ROGER PATTERSON
The man who filmed bigfoot...or something that looks like bigfoot. A former rodeo rider, and author of a paperback book entitled "Do Abominable Snowmen Of America Really Exist?", set out to make a film documentary, and allegedly managed to film the Holy Grail of cryptozoolgy. Roger went on the talk show circuit promoting the and his Until his dying day, Roger never deviated from his original story that the film was indeed genuine.
BOB GIMLIN
Roger Patterson's companion on the famous expedition. Bob initially avoided the limelight that followed after the release. Bob sometimes shows up at bigfoot conventions to retell the story of encountering bigfoot on that fateful day in 1967. Bob still claims to this day, that the film is authentic. He does however leave open a small window of doubt that it might be possible that it was a hoax beyond his knowledge.
BIGFOOT
Either this is the real deal or a man in a monkey suit. The bigfoot phenomenon can unarguably be traced back to the Patterson-Gimlin film of October 1967. Real or not, this film has had a huge impact on pop culture, cryptozoology, advertising, movies etc.
JOHN CHAMBERS
Master special effects/makeup artist. Famous for designing the "The Planet of the Apes" costumes. Director John Landis claimed that Chambers was the one behind the Patterson suit. This was denied by Chambers, nonetheless certain theories involve John Chambers supplying the suit. More than likely because "Planet of the Apes" was being worked on close to this time frame, and Chambers was one of the few at that time who had knowledge and ability to make a believable suit.
PHILIP MORRIS
Costume maker extraordinaire! Morris claims that Patterson had contacted him in 1967 as a customer to purchase a common gorilla suit, much like the one in the photo above. Philip Morris still makes a wide assortment of costumes to this day. Whether or not a common ape suit back in the 60's (modified or stock) was actually what was seen in the Patterson film, is debatable.
BOB HEIRONIMUS
The man who claimed recently he was bigfoot in the 1967 Patterson film shown here with Philip Morris and a bigfoot type costume. Bob alleges Roger Patterson promised to pay him $1000 to clomp through the woods in a musky modified monkey suit while Patterson filmed it. Bob claims he never saw a dime of the money, and as he states "It's time to let this thing go. I've been burdened with this for 36 years, seeing the film clip on TV numerous times. Somebody's making lots of money off this, except for me. But that's not the issue -- the issue is that it's time to finally let people know the truth."
THIS IS A CLIP OF BOB HEIRONIMUS IN A BIGFOOT SUIT TRYING
TO "RECREATE" THE WALK HE CLAIMS HE DID IN THE PATTERSON
FILM
Mr. Heironimus
has several issues in my estimation regarding his claim to
being the man in the bigfoot suit. He is one of many over
the years to make this claim. His story varies from
interview to interview on the details. I have read one
account where he states Patterson obtained the suit from
the Philip Morris company, and made a few modifications to
it. In a seperate interview I had read, he said Patterson
had used the skin of a dead horse and made a home made
suit. Another thing that seems funny about his claim is the
dollar amount he said Roger Patterson would pay him to get
into the suit and do the walk. Bob came out of the
proverbial Bigfoot closet in the late 90's, he claimed
Roger Patterson would pay him $1000 for his work. This
translates into about $5000 when Bob made this claim in
1999. Or in todays figures about $8500. This seems like an
very large sum of money to claim someone was going to pay
you in the late 1960s to put on a monkey suit for a quick
film. I don't know about you, but I know people TODAY who
would do this for $100 and a case of beer (maybe even
less.) Offering someone several thousand dollars to put on
a suit seems like a tall tale. In the sixties, I'm sure
your could have found just about anyone to do it for $25
bucks or so. Even today, rarely do I hear people say "I'll
give you a thousand dollars if you do _______" It seems
like a much more modern day figure of money to offer
someone for something. In the late 1960's, or 1970's, you
just did not hear this kind of money being offered for a
favor of this caliber. This little gem is often overlooked
by people looking into Bobs story. If Bob would have said
that Roger had offered him $25, $50, or even $100, this
would sound more realistic to me. Yes it is possible Roger
could have offered him this amount, but it just smells
fishy.
Bob Heironimus states Roger never paid him this $1000 he
was allegedly promised. I would think that shortly after
getting burned by Roger, one would have blown the whistle
on the whole scam, or at least threatened Roger that you
would so he could get his due money. Roger was making
appearances on the Joey Bishop Show, Merv Griffith Show,
Radio interviews, multiple newspaper and magazine articles
etc. One could have easily made Roger cut you in for
whatever you wanted dollar wise or otherwise. One could
have easily said "Roger, give me my money, or I am going
public to tell everyone how this was done." The timing of
this is very suspect. The time to blow this whistle is the
moment you don't get your money, or possible at the peak of
popularity, not 30 years later when the novelty has leveled
off considerably. This also seems very strange to
me.
INTERVIEW WITH BOB HEIRONIMUS ON EVENING MAGAZINE pt.1 and
pt.2
