What is the history of Sasquatch hoaxes?

Hoaxers love Bigfoot because the sightings came first. Nobody fakes a creature that no one already half believes in.

In 1958, giant footprints at Bluff Creek put the word Bigfoot in the papers. Later tracks there got tangled up with claims of carved wooden feet, and the whole thing was filed under prank. But British Columbia's sasquatch traditions are far older than any newspaper, and the Patterson-Gimlin film of a striding figure is still argued over. A hoax can ride a belief. It can't create one.

• What it could changeSeparating the fakes from the unexplained cases would turn a punchline back into a research question.
• How it touches todayEvery viral sighting still triggers the same cycle: publicity, investigators, imitators.
• Our futureThe legend may outlast every hoax because it was never built on them.

• Sasquatch traditions in British Columbia have deep cultural roots, and the creature’s importance may involve symbolism and local mythology as much as zoological claims.bbc +1
• The 1958 Bluff Creek discoveries are described in some accounts as probable authentic giant footprints, while later tracks associated with the site became entangled with alleged wooden-foot fakes.cryptozoonews
• The Patterson-Gimlin film remains contested: critics see a costume, but supporters argue that its authenticity cannot be conclusively settled without decisive new evidence.reviewcanada