BFRO's Quick FAQ on the 12/02 'Death of Bigfoot' Story.

BFRO's Quick FAQ on the 12/02 'Death of Bigfoot' Story.

Question: How many successful bigfoot hoaxes did Ray Wallace perpetrate during his lifetime?

Answer: None. Wallace didn't even claim publicly to have perpetrated any successful bigfoot hoaxes. These assertions were publicized after Wallace's death, by Wallace's heirs, and a freelance publisher/writer on the East Coast. Wallace cannot be given credit for any successful hoaxes because researchers in general were never duped by his fake evidence. Many who knew Wallace said he indeed faked some evidence to sell at his shop. He told lots of people tall-tales about his alleged interactions with sasquatches, but he did all these things while firmly believing sasquatches existed somewhere in the forests of the northwest, according to friends who knew Wallace for years.

Question: Did Wallace ever fake any bigfoot evidence?

Answer: Yes. Over the years Wallace faked perhaps a dozen or so bigfoot track casts, and a smaller number fake bigfoot photos and films. He started faking evidence long after the first "Bigfoot" story hit the media in the late 1950's. For decades he tried to sell crudely faked casts at his roadside tourist shop in southern Washington State. He wasn't interested in perpetrating a major hoax, as much as he was eager to sell fake casts to tourists. He didn't sell much. He was more prolific at telling outrageous stories. His stories and his evidence had been repeatedly examined over the years, by a long list of qualified researchers, all of whom concluded that it had no credibility.

Question: Was Wallace responsible for the various high-profile bigfoot evidence referred to in the 12/02 news stories?

Answer: No. Wallace's material was always clearly identifiable as fake, and thus was disregarded along with many other pieces of fake evidence that various people tried to sell over the years in roadside shops in the northwest. The facts and physical evidence clearly demonstrate that Wallace had nothing to do with the many tracks and casts, and the best footage, found in more remote areas in the northwest, which are thought to be authentic. Wallace never publicly claimed to have faked any of that high-profile, credible evidence, though his heirs are now claiming that he took responsibility for it all shortly before he died.

Question: Why would Wallace's heirs claim he faked all the evidence and started the Bigfoot mystery if he really didn't?

Answer: Many assume it is because his heirs inherited lots of worthless, unsold, fake evidence from his roadside tourist shop. They believe his heirs may be hoping that their stories about Ray, and his personal belongings, will be much more valuable if there is a big sensational story attached to it.

Question: Why did the 'Death of Bigfoot' story become such a big, worldwide news event so quickly, if the physical evidence clearly shows that Wallace was not responsible for the original "Bigfoot" tracks?

Answer: The first story was a long, slanted obituary wherein the family and the freelance publisher made their claims about Ray Wallace. This obituary instantly became a hot item on the AP wire service, and became progressively distorted as it exploded out across other wire services, newspapers, television and radio stations, around the world. This happened over the course of a few days in early December. There was apparently no time for any newspaper (except the Denver Post), to seek out the truth behind the Wallace story. Every other newspaper was eager announce the 'Death of Bigfoot', mainly because other 'confession' stories purporting to debunk major mysteries, such as Loch Ness and crop circles, were always major world headlines when they first appeared. The investigation by the Denver Post is still ongoing.

Question: What is the physical proof demonstrating that Wallace did not create the original "Bigfoot" tracks?

Answer: The fake track stompers said by the Wallace family to be those which created the famous "Bigfoot" tracks, physically do not match the casts of the famous "Bigfoot" tracks. Wallace's fake track stompers are crude, carved representations of some Bluff Creek tracks from that era, based on copies of casts shared among locals years after the fact. The details of Wallace's stompers show they are simply not the molds, so to speak, which created the original tracks found in the ground by Jerry Crew and Bob Titmus in Bluff Creek in the 1950's.

Question: Is it possible that someone else could have faked all the best evidence obtained around Bluff Creek in the 1950's and 1960's?

Answer: As any school child will point out, anything is possible. It is possible that everything in the world which appears to be natural and organic, is actually fabricated by pranksters. By the same token it is possible that all the physical evidence of sasquatches from across the continent is fabricated by pranksters. What is not possible is the idea that the consistent, subtle hallmarks of all the tracks believed to be authentic could have been fabricated without a lot of expensive, high-tech mechanical engineering. Wallace's methods for faking tracks, by contrast, were very crude and produced obviously fake casts. Wallace endeavored for decades to sell every bit of fake bigfoot garbage that he could, but never had anything better than his typical crude casts for sale in his shop. He never displayed any casts in his shop that had these subtle hallmarks of authentic casts. Neither Wallace nor his heirs have ever displayed, or claim to possess, any of the advanced technology or collateral items required to fake the original Bluff Creek tracks. No one else has ever been able to demonstrate the methods or elaborate gear required to fake the authentic casts, and this gear would had to have been in use since the 1940's, when sasquatch tracks first started to be investigated. Because of the time-line of the evidence, one couldn't rely on the most modern technology to fabricate the distinguishing characteristics.

Question: What has been the effect of the 'Death of Bigfoot' story on the researcher efforts into the bigfoot/sasquatch phenomena?

Answer: Long-time reseachers are stunned at the lack of integrity and diligence on the part of the wire services and the mainstream media. The media (and even Jay Leno) implied that bigfoot researchers were hoaxed for years by Ray Wallace's efforts. Bigfoot researchers say the AP wire service, etc., were hoaxed by the 'Death of Bigfoot' story. The fact is, Ray Wallace's efforts at fabricating evidence and stories were well known to researchers for decades. Ray Wallace was a fountain of bogus stories, and everyone knew it. He always sought attention for his stories, but never got much. Nor was he the only pathological liar out there spouting ridiculous stories and peddling crudely faked evidence. The only Wallace story that made big news happened after his death -- the 12/02 'Death of Bigfoot' story. Ironically, this bogus story didn't come directly from Wallace, but was attributed to him by members of his family. It was as if someone helped the heirs realize that a "deathbed hoax confession" story was the only story the wire services and mainstream media would circulate without hesitation or any due diligence.