The Bigfoot Evidence blog posted a video that compared the picture of the Bigfoot sent to Melissa Hovey by an unnamed source to an actor in a costume in the movie Clawed directed and produced by Karl Kozak. A visitor identifying himself as Karl Kozak left a comment on the blog claiming that the subject in the photo is indeed from his movie. However, the poster then made some other claims about a new Bigfoot movie he is producing and then asked for donations for his film. To say the least, this struck me as odd behavior.

I located Karl’s email address on IMDB and sent him a messsage asking him if he was the one posting on the Bigfoot Evidence blog. He responded fairly quickly stating that it was not him. He went on to say he is not working on a new Bigfoot movie.

Here’s the breaking news part. He identified the photo sent to Melissa Hovey as the creature from his movie. In other words, it is not Bigfoot. It is an actor in a costume.

Here is what he had to say on the matter:

I do recognize the photos of our bigfoot costume of course and the back side photo is from our film too, not the real deal. The film was shot in North Bend Washingon in the mountains and the costume made fashioned by a Seattle SFX company.

Unfortunately, it appears as though someone is attempting to hoax Melissa. To her credit, she never claimed that this was an authentic picture of the big guy. She was extremely cautious, and I applaud the way she handled this.

So, unless her anonymous source wants to come forth with the other pictures to bolster his claim that this is a real Bigfoot and not an actor in a costume, this case is closed as far as I’m concerned. It was fun while it lasted!

UPDATE: Some people on forums and other blogs seem a little surprised that I would so easily take the word of Karl over Melissa’s source. There’s one simple reason I put more value in Karl’s claims over her source’s claims. I know Karl’s name. He’s attached his name to his claim that this is the costume from his movie. Melissa’s source has chosen to conceal his name, and he has every right to do so, but in my mind, it gives him less credibility. It shields him from inquiry and tough guestions. I understand he doesn’t want to be labeled a crazy person, but if he wants this image to be taken seriously, he has to do one of two things; produce the other images, or come out of hiding. Both would be preferrable.