A pair of Bigfoot feet, artifacts from an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the late Ray Wallace, remain in Grant County in the possession of relatives. The Eagle/DAVID CARKHUFF

MT. VERNON – Bigfoot stands tall in the family history of the McKinleys of Mt. Vernon.

The late Ray Wallace, who died Nov. 26 at the age of 84 in Centralia, Wash., helped launch the Bigfoot legend in North America. His great-nephew Todd McKinley, a school resource officer with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, and great-niece Jina (McKinley) Carniglia, who lives in Canyon City, affectionately recalled “Uncle Ray’s” pranks with Bigfoot feet.

Following his death, descendents to Wallace revealed his role in making the 1958 footprints that gave new life to the Bigfoot legend. The prints, created with big, wooden feet strapped to boots, and a famous amateur film, showing a hairy creature ambling through a forest, were the creations of Wallace and his brother, Wilbur. These innocent but effective hoaxes ignited international attention and fixed Humboldt County, Calif., in the spotlight of Bigfoot believers.

Wilbur came up with the idea of planting Bigfoot footprints around the Northwest, according to his local relatives. Ray promoted the myth and filmed the famous “sighting” of Bigfoot. Since he appeared in the viewfinder as the startled camera operator, it’s likely that great-aunt Elna is the model who donned the gorilla suit for the legendary film, McKinley said.

Numerous sets of molded feet, made out of fiberglass, cement and wood, were constructed, and some were put to use planting prints in woods across the Northwest. These prints would baffle scientists and intrigue the public for nearly half a century.

“They’ve left tracks all over the Northwest,” McKinley said. “I don’t know how much they did in Oregon. They’ve been everywhere with them, and that spanned 20, 30 years.”

Both McKinley and Carniglia recall that when they were children, they discovered a set of Bigfoot model feet at the family’s ranch near Mt. Vernon.

“When I was 7, I think, I found the feet and asked about them,” McKinley said.

“They disappeared for a while until I was older,” he said.

“I was probably 12 or 13 and they reappeared. I found them again. Then, I was kind of let in on the story, and that was from my dad and my uncle,” he concluded.

Carniglia described these same feet, “carved with straps and all,” and told a similar story about the innocent discovery of two children.

“I remember, growing up, my brother, Todd McKinley and I accidentally ran upon the feet, and were playing with them. We got in trouble, and were ordered to not tell a soul,” she recounted.

Carniglia said great-uncle Ray recruited various nephews to help spread the tracks through western forests.

The hoax created such a public sensation that Ray and Wilbur dared not reveal what they had done.

“It is actually a great relief for many family members to get it off their chest, as Uncle Ray’s practical joke has been a great weight to carry for 40 some years,” Carniglia stated.

It was all part of a family prank to McKinley. He even remembered listening to a record with Bigfoot sounds and learning that his elders had created those sound effects as part of their hoax.

“It was just a joke to us,” he said.

For the Wallace brothers, however, the Bigfoot legend quickly grew larger than life.

“I think they got into it a little deeper than they expected, and they didn’t expect it to take such a foothold, if you want to use that play on words,” McKinley said.

Descendants of Ray and Wilbur still own wooden feet, the original models used for launching the legend. The exact location of these unique artifacts is not for public disclosure, but a pair of the feet do reside in Grant County, McKinley confirmed. The family has no plans to sell them, he added.

“Those are almost family heirlooms,” he said.