There is a new 2 hour radio interview with Bob Gimlin that was broadcast yesterday. The hosts (Minnesota Bigfoot Research Team) are close to terrible but Bob does say quite a bit about the Patty encounter and things surrounding the event. It would be nice if someone would transcribe this because there are things that skeptics would find interesting and of some significance. The show can be heard
here.
Some interesting things that I took note of:
• He says that he and RP did go to Mt. St. Helens before going to Bluff Creek.
• While at Bluff Creek, RP was not doing any filming for his documentary.
• Just before the day they saw Patty, Bob told RP that he needed to get back home. RP then suggested that he "leave me behind" where he would stay alone for a month.
• As RP ran across the creek filming Patty he stumbled and fell to his elbows. BG says that is the shaky part at the beginning and "it is there" on the film. (I do not recall ever seeing the camera at elbow height above the sand)
• He speaks of the stomp test (jumping off stump) and comparing the depth of his horse's tracks alongside the Patty tracks. Neither was as deep as her tracks.
• They didn’t follow Patty into the mountains at all. (this contradicts the report that they did follow her for 3.5 miles)
• Sequence of events after driving away from Bluff Creek on Friday night: Went to Willow Creek and made phone calls and talked to some people. Then drove to Eureka to send the film to DeAtley (no mention if this was post office or airport), BG "sat in the truck while Roger went in." Then went to Al Hodgeson's variety store to speak with him.
• Roger and Al DeAtley made a lot of money from the PGF. So much money was made that DeAtley was able to pull his own company "out of the red".
• He confirms that there was a stand-in for him when Roger was out promoting the film. This guy was telling people he was Bob Gimlin.
• He now says that there is no way that Roger could have hoaxed him. This supersedes a previous statement that he could possibly have been hoaxed by Roger.
• When he was sick in the hospital (nearing death) Roger told him that he had made so much money from the film that he could buy 4-wheel drive vehicles and that they could go back down to Bluff Creek for more Bigfoot searching.
• His wife Judy nearly divorced him because she is "very bitter" over all the Bigfoot stuff. She was personally ridiculed back when it was new, and she knows that Bob was as well. She was and is still so bitter about it all that Bob is forced to do all of his Bigfoot stuff outside the house. He won't conduct in-person or phone conversations about Bigfoot inside the house. For this radio interview he went to a friend's store to use the phone.
• Years ago at a family reunion, his niece said that she thought it was a guy in a suit because she saw that conclusion being promoted on TV. Then Bob and the hosts all laugh together saying that kids will believe almost anything they see on TV.
• He thinks the Mike Greene thermal video is "real good".
• Weird Q&A thing which I paraphrased here… Q: Why are so many people so skeptical of the film? A: The Russian scientists can’t figure out why Americans are doubtful about it. It's like they don’t believe it unless they see it themselves. I guess they are trying to make a few bucks by writing these skeptical things.
• Speaks about the horse he rode numerous times and with size details but never mentions it was Bob Heironimus' horse which he had borrowed.
• Niece in Montana (Jenna Johanson?) is writing a biography book about him which will include a bit about the PGF. (Not sure if this is the skeptical niece mentioned earlier)
• He says this will be the last interview he ever does (and this was done for a friend). He says he stopped doing interviews years ago because "they" wouldn't print what he actually said and would instead put it into their own words. He would then have to later deal with people becoming skeptical or misled because the interviewer got it wrong. He said these interviewers would even tell him they would send a transcript (copy) for his pre-approval (proofreading) but they never ever sent them. (I don’t recall any printed Gimlin interviews other than the 1992 with John Green and the one right after the Patty incident – both of those were recorded and then transcribed right from the tape)
As expected, the whole show is steeped with hero worship and brown-nosing. There is not a shred of real skepticism and for the first time we hear Gimlin speak critically of Bigfoot and PGF skeptics. Basically, he says he can't understand why they can't believe what is right in front of their eyes.
