Page 6 - 200808 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - August 2008

6 Big Foot, Bigger Hoax 6 Big Foot, Bigger Hoax Big Foot, Bigger Hoax Ray Wallace was mourned by his family near one last whopper might be a somehow fitting Big Foot, Bigger Hoax By Daniel Loxton Seattle, Washington. With his death, his tribute to a man who claimed to have “seen By Daniel Loxton relatives announced that they are free to reveal Bigfoot several hundred times,” readers may be his greatest secret: Ray, a successful forgiven if they find this counterclaim far construction contractor, friend to children, and fetched. yarn-spinner cut from the old cloth, may well Several lines of argument are being have been the first man ever to strap on the Big advanced against the idea that Ray Wallace Feet. created the early tracks. Many cryptozoologists Ray’s son Michael put it this way in an point out that Ray was, by the end of his life, interview for The Seattle Times: “Ray L. well known within the Bigfoot world as a Wallace was Bigfoot. The reality is, Bigfoot just hoaxer, and that his gags were too juvenile or died.” Not surprisingly, this claim caught fire as poorly crafted to be as convincing to it went out over the AP wire: in the days researchers as the Humbolt tracks were. following Ray’s death it made headlines Leaving aside the fact that some of Ray’s other nationwide; was mentioned in The New York tricks were really pretty good, this argument is a non sequitur; just because he was sometimes caught does not mean he never got away with anything. Other researchers, with some exasperation, point to the mountains of cases from across the continent that have accumulated over the last half-century, and reasonably insist that Ray Wallace can’t have AFTER A FEW QUIET YEARS, 2003 faked them all. This, of course, is true, but the APPEARS TO BE the year of the Return of issue right now is simply whether he created the Bigfoot—or, the Death of Bigfoot, depending first case or two in the pile—showing other on who is doing the talking. Our old friend hoaxers how much fun you could have with Sasquatch, the toast of Hollywood in the heady such a simple trick. days of Harry and the Hendersons, seemed For skeptics, this is all slippery almost to have retired early in the 1990s; material—after all, hoaxes cut both ways, and however, like his Harry costar John Lithgow the Wallace family’s story is deliciously (who was funny long before Third Rock), appealing. Though the trail is five decades old, Bigfoot is getting another turn in the spotlight. Rene Dahinden in his heyday we’ll just have to see where the evidence leads. Admittedly, things were grim there for a In the meantime, while the Wallace while. In ’97, old fans of the mystery were family mourns the death of a lovable prankster, saddened to watch René Dahinden, once the Times; and was even the subject of a joke by Jay reports of Bigfoot’s demise have been greatly biggest name in Bigfoot research, shilling for Leno. According to his family, Ray Wallace, exaggerated; indeed, Bigfoot is bigger now than Kokanee Beer on TV. A few years before, he too stomping around on carved wooden feet in he’s been in years, precisely because of those was a kind of star—a major Harry and the 1958, personally produced the 16-inch reports. It’s likely that nothing will ever really Hendersons character was based on Dahinden— footprints that led to the invention and celebrity kill Bigfoot, and all the less so now––2002 was so it wasn’t much fun to hear him ask the of Bigfoot. If so, it would mean that the entire a big year for sightings of our old friend audience, “Do you think I’m crazy or Bigfoot quest was founded on a gag. (making the national press in Canada), and it’s something?” while he failed to catch even a beer Although there were numerous a very safe bet that 2003 will be bigger. By all mascot Sasquatch. legendary wildmen and monsters in the tales of accounts, Ray Wallace was a likable guy, and From the beginning of the Bigfoot hunt Native Americans (“Sasquatch” was one such), it’s hard not to grin when reading his tall tales: in the 1950s, it was René Dahinden’s thickly and though other strange creatures were later "Big Foot used to be very tame, as I accented voice that rang out the loudest: reported by Europeans, 1958 was the first year have seen him almost every morning on the irascible, hot tempered, and brutally forthright, on record that Bigfoot left its distinctive tracks way to work… I would sit in my pickup and he was the foremost spokesman for a search that on American soil—starting at a Wallace toss apples out of the window to him. He never consumed decades. His death in 2001, empty Construction worksite in Humbolt County, CA. did catch an apple but he sure tried." handed, bitter, and broke after almost 50 years Following in the big footsteps of the Himalayan Truth be told, though, he caused all on the hunt, was a poignant reminder of the Yeti (who was, at the time, garnering massive kinds of trouble for skeptics and human costs of mysteries of this kind. René international publicity), Bigfoot hit the cryptozoologists alike, and the publicity created never saw a Sasquatch, but he spent a lifetime American scene with considerable fanfare. in the wake of the old scoundrel’s passing may out in the bush, looking. These first enormous, humanlike tracks, well lead a new generation of René Dahindens weaving around bulldozers, led quickly to the way, way down the primrose path. All the same, coining of the word “Bigfoot” in national Bigfoot is making a comeback…and, with some headlines, and initiated a cryptozoological quest guilty pleasure, many skeptical Sasquatch fans that continues to this day—Dahinden’s quest. will secretly love seeing the Big Guy back on Was it a hoax? Was Wallace the hoaxer? top. [] Certainly, it is true that Wallace was a lifelong gag-puller who specialized in Bigfoot tales, footprints, and photos, but the claim that he created this particular set of footprints has generated a firestorm of controversy within the cryptozoological world. Since the Wallace family’s story poses a major challenge to the credibility of serious Sasquatch research (partly just by publicizing the widely known but little discussed fact that the seminal case occurred on Prankster Ray Wallace a worksite managed by a career Bigfoot hoaxer), monster buffs have quickly circled the wagons. Despite the headlines, they say, the real Now another, more recent death in the Bigfoot family has returned the shaggy giant to front- hoax is the yarn the Wallace family is Wallaces Family produced the original page news: on Nov. 26, 2002, the passing of perpetrating about Ray’s alleged prank. Though strap-on feet for the press