The Man Who Says He Was Bigfoot in the 1967 Film

For 59 years, one minute of film has been the best evidence anyone has that Bigfoot is real. Now the son of the man who filmed it says it was faked. In October 1967 two cowboys filmed a tall, hairy figure walking across a creek bed at Bluff Creek in Northern California. At frame 352 it turns and looks straight back at the camera. This is the true story behind the Patterson-Gimlin film. It starts with a prank that gave Bigfoot its name and a broke rodeo rider with an overdue rental camera and an arrest warrant. Then come a weekend whose timeline never added up, a man who says he wore the suit and a costume maker who says he sold it. And in Washington State, a woman opened her late father's safe and found a reel of 16 mm film. That reel is what the new documentary Capturing Bigfoot (out 20 October 2026) is built around. The film and photos are real archival material (sources below), and the quotes come from the historical record. The emoji is our own illustration. Chapters 0:00 The best evidence for Bigfoot 0:52 The first prankster 1:47 Three days before the film 3:32 Fifty-nine seconds 5:32 "Almost impossible to fake" 8:29 The man who says he wore the suit 11:20 The reel in the safe 13:50 Man or monster? Next: the Cold War radar on Long Island that became Stranger Things:    • The Real Story Behind Stranger Things   News coverage shown on screen: People, "The Famed 1967 Bigfoot Film Was an 'Incredible Hoax,' Says the Director of a Groundbreaking New Documentary" (2026-03-13, Johnny Dodd) https://people.com/famous-1967-bigfoo... · The Austin Chronicle, "SXSW Film Review: Capturing Bigfoot" (2026-03-12, Richard Whittaker) https://www.austinchronicle.com/scree... · The Times, "Bigfoot believers at war over new film that 'proves footage was a hoax'" (2026-03-20, Keiran Southern) https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-toda... · The Wall Street Journal, "A New Bigfoot Documentary Helps Explain Our Conspiracy-Minded Era" (2026-03-12, John Jurgensen) https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film... · The Seattle Times, "Yakima Man Says He Was Bigfoot" (1999-02-01) https://archive.seattletimes.com/arch... · The Herald (Everett, Wash.), from The Washington Post, "1967 'Bigfoot' alive and well, retired in Yakima" (2004-03-08, Richard Leiby) https://www.heraldnet.com/2004/03/08/... · Deseret News (Associated Press), "Bigfoot trackers say best-known film is just a hoax / The duo detect a fastener at waist of big creature" (1999-01-11, John M. Hubbell) https://www.deseret.com/1999/1/11/194... Sources: Wikipedia (Patterson-Gimlin film, Capturing Bigfoot, Bluff Creek, Bob Heironimus, Philip Morris), Greg Long "The Making of Bigfoot" (2004), Skeptical Inquirer July/Aug 2004 (Korff & Kocis), John Napier "Bigfoot" (1972), David Daegling "Bigfoot Exposed" (2004), Bill Munns "When Roger Met Patty" (2014), The Wall Street Journal (John Jurgensen on Capturing Bigfoot), Skeptical Inquirer (Benjamin Radford), The Austin Chronicle, People, Yakima Herald-Republic, Associated Press (1999). Footage: XYZ Films (Capturing Bigfoot trailer, teaser and "The First Influencer" promo series), The Sasquatch Archives, BBC X-Creatures, CBC, PAX TV "Lie Detector" (2005), Evening Magazine (2004), Encounters (1995), Bigfoot Unfiled, Wild Adventures with James, Rowdy Kelley, Jeffery R. Thomas, ABC10, Film Photography Project, Boeing Classics, British Pathé, Home Movie Timewarp, Filmmaker Mixer, Dave Wants to Know (Bill Munns), CBS47 KSEE24. The Patterson-Gimlin film is in the public domain (Wikimedia Commons). #Bigfoot #CapturingBigfoot #PattersonGimlin #Documentary