Iconic Bigfoot Footage Confirmed Fake by New Documentary

It’s less than a minute long, and it’s been rewatched constantly over the years: a glimpse of the creature known as Bigfoot, shot on 16mm from a distance. As famous as Roger Patterson’s 1967 footage has become, though, it’s taken until now for someone to provide undeniable evidence that it was faked — something the new documentary Capturing Bigfoot does.

Capturing Bigfoot, directed by Marq Evans, includes not just the original clip, but two other major pieces of evidence: 40 seconds of what appears to be rehearsal footage for the famous scene, plus video of Bob Hieronymus, whose walk matches the mysterious beast’s. This new evidence, The New York Post explains, came to light thanks to a woman named Teresa Brooks, whose father Norm Johnson got involved in Patterson’s scheme.

As Owen Gleiberman writes in his review of Capturing Bigfoot, there’s more to the story than just the original footage: “Patterson, with his ingenious little fake film, didn’t just create an outlandish legend. He created a reality that took on a life of its own.” The documentary will be available for rent on Prime Video beginning October 20th.