Rediscovering Cryptozoology
The truth about the Patterson-Gimlin Film of 1967
One of my biggest heroes growing up in the 1970s was Leonard Nimoy. As a person, Nimoy came across as genuine. As his alter ego, Mr. Spock, he was a living embodiment of intellect. People are so impulsive that they make mistakes quickly. Spock wielded an impressive level of effectiveness from all angles of decision-making.
In 1977, it was public trust in Nimoy that compelled viewers to tune in to an episode of In Search Of that addressed the Bigfoot question. Nimoy weighed all sides of the narrative clearly. That episode showcased the now-famous Patterson-Gimlin Film (PGF) with North American broadcast coverage for the first time. Patty, the presumably elderly female Bigfoot is caught out in the open by Roger Patterson with a 16mm camera.
The original PGF has overly high contrast and is out of focus. The footage has since been cleaned up digitally by machine learning, showing a lot more detail. However, visual evidence can only go so far. Because our perceptions are to reject it outright, the PGF is a hard sell to our stubborn understanding of how the world is and what can be found within it.
“The creature is beyond belief…beyond comprehension” - Leonard Nimoy
Despite being an unbelievable, impossible bipedal creature, the truth is Patty was real. No one in 1967 was capable of creating such a costume or would have been able to walk in it successfully for an elaborate hoax lasting barely a minute long. This sighting occurred in a pocket of upper Northern California wilderness that had experienced severe storms recently. It was not an ideal place to go camping with quarter horses in tow for 3 weeks.
It is true, they were on a mission to find Bigfoot, but they only had a general idea of where to look. Roger came prepared with a 16mm camera. Bob had a .30 caliber rifle with him, though no shots were fired. In those days, Bigfoot trackers carried arms for protection. Contrary to popular belief, Bigfoot is not a physically violent creature. If it goes on the offensive it’s because they want someone to leave their habitat.
The fateful encounter occurred because Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin unexpectedly encountered a female Bigfoot crouching by a creek, helping herself to some water.
What makes the PGF interesting is that very few other media have been able to catch a glimpse of what Bigfoot could actually be. There are plenty of inconclusive, partial hints of Bigfoot. There are plenty of hoaxes and stories and distortions that paint a picture very different from what Patty showed us.
After a rocky start, the camera steadies, and we see the she-creature calmly but briskly walking away from the camera, apparently not happy to be seen. Patty makes a quick head turn to look back at the camera and inadvertently immortalize herself to our world.
We only know Patty is a she because with that head turn she also exposed her peculiar breasts. At around 6’5” and in the 500-pound range, even an elderly female Bigfoot was an imposing sight to both witnesses that day. If not for Patty, the world of Bigfootery would not have insight into Bigfoot musculature.
There are plenty of naysayers who claim the PGF was hoaxed. However, none of it adds up. There isn’t anyone anywhere that can demonstrate Patty’s unique locomotion nor her massive clean strides of urgency. The oddities of her appearance and the fact that she was female are about as telling as it gets. The primal visage of Patty is about as close to proof as it can go without a biosample.
Some naysayers just wanted a piece of the payoff pie that never came. Other people just don’t like Roger Patterson and have attacked his character. Other people just can’t fathom Patty being real and devote endless cycles of wheel spinning to try and disprove the events of that day.
50-something years later, the PGF still stands immune to it all.
The PGF controversy will likely never abate. Nor will disagreements over the complexities of the subject of Bigfoot and the implications of its presumed existence.
For the mainstream, having no biological evidence means it doesn’t exist. Bigfooters see things in the opposite way, placing their trust in knowing the unknowable to keep their faith in the subject alive.
Bigfootery is a cyclical microverse of personalities. Even though people are on a constant chase for answers, many people resist accepting the PGF and any other proposed clues as real because (in my view), they don’t want the mystery to end. The naysayers prefer the mystery to remain open so they can accommodate their psychological need for the chase.