'Bigfoot' was rubber gorilla costume

No wonder Bigfoot failed a DNA test. Researchers said on Tuesday the hairy heap claimed by two men to be the corpse of the mythical half-ape, half-human creature was actually a full-body rubber gorilla costume.

The discovery adds another dimension to what appears to be an elaborate hoax by Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the owners of a company that offers Bigfoot merchandise, that sparked an Internet frenzy last week.

The pair said they discovered the Bigfoot corpse while hiking in the woods of northern Georgia, with a dubious photo - and the commercial interests of the alleged discoverers - drawing interest from Australia to Europe and even The New York Times.