The Local Skunk Ape

 

So, it was the beginning of May 2017 a beautiful summer evening in Florida. My husband and I were sitting on the lanai enjoying a coffee and great conversation together as dusk was falling all around us. Our property runs along the Green Swamp here in Florida in the center of the state. Beautiful thick forest and swampy areas full of Florida's wild life. We just love it here. We could hear in the distance the sounds of the screaming's of the local coyotes. We could hear the cows mooing in the distance as if there was some disturbance.  

We kept on talking and then noticed that the Coyotes were getting closer to the property line. Then there was silence. I heard the loud mooing of a cow several times and asked my husband if we could walk out back to see the cows. They always come to the water in the evening. It's a treat to hear them but I had never actually seen any of them yet.

We held hands and walked out to the back end of our property and there they were. Two huge black cows at the waters edge. We don't know where they come from but they come every night to this same spot. We have lived here over a year and although I hear these animals every night I have never seen them.

I was staring at them as I was amazed at how big these cows were. I heard in the distance the distress cry of a young calf, I have heard the calf before as well, but it was no where in sight.

So as I began to look  around and over to my left to see if I could see anything

I suddenly see a very tall dark black figure standing as high as the tree. He was standing very still looking straight back at me. Imagine my shock! I took a deep breath! It seemed as if it were watching us. How amazing this was! I screamed to my husband to look over there as I pointed in the direction of the creature,  and as I screamed loudly this tall creature covered in dark black hair backed up slowly and retreated into the woods. It backed up one step at a time. It seemed very deliberate. That was odd as well I thought. My husband said, "where, where? What is it?  I kept pointing just as this creature was almost out of sight. I screamed "look over there, over there by the trees in the center of the trees",  my husband caught a very slight glimpse of something dark just before we lost complete sight of it. The trees were so thick it just disappeared into the trees. How odd that was I thought. It didn't make a sound as it watched us.  I wanted to run in it's direction but it was on the other side of the water and there was no way I could get over to it quickly. The distance was just to far. We had nothing to protect us. Would we need protection I wondered? My husband said it's getting to dark to go in that direction without some form of protection.

Both my husband and I stood there until the darkness fell watching to see if it would return. We had hoped to catch another glimpse of it. We had no cameras or a phone. The coyotes were screaming again and we both thought it best to head towards the house.

I was really excited and now a bit scared as well.

As we headed back I said to my husband I was sure that was a Skunk Ape. It was way to big to have been anything else and it was standing on two legs. It was not a bear. It had to be a Skunk Ape!

We are both pleased we had this experience and hope we can catch something on the Cameras we've have placed out back on the trails.

A Skunk Ape sighting was also seen less than 3 miles from our home in the Green Swamp area a few years back. I believe we saw the same one that has been seen before.

You know I will post it if we catch anything.

This is a strange world we live in and truth is still stranger than fiction!