New documentary exposes truth about world's most famous Bigfoot footage after almost 60 years

Capturing Bigfoot has delved even deeper into the legendary footage of the supposed Sasquatch and it's not a good day for conspiracy theorists who've been using the clip as their main evidence.

If you've not seen the footage which has long been attributed as being the biggest proof by some that there is some sort of 'Bigfoot' creature lurking in Northern California, then well done, because you've clearly managed to avoid not just the internet and social media, but every newspaper or magazine too.

Shot on October 20, 1967 by Roger Patterson, the black and white video which most of the planet has seen lasts just 59 seconds, but has sparked years of conspiracies and questions ever since it was publicly released.

The 16mm footage shows the view of wood full of birch trees, lit by autumnal sunlight, as if we're watching a real life Disney scene play out. However, suddenly, after the camera jerks, you can spot an ape-like figure walking along the forest, around just 100 feet from the cameraman. Whatever said creature is, it appears to turn its head and potentially spot Patterson, before bumbling along on its way.

A man? Some sort of animal? No, the video has long been speculated as being some of the biggest evidence of so-called Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch - a hairy, humanoid creature featured in both American and Canadian folklore, said to inhabit forests in North America.

For the last 59 years, the video has left many stumped, unable to figure out whether the film was real or a hoax.

"Until now," new documentary, Capturing Bigfoot, states. But what has the documentary uncovered?

Well, I'm sad to say Bigfoot fanatics, that the documentary's director Marq Evans has come for your mythical beast, diving deeper into the life of the cameraman behind the legendary footage, revealing why the famous film is no more than fiction.

Patterson shared the legendary film most of the world associates with 'Bigfoot' (Getty Stock Images)

Capturing Bigfoot exposes Roger Patterson's 'Bigfoot' film as fiction

Unbeknownst to many of us who simply viewed Patterson's footage, cooed, spoke about our theories with friends at various random moments throughout our lives, and otherwise didn't do much digging, Capturing Bigfoot reveals more about the personal life of the cameraman.

According to the documentary, Patterson was a Bigfoot fanatic long before he supposedly stumbled upon the beast in the wild himself.

In fact, Patterson - a cowboy character from Yakima, Washington, is reported as having been obsessively describing a Sasquatch like being for years before he shot the footage.

When he did publicly share the footage, certain dubious viewers queried how the imagery was as detailed and realistic as it was for the time - viewers able to make our detailed muscles in Bigfoot alongside mammary glands, pointing to Bigfoot being female.

But it wasn't analysing the footage itself which led Capturing Bigfoot to determine the video was fake, but the discovery of another video entirely.

The documentary airs a never-before-seen film which was shot the year before the 'Bigfoot' footage was released - a rehearsal.

The 'Bigfoot' rehearsal film

The documentary shares the clip which shows a reported friend of Patterson's taking a little potter on camera.

When you watch it, you'll spot just how similarly Patterson's friend and 'Bigfoot' appear to walk, their gait almost identical.

Although, as to whatever costume the friend wore? Well, former make-up artist at Universal Studios, Bill Munns, contested they would have had facilities and technology to create such a good costume, even if Hollywood had helped.

The documentary reveals instead that Patterson was a clever DIY visual artist who's father's shed used to hold a host of second-hand fur coats.

Well, the mystery has certainly been solved. And Patterson certainly reaped the rewards in all the years he had people stumped, the film going on to make him what would equate to millions in today's age.

The 'Bigfoot' film by Patterson may be a hoax. But that doesn't mean such a creature doesn't still exist out there somewhere... Does it?

Capturing Bigfoot will be available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video from October 20, 2026 (National Bigfoot Day).