From North America's Great Ape: the Sasquatch, Chapter 4, Sasquatches: Hoaxes, Misidentified Bear, or Great Apes?
It must be acknowledged that hoaxes, some of which have been remarkably successful, have seriously impaired the acceptance of the sasquatch as a real animal. This species, perhaps because of its similarity to humans, provides an apparently irresistible temptation for some people to dress in a gorilla costume and walk in view of a group of other people. Following a successful performance, the hoaxers may reveal their identity, and the evenign news reassures us yet again that the sasquatch is a joke and a hoax. Needless to say, anyone subsequently seeing a real sasquatch has agreat deal of skepticism to overcome before he or she can be taken seriously or, even more importantly, before taking himself or herself seriously.
But let us look at what would be entailed in explaining all sasquatch reports as hoaxes. Published sasquatch reports in North America date from the 1840s and continue up to the present. They have come from the west coast, extending from California to Alaska, but also from most states and provinces in central, eastern, and southern North America. Sasquatch trails (a series or line of tracks) have been followed for several miles in snow. Trails in soil show the characteristic huge footprints, long strides, and impressions sufficitently deep to indicate great weight. Explaining the tracks and trails with a human hoaxer requires the involvement of tall, powerful athletes able to maintain yard-and-a-half long steps up steep embankments carrying over two hundred pounds while wearing false feet capble of flexing from step to step. Explaining the activities attrigbuted to sasquatches requires athletes able and willing to throw logs and stumps withe ase and to spend interminable lengths of time on remote islands waiting for clam-diggers or other humans to chance by. These athletes must also camp out undetected in remote mountain areas, ready to scream and bellow for prolonged periods when a logging operation starts up. To explain the consistencies of sasquatch appearance, anatomy, gait, vocalization, and behaviour...requires truly enviable levels of dedication, scholarship, motivation and organization with an equally impressive level of funding.
As the reports of sasquatch anatomy and activity [attest], it [is] evident that hoaxes are among the least plausible explanation for reported sasquatch sightings and sign.