Analysis of a frame from the 1967 Roger Patterson "Bigfoot" film shows evidence of fakery. Costumer Phil Morris reports he sold Patterson a gorilla suit and material for modifying it, while a man named Bob Heironimus says he wore it for the hoax.--Joe Nickell
Fans, you all know how well Phillip Morris and Bob Heironimus did re-creating the Patterson/Gimlin film back in 2005. No? Here check it out.
Phil Morris (left) with Bob Heironimus (right) on set of the 2005 National Geographic documentary Behind the Mysteries. Bob in Phil's suit (inset) failing to come close to re-creating the Patterson/Gimlin film
One of the biggest fails in the re-creation is the "stovepiping" of the hind leg (this is when the pant-like leg looks like a stovepipe). We didn't even have to use our "pants detecting technology" to see Phill's Costume is a far cry from Patty in the Patterson/Gimlin film. So, who is this Joe Nickell?
According to Huffington Post Joe Nickell, Ph.D, is...
"...perhaps the world’s only full-time professional paranormal investigator – with a background to match. He has spent his life collecting “personas”: carnival pitchman, stage magician (he was Resident Magician at a Houdini museum), private investigator (for a world-famous detective agency), folklorist and historian, forensic-science author, historical document consultant, and many, many others.
In a field where people too often divide into “believers” and “debunkers” – those whose minds are made up in advance of inquiry – Nickell has gained international acclaim and respect as a successful, fair-minded investigator, choosing neither to foster mysteries nor reject them.
Taking a hands-on approach, he has traveled around the world to investigate the strangest mysteries – often innovative strategies such as conducting an original experiment, applying a forensic science in a unique way, doing painstaking historical research, or even going undercover and in disguise. Nickell sees science as a progression of solved mysteries.
Last Saturday (08/13/2011) Loren Coleman posted on Cryptomundo a response to an article on i09.com promoting Nickell's book, Tracking the Man-Beasts. In the post Coleman isolates Nickell's argument:
"...Then the Patterson film was made in 1967. It attracted widespread publicity and was shown on popular national talk shows. From that point forward, variations in Sasquatch sightings began to dwindle. Creatures sighted after the release of the Patterson film exhibited a great tendency to resemble the creature depicted in the film." --Joe Nickell
Nickell's i09.com Article has some interesting points, and we recommend reading Loren Coleman's post for balance.
Besides i09.com, Nickell has also written an article for Huffington Post. You can read article in it's entirety below.
Paranormal Investigation: From Big Foot To Aliens
Written by Joe Nickell, Ph.D.,
If legends and even many eyewitness accounts are to be believed, since ancient times we have shared our planet with various "man-beasts" - monsters that are more or less in our image. While monsters are often consigned to ancient legend and literary fiction, many are held to be in some sense real. Such paranormal beings (those beyond the normal range of science and human experience) include supernatural ones, such as the werewolf, as well as others (like the Yowie, Australia's version of Bigfoot) that, if they indeed exist, could be perfectly natural creatures. These are those embraced by cryptozoology, the study of unknown or "hidden" creatures (i.e., cryptids).
I have been studying these and other reputed paranormalities for 40 years. By 1995 I had become, apparently, the world's only full-time professional paranormal investigator. I have studied mythological, folkloric, and literary monsters; traveled to remote regions in search of legendary creatures; sought vampire graves in Vermont; visited carnival midways to meet human "monsters," look behind the scenes at exhibited spiderwomen and the like, and witness the transformation of a lovely girl into a wild gorilla; took part in a nighttime expedition with Bigfoot hunters; and explored the Pacific Bigfoot country.
In the slides that follow, as well as in my new book "Tracking the Man-Beasts," we set out to track the man-beasts - to separate fact from fancy.
You can see the slides here.
