Mythusmage Opines

A Meditation on Ray Wallace and Sasquatch

Part Three: “I’m Ready For My Close-up, Mr. Patterson”

Continuing on from last time we now come to the Patterson-Gimlin film of 1967. This page at the National Geographic website has information on the latest documentary dealing with the sasquatch (it airs again on Sunday, January 31st at 10 am Eastern Time). A documentary which deals with the Patterson-Gimlin film in some detail.

Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin went down to the Bluff Creek area of Northern California because that’s where the first nationally reported sasquatch sightings were made, and where the most sasquatch sightings up to that time had been made. Both men were interested in seeing what was going on down there, and in getting any film they could in the hope it would lead to sponsorship for a possible sasquatch documentary. The National Geographic documentary deals with the film as part of its look at the evidence pointing to the existence of the species.

This Wikipedia page deals with the background behind Roger Patterson’s decision to track down sasquatch in the Bluff Creek area, pointing out promises Patterson made to people, promises he was not able to keep. Roger assumed things would happen that didn’t, and so the myth of his unreliability was born. It sounds to me that certain parties decided not to accept his explanations or his apologies and conceived a grudge and a bias against him. the NatGeo doc goes into some detail regarding the film and its subject, with the producers going so far as to see if they can replicate the suit.

In the long run they conclude that they can’t. Not with the materials and techniques available in 1967. Certainly not with the costuming budget available to Roger Patterson even if the resources had been available. What really puts the damper on the costume idea is their anatomical comparison between a human and the subject of the Patterson-Gimlin Film.

It turns out that Patty, as the subject has come to be known, was about 7′ 6″ tall. Her arms are longer, and her legs have the wrong proportions; with the lower legs being shorter than the lower legs of a human of the same height. Now it’s not impossible to find a 7′ 6″ human, but finding one with the right leg proportions is going to be a bit harder, and there is not indication that either Patterson or Gimlin knew anybody who stood that tall, and had those leg proportions.

The producers of the new documentary also had an 7′ tall actor  practice walking like Patty does. They learned that a human can walk that way, but it talks practice, and it takes effort. In short, Patty doesn’t walk like a human. Furthermore, from her behavior on film it is apparent that for her her gait is natural. It is not something she learned or practiced. What you see on the film is how a sasquatch walks.

Finally the documentary has a look at Patty’s look; how she moves. And they learn through close study of the film that there are details that pretty much put the kibosh on the man in a suit idea. Muscle movement, shoulder blade movement, how the the skin moves on the animal.

Now before somebody points out that they can’t see all this in the video copy they’ve seen on the Web, I shall point out that the producers studied a digitally remastered second generation copy taken from a first generation copy of the original film. A stabilized version of often shaky footage.

They also made an interesting discovery. If you assume, as Roger did himself, that Patty was shot using the camera’s 25 mm lens, then analysis of the subject shows her as having a height of 4′ 8″. But if you assume he was using the 15mm lens, then Patty’s height comes out to about 7′ 6″, more in line with the 7′ 3 and a quarter inches derived from the size of her feet.

As you can see, the evidence points to the Patterson-Gimlin Film as being the real thing, and the sasquatch Patty as being a real animal of an unrecognized species.

But what about Rogers detractors and the sasquatch impersonator Bob Heironimus?

I’ll deal with them in future installments, starting with “Of Course it’s got to be fake, Patterson Didn’t Pay Me Back For My Loan!”