ATLANTA -- In an exclusive interview with Cox Broadcasting, two Georgia men said their bigfoot hoax was a joke and that they never intended for it to go as far as it did.

The Clayton County police chief said he did not find it funny and he fired one of the men from the department.

The men confessed that they bought a costume off the Internet and filled it with possum roadkill and slaughterhouse leftovers.

Defense lawyer Steve Lister, who is now representing both men, said things got out of hand with a national promoter got involved. The two men acknowledged before it was over they'd generated national, if not international, attention and gave more interviews than they could count about the bigfoot they once claimed they found in the north Georgia mountains.

"It's just a big hoax, a big joke," said car salesman Rick Dyer. Dyer said he never intended to put it across as the real deal. "It's bigfoot. Bigfoot doesn't exist," he said.

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

Whitton and Dyer said when they concocted their bigfoot hoax, they had no idea bigfoot would get legs like it did. "It got legs and ran. It's crazy now," said Dyer.

"It started off as some YouTube videos and a website," said Whitton. "We're all about having fun." Chief Jeff Turner with the Clayton County Police Department said he didn't find it funny. Turner fired

Whitton from the Clayton County Police Department.

"He lied on national TV so a defense attorney now could say, 'How do we know you're not lying now?'" said Turner.

"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."

Whitton said his arm is still in a splint from the bullet wound he took in the wrist July 3 in the line of duty.

"He placed his life for others," said Turner.

Whitton and Dyer said "bigfoot" was a Sasquatch costume they bought off the web and filled with possum road kill and slaughterhouse leftovers.

"We never intended on it to go this far," said Dyer.

Lister said Dyer and Whitton have committed no crime but they've retained him. "There has been some threats made to them for both civil and criminal prosecution," said Lister.