Patterson-Gimlin Film

The Patterson-Gimlin film (also referred to as simply the Patterson film) is a famous short motion picture of an unidentified subject the film makers purported to be a "Bigfoot", that was supposedly filmed on October 20, 1967, by Roger Patterson (February 14, 1926 – January 15, 1972) and Robert Gimlin (October 18, 1931) on the Klamath River outside of Orleans, California. The film has been subjected to many attempts both to debunk and authenticate it. Skeptics have judged the film a hoax with a man in an ape suit, but theorists contend the film depicts a cryptid, a creature unknown to science.

Both Patterson and Gimlin have consistently dismissed allegations that they had hoaxed the footage by filming a man wearing a costume. Patterson died of cancer in 1972. Patterson's friend and business associate, Gimlin, has always denied being involved in any part of a possible hoax with Patterson and claims that he and his partner had encountered a real Bigfoot. Gimlin avoided publicly discussing the subject from at least the early 1970s until about the year 2000 when he began giving interviews and making appearances at Bigfoot conferences.