THE TRICKSTER AND THE CON MAN: REDEEMING THE SOUL OF THE BIGFOOT HOAX

 

THE TRICKSTER AND THE CON MAN: REDEEMING THE SOUL OF THE BIGFOOT HOAX

By Jason Brazeal

In my last post, I laid out the prosecution’s case for The People v. Patterson & Gimlin. We proved, with forensic evidence, police letters, and hard timelines, that the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film was a manufactured fraud.
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But in solving the crime, we realized we had to look at the origin of the myth itself. And when you trace the paper trail back to the 1920s and 1950s, you find two men from Toledo, Washington: Rant Mullins and Ray Wallace.

For decades, the Bigfoot community has villainized these two men. They call them liars, frauds, and con artists. They blame them for ruining the credibility of the search for a living biological creature.

But the Bigfooters are wrong. Rant and Ray weren’t con men. They weren’t out to steal anyone’s money. They were something much older, much smarter, and much more human. They were Tricksters.

THE PRANK THAT STARTED A LEGEND
Long before Roger Patterson rented a 16mm camera, the myth of the giant ape was born out of pure, unadulterated mischief.

In 1924, Rant Mullins and his uncle were returning from a fishing trip near Ape Canyon when they decided to throw a scare into some miners. They rolled rocks down toward the miners' cabin. The miners, terrified and looking for an explanation, later told newspapers that a group of massive, seven-foot-tall "ape-men" had attacked them. Rant thought it was hilarious.

A decade later, Rant took a hatchet and a pocket knife and carved a pair of massive wooden feet out of alder wood. He and his buddies strapped them to their boots and left giant tracks in the soft pumice around Mount St. Helens to scare huckleberry pickers.

It was a joke. It was a prank. And as Rant later admitted with a chuckle, "People will believe just about anything."

When Ray Wallace’s construction equipment was getting vandalized in Northern California in 1958, he called his old friend Rant. Rant sent him the wooden feet. Ray strapped them on, stomped around Jerry Crew’s bulldozer, and the rest is history. The Humboldt Times coined the name "Bigfoot," the Associated Press picked it up, and a national legend was born.

THE TRICKSTER'S MORAL COMPASS
Here is where the Bigfoot community completely misreads Ray Wallace. They paint him as a greedy scammer. But the real story is much different.

Ray was a prankster. He was the kind of guy who dropped M-80 firecrackers wrapped in wet newspaper down a chimney just to watch the card players jump. He loved a good joke. But as his family attested, Ray had a strict moral line.

When Roger Patterson came sniffing around Bluff Creek in the 1960s, begging Ray for the wooden feet and for insider information, Ray engaged with him at first. But then Ray realized something: Patterson wasn't looking for a laugh. Patterson was looking for a payday. Patterson was trying to make a movie, sell a book, and cash in on the hoax.

Ray Wallace walked away.

The Wallace family confirmed that Ray stopped talking to Patterson because he realized Patterson was "in it for profit and not just for fun." Ray wasn't going to let his harmless prank be turned into an actual financial fraud. He might have started the joke, but he had a conscience.

THE TRICKSTER VS. THE CON MAN
This is the fundamental difference between the creator of the myth and the man who put it on film.

Rant and Ray were Tricksters. They didn't sell a lie; they just left tracks in the mud and let the media and the scientists do the rest. They never became rich. They never went on a national tour charging admission. They just sat back, drank a beer, and watched the world make fools of themselves. They exposed the absurdity of how easily the public can be fooled.

Roger Patterson was a Con Man. Patterson didn't have the patience for a prank. He didn't want to just make the world laugh. He wanted to make himself rich. So, he rented a camera, bought a $435 gorilla suit from Morris Costumes, stuffed it with football shoulder pads, and shot 53 seconds of shaky film. He took Ray's prank and weaponized it for grand larceny and fraud.

Patterson is the one who deserves the scrutiny. Patterson is the one who defrauded people out of their hard-earned money.

THE FINAL LAUGH
Rant Mullins passed away leaving behind a legacy of mischief. Ray Wallace passed away in 2002. When his family cleaned out his basement, they found the hand-carved wooden feet. It was the ultimate punchline to a 60-year-old joke.

Ray Wallace never sold his soul for a fortune. He never hurt anyone. He just liked to have a laugh and watch the huckleberry pickers run.

In a world full of grifters, predators, and people trying to sell you a piece of the moon, there is something incredibly pure about a Trickster. Ray and Rant remind us not to take the world so seriously. They remind us that sometimes, the monsters aren't hiding in the woods—they're just two guys from Toledo having a ball.

The con man made a movie. But the tricksters got the last laugh.