The Museum of Hoaxes
HOME   |   ABOUT   |   FORUM   |   CONTACT   |   PINTEREST   |   FACEBOOK   |   TWITTER   |   RSS
Eras: 0-1699 • 1700s • 1800-1868 • 1869-1913 • 1914-1949 • 1950-1976 • 1977-1989 • 1990s • 2000s
Register - Log-In - Password? - Contact
Site Map
Hoax Archive: Categories
Bigfoot Hoaxes
As early as the 1830s European settlers reported seeing a large, hairy biped roaming the Pacific northwest. Even before that Native-American legends told of a "Sasquatch" (meaning a "hairy giant") that lived in the region. However, no concrete evidence exists to suggest such an animal exists -- "concrete" here meaning tangible physical proof such as a body, or body part.

If a Bigfoot species did exist, it would seem likely that at some point one of them would die and leave a skeleton, or get run over by a car. But that apparently has never happened. What we have instead is a mountain of anecdotal evidence: eyewitness accounts, blurry photos, recordings of strange noises, and footprints. The problem with this anecdotal evidence is that much of it could have been faked. Even the most ardent Bigfoot believers admit that some of it was. Whatever wasn't deliberately faked might be chalked up to wishful thinking.

Below are a few of the more notable hoaxes (or suspected hoaxes) associated with Bigfoot.
Jacko (July 4, 1884)
The British Columbia Daily Colonist reported that a gorilla-type creature had been captured by railway workers and was being held in a local jail. It was given the nickname "Jacko." However, the entire thing turned out to be a hoax, as the hundreds of people who visited the jail and tried to view Jacko discovered, since Jacko was nonexistent. This story languished in obscurity until the 1950s when a reporter came across a reference to it (unaware it had turned out to be a newspaper hoax) and publicized it as an early example of a Sasquatch sighting.
Categories: Cryptozoology Hoaxes, Bigfoot Hoaxes, 1869-1913
The Birth of Bigfoot, 1958 (August 27, 1958)

Jerry Crew
August 27, 1958: While working on a construction site in northwest California, a tractor operator named Jerry Crew found a series of massive, 16-inch footprints tracked through the mud. Due to the size of the prints, the media began referring to the creature that created them as "Bigfoot." The name stuck, eventually replacing Sasquatch in the popular imagination as the name for North America's legendary ape-man. It was long suspected that Crew's prank-loving boss, Ray Wallace, had created the prints by strapping carved wooden feet to his boots and stomping around in the mud. This was confirmed when Wallace died in 2002 and his family came clean with the whole story. (Bigfoot believers, however, continue to insist the prints were legitimate Sasquatch tracks.)
Categories: Cryptozoology Hoaxes, Bigfoot Hoaxes, 1950-1976
The Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Film (October 20, 1967)
October 20, 1967: Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin travelled on horseback into the Six Rivers National Forest of northern California, carrying with them a 16mm camera, determined to get some footage of Bigfoot. Near Bluff Creek they spotted what appeared to be a female Bigfoot (shown in the thumbnail) striding along a riverbank. Patterson managed to record 952 frames of film before the creature disappeared into the forest. The footage he took remains, by far, the most famous evidence of Bigfoot's existence. But rumors abound that Patterson and Gimlin were either victims of a hoax, or perpetrators of one. One theory is that the creature filmed by Patterson/Gimlin was the creation of John Chambers, lead make-up artist on the Planet of the Apes (filmed in 1967). More recently, a man named Bob Heironimus has come forward who claims he was hired by Gimlin to wear an ape suit and pretend to be Bigfoot for their film. More→
Categories: Cryptozoology Hoaxes, Bigfoot Hoaxes, 1950-1976
Bride of Bigfoot (May 1976)
Cherie Darvell was a member of a film crew searching for Bigfoot in the woods outside Eureka, California. Unfortunately for her, she found Bigfoot and he abducted her. Or so she claimed. Humboldt County organized a search party to find her, but without success. (Total cost for the search: $11,613. Humboldt County tried to sue Shasta County to make them pay a portion of the cost, but a judge struck down their suit, ruling that the search for Bigfoot had been an "exercise in futility.") A few days later, Darvell walked into a nearby resort, looking none the worse for wear, despite her experience as a Bride of Bigfoot. When reporters tried to ask her questions about her ordeal, her only response was to scream. Her fellow filmmakers, Ed Bush and Terry Gaston, later released a movie showing her being carried away by Bigfoot. It crossed the minds of a few people that the "abduction" had been simply an elaborate publicity stunt.
Categories: Cryptozoology Hoaxes, Bigfoot Hoaxes, Abduction Hoaxes, 1950-1976
All text Copyright © 2011 by Alex Boese, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.