60-Year-Old Found Footage Proves Famous Bigfoot Footage Is a Hoax

On October 20, 1967, Roger Patterson and Robert “Bob” Gimlin captured just under a minute of shaky, grainy 16mm film footage of Bigfoot. Allegedly. Nearly 60 years later, the new documentary Capturing Bigfoot finally puts the issue to rest: it was a hoax.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Of course it was a hoax.” To many of us, the clip was an obvious ruse. That seven-foot-tall hirsute fella is a person in a suit. Bigfoot, like Nessie, the Abominable Snowman, the Jersey Devil, and El Chupacabra, does not exist.

However, for many others, the myth has persisted. Those 59 seconds of distant, shaky footage showing a supposed Sasquatch walking through Northern California’s forests have captivated people for nearly six decades, analyzed and overanalyzed by enthusiasts and respected experts alike. Somehow, the footage has remained oddly magnetic to believers and skeptics alike.

Capturing Bigfoot is as much about why those 59 seconds of 16mm film were so fascinating to people in 1967 and have remained so well into the 21st century. In an era where skepticism toward authority, science, and visual media is at an all-time high, the Patterson-Gimlin film feels emblematic of something much bigger than a brief stroll by someone in a fur suit.

The new documentary is also, as Variety writes in its review, about finally uncovering the truth once and for all. Director Marq Evans unearthed another 16mm reel—a 40-second clip from 1966 showing a rehearsal for the famous hoax. Locked away in a safe for over 50 years and never before seen by the public, this newly surfaced footage offers undeniable proof that the original film was an elaborate fraud.

Capturing Bigfoot lands on Amazon Prime Video tomorrow, October 20, marking the 59th anniversary of the original Patterson-Gimlin film.

Ultimately, though, this new evidence, as definitive as it might be, will do little to persuade true believers of the original 1967 footage. Just as evidence and science do little to convince die-hards today that their favorite cryptids, UFOs, or conspiracy theories aren’t true, what will another roll of 16mm film truly do to change anyone’s mind?

One roll of film is the truth. The other is a lie. Which is which depends on who you ask.