Myakka Skunk Ape Video
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on August 14th, 2013
This is real footage my son and I took in Myakka March 2, 2013. We had iphones with us only (WAIT FOR THE ZOOMED IN SHOTS). You will see actual still shots of this thing (Myakka Skunk Ape). Some have called it a bigfoot or sasquatch. The only editing we did to these pictures was to lighten them up some. At one point you hear us talk of two, it was deer out there hiding in the tall grass. Maybe what it was after. To see it on video pause around 2:03-2:08. You can see it in the middle at the thin tan line of grass just under the tree line. Also here you will see the deer to the left a little closer in. They seem to appear several times then lay back down.mopower08
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
cmon man.
there’s NOTHING in the video.
absolutely nothing you can see.
2:37 they show “stills” of “it”.
but again, you cant see jack.
let me repeat this for everyone for the umpteenth time:
extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
sorry, this doesn’t cut the mustard folks.
the woman next to them had a MASSIVE lens…. you’re telling me there’s no other photos of detail?
i’d love to check out that womans photos…. if its real she probably got a much better photo.
Not enough clarity to evaluate anything really. Although I am a little skeptical of any video with a soundtrack and title cards. Also the last picture looks like the figure is texting on a cell phone.
Interesting. The cell phone video shows little if any detail and adds little or no clue as to what they were looking at. The still photos, while far more interesting are taken by cell phone and lack any clarity or definition. This event has a few things going for it though. First, the short pan to the right to show some other onlookers seems natural and very unlike the “Chinese Tourist” video. Oddly, the couple of onlookers don’t seem overly impressed and laughter is heard. Something in the mid-field video footage is moving around, that is certain. The stills show a figure of some sort. Here is an important point. Please watch the mid-left area of the screen at 2:04 and you will see that a large bird appears out of the tall grass and flaps away a few feet to the right and lands back into the grass. There is another bird staying close to where the first bird took off. These are vultures. They are obviously very interested or actually feeding on something in the tall grass. The text accompanying this video states that these are deer. Unless deer in Florida have wings and can fly, these are birds. I think the figure is a hunter, in hunting gear or perhaps ghillie suit, and was checking why there were vultures on the ground and this is what the video and stills are actually of. One of the still images of the figure seems to show a white face area. My main complaint about this presentation is the inane music, ala Carnival Mysterioso, added to make the presentation have an eerie feel to it. It makes me feel more toward the idea that while this is not an outright hoax, it is a video and stills of a slightly unusual event and presented as a possible Bigfoot encounter.
Looks like he stopped filming right as he was getting close enough that we could’ve been able to make out movement, so that was great. Unfortunately the iPhone’s 8mp camera was too low of quality to make out anything in the still shots. It could have been a bird, a deer, man in suit, or an actual skunk ape. The only thing we can definitively say is that it was a blobsquatch. Thank god for the added synthesizer/keyboard music so we knew that something mysterious was going on.
The only thing that gives this video any credibility is that there were multiple other cars stopped. It looks like there was a woman with a real camera complete with zoom lens; hopefully her photos will make it online. Until then, we’ll have to file this under “blobsquatch”.
If there were others taking photos and video including a lady with a telephoto zoom, where are her pics? I’d like to see hers. The problem here is it is too inconclusive.
The video is too far away and from that distance the eyes can play tricks too. If there is a deer out there then a larger species like elk. Is it possible we were seeing the back end of a four legged creature? THey can look much larger than a deer and in the distance there is no way to tell how big this was.
I just wonder if there was a search for tracks in that area and if not, did we get a comparison shot of a man standing in roughly the same area? Too many questions here. Let’s move on to conclusive findings.
bigyeti:
For what it is, the iPhone 8 MP camera is an excellent tool indeed. It’s only that the subjects were so distant. But continued filming could not have provided any better images than the still ones. All cameras have built-in limitations, but I assure you the iPhone camera takes high quality photos and videos. A professional film crew could not have done better, in my opinion.
However, identifying two figures as “a hunter (sic) in a ghillie suit” is every bit as fanciful as saying it’s a Skunk Ape, cryptokellie. You cannot substitute one fancy for another and expect to be taken seriously.
Does anyone know the derivation of the place name, “Myakka”? It sounds as if it’s from an African language of some sort or another.
Well Cryptokellie, I can see the dial on the watch of the woman standing next to the guy with the cell phone….it reads 4:36. Given the angle of the sun at the time, I can tell you with absolute certainty this does not correspond to any latitude in FL., as judged by the season of the year evidenced by the degree of budding on the cypress trees on the far horizon. ERGO, obviously this is a complete hoax.
C’mon man. Suffice it to say, this is an inconclusive and poorly focused video, and that is about all you can say.
Maybe she was a tourist, and bought a cheap watch from a Skunk Ape vend…
Never mind.
See here’s my thing Craig.
First of all these guys who all pulled up their vehicles to see this amazing thing they all spotted drivin’ past the scene must have eyes the size of some of their bellies because the hypothetical skunks’re so far back even the Hubble Space telescope’d have its work cut out pickin’ the bugger out.
Then as if to guarantee an increase in my confidence in their visual acuity they seemingly mistake fighting birds for deer!
Furthermore the skunk ape ain’t called the skunk ape because its smells of roses yet the dad not only allows the kid to wander in there on his own but the kid’s apparently got a blocked nose that day.
Even the gaggle of goggle-eyed lining up along the road only look like a typical extra large family group including Gran’ma an Jethro sharing their cars on a family outing but even if they’re complete strangers the guy thought enough to make a video of the event and put it on youtube and they all thought enough to pull over and take a better look so wouldn’t y’think the first thing the lot of ’em’d’ve done was exchange facebook or email adresses an’ promise to send each other copies of whatever the hell films or photos they managed to take?
Goodfoot;
I did not identify the two moving shapes seen on the video as a hunter. Read the post again and look closely at the video (at full screen)…at 2:04 There are moving objects in the tall grass just left of center. I believe that these are birds, perhaps vultures. These two moving shapes are not what the videographer is tracking which he states is in the middle at a distance. He identifies the moving shapes as deer in the text, but they appear more like birds to me. This park is well known to bird watchers. The still images are not images of those moving objects. The 3 images that appear at the end of the video appear to me to be a figure, perhaps a hunter in dark hunting gear or possibly ghillie suit. This is the figure that he was watching and follows…at a distance.
Ploughboy; I haven’t made any comments or suppositions on anything other than what is shown in the video and stills themselves. It is plainly obvious -if you look- that there are moving shapes to the left of center, in the grass. They look and move more like birds than deer to me. Again these are not what the man filming is interested in according to the text accompanying the video. It is plainly obvious that the still images supplied at the video’s end are of an upright figure of some sort. My first guess is that this figure is a person, note that I said guess but if you asked me which I thought more probable, Human or Skunk Ape, I would say Human because I know 100% that they exist…cannot say so much for Skunk Apes.
I fully agree that this clip and stills are too vague to make anything definitive of them. Other than that, I didn’t use or assume any extraordinary information (watch dials, sun positioning and cypress buds) to comment on the what was being presented. I only looked at what is there.
Why don’t you?
Where in the story did it say they all pulled over to see some Skunk Apes?
Oh yeah… there WAS no article.
You are attacking Craig Woolheater for a statement he never made. That’s called a straw man argument.
Cryptomundo is for the purpose of laying all data that becomes available on the line; yet you confuse it with advocacy.
Greeting, one and all. @Goodfoot: Thank you for putting your Goodfoot forward, as I agree, Craig only puts these things up as they pertain to cryptozoology. Having said that, I can see that some wretched, skeptic buffoon has concocted yet another ridiculous video, proclaimed it a “Skunk ape”, then submitted this drivel for us to “examine”. Yet one thing remains: I am planning my own excursion to the wilds soon; and i hope to return with something more substantial.
Goodfoot, you usually make better comments than the ones you posted here. Claiming that a professional film crew could not have done better at capturing a distant figure on flash memory card than this guy did with his cell phone is downright silly.
Anyone else notice how ironic Goodfoot’s post was, mischaracterizing what Cryptokelli wrote and then claiming that he made a strawman argument?
I saw that video a while ago.
Still waiting for the pics taken with that lady’s professional camera to surface…
Cryptokellie….my only point is that (in the immortal words of DWA) I don’t know what this is, and neither do you. If you have the acuity and super high-res monitor to say with certainty those are buzzards (possible, I grant you, but not the only bird out there that looks like that) you should be able to see what the standing figure is, but we know you can’t, so…? To then extrapolate it is a hunter? C’mon. Just say you’ve not a clue and we won’t think any less of you, promise.
The only, and I mean ONLY thing I find remotely intruiging about this is the number of people who took the time and effort to stop and observe this. That alone tells me there was something (Size? Movement? Color?) that intrigued them. About all you can say about it. Yes, let’s hear from the woman with the camera.
I have to agree with Goodfoot regarding the capabilities of the iPhone. It is a great camera for doing what it was primarily designed to do. Which is: Take pictures of your friends and family sitting around the table at your favorite restaurant. The lens is just not designed to get high resolution photos at a distant focal point in outdoor lighting. Those who expect a great photo of a Bigfoot from an iPhone are going to always be disappointed. Here is just the latest example of that at work.
You gotta be kidding me! B-movie soundtrack and a Blobsquatch? Is this the infamous Blobskunk Ape people talk about? What’s wrong with people that see a Bigfoot on these pictures? There’s nothing there, I’m sorry…
Ploughboy;
I never stated that I definitely knew what these objects and shapes were, only what they appear to be given the visuals and circumstances. There are vultures aplenty in my area and if interested or actual feeding on something, they stand their ground or flit a few feet away then come back. That appears to be what’s happening with the shapes at the left a 2:04 into the video. The object that the man is tracking is only discernible as a small dark shape in the middle and is never gotten close to on video. I made no remarks about that. The three still images – not taken from video – as the man states he is going to stop shooting video and take stills, show an upright figure of some kind. I do not state what this is definitely, I guess – that is guess – that this could be a person, possibly of hunter in dark clothing. One still shows a light area that could be a facial area. Could be. The main reason I say person/hunter is that if something very unusual was actually happening, the other people would be much more interested. As they are seeming to leave and laughter can heard on the audio, I’m guessing that they didn’t think so. The final reason I’m going with normal goings on and nothing cryptid in nature is that the woman with the actual camera, equipped with a tele-lens hasn’t come forth with any evidence of her own. Maybe she wouldn’t anyway but…I assume they were bird watching since the park is a Mecca for that activity. So since I am only putting forth an idea of what might be shown, based on what is actually presented – minus the eerie music – so honestly, why all the vitriol and snide remarks?
On another point, yes I do have visual acuity. I have to, as professional sculptor for over 35 years, my clients have high accuracy standards that I have to meet. If they aren’t satisfied with my work, I don’t get paid and you don’t make a living not getting paid. At least I can’t.
But all this unpleasantness is not necessary, I invite you to visit my main website.
Here you will see some of what I have been doing for that last 35 years and lead to my other websites for more targeted work. They are packed full of images, some of which you will no doubt recognize. None of the items on my pages are for sale, they are images of what I have created for my clients and are their products, not mine. I have no retail sales of any kind nor do I have any stock or inventory. I hope you and enjoy these sites, if you choose to.
I am SO thankful for no craptacular music on the Patterson-Gimlin film….
Where are all of the other videos and photos? Some woman had a telephoto lens where are the pics?
I see a lot of my favorite posters have already made comments. Any video is worth discussing. But guys, this one is not worth fighting over. There is nothing to see here because of the low quality. It is more like a psychological ink blot test. You can see what you want to see.
However, I am in total agreement with one poster, eyeofstrm. The one lady there had a nice telephoto lens, probably in the 70-300 zoom range. That would definitely get a clear shot of the subject they were trying to capture. So my question is the same as “eyeofstrm”. Where are all the other photos?
Certainly, if it were the skunk ape, that lady would have the shots to prove it. And with no photos forthcoming, we have to assume it was something ordinary. Whoever posted this is trying to make something extraordinary out of something very ordinary.
I have talked about red flags before in an effort to educate people here about hoaxers. The red flags are the blurry video, the creepy music for sound effects, someone stating, “it is big” but never refers to what that subject is, and last but not least–the lady with the telephoto lens and no clear photos forthcoming.
So yes, take your choice on what you think the ordinary thing is. It could be a bird, a hunter, or it could be anything. The bottom line is nothing is to be gained from this video other than a teachable moment on how to decipher decent video from hoaxing attempts.
Believe me, in the past, there have been some decent videos and photos posted here. One or two that I analyzed were not deliberate hoaxes, but could not be disproven as a real animal. But this is not one of those videos. I think the lady with the zoom lens has some decent photos of whatever the subject in the video was. But we will not be seeing them here. They have probably already been posted on a bird site or hunting site or some other ordinary photo site because the subject was ordinary!
Stop arguing and save your energies for some worthwhile video or photo. You are all too good for this one. Save it for another time when it might count!
Cryptokellie…don’t mean to offend, sorry. It is only that I laugh sometimes about how easy it is to flatter a group of individuals (especially a group who are predominantly male) by asking “What do you think about this?” That we couldn’t possibly have anything substantive to say about images so ambiguous never seems to cross our minds. My father once said to me, “The three most important words in a marriage are ‘I don’t know.’ ” I would say this goes double to interpreting blobsquatch videos on Cryptomundo.
BTW, love your work. You have a real talent.
Ploughboy;
Thank you…I appreciate it. Since more and more companies are having more and more things produced in China on the cheap, we are a dying breed. But after 35 plus years, it’s getting near time to do other things.
Having been married for forty years, I have learned the secret to a wonderful relationship. My wife tells me what to do…and I do it.
Ploughboy: yep to everything but particularly this:
“It is only that I laugh sometimes about how easy it is to flatter a group of individuals (especially a group who are predominantly male) by asking “What do you think about this?” That we couldn’t possibly have anything substantive to say about images so ambiguous never seems to cross our minds.”
Perzackly. I will only give an opinion on what it is if there is enough present to give that opinion. And sometimes (no, make that almost every time) one only needs to read the comments to know what one will think on seeing the video:
I don’t know what that is. And neither do they.
I should add this:
The vaunted Instant Photo Documentation that every bigfoot skeptic crows “would have given us confirmation by now”…well, doesn’t exist.
My Android is the only evidence I need to proffer. It wouldn’t have done near as good a job with Patty as Patterson did….and that is an epically long and obvious photo opp as bigfoot encounters go.
It’s cool. But the subject better either be huge; not moving; close; or preferably all three.
Wow… hello everyone…I’ve been watching this site for a few years now and I have to say everyone is so quick to cry “hoax”.i know some are hard to believe but dang. think about it. believers of ol hairy hands are few and far between just like sightings. not everyone is out there prepared to take the crispest of the crisp videos or pictures of what they see. and who’s to say that the lady with the zoom lens even knew how to work the camera? she could be some rich old newbie birdwatcher with a new toy. all i’m sayin is give it a chance before breaking out the howitzer and shooting EVERYTHING down. Nobody…and I mean nobody has gotten that HD inconclusive pic so….just keep an open mind …peace