Origins of “M.K. Footage”

The other day, I wrote positively about M.K. Davis’s work with the Patterson-Gimlin footage. Cryptomundo technical staff shared, in what we viewed as an extension of Davis’s past permissions and a fair use situation, M. K. Davis’ stabilization work done on the Patterson-Gimlin footage. Then very late that night, we were contacted by Bobbie Short (who coincidentally carries a fair use statement on every one of her pages because her site is so full of copyrighted material).

Ms. Short was speaking on M.K. Davis’s behalf, she said, and she told us to immediately remove “M.K.’s stabilization gif,” because we have not ask him for permission. We attempted to have M.K. directly speak to us about this. M.K., however, only would have Short speak for him.

Through the years, M.K. had frequently told Cryptomundo’s Craig Woolheater and Loren Coleman, at conferences and otherwise, “Hey, you can use my stuff.” But M. K. Davis, we guessed, feels differently nowadays due to Cryptomundo’s challenging reporting on his recent press release (“Bigfoot is human”) and his follow-up statements, over which many have puzzled. So we took down the moving gif.

Of course, this caused several of us at Cryptomundo to wonder aloud, how did the M.K. Davis stabilization footage come into existence? Unfortunately, what we discovered was that the lineage of the M.K. Davis product is one that Bigfooters have avoided talking about because they were afraid of what they might discover.

We turned to the forgotten person, Bigfoot researcher Rick Noll in the story of the “M.K. Davis footage” to learn of its intriguing history.

Before I published this, I attempted to make contact and have an open exchange of emails with M.K. Davis, asking him about rights and mentioning some of the elements of the following. Davis refused to answer my emails. But apparently working with some of this information, it was learned today he has gotten in touch with Mrs. Pat Patterson and appears to be working swiftly to gain the rights to the footage.

CM: Here’s my understanding of the history of the “Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot footage” that everyone talks about as “M.K’s” footage, nowadays. You, Rick Noll painstakingly, microscopically photographed each individual frame of John Green’s copy of the film. You, Rick then turned those frames over to John Green. Chris Murphy got them from John Green. Chris Murphy gave them to M.K. Davis. Is that your understanding?

Noll: This is correct. Mrs. Patterson gave John Green permission to do so as long as she herself also received a copy of the images on CD. I sent her a set. She also gave Owen Caddy permission to use them in his presentation on analyzing the images through layers. She has also given permission to Doug H. for use in a program. [Doug H. is Doug Haijeck, the producer/director of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science.]

Noll: Originally M.K. even denied he was using the images I made, but then we (Owen and I) looked at the meta-data contained in each and every picture and sure enough, they were taken with my camera.

Noll: I feel like these images that I made for John [Green] were stolen from him, Mrs. Patterson and the Dahindens. I even told M.K. this and that he better not put it on the web. I was furious. He promised that he wouldn’t do that…but look where we are today. Oh yeah… he later wrote me and said that he would credit me in all of this. I told him no thanks.

CM: This history sounds rather incredible. Why haven’t people talked about it?

Noll: I have tried to tell people what has been going on but it is like it is falling on deaf ears. Nobody really cares because M.K. is doing stuff to the film that no one has ever seen before according to them. Hogwash!

Noll: In my opinion, M.K. Davis has done nothing with the images I made from the film that any high school student using an inexpensive photo editing software package could not do. Layer the images into a moving Gif file and align the background between the pictures then reduce the size for streaming on the internet.

CM: The Dahindens and Mrs. Patterson require permissions and payments for their images and moving images. I know because $300 was paid in 1999 for the use of the colored Frame 352 (one that lots of people use incorrectly as “public domain” in books) for my field guide. I’ve been interviewed by many documentary production companies that talk about the standard fee for the moving footage being $6000. What do you know about permissions and licensing fees involving these new projects?

Noll: I don’t know if M.K. or Bobbie got permission but I sure did! I do not think that M.K has paid for the use… but I could be wrong. I also do not believe that Pat Holdbrook [did] either. They may be hoping to come up with the funds to do so by doing all of this (publicity, DVD and Movie)… promising Mrs. Patterson something out of it.

Noll: I am seriously considering seeking damages done from M.K. through his misuse of pirated copies of my analysis. He is seriously jeopardizing a TV show I am currently working on that was going to feature the entire process I undertook and the results.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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