Bigfoot is dead. Really.
Fritz Weaver
Seattle Times staff reporter
Bigfoot is dead. Really.
"Ray L. Wallace was Bigfoot. The reality is, Bigfoot just died," said
Michael Wallace about his father, who died of heart failure Nov. 26 in a
Centralia nursing facility. He was 84.
The truth can finally be told, according to Mr. Wallace's family members. He
orchestrated the prank that created Bigfoot in 1958.
Some experts suspected Mr. Wallace had planted the footprints that launched
the term "Bigfoot." But Mr. Wallace and his family had never publicly
admitted the 1958 deed until now.
"The fact is there was no Bigfoot in popular consciousness before 1958.
America got its own monster, its own Abominable Snowman thanks to Ray
Wallace," said Mark Chorvinsky, editor of Strange magazine and one of the
leading proponents of the theory that Mr. Wallace fathered Bigfoot.
Pranks and hoaxes were just part of Mr. Wallace's nature.
"He'd been a kid all his life. He did it just for the joke and then he was
afraid to tell anybody because they'd be so mad at him," said nephew Dale
Lee Wallace, who said he has the alder-wood carvings of the giant humanoid
feet that gave life to a worldwide phenomenon.
It was in August 1958 in Humboldt County, Calif., that Jerry Crew, a
bulldozer operator for Wallace Construction, saw prints of huge naked feet
circling and walking away from his rig.
The Humboldt Times in Eureka, Calif., ran a front-page story on the prints
and coined the term "Bigfoot."
According to family members, Mr. Wallace smirked. He had asked a friend to
carve the 16-inch-long feet. Then he and his brother Wilbur had slipped them
on and created the footprints as a prank, family members said.
His joke soon swept the country, which was fascinated by rumors of Himalayan
Abominable Snowmen in the 1950s, Chorvinsky said.
"The Abominable Snowman was appropriated by Ray Wallace. It got into the
press, took on a life of its own and next thing you know there's a Bigfoot,
one of the most popular monsters in the world," he said.
Mr. Wallace continued to milk the prank for years. He offered to sell a
Bigfoot to Texas millionaire Tom Slick and then backed out when Slick made a
serious bid. Mr. Wallace later put out a press release saying he wanted to
buy a baby Bigfoot for $1 million, said Loren Coleman, who has written two
books about Bigfoot. Mr. Wallace also cut a record of supposed Bigfoot
sounds and printed posters of a Bigfoot sitting peaceably with other
animals, said Chorvinsky, who received several hundred pages of
correspondence from Mr. Wallace.
But Mr. Wallace's chief contributions to bigfootery were films and photos he
supposedly captured of the creature in the wild.
There were depictions of Bigfeet eating elk and frogs, of a Bigfoot sitting
on a log and of a Bigfoot munching on cereal.
"Ray's contribution was study into the actual behavior of Bigfoot, what it
eats, how it acts," said Ray Crowe, director of the International Bigfoot
Society in Hillsboro, Ore.
Chorvinsky believes the Wallace family's admission creates profound doubts
about leading evidence of Bigfoot's existence: the so-called Patterson film,
the grainy celluloid images of an erect apelike creature striding away from
the movie camera of rodeo rider Roger Patterson in 1967. Mr. Wallace said he
told Patterson where to go - near Bluff Creek, Calif. - to spot a Bigfoot,
Chorvinsky said.
"Ray told me that the Patterson film was a hoax, and he knew who was in the
suit," Chorvinsky said.
Michael Wallace said his father called the Patterson film "a fake" and said
he had nothing to do with it. But he said his mother admitted she had been
photographed in a Bigfoot suit. "He had several people he used in his
movies," Michael Wallace said.
Mr. Wallace never received proper credit in the Bigfoot community,
Chorvinsky said. "He got it off the ground, and he kept getting glossed
over. He's been consistently marginalized or ignored by authors," Chorvinsky
said.
Why? "Because it hurts the case for Bigfoot if you talk too much about Ray
Wallace," he replied.
The Wallace family's revelation does not faze some Bigfoot experts, and the
debate about Bigfoot's existence rages on.
"These rumors have been circulating for some time," said Jeff Meldrum, an
associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University.
Meldrum said he has casts of 40 to 50 footprints that he concludes, from
their anatomical features, come from authentic unknown primates.
"To suggest all these are explained by simple carved feet strapped to boots
just doesn't wash," he said. Even if the Wallace family's claims are true,
Meldrum added, there are historical accounts of Bigfootlike creatures going
back to the 1800s. "How do you account for that?"
It's easy, replied Chorvinsky; the historical accounts were mistakes, myths
or hoaxes. "I would like to see the evidence beyond the anecdotal. Jeff
Meldrum's job is show us the beef, something beyond old newspaper articles."
As for Meldrum's claim about authentic footprints, Chorvinsky said: "Jeff
Meldrum is not an expert in creating hoaxes. I was a professional magician
and special-effects film director; anything can be faked."
Michael Wallace said family members knew about his father's hoax but never
let on.
"The family just sat back and grinned," he said. "He didn't mean to hurt
anyone."
To them, it was just another one of Mr. Wallace's jokes. Like the time he
dropped a powerful firecracker down the chimney of a bunkhouse while loggers
played cards inside. Or the time he convinced his crew that wild cats with
bushy tails were living in forest treetops.
To his family, Bigfoot was a small part of Mr. Wallace.
A rugged rogue with a big laugh and generous heart, Mr. Wallace was born in
Clarksdale, Mo., and came West as a boy. He spent much of his adult life
taming the country. He built part of Highway 1 in coastal California, he cut
trees when they were so big that trucks carried one-log loads, and he opened
a free petting zoo near Chehalis.
In 1942, he married Elna Sorensen and moved around the Pacific Northwest as
his company built logging roads and cut timber. His four adopted sons spent
much of their childhood in logging camps.
"Sometimes we lived in the middle of nowhere. You couldn't ask for a better
life as a kid," said Michael, his oldest son, now a home builder in Castle
Rock.
In 1961, he settled down in Toledo, Lewis County. Shortly after, he opened a
free zoo, the Wild Animal Farm, off Interstate 5. It stayed open for about
13 years. His wife ran an adjacent hamburger stand to help support the zoo.
"I didn't have normal pets," said Michael Wallace. "I had cougars, raccoons,
deer and bear cubs."
Mr. Wallace would sometimes give free hamburgers and milkshakes to families
that looked poor, his son said.
"He loved children and wanted to adopt every kid he saw. He was a good
provider. If he wasn't playing a practical joke, he was always working."
Nephew Dale Lee Wallace added: "He always told us to believe in the good
Lord and stay married. He was always preaching things like that."
His son is convinced Mr. Wallace is still relishing his biggest practical
joke. "I know he's just cracking up," said Michael Wallace.
Mr. Wallace was preceded in death by son Gary, who died in a logging
accident. Besides his wife and son Michael, Mr. Wallace is survived by sons,
Larry, of Winlock, and Richard, of Toledo; 10 grandchildren, six
great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Remembrances may be donated to Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center
in Seattle.
Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byo...@seattletimes.com
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134589898_raywallaceobit05m.html>
Regards,
Fritz Weaver ICQ:1674329
============================
http://www.internet-skeptics.org
============================
Seppo Pietikainen
Sad, really (his passing away, that is). I would have loved to have met
the guy...
Seppo P.
Enrico Palazo
religion immediately comes to mind.
"Fritz Weaver" <bw...@internet-skeptics.org> wrote in message
news:mqb1vugv5c8b31p2n...@4ax.com...
A.M. Kuchling
Fritz Weaver <bw...@internet-skeptics.org> wrote:
> Michael Wallace said his father called the Patterson film "a fake" and said
> he had nothing to do with it. But he said his mother admitted she had been
> photographed in a Bigfoot suit. "He had several people he used in his
> movies," Michael Wallace said.
Fascinating. I wonder what the late Grover Krantz's reaction to this
would have been, after his lengthy analysis that concluded the
Patterson film was plausible.
--amk (www.amk.ca)
BASSANIO: The world is still deceived with ornament.
-- _The Merchant of Venice_, III, ii
Bill Bonde
Enrico Palazo wrote:
>
> It's amazing just how easy a myth and start and propagate. A certain popular
> religion immediately comes to mind.
>
Islam?
Alan Kellogg
<bw...@internet-skeptics.org> wrote:
> By Bob Young
> Seattle Times staff reporter
>
> Bigfoot is dead. Really.
(snip credulous drivel)
It's a troll. A bloody obvious one at that. Mr. Wallace's exploits have
been used to explain away Bigfoot for decades. What he did does not
explain all the sightings. Nor does it explain all the pictures and
films/videos taken. It most certainly does not explain every footprint
or body impression, or the hairs found. It's too damn pat. It's too damn
convenient.
To put it bluntly, relying on the news story to prove the absence of
Sasquatch is bad science. It's a "just so" story, and as such has the
reliability of a "just so" story. All we have is the author's word that
Mr. Wallace's antics prove Sasquatch is a hoax, with nothing substantive
to back it up.
Good people, stories in the paper or pronouncements from on high are not
going to settle the matter. What is needed is a real investigation. An
ongoing study of the American Pacific Northwest. A grad student to take
up residence in the mountains of Washington State and do a comprehensive
study on the area.
No more explaining away. No more, "It sounds ludicrous to me." It's time
for real research. Only though an extensive, comprehensize, long term
research program will the question be settled. At least for those ready
and willing to accept the results, even when such results contradict
long held views.
Remember, not everybody who agrees with you is right. Not everybody who
disagrees with you is wrong.
Alan Kellogg
--
http://www.mythusmage.com
Writing Practice at: http://www.gamingoutpost.com
Fritz Weaver
>It's a troll. A bloody obvious one at that. Mr. Wallace's exploits have
>been used to explain away Bigfoot for decades. What he did does not
>explain all the sightings. Nor does it explain all the pictures and
>films/videos taken. It most certainly does not explain every footprint
>or body impression, or the hairs found. It's too damn pat. It's too damn
>convenient.
>
I don't suppose its surprising that people who went to look for Bigfoot
actually got a "glimpse" of him. We know about many of these folks because
they went to the press with their story. We even have a fake video of
Bigfoot.
If "footprints" of Bigfoot can be faked so can hair, feces, toenails, etc.
>
>To put it bluntly, relying on the news story to prove the absence of
>Sasquatch is bad science. It's a "just so" story, and as such has the
>reliability of a "just so" story. All we have is the author's word that
>Mr. Wallace's antics prove Sasquatch is a hoax, with nothing substantive
>to back it up.
>
It is called "the smoking gun". It explains the whole Bigfoot legend quite
nicely.
>
>Good people, stories in the paper or pronouncements from on high are not
>going to settle the matter. What is needed is a real investigation. An
>ongoing study of the American Pacific Northwest. A grad student to take
>up residence in the mountains of Washington State and do a comprehensive
>study on the area.
>
Let's see how many Bigfoot sightings there are now that Wallace is dead. I
suspect that there will be very few after the Wallace family revelations.
>
>No more explaining away. No more, "It sounds ludicrous to me." It's time
>for real research. Only though an extensive, comprehensize, long term
>research program will the question be settled. At least for those ready
>and willing to accept the results, even when such results contradict
>long held views.
>
Time will tell the story without an expensive investigation. The
"sightings" will stop now that the truth is out.
>
>Remember, not everybody who agrees with you is right. Not everybody who
>disagrees with you is wrong.
>
Not everyone who hears a confession believes it either. Big wooden feet
help though.
Regards,
Fritz Weaver ICQ:1674329
============================
http://www.internet-skeptics.org
============================
"It is as useless to argue with those that have renounced the use and authority of reason as to argue with the dead." -- Thomas Paine, American Patriot
Ubiquitous
173 lines to add:
>It's amazing just how easy a myth and start and propagate. A certain popular
>religion immediately comes to mind.
I'd hardly call Islam "popular"...
--
======================================================================
ISLAM: Winning the hearts and minds of the world, one bomb at a time.
Ubiquitous
mythu...@cts.com wrote:
>Good people, stories in the paper or pronouncements from on high are not
>going to settle the matter. What is needed is a real investigation. An
>ongoing study of the American Pacific Northwest. A grad student to take
>up residence in the mountains of Washington State and do a comprehensive
>study on the area.
Hear! Hear! No who is going to pay me to move to washington so I may
continue this bigfoot investigation? :-)