- In August, 2004, Jennifer Ward was driving on a rural
road in Southern Florida. She had just been visiting a friend and, as the
sun was setting, she was now on her way home with her two daughters asleep
in the back seat.
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- Something on the side of the road caught her attention.
She suspected it was an animal of some kind, but could not tell what. She
slowed the car to a crawl to get a better look. It appeared to be crouched
in a ditch on the roadside. It was something large. Something she had never
seen before.
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- As she neared it, the creature noticed her and stood
to its full height on two legs. It was the last thing Jennifer expected
to see. "When he saw me, he was as surprised as I was," she told
the Sun-Sentinal. "I didn't stop because I was scared. It was almost
dark, but I could see it and get a good look."
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- What Jennifer described was a mysterious creature that
has been seen in virtually every state of the Union, but has never been
scientifically classified.
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- It stood six to eight feet tall, she reported, and was
covered in dark hair about two inches long. The area around its eyes was
whitish and its full lips had the color and texture of the pad on a dog's
paw.
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- Jennifer Ward had a chance encounter with Florida's version
of Bigfoot the Skunk Ape, a name it earned because of its powerfully
foul odor, which is said to be a cross between a skunk, rotten eggs and
cow manure. Her highly credible sighting is one of the latest in a long
list of Skunk Ape sightings that date back more than 200 years. In the
past 20 years, there have been about 75 reported sightings. Several photos
and even videos alleged to be of the elusive creature have also been taken.
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- The Skunk Ape is thought to dwell in Florida's swamps
and Everglades. Researchers suspect that the individual Jennifer encountered
may have been displaced by Hurricane Charley, which recently had ravaged
the area.
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- Despite the number of sightings the largest number
of Bigfoot-type sightings outside the Pacific Northwest where Sasquatch
resides the rangers who regularly patrol the large nature preserves
are skeptical about the existence of the Skunk Ape. So far, no rangers
have officially reported any sightings.
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- David Shealy, a Skunk Ape researcher and lifetime resident
of the Everglades thinks otherwise. He believes he has evidence in the
form of a plaster cast of a large Skunk Ape footprint and a reddish hair
sample that was found in a broken branch seven feet above the ground. Shealy
also runs a small roadside "zoo" and a gift shop stocked with
Skunk Ape memorabilia, so he may have a vested interest in keeping the
creature alive in the minds of the public.
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- Skunk Ape Sightings
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- There was a wave of sightings in the 1970s, all consistently
describing the animal as reaching about seven feet tall, weighing about
300 pounds or more, and to be foul-smelling. (Although Bigfoot or Sasquatch
is also said to be bad-smelling, the Skunk Ape's odor is particularly offensive.)
Sightings became scarcer over the following 30 years and then escalated
again in the 2000s, with most sightings coming out of the Ochopee area.
A group of people taking a guided tour of a swamp area claimed to have
seen a large, hairy ape-like creature walking along the banks of the swamp.
Soon after, a local fire chief named Vince Doerr said he saw it crossing
a road near his home, and before it disappeared into the swamp, he managed
to snap a photo of it. Because the creature is some distance away in the
photo, it is considered interesting but not conclusive evidence. In fact,
Doerr himself later stated that he suspected it was just someone in a gorilla
suit.
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- One highly doubtful bit of lore about the Skunk Ape is
that one was captured alive by the U.S. Army and held captive (for unknown
reasons) in a secret vault at Everglades National Park. According to the
story, the powerful Skunk Ape smashed its way out of its concrete prison
and escaped back into the wild. This time it's the story that stinks; not
even avid Skunk Ape advocates put much credence in this tale.
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- Best Evidence?
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- The best evidence for the existence of the Skunk Ape
came in 2000 when several photographs were mailed by an anonymous source
to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. Known as the "The Myakka
Skunk Ape photographs," they clearly show a large ape-like creature.
Noted cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, who has thoroughly analyzed the photos,
points out the details of forehead lines, yellow canines, fingernails and
hair all clearly visible.
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- The photographer still has not been identified. So although
the photos are compelling and Coleman does not think they are part of a
hoax, they still are not proof positive.
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- Jennifer Ward's account of her sighting is also highly
compelling, and adds yet another piece in the hairy hominid puzzle.
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- The Bigfoot Enigma
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- And what a strange puzzle it is. There have been thousands
of reported sightings of Bigfoot-like creatures over the decades, many
by highly credible witnesses. Yet virtually every one of those sightings
happened spontaneously that is, unexpectedly by campers, drivers,
loggers, hunters, hikers, etc. Those who go out expressly to find the creature
never see it. There are footprints, hair samples, and controversial photos,
film and video. Yet park rangers and others who routinely patrol the areas
where sightings are said to occur never encounter them.
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- What is the nature of this beast that it can appear (and
smell) so distinctly to so many good eyewitnesses, yet completely evade
capture, clear photography (with the possible exception of the Myakka photos)
and high-tech detection equipment?
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- Is Bigfoot a figment of the imagination? Or is it an
intelligent creature that has shown great skill (or luck), so far, in keeping
its identity secret from those bothersome humans out there?
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- http://paranormal.about.com/od/bigfootsasquatch/a/aa112204.htm
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