The Six Most Abused Bigfoot Researchers
Here is a short list of the six most abused and disrespected Bigfoot names in Sasquatch history. These researchers and pioneers were either mocked, ridiculed, vilified, accused or dismissed. Some of them have reached the highest level of success yet were threatened and blacklisted. Half of these people are now deceased, however even after their passing, their names are still desecrated, disrespected and mocked by some.
The point of this is to show the extent of the public ridicule Bigfoot researchers have faced, and also the negativity and bullying existing from within the Bigfooting community.
1 Melba Ketchum
An American veterinarian and Sasquatch researcher from Texas. Dr. Ketchum has actively researched Sasquatch DNA and has stated that the Sasquatch is a human hybrid. According to her studies, they are the result of breeding between Homo Sapiens females and an unknown Hominid, which would have occurred some 15,000 years ago.
Ketchum’s Sasquatch Genome Project was not well received, and the results of her DNA research was rejected by the scientific community in 2012.
After facing many obstacles, she was forced to self-publish her work under a science journal she created. Her work was shunned and dismissed by other Bigfoot researchers and she was ridiculed, vilified and discredited.
It is also interesting to read that Ketchum was a no-show at two Bigfoot conferences where she was scheduled to speak about her studies, out of fear for her personal safety.
Ketchum still adamantly states that the Sasquatch are people, and her DNA work remains heavily criticized to this day.
2 Scott Carpenter (1963-2023)
Influential American Sasquatch researcher, US Air Force veteran and a member of the North American Bigfoot Search (NABS). Scott Carpenter is considered controversial by some because of his belief that the Sasquatch are Nephilim (fallen angels). He also acknowledged the Sasquatches’ supernatural and psychic abilities. The more conventional scientific Bigfooters have shunned him by calling him ‘woo’. Even after his passing in 2023, Carpenter is still negatively portrayed and is considered a blacklisted figure in Bigfoot research.
Scott Carpenter wrote the book Truth Denied: The Sasquatch DNA Study where he exposes the smearing and suppression of DNA research, surrounding Dr. Melba Ketchum’s work.
3 David Paulides
He is an American former police officer and Sasquatch researcher. He is also the founder of Missing 411 and has published numerous books and films about missing persons in National Parks, across North America and worldwide.
David Paulides was also heavily criticized because his organization NABS (North America Bigfoot Search) had sent hair samples to a lab for DNA testing and sequencing. Following his studies and results, Paulides also stated that the Sasquatch were human hybrids.
This finding was strongly rejected by the scientific community. Paulides was mocked, discredited and smeared; his Missing 411 books were also criticized and dismissed by skeptics.
He received a death threat and was deterred from attending a Bigfoot conference where he was supposed to speak.
4 Paul Freeman (1943-2003)
American Bigfoot researcher, who filmed footage of a Sasquatch near Blue Mountains, Oregon in 1992. Paul Freeman is one of the most reliable and successful Bigfoot researchers in his field; his footprint casts were studied by Sasquatch scientists and fellow researchers worldwide. He was also ridiculed, mocked and accused of hoaxing.
Paul Freeman was declared a ‘hoaxer’ after an interview for Good Morning America in 1987 where he was asked if he had ever made fake tracks. Freeman answered ‘yes’ and explained that he made casts from a wooden foot in his garden to see how easy it would be to detect a fake footprint.
When they aired the show, they omitted the explanation Freeman had given, and only shows Freeman ‘admitting to hoaxing’. This false accusation of hoaxing still lingers to this day, following this damaging interview.
His son Michael Freeman revealed this fact in a recent interview, defending his father’s legacy. See the interview on You Tube at 18:43 – with Richard Turgeon:
https://youtu.be/KsAIQwVneHs?si=dPKYl35PwAA_Njig
5 Roger Patterson (1933-1972)
Rodeo rider and filmmaker in California, who filmed the famous footage of the female Sasquatch in Bluff Creek, California on October 20, 1967. Roger Patterson’s footage of Patty the female Sasquatch is the most influential and debated Sasquatch footage in the history of Bigfoot. The film was ridiculed, dismissed and called a hoax by many, over a span of decades.
The Patterson-Gimlin film is also the most analysed, and is still used to this day by scientists to understand Hominid locomotion, anatomy and feet. There have been numerous attempts to debunk and destroy credibility of the footage and Roger Patterson himself.
In 2009, a Bigfoot researcher came out with a conspiracy theory stating that the Sasquatch in the famous footage was ‘murdered’. He stated that the men involved in this Sasquatch investigation in the Bluff Creek area shot the Sasquatch and others of her family on site.
This 'murder theory' circulated and was for the most part rejected by the bigfooting community for lack of evidence and proof. However this person went on to include other Bigfoot researchers in his theory, accusing John Green, Rene Dahinden and Bob Titmus. This murder theory was then linked to the Minnesota Iceman and even involved Walt Disney himself.
To this day, there are still people spreading falsehoods and accusing Roger Patterson of hoaxing, decades after he died of cancer in 1972. Patterson maintained the veracity of the footage until the very end of his life, and his widow also stated that this footage is real.
6 Bob Gimlin
Horse trainer and rodeo rider, he was a friend of Roger Patterson. The two rode in Bluff Creek, California searching for signs of Bigfoot. Gimlin witnessed the Sasquatch during the filming on October 20, 1967.
After this footage was taken, Bob Gimlin faced ridicule, disbelief and harassment later in life. His family also became harassed, and he disappeared from public view for many years. He later reappeared in the public spotlight and now appears in Bigfoot conferences around the United States.
Bob Gimlin became a target in the ‘murder theory’ of the Bluff Creek Sasquatch footage in 2009 (see Roger Patterson above).
In 2015, Bob Hieronimus came out with a false ‘costume confession’, stating that he was hired by Patterson and Gimlin to construct a hoax. He allegedly wore a costume and was to walk in this suit while they filmed him. This outrageous theory was quickly debunked. However, the damage left behind from this false ‘confession’ was considerable and gave ammunition to skeptics to dismiss the footage even further. As stated by experts, no costume designed in 1967 could mimic this Sasquatch from Bluff Creek, considering this was a female with breasts.
These toxic theories and attempts to discredit Bob Gimlin and Roger Patterson left a stain in the credibility of the footage. However it was never debunked to this day, and is now considered a part of Bigfoot history.
Sabine Blais
2024
