Rick Dyer and Matt Whitton, a former police officer who was fired once the hoax was exposed, said the Bigfoot scam was a joke and they never intended their story to become as sensational as it did, WSBTV, Atlanta, reported Thursday.

"All this was a big joke. It got into something way bigger than it was supposed to be," Whitton said.

The men said the item they had claimed was Bigfoot's corpse was actually nothing more than a costume filled with opossum road kill and leftovers from a slaughterhouse.

However, Whitton said he disagrees with Clayton County Police Department Chief Jeff Turner's decision to fire him on the grounds that the hoax affects his credibility.

"I don't believe it does affect my credibility at all because this is Bigfoot," said Whitton. "It would be one thing if I came out and said that I had something else that is tangible or real, but right now, as far as I'm concerned, there is no real Bigfoot."