Randy Lee Tenley, 44, died tragically a year ago, on Sunday, August 26, 2013,  allegedly attempting to create a hoax Bigfoot sighting on Highway 93, near Kalispell, Montana. He was wearing a ghillie suit, and supposedly a friend was there to videotape Tenley. No footage of Tenley in the suit on the highway ever surfaced.

The death occurred near Flathead Lake, also known to be the habitat of the Flathead Lake Monsters, an aquatic cryptid.

In terms of Sasquatch-Homo sapiens history, it could very well have been the first death of a human killed while attempting to create a hoax as a Bigfoot.

Randy was born in New Martinsville, W.Va., on Dec. 10, 1967. The family moved when he was a young boy and brought him to his home in Kalispell. He graduated from Flathead High School in 1985.

He is survived by his son, Hunter, of Kalispell; his mother and father, Norma and Maurice Engebretson, of Kalispell; three sisters, Judy and Joe Peterson of Spokane, Debbie Wigner and Tom Whinihan of Kalispell, and Earlene Greene of Kalispell; and brother, Joe Cook, of Kalispell. He is also survived by several aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.

Law enforcers said alcohol may have been a factor in Tenley’s alleged lack of judgment in going onto a major highway in a Bigfoot costume.

Let us pause, therefore, on August 26th, and ask ourselves, why haven’t more Bigfoot hoaxers died if most Sasquatch sightings are fakes? The answer may be, they aren’t.