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Man Admits to Bigfoot Hoax

JCMay writes "You know that film we've all seen on TV where a large, hairy creature is walking through the woods, looks back over his right shoulder at the camera, and continues walking on? WorldNetDaily is reporting that a man has admitted to a 1967 bigfoot hoax where he was filmed walking through the woods wearing a gorilla suit."

35 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. the funny part by termos · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ok, now the funny part of this is that it's under the science section ;)

    --
    Note to self: get smarter troll to guard door.
    1. Re:the funny part by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In all honesty, Timothy seems to post alot of crap... His articles are old/repetitive (ie they cover discussion in older threads often) and they usually are on stupid subjects. This is a great example of why slashdot should really rethink some of its content aprovers.

    2. Re:the funny part by bob_jordan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Which is where it should be. What was thought to be anthropology turned out to be psychology.

      Bob.

    3. Re:the funny part by Night+Goat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It is science. It was a theory which people have tried to prove, some using the scientific method, which now has been proven to be a hoax. As long as theories are being tested with proper methodology, it's science. Jane Goodall, a scientist, was quoted as saying that she's still open to more facts on Bigfoot. She didn't immediately dismiss all Bigfoot sightings as hoaxes, as you seem to be doing with your flippant post.

    4. Re:the funny part by fpga_guy · · Score: 2, Informative
      This is a great example of why slashdot should really rethink some of its content aprovers.

      There is an easy solution - login, go to Preferences -> Homepage, and under "Exclude Stories from the Homepage", put a little tick next to Timothy. You'll never see anything from him again!

      BTW judging from recent form I'd have to agree with you

  2. Already known by Uma+Thurman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That piece of film was exposed as a hoax long ago, but it didn't affect the true believers. This is a bit similar to the crop circle believers. The people who invented the crop circle came forward and explained how it was done. The true believers think they are lying, and that crop circles are really made by aliens.

    And, I read a book by James Randi a couple years ago where he talks about a cold reader that he trained (like John Edwards). The cold reader did his little tricks, and even after the hoax was exposed, his marks still thought he had some psychic abilities.

    Therefore, I predict Bigfoot believers still have a long and profitable future ahead.

    --
    This is America, damnit. Speak Spanish!
    1. Re:Already known by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Absolutely. Another example, probably closer in circumstances to the Bigfoot hoax, is the Loch Ness Monster. Again, the person who took the photograph admitted it and showed how it was made, but belief in the monster is still high enough to attract thousands of people per year to the lake with cameras, video cameras, SCUBA gear, boats and God knows what else.

    2. Re:Already known by zhenlin · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It is called the True-believer syndrome.

    3. Re:Already known by netringer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I could have predicted that the true belivers who had no problem believing the original Bigfoot film clip was real with little evidence would immediately say there was not enough evidence the hoax story is true. They will dig for minor nits to invalidate the hoaxter's story when they gloss over a hundred problems with the original story.

      The same thing happened when it was revealed that the Loch Ness Monster picture was actually a toy submarine and when the Air Force released the true information on the formerly Top Secret Project Mogul which is what really happened at Roswell.

      "It can't be true! Why did they lie all this time? What were they covering up?"

      Maybe it was because the project was Top Secret, get it?

      --
      Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
    4. Re:Already known by Deflagro · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Bigfoot is a possibility I suppose but that video was obviously fake, interesting but not real.
      As for crop circles though, sure those British gents admitted to the hoax but it doesn't explain that it has been happening for hundreds of years all over the world. Maybe not in the crazy detail they created, but nevertheless...

      Just like the golden Egyptian space shuttle replica, or the cave paintings of typical Alien beings, some things are our history and we'll probably never really understand it.

      --
      Der Tod ist der einzige Weg hier raus!
    5. Re:Already known by blamanj · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A rather famous example of this happened between Arthur Conan Doyle and Erich Weiss aka Harry Houdini. Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories was an ardent spiritualist. Houdini, as a magician, knew the tricks mediums played on the gullible and had Doyle write a message in private which Houdini then reproduced by having a paint-covered ball "write" the message.

      Houdini would not explain the trick, and Doyle insisted that Houdini must be using supernatural powers. Despite their disagreements, the two men remained friends for some time.

      This site tells about the friendship between Doyle and Houdini.

    6. Re:Already known by Brandybuck · · Score: 3, Informative

      The people who invented the crop circle came forward and explained how it was done.

      Not only did they come forward, they presented a video of themselves making the crop circles.

      One ufologist said before seeing the film that it was impossible for humans to create this particular crop circle because of the "woven" stalks, lack of footprints, etc. Then after being shown the film, she said "well that may explain this one, but it can't possibly explain all of the other unexplainable circles!"

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    7. Re:Already known by Brandybuck · · Score: 2, Interesting

      but it doesn't explain that it has been happening for hundreds of years all over the world.

      Of course it doesn't explain it. It can't, because it hasn't been happening for hundreds of years all over the world.

      Irregular unpatterned crop "circles" can be formed by normal weather. I've seen it *happen* myself. But no one today calls these evidence of UFOs, aliens or other twaddle. But in the past it might have been different, and there may have been some silly reports of "strange devilish circles in me barley." Similar reports were made of unnatural fairy rings.

      However, instances of regular patterned crop circles are recent history, and have an unusual propensity to being within twenty miles of universities populated by bored students.

      Do not underestimate the power of the bored imagination, or the bored practical joker. Before 1945, all UFO "sightings" were cigar shaped. After that they were all saucer shaped. Crop circles didn't become fashionable until after the public grew weary of hearing about cattle mutilations. The trends are obvious.

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    8. Re:Already known by shpoffo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This information on crop circles is correct - the effect has been happening for hundreds (if not thousands of years). Just because someone goes on TV/book/media and says that they're the 'culprit' does not make them the origin of all phenomenon. (it's almost the equivalent people wondering where the Earth came from, and the I go on TV and telling everyone I made the Earth. Doesn't mean I did it...)

      the truly scientifically unexplained crop circles are formed within an hour, have high levels of radiation in the soil of their patterns, and the plants involved have unbroken stem sheaths. These plants continue to grow healthily after the circle has formed. Artificial Crop Circles have been made by breaking the stalks, pushing the plants to the ground. Most of these plant die afterward. Quite sad.

      -shpoffo

    9. Re:Already known by sckeener · · Score: 3, Informative

      was exposed as a hoax long ago, but it didn't affect the true believers.

      evidence that can't be proven is a religion. You've either got faith or you've got facts.

      and there is a ton of faith in the world.

      --
      "Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
    10. Re:Already known by Chester+K · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ....God knows what else

      Speaking of crazy things people believe in....

      --

      NO CARRIER
    11. Re:Already known by uncoveror · · Score: 3, Funny
      This video is a hoax. Okay, one sighting has been debunked. One among thousands! Before you decide that there is just no such thing as Bigfoot, read this.

      The pictures are not a bear or a guy in a suit.

      --
      The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
    12. Re:Already known by Jexx+Dragon · · Score: 2, Informative

      Look like gorillas in a zoo to me.

      --
      I don't have time to comment my code, the program is late already.
  3. Oh no! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Next thing I know, they'll also tell me Santa doesn't exist!

  4. Does it matter? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Does the truth matter? The Bigfoot kooks will still insist that the footage is real. Likely, they will claim some sort of conspiracy that caused the man to deny that his real footage was real.

    Ever hear of the "Viking explorers went to Minnesota" theory? I bet you haven't heard that the guy who made this one up admitted it was fake years ago.

    The same thing with crop circles. The guy who started this admitted it years ago, but the mistique and belief (mistaken belief?) remains.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  5. No, he's real.... by Scaba · · Score: 4, Funny

    How do I know? In 1976, Steve Austin - the Six Million Dollar Man - revealed to us that Bigfoot was an experiment by aliens.

    1. Re:No, he's real.... by Fuzzy+Sasquatch · · Score: 2, Funny

      Urf! Urf! Urf! Urf!
      *sniff* *sniff*

    2. Re:No, he's real.... by Scaba · · Score: 2, Informative
  6. So he lied and now he is telling the truth? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 2, Interesting
    One way or another this proves nothing. I am not even talking about the existence of bigfoot. I am talking about the shot being a hoax.

    If bigfoot does not exist then that does not make the film a hoax. The filmer could have believed what he saw was real. Most people who see the Lochness monster ain't lying they just thought they saw something wich looked like the monster in their mind. A hoax is deliberate misleading.

    And if the movie is a hoax or a honest mistake then this proves nothing about bigfoot. Sad thing is that it is really hard to prove a negative. Those who believe will simply say we haven't found it yet. Those who don't will be hard pressed to prove their is nothing to be found. In a way I think bigfoot is charming. It certainly is one of the less harmfull conspiracy theories you can follow.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  7. It's just like UFOs by AtariAmarok · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is just like UFO's as "alien spacecraft". Almost all the "evidence" is fake, and none of what little evidence that remains supports the case.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  8. They got to him first! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They got to him and made him tell everyone it was a hoax! Who? The government, probably. Likely, when its useful purpose (to distract Americans from bigger, scarier happenings) was served, they decided it was time to say it was a "hoax."

  9. Me real by gRa · · Score: 4, Funny

    Me is real, just hinding. Silent, not like cameras, big foot not big mouth.

    1. Re:Me real by Fuzzy+Sasquatch · · Score: 2, Funny

      Urgggh? Mmmf Mmmf Mmmf...
      *nuzzles*

  10. And to think I thought bigfoot was real science... by Captain+Rotundo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sometimes I listen to Coast to Coast... and ussually the guests are so outragously wrong, or dumb (the people who 'record' ghost voices onto 'blank' tapes come to mind, thats so funny its sad) I can't stand more than five minutes.... but occassionally I hear someone talk about Bigfoot, or Crop Circles, or some other nonsence and they actually sound sane... you think 'if this evidence is valid, then....'

    So I wonder for a second or two, why is there no one putting as much effort into showing the faults, or conversly if it is real why hasn't the entire media gone ape-shit over it?

    And suddenly I remember, to most rational people the faults are obvious if you stop for a few minutes and look at the 'evidence' (take a look at Richard Hoagland's wonderful blown up martian images). And to the believers everything that points against them is either from close minded "establishment" scientists, or some grand conspiracy.

    You could give UFO nuts immediate access to EVERYTHING the US gov't has ever produced, and when they found no records of the grand Alien-Gov't summit they would claim that it was all removed.

    While the concept of 'bigfoot' isn't as ridiculous and absurd as aliens coming all the way to our planet is supposedly faster-than-light craft to anally probe whitley steiber, drawn in some wheat, and possibly do things to people that can ussually be otherwise explained with real psycological/physialogic explainations its increasingly closure that that level when NOONE has ever taken a remotely clear photo / video or capture/killed one. Its a figgin lare animal in a relatively well traveled and populated region people!

  11. Washington Post, not Worldnet Daily by yelvington · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Washington Post reported this, not Worldnet Daily, which just pilfered the news.

  12. This confirms an earlier confession... by north.coaster · · Score: 3, Informative

    In December 2002, Ray L. Wallace made a death bed confession that BigFoot was a hoax. CNN had all of the details. I remember seeing accounts that showed photos of the wooden feet, etc.

    /Don

  13. bigfoot research at bfro.net by 3+sets+of+3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Even if you discount 90% of the reports on http://www.bfro.net there will still be enough with actual details that you'll believe bigfoot is capable of evading human capture. There is so much wilderness just in the lower 48 of the USA that a semi-intelligent hominid can easily find refuge as long as it's got a food source. Maine is 98% forest, the states of Washington and Oregon have thousands of square miles of temperate rain forest that is suitable habitat. favorite search terms: dermal ridge bigfoot

  14. Re:I don't really care about the nuts by TwistedGreen · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We either need more emphasis on the scientific method in schools or we need to enforece these documentaries to have a disclaimer that all content is considered BS by the mainstream scientific community.

    Well, I don't know if that kind of reponsibility should be placed on 'the scientific community.' It'd have to be someone's job, right?

    I know that a lot of people believe complete bullshit, but is that really a problem? Who cares if some schmuck things that magnets will cure their athelete's foot or whatnot? It's good (if unscrupulous) business. :)

    I think that if we want to teach people to be more rational in their opinions, schools are the place to start. There really should be classes on the scientific method and critical thinking. These kinds of things will inevitably lead to a healthier and more vibrant society, no longer living in fear of irrational superstitions.

    But seeing things like "evolution should be taught alongside Christian origin myths" makes me think we have a long way to go yet.

  15. Hoax claim a hoax by JMax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So this guy claims it was him all along; that it was a hoax. Why should we believe him? There is no more evidence to support his claim than the claim that it was really BigFoot out there. Maybe it was somebody *else* in a suit. This claim is meaningless, just like the guy that claimed to be responsible for the classis nessie shot. No proof, not supporting evidence; just a claim.

  16. FYI - James Randi & Skeptic Sites by Embedded+Geek · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Randi has a foundation and posts a weekly commentary about the latest doings in the skeptic community, including attempts to claim the $1 million prize for reproducable paranormal phenomen. Sometimes his weekly column degenerates into a rant (he's not known for his diplomacy), but overall it's an interesting read.

    Other interesting sites are CSICOP and Skeptic Magazine.

    --

    "Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."