On October 20, 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin emerged from a forest in Northern California with 59 seconds of grainy, shaky, silent 16mm film that supposedly offered documentary evidence of the Sasquatch. Although neither Patterson nor Gimlin had any previous experience in filmmaking or zoology, they presented their remarkable footage as the first motion picture confirmation of the existence of the mysterious creature. Movie podcast host and author Phil Hall joined George Noory to discuss the history of the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film and examine it as a work of cinema.
"It is the weirdest film ever made," Hall said, noting how unusual it was the two men actually happened upon the elusive beast, as well as the strangeness of the creature itself. The unidentified subject doesn't look like a regular animal with its unusually thick, muscular legs and arms far too long to go with its body, he explained. Hall referenced William Roe's 1955 encounter with a female Sasquatch and pointed out the similarities between it and what appears to also be a female Sasquatch in the Patterson-Gimlin film.
Hall commented on the theory Gimlin was in an ape costume, calling it illogical because of Gimlin's short stature. "If he was in the suit, he'd have to be wearing elevator shoes," he added. Hall admitted the film is polarizing as nobody seems indifferent to it - either they believe it's real or they think it's a fake. It is the brevity of the footage and the scene where the Sasquatch gives a brief glimpse back that keeps it enigmatic. "It's really beautifully shot and really adds to the mystery of it because if it was a clear picture of Bigfoot... it would not have had the same effect," Hall suggested.
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The latter half of the program featured Open Lines. George in Detroit shared a frightening Old Hag encounter he had as a child. "I [saw] this Old Hag coming at me... she had a big pair of scissors and she was trying to cut my toes off," he recalled. According to George, he screamed and awoke the house, including his sister, who has since made fun of the time "that old witch was trying to tickle [his] toes."
Terry from British Columbia reported on a dream encounter with something similar to the Old Hag. "It was so real that it still frightens me a little bit to speak about it," he confessed. Terry explained he was moving his mom out of an assisted living facility, and sensed something not quite right about the place. He spent the night there and dreamed of a woman with long black hair, which crawled over his body like snakes covering his eyes and mouth. Terry revealed he was awakened from this nightmare by the sound of his own voice mumbling, "Who are you?"
Timothy, truck driving through South Dakota, reported on the time he drove by the scene of what he thought was a car accident in Wisconsin. Timothy claimed to have clearly observed a wrecked car in a ditch and an injured girl standing on the shoulder of the road waving her hands. When he stopped and ran back to help, "the car and the girl were gone," he remembered. Timothy noted another eyewitness confirmed the mysterious accident sighting and its vanishing.
The last half hour featured a replay from 9/17/2010 when George was live aboard the haunted Queen Mary, and spoke with actor R.A. Mihailoff and stuntman Rick McCallum of the Hollywood Ghost Hunters.
News segment guests: Chuck Coppes / Peter Davenport / Tim Binnall