Montana Man Killled During Bigfoot Hoax
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(KALISPELL, Mont.) — A Montana man dressed in a Bigfoot costume in an apparent attempt to provoke reports of sightings of the mythical creature was killed when he was struck by two cars on a highway.
Randy Lee Tenley, 44, of Kalispell, in Northwest Montana, was standing on U.S. Highway 93 Sunday night when a car hit him, according to the Montana Highway Patrol. Authorities said a second car then hit him as he lay in the road.
“He had this Ghillie suit and was going to attempt to get the attention of passing motorists and, through I don’t know what means, make them feel like they saw Bigfoot or sasquatch,” Montana Highway Patrol Officer Jim Schneider told ABC affiliate KTMF.
Schneider told the local newspaper the Daily Inter Lake that authorities determined Tenley’s motive, posing as Bigfoot, after interviewing the man’s friends. Alcohol “may have been a factor,” in the incident, according to Schneider.
The military-style “Ghillie” suit worn by Tenley was a full-body suit made of strips of camouflage fabric, making it difficult for drivers to spot him. The suit is typically used by military members to camouflage snipers in combat.
The two vehicles that struck Tenley were driven by teenage girls, one age 15 and one age 17, police said.
Bigfoot and Sasquatch are names given to mysterious, mythical ape-like creatures that some people believe inhabit forests. The theory is largely discounted by scientists but the legend has persisted, even giving rise to its own TV show, Finding Bigfoot, on Animal Planet.
In May, a group of high school students said they may have come close to Bigfoot during a class project in the Idaho wilderness. A 38-second YouTube video shot in April in the Grand River area of Northeast Ohio claims to show a large, dark and hairy creature running across a path in the woods that many have proposed could be Bigfoot.
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