Quoted:
Bigfoot, UFOs, whatever... The interesting thing isn't whether or not they exist, but how people react to the idea of them. Or, not...

Growing up as a kid, friend of the family was a big-time believer in Bigfoot. He'd take trips into the mountains of Northwestern Oregon looking for signs, interview people, had a huge collection of things like footprint casts. You talked to him, and you could easily become a believer. What was funny about him was that he was a college-educated guy, worked for the local government, and was still really credulous about the whole thing. You could not convince him that there weren't Bigfeet out there wandering around, everywhere.

What was even funnier than him? One of the local characters, a retired logger in his 80s, flat-out admitted that he'd spent a lot of time while he was out in the woods faking Bigfoot stuff, playing practical jokes on other loggers. He had wooden "slippers" he'd carved to leave footprints, and if you compared those damn things to some of the casts that the first guy had, we're talking a one-for-one match.

These two found each other because the first guy got told by some of the other loggers he'd interviewed to talk to him--So, he did. And, do ya know what? Even with all that crap from the old guy practical joker to blow his "evidence" out of the water, he was still a believer. All he did was shift his viewpoint a little, admit that there were some fakers out there, but he still believed.

Me? I've got no real opinion on the matter. Show me proof they exist, and I'll believe it if it's convincing enough. On the other hand, I don't disbelieve there's nothing there, either--When you've got all these more-or-less consistent stories going all the way back to the Indians, I kinda suspect there's a nugget of truth in there, somewhere. What the hell it is, I've got no damn idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if something turns up, one of these days, either. I've also seen some shit out in the woods that makes me wonder, over the years--And, I know that the forests of the Northwest aren't nearly as well-explored as a lot of people think. It's not likely that a large hominid like Bigfoot could have remained hidden all these years, but there's also a shitload of stuff that just doesn't add up to another answer, either.

I try to keep an open mind. The world is a weird place, and we don't know as much as we think we do about it all. Odds that something like Bigfoot has managed to avoid leaving real physical evidence is low, but there's also the really weird shit I've personally observed that makes me wonder if we're as smart as we think we are.

Quoted:
Nope.

Went to his grave standing behind it.

Gimlin is still alive and says it's real.

Quoted:
The only thing of value Patterson Left Behind for his wife and family when he died of cancer a few years after the filming was the rights of the film. There's no way he was going to take away their meal ticket from his deathbed. Gimlin has been somewhat rmeally mouthed on the issue. He has said that he was not aware of any hoax  but that he' might have been hoaxed.

Quoted:
What happened to him?  Other than his uncredible stories on BF, he was a pretty good guy.

Quoted:
Here you go. The whole thread is worth a read.

Quoted:
Very true.

I know from experience that when I run around naked in the woods the witness statements always mention the enormous size of my penis.  It's the one thing that is consistent across all the police reports from the 13 various state, local, and federal agencies.