Florida’s Skunk Ape
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on March 20th, 2017
Daily Planet: Florida’s Skunk Ape
The name just says it all, doesn’t it? Florida’s Skunk Ape is said to wander through the swamps smelling like a combination of rotten eggs, and moldy socks. Tales of this unpleasant smelling creature have circulated around the Everglades for generations, but few have claimed to see it. Morgan joins Skunk Ape researcher Dave Shealy on his hunt to expose this creature. He bills himself as the Jane Goodall of skunk apes. “I am the expert,” he told a Bigfoot website last year “the state and county expert on the Florida skunk ape, and have been for years.”
Source Discovery.ca
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.
The FL skunk ape is the reason I believe that Bigfoot can exist. In the late 70’s my dad and two of his friends had a small hunting shack in the Everglades, and two to three times a year they’d go down to hunt and fish (depending on the season). The shack remained empty and when they went down there, they’d bring in food, water, toiletries, etc. for the week.
I remember him leaving on a Sunday, but they returned Monday afternoon. My mom was questioning why the trip was abbreviated, and he said he didn’t want to talk about it right now, but later that night I overheard their conversation. His story was extremely brief.
When they arrived Sunday around noon, they parked the car, loaded the swamp buggy, and drove to the hunting shack. After loading all their gear, food, etc. in the shack, they decided to do some fishing to catch dinner. Upon return, they noticed that shack door was broken off the hinges and heard noises inside. One of my dad’s friends thought it might be a be an intruder or a bear and fired his pistol several times in the air. Immediately afterwards, my dad said that two apes ran out the door with food & fruit in their hands, grunting and huffing. He said their speed was incredible and in no time they were crashing through the hammock of trees that surrounded the shack.
He then told my mom that all three of them were in shock and it took a few minutes to wrap their heads around what they just saw. Eventually, they entered the shack and the apes had ransacked the cabinets and coolers looking for and eating food. He said the worst part was the smell that permeated the cabin–a wet dog garbage smell is how he defined it.
Needless to say they left shortly after packing what was salvageable, as they were too freaked out to remain there.
To this day, all three still talk about the occurrence, and when my dad recants the story, he still gets spooked by the incident. He’s never believed in Bigfoot till that day, but his story certainly made me a believer.
Years ago I showed him the Myakka skunk ape photo when it came out, and he said the apes they saw looked nothing like that–they were more human in the face.