Mrs. Bigfoot is Filmed

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2006 Notation: There is one little unusual mystery associated with the Patterson/Gimlin film that has not been resolved. We do not know the name of The Times-Standard reporter Roger Patterson contacted on October 20, 1967. A full account of the Patterson/Gimlin experience was reported in the paper (front page) the next day, but the reporter did not show his/her name.We DO NOT think this person was Andrew Genzoli (now deceased). Mrs. Genzoli was recently contacted, she said that the article does not appear to be her husband's work. By 1967, Andrew Genzoli was quite well known for his articles on bigfoot, so if it was written by him, then the article would likely have shown his name as with his other articles. Susan Arthurs of The Times-Standard said they would not be able to find the reporter's name, it was written too long ago. Arthurs said it was not uncommon in the 1960s for articles to appear without a "by line," so there is nothing unusual here.


A Yakima Washington man and his Indian tracking aide come out of the wilds of northern Humboldt county yesterday to breathlessly report that they had seen and taken motion pictures of "a giant hominoid creature."

In colloquial words — they have seen Bigfoot!"

Thus, the long sought answer to the validity and reality of the stories about the makers of the unusually large tracks lie in the some 20 to 30 feet of colored film taken by a man who has been eight years himself seeking the answer.

And as Roger Patterson spoke to The Times-Standard last night, his film was already on its way by plane to his home town for processing while he was beside himself relating the chain of events.

Patterson, 34, has been eight years on the project. Last year he wrote a book, "Do Abominable Snowmen of America Really Exist?" This year he has been taking films of tracks and other evidence all over the Northwestern United States and Canada for a documentary.

He has over 50 tapes of interviews with persons who have reported these findings, and including talks with two or three persons who have reported seeing these giant creatures.
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BOB GIMLIN, 36, and a quarter Apache Indian and also of Yakima, has been associated with Patterson for a year. Patterson has visited the area before and last month received word of the latest discovery of the giant footprints which have become legend.

Last Saturday they arrived to look for the tracks themselves and to take some films of these, riding over the mountainous terrain on horseback by day and motoring over the roads and trails by night.

Yesterday they were in the Bluff Creek area, some 65 to 70 miles north of Willow Creek, where Notice Creek comes into it. They were some two miles into a canyon where it begins to flare out.

Patterson was still an excited man some eight hours after his experience. His words came cascading out between gasps. He still couldn't believe what he had seen, but he is convinced he has now seen a "Bigfoot" himself and he's the only man he's heard of who has taken pictures of the creature.

Here is what he reported:
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IT WAS about 1:30 p.m., the daylight was good, when he and Gimlin were riding their horses over a sand bar where they had been just two days before. They had both just come around a bend when "I guess we both saw it at the same time."

"I yelled 'Bob Lookit' and there about 80 or 90 feet in front of us this giant humanoid creature stood up. My horse reared and fell, completely flattening a stirrup with my foot caught in it.

"My foot hurt but I couldn't think about it because I was jumping up and grabbing the reins to try to control the horse. I saw my camera in the saddle bag and grabbed it out, but I finally couldn't control the horse anymore and had to let him go."
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GIMLIN was astride an older horse which is generally trialwise, but it too rared (sic) and had to be released, running off to join their pack horse which had broken during the initial moments of the sighting.

Patterson said the creature stood upright the entire time, reaching a height of about six and a half to seven feet and an estimated weight of between 350 and 400 pounds.

"I moved to take the pictures and told Bob to cover me. My gun was still in the scabbard. I'd grabbed the camera instead. Besides, we'd made a pact not to kill one if we saw one unless we had to."
Patterson said the creatures'(sic) head was much like a human's though considerably more slanted and with a large forehead and broad, wide nostrils.

"It's arms hung almost to its knees and when it walked, the arms swung at its sides."
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PATTERSON said he is very much certain the creature was female "because when it turned towards us for a moment, I could see its breasts hanging down and they flopped when it moved." The creature had what he described as silvery brown hair all over its body except on its face around the nose and cheeks. The hair was two to four inches long and of a light tint on top with a deeper color underneath.

"She never made a sound. She wasn't hostile to us, but we don't think she was afraid of us either. She acted like she didn't want anything to do with us if she could avoid it." Patterson said the creature had an ambling gait as it made off over the some 200 yards he had it in sight. He said he lost sight of the creature, but Gimlin caught a brief glimpse of it afterward.

"But she stunk, like did you ever let in a dog out of the rain and he smelled like he'd been rolling in something dead. Her odor didn't last long where she'd been."
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LATE LAST NIGHT Patterson was anxious to return to the campsite where they had left their horses. He had been to Eureka in the afternoon to airmail his film to partner Al De Atley in Yakima. De Atley has helped finance Patterson's expeditions.

He and Gimlin were equally anxious to return to the primitive area. "It's right in the middle of the primitive area" for the chance to get another view and more film of the creature.

He said there's strong belief that a family of these creatures may be in the area since footprints of 17, 15 and nine inches have been reported found.

The writer jested that these sizes put him in mind of The Three Bears.

"This was no bear," Patterson said. "We have seen a lot of bears in our travels. We have seen some bears on this trip. This definitely was no bear."

Patterson is also anxious today to telephone his experience to a museum administrator who is also extremely interested in the project. "He may want to bring down some dogs. We don't have dogs here."

He's not sure how much longer they will remain in the area. "It all depends."
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Article courtesy Richard Greenwell, Tuscon, AZ June 6, 1995