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Skunk Ape is another large 'Bigfoot' type creature, that has been reported in isolated swamps in Florida. They have been seen from the Everglades to Delray Beach.

The Seminole Native Americans call them the "Mangrove People" or "Sand People"

The sightings were reported in Florida in 1971. An  engineer and four friends saw it in Big Cypress Swamp and later they found its 17-inch-long footprints. Since then the creatures have been shot, hit by cars and made XXXXXXXXXXXXX  more occasions. There is at least one (blurry) photograph.

Summary

Size: 7-8 feet tall
Approx. Weight: Unknown
Skin/Fur: Dark, "blackish-brown" Hair
Eyes: Unknown
Smell: Bad, said to be like a skunk
Noise: "loud and piercing scream"
Diet: Unknown. If it's anything like the Northwest Bigfoot, it's omnivorous.

Selected Sightings

The first sightings were reported in Florida in 1971. In 1974 Mr Richard Lee Smith sideswiped a Skunk Ape with his Cadillac on Route 27 near Hollywood Boulevard. Hours later, Hialeah Gardens Police Officer Robert Holmeyer claims to see "a shadowy, dark, 8-foot-tall creature thrashing off into the underbrush" about   8 km south of the original sighting.

In the mid-70s, Mitch Bridges, owner of Everglades Holiday Park, while on a sightseeing tour, saw an eight-foot-tall ape-man stroll out of the bushes. He said it was "hairy, blackish-brown" and that it smelled foul, like a skunk. From then on it became known as the skunk ape.

A  security guard even claimed he even shot one. He said that it just grabbed its chest and ran.

Autumn of 1989 Brevard County (Cocoa), Florida. 

A man and his sister were driving along Nova Road at around 11pm. said someone was coming.  After she said that I heard branches breaking to the side of the road where the woods are.

'I glanced to where the sound was coming from and saw a tall dark animal running toward my car.  The animal had to be 7-8 feet tall. After I saw the thing running from the woods on the side of the road, I ran back into my car.  I was scared.  When I first saw it, the thing was running from the woods towards me and my car.  I'm like, we're outta here.   It ran like a man, upright, It was 11pm, so naturally the color was dark in appearance.  But from my taillights, I'd still say it was dark in color.
And it moved fairly quickly.  Which is why I jumped back into my car so quick.   As I sped away, I tapped my brake lights and saw the thing standing in the road looking at us as we drove away from it.  It was a really creepy feeling!. I still remember it clearly to this day.  It was so errie.'

November , 1993: South Florida, Everglades, near the area of the Dade County and Collier County line, between Big Cypress and Alligator Alley. A policemen from a group out hunting reported the following

'At the pool of water where I saw the animal sign I returned and found some strange tracks. I appeared to be human shaped, bipedal. One was very big and the other very small like a child's or possibly deformed. The tracks had a stride of approximately six feet, with a depth of two to three inches . I tried to imitate the step and stride and could not. I would fall over and barely broke the surface of the mud a half inch. When I stomped my foot into the mud I still could not reach the depth of the suspicious tracks. I went back to the camp and told my friends what I had found.'

7-16-97 around 2:00 pm, Steve Goodbread was a bus tour guide   who was on tour with a group of tourist, along  Turner Road.  Goodbread arrived at an areawhere there is a burned out wooden  bridge across the canal on the east side of the road. 

Goodbread and the tourists observed a large brownish colored creature behind some brush near the bridge. The creature continually stood upright on two legs, was approximately 7' tall, had hair covering it's entire body (except for the face) and was rocking back & forth.  Goodbread advised that the creature resembled a gorilla. Goodbread indicated that the creature was shaking the bushes and appeared to be irritated by their presence. The creature was approximately 70 to 80 yards away. Goodbread continued to watch the creature for about 15 minutes. 

Goodbread repeatedly easedthe tour bus forward and backward so as to allow visibility, of the creature, to everyone on the bus. Goodbread attempted to get one of the tourist, with a telephoto lens on her camera, to exit the bus and take photographs of the creature. No on would get off the bus. . Goodbread finally drove away, leaving the creature at this location.  Goodbread later returned to the area and founda road where he could drive into the swamp.

Links

The Skunk Ape XXXX has a collection of sightings.