Bob Heironimus has become somewhat of an infamous celebrity in the Bigfoot community for claiming to have been the actually Bigfoot creature depicted in the Patterson film, and his claims are detailed in Greg Long’s book (The Making of Big Foot, The Inside Story, Published 2004). Bob Heironimus was a tall (6 ft), powerfully built Yakima, Washington native, age 26; when he claims, Roger Patterson offered him one thousand dollars to be dressed in a fabricated ape suit for a Bigfoot documentary film he was making. Bob Heironimus made a gentlemen’s agreement with Patterson that he would play the Bigfoot. Bob Heironimus met Bob Gimlin when Gimlin was a bartender in Yakima; the two men became acquaintances. Bob Gimlin was Patterson’s partner and was with him during the filming of the Bigfoot (Patty).
Who Bob Heironimus is and what he did, according to bigfoot skeptics
The person to play the part of Big Foot in a costume was a man by the name of Bob Heironimus. Heironimus was asked by Roger Patterson to participate in a Bigfoot movie. Patterson was seeking to film a “real” Sasquatch for his movie. Patterson and Heironimus agreed for payment to shoot the film. The film was a hoax and Bob was paid 1000 dollars for his participation.
Controversy: Whether or not he was in the original bigfoot film (PGF)
Bob Heironimus has been portrayed in different ways in Bigfoot documentaries as well as in books and movies. Bob Heironimus is a man with many stories to tell. Bob has been investigated multiple times, but it’s still unclear if he was the real Bigfoot or not. Some people think that he is a liar/hoaxer and others think that he is the Bigfoot in the Patterson-Gimlin film. I go by the evidence and not the opinions of others.
Greg Long (Investigative Journalist) uncovered testimony that corroborates Heironimus’s claims: Russ Bohannon, a longtime acquaintance, says that Heironimus exposed the hoax in private in around 1968 or 1969. Bob Heironimus, the man who wore the Bigfoot costume, experienced Patterson’s lying when Patterson refused to pay him $1,000 for wearing the Bigfoot suit, as promised.
Bob Heironimus claims he did not publicly discuss his part in the hoax because he had hoped to be repaid eventually in the end. In separate incidents, Bernard Hammermeister and Heironimus’s relatives (mother Opal and nephew John Miller) allege to have seen an ape suit in Heironimus’ automobile. In fact, Bob Heironimus’s nephew John Miller was eight at the time and recalls playing with the Bigfoot suit and putting on the headpiece, so he claims.
The relatives say they saw the ape suit two days after the Bigfoot motion picture was shot. No date was given by Long for Hammermeister’s observation, but it apparently came well after the relatives’ observation, as implied by the word “still” in the justification Heironimus gave Hammermeister for requesting his silence: “There was still supposed to be a payola on this thing, and he didn’t have it.”
Greg Long argues that the suit Philip Morris (Morris claims to have made the Bigfoot suit) says he sold to Patterson was the same suit Heironimus claims to have worn in the Patterson film. However, Greg quotes Heironimus and Morris recounting ape suits that are in many respects quite dissimilar from one another; Long speculates that Patterson customized the ape costume, and offers collaborative evidence and testimony to support this idea.
- On a side note, Gimlin has not admitted to any hoax, although he has indicated in an interview that he allowed for the possibility of a hoax on Roger Patterson’s part.
- There are many photos of Bigfoot on display at museums throughout the world. It is important to note that none of these are ‘genuine’ evidence of Bigfoot’s existence. These photos are usually plaster casts or models made by professional artists who make them based on old legends and stories about Bigfoot.
- Since the Patterson-Gimlin film was made, additional films of alleged Bigfoot have surfaced. However, because of the dubious circumstances under which they were shot, none are considered ‘genuine’ evidence that Bigfoot exists.