SIGHTINGS 1997
NORTH CAROLINA-Nash County-1997-/ The witness said he remembered riding with his mother and small brother(He
doesn't remember the incident) They were traveling down a rural road near Rocky Mount. It was at night./ They spotted
a tall hairy figure crossing the road just ahead of them./ It was close enough to see in the headlights./They slowed down
and almost came to a complete stop. The figure stopped in the middle of the road and turned and looked at them. It was
extremely tall and had hair all over its body. Its arms very long./ It suddenly ran with super speed and jumped a ditch and
was gone. Never seen anything like it before or sense. The witness said he was about ten or eleven years old but still
remembers clearly, as his mother does also. The witness stated that he was an avid outdoors man. Hunts and fishes
and camps all over N.C., S.C. and Va. Has seen bears in their natural environment and has seen them stand to look at
him then run away,they always go back to all fours to do so. A cousin about 10 years later was driving home alone at
night and had almost the same kind of sighting. He told his mother and said he had been terrified. She later told witness
who she thought would laugh but found out that she was wrong, as the witness hadn't told her about his sighting before,
but let her know at that time that he believed his cousin and told her what he'd
HENDRY COUNTY-Devils Garden area,Fl./ Researcher Mr.J.Moore was traveling down the dirt road
through the Garden area looking for a Skunk Ape./ He saw something under a Sable Palm./ He was
so excited that he hit the gas peddle instead of the brake shooting forward before he could get
stopped and back up for a better look, but the creature was gone./ He looked all the next day but
didn't find any signs.
This area is close to Montura Estates.
COLLIER COUNTY- Tamiami Trail./Witness traveling home to Florida City from Tampa saw a giant ape, shaggy dark
hair all over. It galloped across road in front of her car.Thought it was to tall and heavy to be a man.
HIGHLANDS COUNTY-(Close to Polk County) A young girl was playing in the back yard of a
relatives that her parents were visiting, when she heard something in the swampy woods that lay
on the other side of the creek that bordered the property./ The girl thinking it was a deer waited to
see if it would come out into the open./ What she saw come out of the woods, was walking on two
legs and continued along the creek bank then returned to the woods./ It was covered in hair and
very big./ A year later the girls aunt and her daughter saw another sighting in the same area only
on the Polk County side of the line.
COLLIER COUNTY-Nov.25,1997/ Stopping on the road side Mr. S. Krause saw a Skunk Ape as he
was looking at water plants in a canal./ He said it was about 7 feet tall, dark fur all over and
weighed about 600lbs./ He said it was some kind of ape./ His wife who was in the car didn't see it.
COLLIER COUNTY-Golden Gate Estates,Fl. near Naples./ Witness trying to fall asleep saw a Skunk
Ape crossing his yard.
COLLIER COUNTY-Ten Thousand Islands,Fl./ A 7 foot Skunk Ape was seen for about 30 seconds
said Mr. J. Mullins, one of the witnesses./ This is a few miles from Dave Shealys Skunk Ape
sighting and his camp ground on Hwy 41. (The Skunk Ape is called EH- STEE_JAP_JACK_EE in the
Seminole language
COLLIER COUNTY Ochopee,Fl./ July/ Several witnesses saw a Skunk Ape in a two week period./
two tour companies loaded with sight seers./ One driver took pictures of the creature but they
didn't turn out.
Two residents of the area also saw the Skunk Ape, a Realtor lady and the Fire Chief Mr. Doer who
did take a picture and it was sent off to be analyzed. The picture was sent back without being
tested but the expert said that what he saw just looking at it, didn't look tampered with.
Mr. Henry Cabbage emailed the Research Associate in Mammalogy at the Internal Wildlife Museum
in Tucson Arizona- Talking to Mr. Greenwell who then asked some specialist to use image-
proceeding technique to analyze the photo taken by Mr.Doerr./ The picture wasn't processed as
asked and they had to return the negative back to Mr.Doerr./ He did say that he couldn't see any
tampering with the evidence./ Mr Doerr was Fire Chief who was on his way to work and having his
camera on the seat of his truck snapped the picture of the Skunk Ape that he and the tour
companies and the Real Estate Lady saw.
MARION COUNTY- Ocala National Forest,Fl./ A family out hiking stopped to take a break./ Two children ran to a near by
bridge and seeing a Skunk Ape ran back to tell their parents./ The father said he saw it drinking from the creek by the
bridge./ Described the animal as human-ape looking covered in hair.
GLADES COUNTY-(This could have happened in 1995-96) Fisheating Creek,Fl./ Two hunters and two dogs were
traveling by boat in the wee hours of the morning. They were going to hunt on ranch land that border both sides of the
creek./ No one was allowed to hunt with out permission and so they were actually going to sneak in and out hopefully
without being seen./ As they traveled down the creek in their boat they heard something on shore and then caught a
bad smell./ Thinking it was wild hogs one of the hunters steered the boat into shore and the big hunter up front was
ready to jump out, but the dogs who were carrying on wouldn't leave the boat./ The man who stood 6 foot 6 inches
pushed the animals out of the boat and he jumped on shore. /He didn't understand the reluctance of the dogs as they
too were veteran hunters./ Just as he stepped up on the bank his flashlight caught a creature that towered over him
stepping out of the trees. It was standing on its hind legs and was covered in dark hair./ The hunter said he made an
about face and he and the dogs fell over one another to get back in the boat./ The other hunter who had stood up and
was about to follow didn't need to be told, he already had the boat in reverse and was headed back out into deep
water./ They could hear this thing following in the brush and trees until they finally left it behind./ The hunters didn't tell
but a couple of people for fear of being laughed at but said,"That it wasn't no Bear"
Oct.20,1997 GOLDEN GATE ESTATES-COLLIER COUNTY-Naples ,Fl.-/ Witness said brother saw a Skunk Ape at 2
AM. His brother was trying to go to sleep when he smelt something that smelt like rotten eggs,dung; The local dogs
began barking and whining and so he got up to see what was going on. That's when he saw a huge creature,about 7
feet tall walking out of the brush at the side of the house and cross the front yard. It stood completely up right and
walked very quickly straight ahead with one foot in front of the other, not the way a black bear might shuffle./ It crossed
the road and headed into the woods . He got a good look at it in the moonlight./ His brother told him the next day what
he saw and after work, Monday, they went and checked out the front yard. There were some clear prints. They were
approximately 12"long, fairly narrow and straight with wide spread toes. The next day found out the neighbor was
missing grain from her horses stall. Doing a little research found that there were at least 5 other sightings in Collier
County that summer. Witness said"They seem like peaceful creatures and deserve to be left alone
GLADES COUNTY-Lakeport Fl./Lakeport is a small town that is right next to the Okeechobee Dike. There were reports
of a creature they called"The Okeechobee Ogre".A couple on an airboat looking through binoculars said they saw
something on the Levee(Dike). The woman said it looked like someone dressed up like an ape when the husband
looked through the binoculars he only saw someone walking away. Later two fishermen claimed they saw a Skunk Ape
while they were fishing about a 100 feet out into grassy section of the water. Also reported that a local Fish Camp
owner was leaving fish guts out to draw the creature in. The local law said it was okay to do that but he wouldn't be
happy if someone tried shooting or messing with the creature,that they seemed to be happy to have it around. Local
gas station/store sold tee shirts with the likeness of the Skunk Ape and there was even an advertised tour guide
service for searching for the creature. The Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation and Casino is close by.
ALABAMA- Muscle Shoals. April 1997- Driving home from a ball game in his pick up with wife. Heard sounds and saw a
large wild man running in the bushes near their home. It was a cool,breezy day,late afternoon. There had been reports
on the road at Mound Hope.
Collier County-Everglades,-Florida-1997-/ A local man K. Reeves and his buddies were out hunting wild hogs and
driving swamp buggies . The group came upon large footprints. The stride of the creature was estimated to be about 6
feet. The group took video footage of the tracks and left.
COLLIER COUNTY-1997-National Forest-Witness said that everything was quiet. No night sounds./ This was around
midnight. Witness and friend were going cat fishing,.had just arrived when there was a scream that sounded like a lion
and bear both. He said that he looked around for gators with his flashlight on the shore and also for snakes in the pond.
Said they looked for a few seconds then pulled back out. The scream lasted about ten seconds. Thought it might be a
territorial warning. Didn't smell anything. On a different occasion the witness said that he had smelt something like rotten
meat and a urine smell near a crude shelter made of Vegetation, this is very rough terrain and deep swamp. A very out
of the way place. Both witnesses were carrying high powered handguns.(40 cal. glock and a 357 magnum). He said he
was a former military man and a very good tracker of wild life and a nature lover who isn't afraid of much. He never seen
two guys run so fast in the pitch black night with buckets, fishing poles and coolers. What he said took them 20 minutes
to do they did in 30 seconds on the way out of the swamp
The scream was so close that he felt as well as heard the scream. It froze the witness and his friend in their tracks.The
other witness who is part Apache said it was a wild man. Didn't explain further. He still won't call it a Bigfoot or Skunk Ape.
When he was younger fishing with the same friend he said he found a bare foot print that was 15 to 18 inches long. His
friends boots are 13 triple E and the print dwarfed his boot.This was the first time he heard him say Wild Indian back
then. The friend said the Wild Indian was around and they had to leave, he acted very nervous.Witness thought he
meant a crazy Indian. Witness says since the scream he's found 9 to 14 inch tracks in the general area.
I believe this is the witness who contacted Bobby Short looking for a researcher to join him in his quest.