Raymond L. Wallace (April 21, 1918 − November 26, 2002) was an American amateur

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

hoaxer. Wallace was born in

Clarksdale, Missouri Clarksdale is a city in southwest DeKalb County, Missouri, United States, located along the Little Third Fork of the Platte River. The population was 245 at the 2020 census. It is part of the St. Joseph, MO– KS Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

. He worked as a logger for much of his life, but also in road construction throughout much of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as an aircraft gunner. Wallace finally settled in Toledo, Washington in 1961.

Bigfoot

In August 1958, the ''Humboldt Times'' of

Eureka, California Eureka (Wiyot: ''Jaroujiji'', Hupa: ''do'-wi-lotl-ding'', Karuk: ''uuth'') is the principal city and county seat of Humboldt County in the Redwood Empire region of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt ...

, was the first to use the term "Bigfoot" in their story about huge footprints found by a worker of Wallace's Humboldt County construction company. Upon Wallace's death, his son Michael revealed that Wallace was in possession of large, poorly crafted, obviously fake wooden feet. According to Wallace's family, Ray's brother Wilbur Wallace and nephew Mack McKinley used these wooden feet to stamp imprints around northern California as a prank. Ray Wallace also created hair and feces samples which the family left in the woods for Bigfoot researchers to find. He created the hair samples by processing hair from the bison he kept on his wild animal farm near Toledo. However, Chris Murphy notes that Ed Schillinger, "who is the only living witness from the Bluff Creek job" and "who considers himself almost an adopted son of the man ay" strongly disputes the family's allegations.

Cryptozoologist Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness M ...

Mark A. Hall was a persistent critic of the authenticity of Crew's 1958 tracks, and of certain other Bluff Creek tracks. Another

cryptozoologist Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness M ...

Loren Coleman Loren Coleman (born July 12, 1947) is an American cryptozoologist who has written over 40 books on a number of topics, including the pseudoscience and subculture of cryptozoology. Early life Coleman was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and grew up in ...

, has been similarly critical. Regarding Wallace's claim to have told Roger Patterson where to go to shoot the Patterson film,

Jeffrey Meldrum Don Jeffrey "Jeff" Meldrum (born May 24, 1958) is a Full Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University. Meldrum is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Physical and Occupational Th ...

writes, "... but it was clear from later interviews that he possessed little knowledge of the specific area ...."Meldrum, 274; see also 242

Death

Wallace died in a Centralia, Washington nursing home at the age of 84.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Raymond L. 1918 births 2002 deaths Bigfoot Cryptozoologists People from DeKalb County, Missouri Hoaxers History of Humboldt County, California

Bigfoot

Death

See also

References

Other reading

External links