Skunkape Sightings

Page 4

1970 - North of Brooksville - A truck driver had a very scary experience in an area just north of Brooksville. The truck driver was sleeping in the cab of his truck and was awakened by a big hairy creature who grabbed him through the window which was rolled down. The man fearing for his life struggled with the creature's arm and began yelling frantically. His yelling attracted some dogs who then chased the creature away. The creature ran away on two legs, ruling out the possibilty of a bear.

1970 or 1971 - Big Cypress Swamp - H.C. "Buz" Osbon and a friend were camping in the Big Cypress Swamp. I believe this happened in the month of February but I am unclear of the year. At around 3:00 AM they saw some glowing eyes in the dark. It was an 8 foot tall, smelly bigfoot creature. After a few tense moments the creature walked off and left behind tracks over 17 inches in length.

1970 and onwards for about 11 years - Near Brooksville - A man by the initials L.W. has had many a strange incidences with the skunkape. He lived in a pretty rural area of Hernando County. Many times he found crushed down barbed wire fences, heard strange noises, and observed ranch animal mutilations in the area. On one occasion he woke up sometime at night. His dogs were going crazy. He looked out the back at his property and found a large silvery colored creature sitting on a wood pile that he had out back. The creature would just stare back at him the whole time. He found tracks of the animal the next morning. L.W. began to talk to old timers in the area who informed him that such a creature has been reported in that area the past few years.

1971 April - St. Petersburgh - Frank Hudson was walking through a swampy area outside of St. Petersburgh, Florida. He found some human-like tracks in the soft Earth and decided to follow them. Before long he encountered the maker of the tracks . . . it was a skunkape. He describes the creature as being huge and hairy and somewhat man-like in appearance. They stared at each other for a few minutes then it walked away into the swamp.

1971 July 26 - South of Belle Glade - Ray Fairman was driving his truck down a desolate stretch of U.S. highway 27 when he past by a hitchhiker. He decided to stop and give the fellow a lift. He opened the passenger side door of his truck and waited. He immediately noticed that something was not right and this hitchhiker was not a normal man. He went to shut his door just as a terrible stench filled the air and a huge hairy creature bagan to climb in! It was too late to shut the door. Fairman then opened his own door and got out of there in a hurry. He ran away from the truck looking back as he did. He then noticed the beast got out of the truck and walked back into the swamp and dissapeared. He says it walked just like a human but that's where the similarities ended. It was 8 feet tall and was covered with black hair.

1971 August - West of Ft. Lauderdale - In August of 1971 Ft. Laderdale residents were reporting a strange animal in the area. On one such ocassion rabbies control officer Henry Ring was dispatched to an area where a report just occured. Ring repoorted seeing a huge hairy man-like creature lope across the road in front of his vehicle.

1971 - Brooksville - An unidentified lady was hanging out clothes to dry when a skunkape came out of nowhere and chased her back into the house. No further information is known.

1971 - Near Davie - Harry Rose and Joseph Simbili went to check out a trailer where a prowler was seen. When they got there, they shined the flashlight under the trailer too see if anyone was hiding under it. They saw a pair of hairy feet and ankles hiding on the other side of the trailer. They ran to the other side of the trailer just in time to see a huge hairy creature rush off into the night. The creature ran on two feet. Tracks left behind by the creature measured 14 X 10 inches!

1972 May - Brooksville - 5 year old Alan Carter had an experience he would not soon forget. Alan Carter was playing in his backyard when he spotted two hairy gorilla like creatures approach the backyard fence. One creature was aparently an adult female (mother), which was about 7 feet tall, it was completely covered in dark hair, had no neck, and gave off a pungent order. The other creature was smaller and thought to be her baby. It was this smaller creature that actually began climbing over the fence. At this point Alan ran inside to tell his older brothers. When the older brothers got to the back they saw the younger skunkape had flipped over Alan's tricycle and was spinning the wheel in amusement. When the creatures finally left, tracks were followed and it appears the creatures were feeding on young tender roots.

1972 - Crystal River - Sometine around 1972, (exact month unknown), an unidentified man aparently shot at a large bipedal creature in a swampy area. No further information is known.

1972 - Pinellas Park - A farmer was greeted by a horrible sight one day near a swampy area in Pinellas Park. His cow was killed by something that left behind large human like footprints!

1972 - Near Davie - Again an incident with mutilated cattle. A farmer, not too far off of Flamingo Road, found his 300 lb. steer torn to shreds by some strange creature. Tracks were found, and these had three toes! The tracks measured 18 X 10 inches.

1973 February - Near Brooksville - Once again, animal deaths giving the skunkape a bad name. This time a man by the name of Mason O. saw a huge, hairy, bipedal creature about 8 miles N.W. of highway 476. The creature was in a pasture near the Kelly property.

1973 July - Immokalee - Terrence Craigsmith and his father while driving at dusk saw someone fishing. Upon approaching, they encountered a 7 to 8 foot tall creature. The creature was hairy on it's arms and legs, very muscular through it's chest and shoulders and it's chest was bare. The creature ran towards the truck, jumped over it and ran into the swamp. Casts were made of 15 inch, 5 toed prints by Immokalee police.

1973 October 24 - Near Hollywood - Mike Polesnek's cattle and horses were attacked one night by a strange creature. In the morning Polesnek investigated his property and found huge three toed footprints measuring 14 X 10 inches in size. He notified police and both police and him made paster casts of the mysterious prints.

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