimlin's in Yakima, Washington) was a co-conspirator in the film. A
basic background check into Mr. Heronimus' story dismisses this theory. His story is full of inaccuracies and contradictions. Next time I suggest you do more than simply "skim" the book. Next, consider your own admission of "multiple confessions." This is true. There have been no less than four individuals who have claimed to have been the "man in the suit" over the past 40 years (with certainly more to follow). As for the so-called "death bed" confession, this came from a reputed hoaxer (liar) by the name of Ray Wallace. While I never met Ray, I did have the opportunity to speak with him at length over the phone. His is a legacy of fake films and footprints. For all of Ray's efforts, none of the films he produced (and immediately presented to the public) ever came close to the quality of the PG film. As for his faked footprints? While there is no doubt he faked a few tracks, he did so in areas most likely to be discovered. As with any hoax, the primary
motive of perpetuating a hoax is to eventually say, "GOTCHA!" Unfortunately for Mr. Wallace, he cannot begin to account for the thousands of tracks discovered across the
Pacific Northwest in extremely remote locations. And for the record, his "deathbed gotcha" was only produced AFTER his passing by his son. Hardly rewarding for a career hoaxer. As for your comment about the PG film being "shot on a stolen camera – see a trend?" it is well known that Roger Patterson RENTED that camera prior to the trip to Bluff Creek. I see a trend. With regard to the Zack Hamilton's film, while it is puzzling the he failed to pick up his film after processing, I tend to agree with the comment by Nicholas D..."If you have perpetrated a hoax and managed to take a picture of it, wouldn't you at least make sure you picked up the developed film?" Again...no GOTCHA! What would be the point?
Your reference of the 1924 Mt St Helens incident as an example of "one of the earliest hoaxes" lacks a lot of detail. I have researched this particular account in great detail (not the least of which is that they claimed to have shot two of the creatures). Not only have I amassed numerous accounts of it, but I have also conducted field research in both the upper and lower reaches of Ape Canyon. After having done so, I am convinced that the account happened. To begin with, these miners (Fred Beck, Marion Smith, etc.) had been seeing evidence of these creatures from the very beginning of their prospecting efforts dating back to 1921. In fact they were warned by the Native Americans not to go up there because of the “giant hairy apes" or "Mountain Devils" as they were called back then. As I stated, the bombardment of their cabin happened only after Marion had shot one of the creatures while they were collecting water in a nearby creek. During the
hours-long nighttime attack, the miners repeatedly shot their rifles through the walls and ceiling of the cabin. The "several youths" youths you refer to were allegedly scouts from a "nearby" Boy Scout camp. The camp was situated on the northern shores of Spirit Lake; some 12 miles away and 2,800 feet lower in elevation. It is quite a stretch to believe that a handful of kids would hike such a distance (in the dark) to scare five heavily armed grizzled mountain men. It is quite another thing to believe they would continue their hoax for hours after being fired upon. Then there's the fact that they waited "a half-century later" (long after their victims were dead) to confess to their hoax. That's a long awaited GOTCHA if I ever heard of one.. Kind of like Bob Heronimus' confession to a writer (who sought him out) nearly 40 years after the "fact" and long after Roger Patterson's death. Get real. There are a few other issues but I think I've made my point.
A good read does not necessarily make a good report.
Sincerely,
Todd Neiss
Independent Researcher
americanprimate@aol.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam-bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
An Encounter with Patty?
This may seem cliché, being that this occurred in the Bluff Creek area of CA., nonetheless the reader might find this interesting and possibly amusing.
June 24 2006 my son Sean & I had been backpacking various trails in and around
Bluff Creek. At one location while camped on the trail we had experienced some log thumping within about 50 yards, we played this game of thumping back and forth between us and presumably a
Sasquatch for about 15 minutes until it simply got bored and quit. We camped and packed out without further incident.
Back to June 24. The Forest Service had just opened one road leading to Happy Camp, Onion Mt. and
Onion Lake after being closed for nearly 2 years due to some Cedar disease, which they deemed necessary to quarantine. This naturally made this area ripe for wildlife. We traveled the road the afternoon of the June 24 journeying 30 miles into
Onion Lake. We arrived at 7:45 PM. What an awesome area! All alone and obviously no other human activity in quite some time. After scoping
the lake and surrounding area for about 25 minutes we were deciding where to pitch tent when all of a sudden we heard this bonechilling, ear piercing roar/scream within very close proximity from the South side of lake. Within 5-10 seconds came another identical scream from directly behind us to the North. Now, we are talking extremely loud, nothing like I have ever heard except possibly one exception-primal and this had to be big. The scream/roar went from a deep low to a high scream
while seemingly maintaining a low guttural tone. Quite honestly it simply sounded like a pissed off giant Gorilla. We talked and calmed ourselves for a few minutes and did not hear any more screams. We made some noises to possibly ward off any typical animals.
We definitely felt as though we were being watched and am most certain we were. We decided to pitch our tent and stay and cameras were ready.
Dusk was setting in hard and vision was 20 ft. We decided to crash for the night. My 17-year-old son was like glue up against me. Not even 5 minutes passed and again we heard the scream only this time much smoother and lower keyed and very close. That was it! Outta here! We bailed out and ran for the truck which in this case was about 20 ft away (this was the only place we had not backpacked-thank God!) we left tent and all and drove the 30 miles back to Orleans, CA. We traveled back the next morning feeling a bit sheepish and imagining our entire camp being destroyed. Everything was fine. I really believe the objective of whatever vocalized was merely to make us poop ourselves and it nearly worked.
We scoured the entire area and did not find footprints, the ground was very hard.
If you have seen the movie "Harry and the Henderson's" , visualize the scene with Harry (
Sasquatch) watching TV and laughing. I'm sure to this day this story is told around Bigfoot camps with comments like "did you see there faces?!" Then slapping their legs and howling in laughter.
This is completely true. Hal
