Bigfoot Hoaxing Since 1928?

Before hoaxers Rick Dyer, Ivan Marx and Ray Wallace, there was a man named Rant Mullins. He grew up in the state of Washington and had been in the woods since 1910 and never saw a Sasquatch. However that did not stop him from having some fun. Some say he is responsible for the rocks being thrown at the cabin in Ape Canyon in 1924.

Segments of this article are from Newsweek's Special Edition Magazine - "BIGFOOT: The Science, Sightings, and Search for America's Elusive Legend" - Purchase here!  

Rant Mullins displays one of the pairs of wooden  feet he has whittled since 1928, in Vancouver, Washington. The man claimed to have left false tracks throughout the Pacific Northwest.

From Bigfoot Encounters: Rant Mullins lost track of his handiwork from the summer of 1930 until 1948, when Bert Lewis, one of the original hoaxers return them to him. In 1969 he supplied another pair of 16 inch wooden feet to Ray Wallace who allegedly took them to Northern California. Ray Wallace and Rant Mullins were neighbors in Toledo, Washington.

In all, Rant Mullins claims he made eight sets of these wooden feet, most of which went to California. After explaining how he carved them, Mullins displayed his last set for the Skeptical Inquirer. They bore a striking resemblance to the 14.5 inch plaster casts of tracks cast by such famous Bigfoot proponents as Bob Gimlin, Rene Dahinden and Roger Patterson.

Mullins believes the Sasquatch legend in California and the Pacific Northwest is based solely on the hoaxes made from "his wooden feet" and says some of the Bigfoot promoters are well aware of that possibility. Resentful of Roger Patterson, Mullins claimed he talked with an associate of Patterson who help hoax Patterson's famous "Bigfoot" film taken at Bluff Creek, California October 20, 1967. Mullins was told the costume was made of bear hides. [The source was never named, - the costume never surfaced.]

Mullins said he wanted to get the practical joke off his chest and challenges the Bigfoot promoters to show he's wrong. He added that he is willing to undergo a polygraph test to substantiate any and all of what he has said. [According to the Mullins family, he was never polygraphed.]

Segments of this article are from Newsweek's Special Edition Magazine - "BIGFOOT: The Science, Sightings, and Search for America's Elusive Legend" - Purchase here!