Rick Dyer, who made news earlier this year with claims of killing a Bigfoot, has admitted it was a hoax. The hairy, 8-foot body that he has been hauling around the country on a publicity tour is a dummy made from latex and camel hair.

"Coming clean about everything is necessary for a new start," Dyer posted to his official Facebook page. "From this moment on, I will speak the truth! No more lies, tall tales or wild goose chases to mess with the haters!"

This news shouldn’t come as a shock. After all, this is the man who announced back in 2008 that he had a real-life Bigfoot body. News conferences were held. Stories appeared on reputable websites like NationalGeographic.com. But when it came time to reveal the evidence, Dyer’s Bigfoot turned out to be nothing more than a rubber ape costume.

Dyer definitely took some heat for those lies, but it didn’t stop him from mounting a comeback. He told a Texas news station in January that he had shot Bigfoot in a wooded area outside of San Antonio. As reported by KSAT, the event allegedly occurred “in a wooded area on the northwest side near Loop 1604 and Highway 151.”

In the interview, Dyer also said that a lab in Washington had verified the body as authentic.

“Every test that you can possibly imagine was performed on this body from DNA tests to 3D optical scans to body scans,” he insisted. “It is the real deal.”

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Alleged Bigfoot may be coming to Utah

It appears that Bigfoot may be paying a visit to the Beehive State. At least, that's the story coming from the Bigfoot Tracker Team, which made national news earlier this year when it announced that it had shot and killed a Bigfoot in Texas. Rick Dyer, the leader of the team, said he lured the creature to his camp using pork ribs as bait and then shot it dead.

Of course, these tests had never been performed because the body was a fake. Dyer was telling the truth, however, when he said that the body had spent time in the state of Washington. It turns out the phony Bigfoot body was made by a company in Washington that creates custom monster masks and costumes.

Dyer took his Bigfoot body on a public tour, starting in Texas and then moving across the country. According to a recent report from KSAT, he charged $10 for admission and made about $60,000 in total.

Some people who paid admission for the tour are questioning whether Dyer’s fraudulent claims were illegal. There’s even a change.org petition asking the United States Department of Justice to bring charges against him. It currently has more than 700 signatures.

Dyer maintains that his ruse was all in good fun.

"Everyone that went on my tour had less than $100 in the bank with nothing going for them, some didn't even own a car,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “I made their life better, I never treated anyone bad, Im a joker, I play around that's just me.”

With this latest hoax in his rearview mirror, Dyer is now focusing on the future. And it seems he’s a firm believer in the old adage that there’s a sucker born every minute. According to article from the New York Daily News, Dyer is once again claiming to have a real body of a Bigfoot that he will show the public soon.

Grant Olsen joined the KSL.com team as a regular contributor in 2012. He covers outdoor adventures, travel, product reviews and other interesting things. You can contact him at grantorrin@gmail.com.