Page 82 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

62 Mysterious Creatures

Primate Biology Program of the Smithsonian in seclusion in a Los Angeles nursing home
Institution, commented that while he saw when the story of the gorilla suit hoax broke,
nothing that pointed conclusively to a hoax, he refused to confirm or deny the reports.
did express some reservations about the exag- Chris Murphy, a Bigfoot researcher, told
gerated, fluid motion of the creature. He also the Sunday Telegraph (October 19, 1997) that
said that he thought the Bigfoot was a male, in “very high computer enhancements of the
spite of the pendulous breasts, because of the film show conclusively that, whatever it was,
crest on its head, a signature of male primates.
it was not wearing a suit. The skin on the
Dr. Osman Hill, director of Yerkes Region creature ripples as it walks.”
Primate Research Center at Emory University, Other Bigfoot experts have declared the
stated his opinion that the Bigfoot in the film- Patterson-Gimlin film to be an authentic doc-
strip was hominid (humanlike) rather than umentary of a genuine female hominoid. Two
pongoid (apelike). If the being in the film was Russian scientists, Dmitri Bayanov and Igor
a hoax, Hill commented, it had been incredi- Bourtsev, minutely analyzed every movement
bly well done.
of the female Bigfoot on the controversial film
Technicians at the Documentary Film and concluded that it had passed all their tests
Department at Universal Pictures, Holly- and their criteria of “distinctiveness, consis-
wood, agreed with the scientists’ assessment tency, and naturalness.” Who, they ask rhetor-
and said that it would take them a couple of ically in their chapter in The Sasquatch and
million dollars to duplicate the monster on Other Unknown Hominoids, “other than God
the filmstrip. First, they stated, they would or natural selection is sufficiently conversant
have to create a set of artificial muscles, train with anatomy and bio-mechanics to ‘design’ a
an actor to walk like the thing on the film, body which is perfectly harmonious in terms
then place him in a gorilla skin. of structure and function?”
Most scientists remained skeptical, and On September 22, 2000, a team of 14
the controversy raged for 30 years. On Octo- researchers that had tracked the elusive Big-
ber 19, 1997, just prior to a press release by the foot for a week deep in the mountains of the
North American Science Institute that would Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washing-
announce their analyses that the creature ton State found an extraordinary piece of evi-
depicted on the film was genuine, stories dence that may end all arguments about
appeared in the media claiming that John whether or not the creature exists. There, in a
Chambers, the academy award-winning make- muddy wallow near Mt. Adams, was an
up artist of The Planet of the Apes (1968), had imprint of Bigfoot’s hair-covered lower body as
been responsible for creating the gorilla suit it lay on its side, apparently reaching over to
that had fooled the monster hunters. Accord- get some fruit. Thermal imaging equipment
ing to Howard Berger of Hollywood’s KNB confirmed that the impression made by the
Effects Group, it was common knowledge massive body was only a few hours old.
within the film industry that Chambers had The team of Bigfoot hunters who discov-
designed the costume for friends of Patterson ered the imprint—Dr. LeRoy Fish, a retired
who wanted to play a joke on him. Mike wildlife ecologist with a doctorate in zoology;
McCracken Jr., an associate of Chambers, Derek Randles, a landscape architect; and
stated his opinion that he (Chambers) was Richard Noll, a tooling metrologist—next
responsible for designing the gorilla suit.
made a plaster cast of what appeared to be
Roger Patterson died in 1972, never impressions of the creature’s left forearm, hip,
doubting that he had caught a real Bigfoot on thigh, and heel. More than 200 pounds of
film. And none of the individuals who plaster were needed to acquire a complete 3-
allegedly asked John Chambers to design a 1/2 x 5-foot cast of the imprint. Dr. Jeff Mel-
gorilla costume in order to hoax Patterson drum of Idaho State University stated that the
have ever stepped forward and identified imprint had definitely not been made by a
themselves. Chambers himself, who was living human getting into the mud wallow.

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