Media Article # 142
Article submitted by Richard Noll

Friday, April 2, 1971

New 'Bigfoot' Hoax

S.F. Examiner (pg. 10)

Colville (Wash.) - (UPI) -

An enterprising hoaxer says he manufactured the latest set of tracks of the legendary Pacific Northwest monster "Bigfoot".

"We made a Bigfoot, Middlefoot and a Littlefoot," said Ray Pickens, 39, a bricklayer from Colville, where the tracks of the 8-foot-5-inch manlike beasts were spotted in February.

Pickens said he made a set of stilts, nailed them to a pair of boots and trotted off through the snow and mud. The resulting excitement brought dozens of hunters to the area to search for the monster, also known as Sasquatch.

The existence of the hairy beast has been hotly debated in the Northwest for years and the National Wildlife Conservation Society is financing a one-year hunt for Sasquatch during 1971.

Ivan Marx, a veteran guide, said after the Colville area tracks were found in February there was no doubt in his mind they were real. Marx claims he once took 70 feet of motion picture film of a Sasquatch.

Marx was unavailable for comment after Pickens' disclosures, but the guide recently asked to be let out of his contract with the Society and went off its payroll at the end of March.

Pickens said he once made a model of the beast once out of plywood painted brown and smeared with dirt.

"I took it out into the back yard and took its picture," Pickens said. "and had a real hard time convincing people it wasn't real when I showed the picture around town."

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