Coyote Peterson's Bigfoot Skull

Nathaniel Peterson, known as Coyote Peterson, is the American YouTuber behind the Brave Wilderness channel. In 2022 his crew was based in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. The town calls itself the "Sasquatch Capital of Canada." About 6 km northeast, off Highway 7, lies Sasquatch Provincial Park.

The crew worked the park's backcountry. Trent, the director of photography, flew the drone overhead while Peterson moved through the terrain below.

Then Peterson called out. "I found a skull oh you guys are gonna want to come film this." An eye socket was sticking out of the mud, in a log fall beside a river. He dug it free.

His verdict: "holy mackerel look at that that's not a bear skull." There was a hole in it, and he suggested the animal might have been shot. "I mean I'm almost afraid to say it. That could be a sasquatch skull."

Wildlife biologist Mario Aldecoa advised marking the spot and alerting a scientific institution. Instead, on camera, Peterson slipped the skull into his backpack without the crew knowing. He later explained why: "we have to have proof at the end of the day."

July 7, 2022. Peterson posted photos on Facebook and Instagram. He wrote that "we thought it was a bear skull when we found it, I can 100% guarantee it is not." He said he had kept the find secret for weeks, and had taken it into the United States. On July 9 came the video, "Bigfoot Skull Found in Canada!", which ended without saying what the skull was.

Live Science ran its debunk on July 8. Vertebrate paleontologist Darren Naish did not hedge. "This is undoubtedly a gorilla skull, as is obvious from numerous anatomical details, and as verified by a list of experts." He said it "seems to be identical to commercially available casts of a specific gorilla skull." Naish added, "I think this stunt has backfired."

Fossil specialist Yinan Wang reportedly found matching casts on AliExpress for a few euros. Wildlife trade consultant Jonathan Kolby pointed to the law: "Smuggling any primate specimens into the United States, even if 'found' in the wild is illegal." Critics also raised CITES rules on moving primate specimens across borders.

July 16, 2022. A second video, "Bigfoot Skull Revealed and WHAT NOT to Do!" Peterson called the skull "a movie special effect." The episode was recast as a lesson: leave the find where it is and contact local officials, because it could be a precious artifact or raise legal problems.

No primatologist review was ever published, and no official investigation is on record. Wikipedia's article on Bigfoot lists the case among documented hoaxes. Fortean Times covered it as "BIGFOOT SKULLDUGGERY?" British Columbia has a long history of Sasquatch remains stories, from Jacko in 1884 to the Niskonlith Lake skeleton in 1912. This one came with drone footage, a prop skull and a first video viewed about 10.1 million times.