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January 2, 2006

Biography of Robert Gimlin

Robert Emory Gimlin was born October 18, 1931 in Missouri. Eventually he moved to Yakima, Washington where he lives to this day. Gimlin was and still is a rancher who breaks in young horses-at the age of 74! He has lived an interesting life in and around the Yakima area. His neighbor is a rather notorious fellow by the name of Bob Heironimus-notorious because Heironimus claims to be the "man in the suit" of the famous Patterson/Gimlin film. Gimlin is of Indian descent, Chirokowa Apache to be exact. From Robert and Frances Guenette's book Bigfoot: The Mysterious Monster is this:Gimlin's reputation is that of a mild, honest man. I have talked to him, several times. He still lives nearby Yakima with his wife, Judy.

He has a somewhat embittered attitude about the whole matter; he is angry at the insinuations that he either compromised his honesty to perpetrate a hoax, or indeed was the prime dupe of one. He has repeatedly said that "there is no question about what was out there..." describing the creature and explaining the incident over and over again in detail. In all his pronouncements, he has not changed his story. He believes he saw a Bigfoot that October 20th at Bluff Creek. I am only one among many who offered Gimlin large amounts of money to "tell the truth" about what "really" happened that day. His answer to me was, "I'm already telling the truth." His wife, Judy, told me that she suffered rather than gained, from the whole experience. She was working at a bank at the time; she became the butt of many jokes and found herself ridiculed by even her closest friends. She says she urged her husband to quit looking for Bigfoot, to withdraw him from the field. In a large way, Bob Gimlin has, existing now only on the perimeters of it, kept there by the fact of his presence that day in 1967 when Patterson shot the film and by the other Bigfoot hunters, all of whom use his name freely, calling him an associate even if he isn't.

He is, in fact, the foremost living Bigfoot investigator, even if he is now inactive, even if he was only a passive partner of Patterson's. Everyone awaits the day when he will re-enter the field. Gimlin met Patterson between 1955 and 1959, and Patterson thrilled Gimlin with many stories and accounts of sightings. The two would go out on pre-expeditions in search of the creatures. Patterson and Gimlin were in the Mount Saint Helens area in September 1967, when they received a message from Mrs. Patterson that Al Hodgson that there were Bigfoot tracks in the Six Rivers National Forest area in northwestern California. Patterson and Gimlin went down there, stayed for 3 weeks and filmed a Bigfoot. They also cast tracks of the creature. Gimlin pretty much dropped out of the Bigfoot field after that, except for occasional appearances at conferences (the first one he ever attended was the 1978 Conference on Humanlike Monsters at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada). In the early-'70s, Gimlin took part in lawsuits to get rights to the film. Eventually, Rene Dahinden got about 51% of the film rights (the still photos from the film) and Patricia Patterson, Roger Patterson's widow, got 49% (the actual film rights). Gimlin really didn't want a whole lot to do with the film itself, so he sold his portion of the rights to Dahinden for $26.00. For nearly 30 years, Gimlin stayed mostly out of the Bigfoot spotlight.

A few years ago, he began to be invited to different conferences. He spoke briefly at the 2003 Willow Creek Bigfoot Symposium and was an honored guest there. He also spoke at the 2004 Crypto-Conference in Conroe, Texas. He appeared at the 2005 Bellingham conference and also the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries in June 2005. Bob Gimlin is a very honest individual who seems to be telling the truth about what he saw that day 38 years ago, and he has no motive to lie now or come forward with a "hoax story". Many Bigfooters believe his story to be accurate and truthful, and there's no reason to doubt his story. Bob Gimlin should be highly regarded by all.

Information Courtesy of Southeast Sasquatch Association*

7 Comments:

  • At 6:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Malissa. I've read with interest much of your blog. Something in your bio of Bob Gimlin caught my eye and I just have to ask. What I refer to is where you wrote:

    "I am only one among many who offered Gimlin large amounts of money to "tell the truth" about what "really" happened that day. His answer to me was, "I'm already telling the truth."

    My question is, Did you pay Bob a large amount of money for his answer?

     
  • At 10:42 AM, Blogger Melissa Hovey said…

    Hello.

    No, I was not one of those people. This "biography" was provided to me by Southeaster Sasquatch Association (as noted at the bottom of the article).

    I personally wouldn't pay someone for the truth of any issue.

     
  • At 11:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thankyou for the response.

     
  • At 1:32 PM, Blogger Daniel L.Phillips said…

    Robert

    Hope you read this- I think your telling the truth. Of course you already know that. I saw the film photo on a magazine as a kid in a doctors office in 1967 when the sighting first came out. I'm 53 today. I have a friend who I used to work with in Pennslyvania that now lives in Medford. Not that far from Six Rivers National Forest. One of his coworkers knew Roger. If you can email me. Daniel

     
  • At 12:16 AM, Anonymous Lee Wacker said…

    Mr. Moneymaker, I love your work in the world of Bigfoot Research, and your article on Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin is one of the best. One word, though, which bothers me is the Apache Tribal name: "Chirokowa." I am from Arizona, and this is not correct. The real word is "Chiricahua." Some of the old timers called it "Cherry-cow," which may be why you got the wrong spelling. One witness I have always wished the researchers could have talked to was Patterson's horse, and, perhaps the other horses. Unfortunately, they did not speak English. The way Patterson's horse broke in the middle upon sight of the Bigfoot was classic. Now I'm beginning to wonder about some of my dad's adventures up on the Skeleton Ridge area of the Verde River in Arizona. He worked for the old Arizona Power Company, and his line truck was a horse. The horses would sense something, and grow uneasy. Of course, dad and his helper thought it might be bear or mountain lion. One horse, left picketed to a branch on a juniper tree, actually tore the large branch from the tree and bolted. They finally found him way down the hill by following the trail of destruction through the brush. Now, since I have found several references to Bigfoot in that area, I'm wondering just what did dad and the others encounter?

     
  • At 8:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    They know when you enter their domain. They have senses way beyond that of a man that touch on the spiritual realm. They are REAL and they know how to blend into the shadows. Encounters are by chance (Patterson/Gimlin) and when they do know a human is in their domain you can be certain they are watching your every move from a distance. People will continue to see these creatures if in the right place at the right time but never will one be captured- alive.

     
  • At 4:59 PM, Anonymous DJ Adams said…

    Well I just want to say that I encountered a sasquatch in Northern Utah in 1989. I traveled to Ocean Shores last Dec. to tell my story to the other believers at the Sasquatch Summit held at the Quinault casino. Bob Gimlin was there and I met him, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, and Cliff from the BFRO, and many others like me who have an experience to tell. I know he is real, not an animal, and their very existence is being quieted by the government, because it stunts the entire theory of Darwinism, and atheism.

     

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