The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story [Hardcover]

Greg Long (Author), Kal K. Korff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2003

Bigfoot - huge, hairy, foul smelling, this legendary apelike animal continues to captivate the public's imagination. This fascination hinges on a single piece of motion-picture film shot in northern California in 1967. For thirty-five years, Bigfoot believers have been convinced that this sixty-second piece of film proves the physical reality of Bigfoot. But now comes a book that demolishes that belief, that produces final proof that the film footage is a hoax. "The Making of Bigfoot" tells the amazing story of Roger Patterson of Yakima, Washington. A part-time rodeo rider, chronically unemployed and dying of cancer, Patterson propelled himself into short-lived fame and fortune by exploiting his obsession with the Bigfoot subject and leveraging his expertise in manipulating and conning people to pull off one of the world's great hoaxes. Living within two hours of Patterson's hometown, for three years paranormal investigator and author, Greg Long interviewed more than forty witnesses in Yakima who knew Patterson intimately. The voices of these witnesses, combined with facts unearthed from newspaper archives, books, and court documents, tell the real story of Roger Patterson.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Skeptic or believer, if you have an interest in Bigfoot, you need to read this book." -- Statesman Journal, April 25, 2004

From the Inside Flap

After nearly forty years of secrecy, the real truth is finally revealed behind the famous Roger Patterson "Bigfoot" film - a hoax that has managed to fool scores of scientists and millions of people around the world.

In this riveting and historic book, author Greg Long reveals, for the first time, the identity of the man who actually wore the Bigfoot costume in the famous Patterson film! In addition to reading his exclusive, full confession, Long also presents the testimony of another equally important eyewitness: the man who made and then sold the "Bigfoot" suit to Roger Patterson, and later advised him on how to make the costume look more "authentic."

Other historic breakthroughs in THE MAKING OF BIGFOOT include the actual legal contract that Roger Patterson signed and then exclusive interview with a female investor who gave him money to create his "Bigfoot" film; exclusive testimony from the man who advised Patterson on how to improve the realism of his "Bigfoot tracks" to make them more believable; and the testimonies of dozens of eye-witnesses, including several exclusive, firsthand accounts from individuals who independently saw the "Bigfoot" costume suit after Patterson used it to fake the film.

Regardless of your opinion about the subject, THE MAKING OF BIGFOOT is a spell-binding account that will have you glued to each page. It is a classic gumshoe detective story, told in gripping first-person narrative - it's not only a fascinating story, but the facts it presents and the startling information it reveals are all true!

THE MAKING OF BIGFOOT exposes it all: the shadowy life of Roger Patterson, the clever perpetrator, and how he did it, as well as the never-before-heard stories of dozens of men and women in Yakima, Washington, who became the victims of Patterson's scams and lies, watched Patterson's scheming in action, and helped to "connect the dots" of one the most successful hoaxes of all time - one that continues to be marketed and falsely promoted even today.

Based on forty original interviews, newspaper archives, criminal records, court documents, and never-before-seen photographs, THE MAKING OF BIGFOOT is the most comprehensive examination of a truly American story, a unique slice of Americana in a small western town in the late 1960s, where one man's dream of discovery quickly turned into a quest driven by the lust for money on a contorted pathway of lies and corruption.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 476 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; First Edition edition (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591021391
• ISBN-13: 978-1591021391
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #827,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Usual Skeptic Ignorance, March 27, 2004

By 

Karen Lockwood (Idaho Falls, ID United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story (Hardcover)

It has to be understood from the outset that more people have claimed to be inside that suit than have claimed to be at the original Woodstock. Have we all forgotten so quickly that Bigfoot "died" last year with some other publicity nut? (Note to all who are going to "admit" to be being in the suit: Be sure not to give your "admission" until you are sure that everyone else has given theirs.)

The book DESPERATELY needs to address the other wackos who have claimed to be the apeman and give respectable reasons why they are not to be trusted. As it stands I can think of at least 5 people right now who have "admitted" to being bigfoot. At the very least, 4 out of those 5 people are obviously wackos, which leads us to the very real chance that 5 out of 5 are.

They ALL claimed to have known Patterson, they ALL claimed to know who built the suit, etc etc.
BORING
As sorry as I am to dash the intrepid savior of Kal Korff, this movie is 40 years old, and by this time, saying "I know the secret!!!" can and should be nothing less than having bigfoot's head in your duffle bag. Trotting out yet another old fogey with the same tired story is yesterday's news with a capital YAWN.

Bigfoot believers have to give us a body. Fair enough. Therefore Korff has to give us the suit. Far easier task, I should think. Yet no "hoax" savior has ever even attempted it. Nobody has been able to show us so much as a hairy glove.
Until they do, Korff and all his buddies are just selling snake oil.
Buy Loren Coleman's Bigfoot book, if you want something with some substance.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Enough Journalism Involved, April 28, 2004

By 

R. Mack (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story (Hardcover)

I'm not really sure what to think about the Patterson film and as I am interested in this topic, I was hoping for an incisive, detailed look at the film and how it might have been made, hoax or otherwise. Unfortunately, this book is more the tale of a reporter piecing together anectdotal evidence about someone based on hearsay and opinion rather than an investigation into the making of the film.

I was prepared to welcome an expose of a hoax (should it be a hoax), but from the very start the introduction to the book presents the case for a hoax on the basis of something like "we don't believe in this film because we think Roger Patterson might have been able to fake it." That's not meant to be (and isn't) a quote from the book, just my emphasis on what I think the attitude of this book is. And that would be fine, but why not set out to prove it with facts? Instead, I'd say this book does little more than offer an opinion.

The central concept of this book revolves around the idea that Patterson faked the footage with a costume he either made or purchased and perhaps modified. The book presents interviews with the alleged costume maker (even picturing an ad selling the costume), the alleged costume wearer and a score of others who swear that they know that Patterson made or had a costume. Where is the costume and isn't the logical approach to show the reader something that really looks like something that Patterson showed us in the film? Seems like it should be fairly simple to do with all these people claiming inside knowledge of the hoax. (Some people Long interviewed don't even offer strong opinions, they just act suspicious, in Long's view!)

Maybe the latter could have been done, but the fact that it wasn't done by Mr. Long is a little troubling given his strong assertion of a hoax. It just seems that Mr. Long is only willing to go so far, and no farther, to make his hoax claim. Mr. Long, if there is a hoax, let's expose it! If not, well let's leave it at that.

Bob Mack, Indianapolis

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Absolute junk!!!, April 17, 2004

By 

bf2004 (Mississippi) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story (Hardcover)

Few things in life are as unpleasant as getting a tooth pulled. Doing taxes. Slaving away in a dead-end job. Reading "The Making of Bigfoot". Wait, what's that you say? Reading "The Making of Bigfoot" qualifies as an unpleasant experience? Yes, friends, it does. The whole book should be classified as "historical fiction". The first two chapters take extreme liberties by making suppositions about what Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin thought the day they filmed a Bigfoot, October 20, 1967. These first two chapters pretty much set the tone of the whole book. Long goes into his "investigation" (read character assassination) of Patterson with a zeal akin to rich televangelists who receive another check from someone they've just fleeced. He completely ignored anything good about Patterson, instead focusing on Patterson's habit of borrowing money and not paying it back, Patterson's arrest record and his "con artist" ways. It's clear that Long has hatred for Patterson, and complete disdain for Bigfoot hunters who support the PGF; he mocks the late Rene Dahinden's unique speech characteristics regularly throughout the book, and discounts John Green and Peter Byrne's assessments of the the PGf and regularly mocks them as well. Long interviews several witnesses, most of whom seem to have an axe to grind against Roger Patterson for one reason or another. He seems most excited by his find of Bob Heironimus, the man alleged to have worn the "suit", and also the man alleged to have made the "suit", Philip Morris. The two conflicting stories of how the suit was made and the fact that one party says it was in 3 parts, the other saying 6, doesn't seem to bother Long one bit. He puts both claims in the book and says that one account of the suit can be traced to a rumor put forth by Patterson. He arrogantly pronounces the PGF dead, and he the killer, by the end of the book, and the reader feels he/she has been through the literary equivalent of a tax audit. Do yourself a favor, don't buy this book unless you are really desperate or curious. Thumbs down to "The Making of Bigfoot".