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Bigfoot A Hoax?

elzbal writes "The family of a Pacific Northwest prankster is coming clean. The Seattle Times is reporting that Bigfoot was just a creative figment of Ray L. Wallace's imagination. He orchestrated the prank that created Bigfoot in 1958. According to family members, he had asked a friend to carve a few pair of 16-inch-long feet. Then he and his brother Wilbur had slipped them on and created the footprints as a prank, family members said. He was also somehow involved in the famous walking Bigfoot film."

18 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. In other news.... by f64 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "upwards of 500 scientists, all having invested years of their life to researching bigfoot, often giving up their carreers, have pronounced a fatwah against the family of Ray L. Wallace.

    said one spokesperson: "the reward of $50.000 we offered for a captured bigfoot, will now be rewarded to those who bring us the heads of Mr Wallaces' family".

    f64: making crack remarks since 1978 (the year crack was invented).

    1. Re:In other news.... by EschewObfuscation · · Score: 4, Insightful

      [From the article]
      > Remembrances may be donated to Children's
      > Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle.

      Seriously, it might be nice if any bigfoot reward money were instead donated to the medical center. It would be a nice legacy for the man, and a good ending to the story.

      Probably never happen, though - I bet that Bigfoot hunting goes on for the next hundred years.

      Anyone else care to bet that a lot of the same people who doubt the moon landing will continue to believe in Bigfoot?

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  2. This is a SURPRISE? by MacAndrew · · Score: 4, Informative

    I was *so* relieved when the Lock Ness pranksters came clean. How cruel, exploiting the weak-minded, vulnerable and credulous ... journalists, conspiracy theorists, etc. Then there was that ship-eating squid thing a few years ago. :)

    There are so many real scientific puzzles and the press preoccupies itself instead with the mystery of Michael Jackson's deflating nose (which has be checking my nose all the time now to see if the cartilage is poking through like his....).

    Bigfoot, we never knew ye. What will the Weekly World News do? Their circulation has been battered enough already.

    1. Re:This is a SURPRISE? by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Bigfoot, we never knew ye. What will the Weekly World News do? Their circulation has been battered enough already.

      Hey, no worries there. They've had several front pages speculating on the location of Osama bin Laden!

      --
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  3. I'm coming clean too by succotash · · Score: 5, Funny

    I built the face on mars.. have to go now, Mike Wallace is on the line.

  4. So... by Dannon · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...it was all a hoax. Just like the government's secret UFOs were really weather balloons, swamp gas, and light reflecting from Venus.

    Or maybe they're "coming clean" because that's what They want us to believe!

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  5. This is beautiful! by manyoso · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I love it!

    Actual proof is not required for the popular belief in the fantastical Bigfoot, but 'convincing and specific' proof with 'photo graphic evidence' and maybe 'a diary or something' is needed to refute the existence of a hypothetical fairy tale creature.

    That is freakin awesome! :)

  6. Re:"somehow involved"? by GuyMannDude · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They are going to have to be a lot more convincing and specific than that to turn the tide of belief in Bigfoot. We need actual photographic proof that this guy is Bigfoot or maybe a diary or something where he wrote "June 13. Dressed up as large ape-like creature. Was spotted by hunters."

    I doubt anything is going to convince the Bigfoot believers that it was a hoax. People seem to have the desperate need to believe in fantastical things. I'm not sure exactly why (although I could come up with some ideas). It's nice that these guys came clean about their involvement with the Bigfoot legend but, realistically, I don't see anything coming of this.

    As an example of this kind of thing, remember crop circles. No one seriously believes that those guys pulled this hoax because the geometric shapes are too perfect, plus the wheat stems show no signs of cracking. There is clearly more here than meets the eye.

    Hmmm. Now you've lost me. Actually, most people DO believe that crop circles are hoaxes. I'm not sure where you get this "no one believes..." stuff. And you can certainly place me in the category of non-believers. I don't want to get into a crop-circle argument with you, PhysicsGenius, but I'll only ask one question. Which do you think is more likely: that some guys went out with wooden planks and played a trick or that aliens from a far away planet spent valuable resources to visit our world and, when they got there, all they did was make a few crazy patterns in the local vegetation and left? If you say that latter, then you and I are so far apart that it wouldn't make sense for us to discuss this, Bigfoot, healing crystals, psychic phenomenon, LockNess, Yeti, and all the other pseudo-scientific stories out there.

    GMD

  7. Re:It's not a question of likelihood by manyoso · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And this is a perfect example of the faulty reasoning used by people who mistake crop circles as proof of alien contact.

    Simply because one can not adequately explain how the crop circles were made does not inevitably lead to the conclusion that 'aliens did it' or that it does not have a completely mundane and ordinary solution. I can not adequately explain many of the magical tricks performed by talented magicians, but I do not suppose that the *tricks* are truly magical in nature.

    Now, you have every right to believe what you will, but do not mistake that *belief* with proof or evidence of the existence of aliens. After all, it is possible that aliens did make the crop circles (highly improbable IMHO ;), but until we have proof we are just left with our respective opinions.

    I am delighted that people require such strong 'proof or evidence' to disprove a fantastical notion, but require no proof and flimsy evidence to believe in a fantastical creature such as Bigfoot :)

  8. Just now? by Pierre · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I thought they came clean years ago?

    I remember watching a 60 minutes on it years ago...

  9. D000d, M@gl( l$ r341!!!! by Randolpho · · Score: 3, Funny

    I saw David Blane take the head off a chicken one time, man, and it was off!!!!!!!1111!!!!! Totally gone! No camera tricks! Just headless chickens! There is no logical explaination for how that chicken lost its head and then got it back again, man! It can only be aliens! Er, Magic!

    And don't get me started on Jonathan Edwards! He so does not deserve Biggest Douche in the Universe, man! He's like in touch with God!

    --
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  10. Re:Who said it was aliens? by manyoso · · Score: 3

    I don't have a scientific explanation and that is the whole point!

    I am prepared and happy to admit that I do not _know_ who or what made those crop circles nor do I _know_ how they were made. Please read that last statement again.

    Ask me if it is possible that aliens made those crop circles and I will say yes.

    Ask me if it is possible that hoaxers made those crop circles and I will say yes.

    If you press me I will admit that in my personal opinion it was a couple of hoaxers using an ingenious if unknown method, but I will not admit to having any *proof* for that and I will not state that my opinion is fact.

    Your post as well as the parent stated as fact that _hoaxers could not be responsible_ as if you have proof or as if this were a fact. Once again, I submit you have no basis for saying hoaxers could not or did not create those crop circles. I submit you have no basis for stating anything as fact regarding the origin and method of creation of those crop circles. All is opinion and conjecture until we have proof. As far as the aliens, well I assume that is what the parent was alluding to...

    Now, the reason I find all of this so funny? Because, the parent post calls for *proof* that a fantastical creature with no basis in reality *does not exist*! That is hilarious ... IMHO of course ;)

  11. This man didn't invent Bigfoot! by RevAaron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He may have hoaxed it a few places, but Bigfeet, Yeti, Sasquatches have been around in our mythologies for thousands of years. It's not like it was just invented one day in '58! Not that having a mythology about it makes it a reality, but take everything, even this guy's claims, with ag rain of salt.

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  12. Dang. by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 4, Funny

    THis completely blows my theory that it was Sasquatch who killed kennedy.

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  13. Hey, about the Easter Bunny by NickFusion · · Score: 3, Funny

    What can I say, some tiny hippity-hop strap on bunny feet, some eggs and a bottle of Jack Daniel. Seemed like a funny idea at the time. My bad...

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  14. Re:Who said it was aliens? by Blkdeath · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From what I read, all that has been claimed is that it wasn't the so-called "hoaxers" that made these circles. Nobody has claimed it was aliens.
    Perhaps you should extend your reading list some.
    Nobody has been able to film them being made.
    Discovery channel has aired film of the hoaxsters creating circles. It's been on television dozens of times.
    The geometry has been proven to be beyond the ability of a normal IQ person.
    Most people with a compass and protractor and an hour or two can make circle patterns on paper. Anybody who's taken a high school survey class can map those circles into a field.
    The stems are bent but not crushed.
    Wheat isn't that delicate.
    There are traces of radioactivity at some sites.
    There are traces of radioactivity in my kitchen.
    No human footprints are found.
    Tram lines. Boards.
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  15. Re:It's not a question of likelihood by cpeterso · · Score: 3, Informative

    The stems are bent without damange to the plant and the area of the circles displays odd flux vortices.

    These issues and more are addressed in CSICOP's "Circular Reasoning: The 'Mystery' of Crop Circles and Their 'Orbs' of Light":

    Hoaxers, most croppies insisted, could not be responsible because the plants were only bent and not broken, and there were no footprints or other traces of human activity. Skeptics replied that from mid-May to early August the English wheat was green and pliable, and could only be broken with difficulty.

  16. Re:It's not a question of likelihood by snake_dad · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hehe.. another entry for the future www.badbiology.com :)

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