The Patterson–Gimlin film is an American short motion picture of an unidentified subject which the filmmakers have said was a Bigfoot. The footage was shot in 1967 in Northern California, and has since been subjected to many attempts to authenticate or debunk it.
The footage was filmed alongside Bluff Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River, about 25 logging-road miles northwest of Orleans, California, in Humboldt County. The film site is roughly 38 miles south of Oregon and 18 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. For decades, the exact location of the site was lost, primarily because of re-growth of foliage in the streambed after the flood of 1964. It was rediscovered in 2011. It is just south of a north-running segment of the creek informally known as “the bowling alley”.
The filmmakers were Roger Patterson (February 14, 1933 – January 15, 1972) and Robert “‘Bob” Gimlin (born October 18, 1931). Patterson died of cancer in 1972 and “maintained right to the end that the creature on the film was real”. Patterson’s friend, Gimlin, has always denied being involved in any part of a hoax with Patterson. Gimlin mostly avoided publicly discussing the subject from at least the early 1970s until about 2005 (except for three appearances),when he began giving interviews and appearing at Bigfoot conferences.
The film is 23.85 feet long (preceded by 76.15 feet of “horseback” footage), has 954 frames, and runs for 59.5 seconds at 16 frames per second. If the film was shot at 18 fps, as Grover Krantz believed, the event lasted 53 seconds. The date was October 20, 1967, according to the filmmakers.
Jack M
Anyone who has objectively looked at M.K.Davis’s incredible work on this piece of film must come to the conclusion that this is a real Sasquatch. And if there is ONE real Sasquatch then that makes it a real creature..Jack M.
Carol Germer
thanks
Ulrike H
Thank you for that.
Denise F
I know someone will know the answer to this…..
Did the group stop randomly along their journey filming and that’s what this started as or did they hear or see something that made them start filming here?
Whichever it was, they were at the right place, right time and luckily enough to find the right creature that wasn’t camera shy. ?
Steven B
If I have my facts right, Denise, they were riding when they came across the creature walking across the clearing. The horses started to freak (blew up) and Patterson got off his horse with the camera and asked Bob, who had a rifle, to “cover him”. That’s when the filming started.
Denise F
Makes sense, thanks Steve
RICHIE E
WOW STILL I GET CHILLS FOR WHAT BOTH SAW THIS DAY IN 1967 WOW …. GOD BLESS U BOB GIMLIN N ITS WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY AFTER SASQUATCH CONFERENCE HMMM 21 YEARS OLD LOL ? … THANKS WES
Chuck S
I first saw this as part of a movie about Sasquatch when I was about 12 years old, in 1973 I belive. This footage, along with the recording og a Bigfoot howl, scared the heck out of me. I felt like my guts were being squeezed with an icy grip. I was determined to never visit northern California, or the Pacific Northwest.
michael m
I cant get enough of watching that film.I remember watching the film with my dad when i was a kid and telling him DAD I DONT THINK THATS A MAN IN A SUIT.I THINK ITS REAL.