Decemystery (2019) 18: The Patterson-Gimlin Massacre

Frame 352 of the Patterson-Gimlin Footage.

It’s time once again to return to the Conspiracy Iceberg. Today, we’re headed to Tier 2 for the Patterson-Gimlin Massacre.

The Patterson-Gimlin Footage—or PGF—is one of, if not the most, iconic pieces of evidence in support of the existence of Bigfoot ever. While you may not know it by name, odds are you’ve seen Frame 352 (which you can see above). The film supposedly shows what's claimed to be a female Bigfoot—nicknamed Patty—walking. She turns her head to look at the camera (likely because the horse Roger Patterson was riding got spooked) before making her way into the forest.

This is, at least, the most commonly accepted theory from those who believe the footage to be authentic in nature. Those who believe it to be fraudulent believe the creature seen is a man in a costume. There is, however, a much more sinister theory that exists; one that proposes that Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, along with several other men, were behind a massacre of a Bigfoot family. That’s where today’s story comes into play. So let’s dive in.

Messin’ With Sasquatch: The Mystery of the Patterson-Gimlin Massacre

First up: a quick history lesson on the film itself. The footage was shot along Bluff Creek, which is located in Del Norte County, California on October 20, 1967 (though some believe it was shot earlier, a fact I’m unable to find a reason for). As for those who shot the film: Roger Patterson is no longer alive, having died in 1972 from cancer, while Robert Gimlin is still alive. Both men have always maintained that the film is authentic and that not a single part of it was faked.

The encounter with the creature lasted a mere 53 seconds, with neither man getting close to the creature. Rather, both froze in a mixture of shock and awe at the creature walks from left-to-right. If you want to view the footage—stabilized—you can view it below. For once, I’ve opted to not have you leave the blog while reading.

52 years later, the PGF (as I’ll call it from here on out) remains one of the most hotly contested pieces of Bigfoot evidence in the world. Me personally, I think it’s legitimate, but that’s besides the point. We’re here to discuss the supposed larger story behind the film, which supposedly came to light in 2006.

In this “extended” footage, we see Patterson, Gimlin, and 6 other men slaughter a group—possibly a family—of Bigfoot; three to be exact. Supposedly, the trio are digging in the sand (though I’ve also heard that they’re huddled near a fire) when out of nowhere, a hail of gunfire pierces the treeline and one of the Bigfoot is shot dead. Another rushes for the nearby woods while the third and final one—Patty—meanders off in the direction of the treeline while the men take repeated shots at it from a distance. At some point, for reasons I couldn’t tell you, the PGF is shot at Patty continues to mosey on away as the men shot at her with so much as a sense of urgency in her stride.

Although it’s said that this supposed “footage” surfaced in 2006, no such footage is readily available. There are a few photos out there that supposedly back the claim up, one of which is below.

Most have said that this photo is nothing more than a photo that’s had the light amplified and messed around with. One man—who coincidentally is the man who’s also been accused of messing with the light—disputes this: M.K. Davis.

Davis, who specializes in video stabilization, became famous for stabilizing the PGF which is the version that I’ve shared above. He’s been described as legendary cryptozoologist Loren Coleman as a “one-time admired Bigfooter” and given what we’ll learn about him in this write-up, it’s extremely easy to understand why.

Davis states that there’s a Bigfoot corpse that can be seen in a hole at the very start of the film; the very first frames to be exact. He also claims that the photos—including the one shown above—show Bob Titmus (who’s supposedly seen in the one I shared), Dale Moffit, and a dog by the name of White Lady are all proof of this massacre. He also proposed that the reason Patty isn’t rushing off despite the men taking shots at her is because she was shot twice with one of those  bullets striking her leg. After the film ends, Davis claims that she was hunted down and killed.

One of the more unusual claims that Davis made was that there is, supposedly, a second film that depicts a group of men—which I’m unsure if it’s the same group that was a part of the massacre or if it was another, separate group—that drag one of the Bigfoot corpses, place it atop a tarp, and proceed to cut it up. For what reason, Davis, nor anyone else who believes in this theory, has apparently ever stated.

So that’s the general story that’s been provided. While I likely organized it a bit haphazardly, it more or less boils down to Patterson and Gimlin having had more to their supposed Bigfoot encounter that was more grim than they let on. There’s no real evidence beyond a few photos that are contested to be either modified or the real deal. So where does the story lead after that?

Well, truth be told, there’s not too much else beyond mere speculation, which I’d normally save for theories. However, this speculation helps to shed light on why this massacre—if it happened—may have been carried out.

For starters, I want to get out of the way the supposed length of this massacre footage. I have no idea and I cannot find a claim from Davis himself that proposes how long it is—though I’m sure it’s out there. One person claims, however, that the full film is 111 minutes long and that Davis himself owns it. Given how much Davis has spoken about this supposed massacre like it’s fact and somehow got David Paulides (the author of Missing 411) to at one point endorse the theory, I see no reason why he wouldn’t have immediately shared it with the world.

As for Paulides, he seems to have distanced himself from the theory as time went on.

Now then: there exist three theories as to why this supposed massacre occurred and they are by far and away some of the most jaw-dropping things I’ve ever read in relation to Sasquatch. It’s also worth mentioning that these theories aren’t—to my knowledge—spread by M.K. Davis himself, but rather those that believe in the theory. Anyways, the theories are as follows:

#1: Lumber companies hired them

The first of these three theories is that lumber companies were either afraid of having their workers get attacked by the local Sasquatch population, had already been harassed by them, or simply didn’t want to deal with them. As a result, they hired the eight men to go out and get rid of them. Whether or not these three Sasquatch were the only ones there or they were merely meant to serve as a message to the others, I don’t know. Nonetheless, this is the generally agreed upon census and it applies to all three theories as a side note.

#2: Oil companies hired them

This theory is more or less like the previous one, but instead of the desire to deforest the location for lumber, local oil companies wanted to search for oil deposits. There’s little more to it than that.

#3: The government hired them

This theory states that the United States Government hired the eight men for one of two reasons. It also enters a few other territories that I’ll go over to the best of my ability to help clear the waters we’re entering.

The first reason is that the Smithsonian Institute wanted to suppress the reality that another species of human was living among us. Given that many believe Bigfoot (from all around the world) are either our ancestors (a missing link of sorts) or just an offshoot of humanity itself, they wanted them out of the picture and demanded they be taken out.

The Smithsonian Suppression conspiracy is on the Conspiracy Iceberg and while I don’t think I’ll be covering it anytime soon, the general gist is that the Smithsonian Institute suppresses certain areas of history to cover up either inconvenient portions of it or outright makes it so we don’t have to rewrite history books. At least, that’s how I think it goes; it was a bit difficult to find information on it. In fact, I ended up finding more information on the Atlanta Blackout of 2017 while trying to find this than I did about the Smithsonian.

The second reason is that the government wanted to cover up what one 4chan user described as an “ultra dimensional effort to keep the dimensions separate and unaware of each other.” This ties into the idea that Bigfoot is really a part of another dimension or is in fact an interdimensional traveler of some sort. Believe it or not: this theory is actually quite popular, so much so that I’m tempted to call it the second most popular theory to Bigfoot’s identity (the first being that it’s the missing link or some other ancestor to us). Exactly where the theory originates from, I don’t know, but this reason is something I’ve got on my to-do list.

With that out of the way: those are the reasons as to why the massacre would have occurred should it be real. The theories are also, supposedly, not out of line with what Patterson had said in an early book of his (should one 4chan user at least be believed, so take this with a grain of salt). I’m unable to pinpoint which book in particular the person is referring to, but I’m going to guess that Patterson made a comment at some point where he hinted that he shot Bigfoot.

That's the conclusion to the story of the Patterson-Gimlin Massacre. It’s definitely a weird one and definitely adds an odd, if rather morbid, spin on the history of one of cryptozoology’s most famous entities. Anyways, onward to the theories.

Theories

1. The “extended” footage is real

The theories today are simply black and white. Either it’s real or it isn’t. On the side of those that believe in the massacre story, we have the argument that M.K. Davis hasn’t lied about anything. I’m going to cite one YouTube commenter who stated the following:

If you listen to Bob Gimlin he stresses that point over and over that he had his rifle but he didn't even point his rifle at the Bigfoot. Nobody continues to volunteer information like that over and over unless they have a guilty conscience. It wouldn't even come up. Oh I had my rifle, but I didn't even point my rifle at it. Nobody does that. This is really blowing up into the reason Bob Gimlin didn't want to be interviewed is because Bigfoot are humans. It's murder. She had braided hair a bag suspended from her left side. 

I, in my infinite wisdom, lost the rest of this comment while writing and cannot find it, but it’s on one of Davis’ videos. I digress though. I’ve heard of the claims that Patty is holding, carrying, or has various things on her. One of the most famous is that she’s carrying a child and the human eye can’t see it (there are also claims that there are other Bigfoot in the background hiding amongst the trees and bushes).

Beyond this, most of the evidence is that Davis has done such a magnificent job of stabilizing the film and has revealed so much that we didn’t know before that he has to be right. He also isn’t imploring that people believe him, but is merely presenting the argument for those to take into consideration. That’s all I was capable of finding, so make of it what you will.

2. The “extended” footage is fake

On the opposite side of things: we have the theory that it’s all fake and it’s all crazy talk. This primarily comes from those that believe M.K. Davis is a lunatic and, admittedly, that isn’t too hard to see when you look at some of the things that he’s claimed. Yes, I am aware that I say that I’m unbiased when I write, but let’s be realistic here: Davis has said some things that are… well, they really push the boundaries on not wanting to take a step back and ask where exactly the man’s brain is when he says some and does some of what he’s done.

Per two separate 4chan users, who compiled a bit of what Davis has said and done, we have the following things to more or less discredit him:

#1: Davis has claimed to see “small anomalies” in the PGF. This, allegedly, is what led him to believe that you can see Patty be shot and killed in the film. This also led him to believe that there were other Sasquatches that were slaughtered while filming took place. As a side note: the user states that it was Patterson himself who did the killing and that others (with the exception of Gimlin, presumably) weren’t present. This could just be wonky wording on the user’s part, me over thinking things, or I missed some information on what Davis has said.

As a bonus: here’s an example—I think—of these “anomalies” that Davis sees. It’s a photo that I guess shows Patty with bullet wounds. I really don’t see them, it looks no different than strange lighting on a camera from 1967.

#2: Davis has been caught doctoring copies of the PGF during his clean-up/stabilization efforts. This has led to many people to not trust the versions that he has put out. The user states that you can see these when you compare the high-quality scans from Davis to the original film as he’s tended to put in things in order to make the film “look better.”

One example of this was when Davis claimed you can see a muzzle flash during the film. This isn’t true as the supposed flash you see was input by Davis himself. This alone should’ve discredited him as a fraud, but some contest that it’s legitimate and wasn’t doctored by Davis himself.

#3: Davis, despite having the graphical skills to both stabilize and enhance video footage, has recorded video of his computer screen. This, admittedly, isn’t really a strike against Davis in the way of proving that he’s full of nonsense. However, one of the users states that it’s weird (and rather silly) that he’s trained to utilize computers to stabilize film, yet he can’t use a video screen capture application. As a bonus, the user also linked a video where Davis talks about the massacre itself. You can view it below.

#4: The fourth and final reason is one that I think may be one of the strangest things I’ll ever read in my life: one of the users states that—in a video (which I’ve linked below)—Davis claims that Patty has a “massive hemmeroided [sic] butthole.” According to the same user, Davis mistook this for the lumbar region of the lower back. As such, why trust a man with analysis of the body of a supposed relative to humanity when he doesn’t know basic biology.

Some may say that some of these reasons aren’t really strikes against Davis’ credibility and they’re merely attacking the man for not understanding a creature’s body—one that we aren’t even sure is real. Personally, I’d say that if the man doesn’t understand certain things, he shouldn’t try to make observations and pass it off as “evidence” that 8 men went to Bluff Creek, murdered 3 relatives of the human race and then presumably butchered them in an effort to cover it up. That’s just me though.

As it stands: this is probably the most popular theory. However, there’s one more that kind of ties into this one.

2a. It’s a creepypasta

This theory I’m stealing from Dead Rabbit Radio.

According to Jason: a small time band based out in California was invited to some rich guy’s house where they were shown the footage. That’s the very short version, but this was merely a rumor that was passed around. M.K. Davis caught wind of the story—which was little more than a creepypasta in reality—and reported on it as fact and now here we are. I cannot find the original story that Jason cited, but given Davis’ pension for either doctoring evidence, it wouldn’t shock me if he knew the story was fraudulent and reported on it in the hopes of making it big amongst a fringe group of Bigfoot enthusiasts.

My Take

I don’t think this story is real, but I think it’s interesting for all of the wrong reasons in my eyes. I think that M.K. Davis is a complete whackjob to say the least. I also think that the idea that oil or lumber companies hired these men to hunt down Sasquatch and get rid of them so they wouldn’t be harassed by them as they cut down trees is a ludicrous. Why they wouldn’t contract private military soldiers to be security is beyond me. Hiring a few Bigfoot enthusiasts to go out and risk their lives because they didn’t want to deal with the local tree people seems extremely inefficient.

That, coupled with the lack of any sort of solid evidence puts the burden of proof on Davis a thousandfold and to date: he’s never presented anything that could be considered substantial. Instead, the man has been accused of doctoring proof and his reputation is six feet under. I really don’t understand why people believe in this theory still, but I can only assume that they see something there that I don’t. Everything Davis has presented to date feels like he’s preaching to a choir that desperately wants to cling onto confirmation bias that Bigfoot is being covered up for reasons unknown.

It’s… strange to me, to say the least.

Conclusion

This story encapsulates the weirdest and most bizarre parts of the Conspiracy Iceberg. A story that manages to fuse the maddeningly ridiculous and the insane into one story—and one about Bigfoot no less.

Although I was admittedly quite harsh on M.K. Davis at times, I stand by that I think the man isn’t very upfront with what he’s done in his attempts at enhancing the PGF, which I think is a massive strike against his credibility. Should he be right: I would be the first to concede that I was wrong in criticizing him. However, should he really be in possession of a 111 minute version of the film: he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by uploading it onto a website or sharing it somewhere. Why he hasn’t—if he does own it—is beyond me. Perhaps I’m being unfair though. It’s possible the man has been intimidated into withholding such proof. If he has been, then one can hope he has a killswitch on standby.

Next time we return to the Conspiracy Iceberg, we’ll be covering a story that’ll make this story look sane and one that I’ve been excited to write about ever since I began this series. Until then: I hope you enjoyed this write-up. Thanks for reading!