WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.000 Now one of your pudding. I got a string going 2 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:06.120 on here, something just because my dog. Something killed your dog, 3 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:08.960 my dog. We're flying through the or over the tree. 4 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:13.640 I don't know how it did it, Okay, Damn, I'm 5 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.120 really confused. All I saw was my dog coming over 6 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:17.800 the fence and he was dead. And once you hit 7 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:19.679 the ground like, I didn't see any cars. All I 8 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:38.320 saw was my dog coming over the fence. Sat what 9 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:42.960 are you putting? We got some wonder or something crawling 10 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:51.920 around out here? Did you see what it was? 11 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:52.240 Or was it was? 12 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:54.719 Standing enough? I'm out here looking through the window now 13 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:57.479 and I don't see anything. I don't want to go outside. 14 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:04.799 Jesus quice, you better hello, hit the body out here? 15 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:06.879 What quin on out there? I thought of a bitch 16 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:10.480 about tick nine? I don't know easy out there? Yeah, 17 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:11.480 I'm right head. 18 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:12.920 Picture this. 19 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:15.599 It's three in the morning in the heart of the 20 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:20.560 Florida Everglades. The air is thick, humid, pressing against your 21 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.280 skin like a warm, wet blanket. The chorus of frogs 22 00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:27.599 and insects that normally fills the night has suddenly gone silent, 23 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:32.200 and I mean completely silent. Not a cricket, not a 24 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:36.840 splash in the water. Nothing, just an oppressive, unnatural quiet 25 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:39.920 that makes your heart start pounding in your chest. Then 26 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:42.640 you smell it. At first, you think maybe it's a 27 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:46.719 dead animal nearby, or perhaps the sulfurous stink of swamp gas. 28 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:49.920 But this is different. This smell is aggressive. 29 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:53.959 It assaults your nostrils with the combined stench of rotten eggs, 30 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:58.760 moldy cheese, feces, and something else, something wild, something that 31 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:02.200 doesn't belong in any or nature documentary you've ever seen. 32 00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:07.239 Your flashlight beam cuts through the darkness, illuminating the sawgrass 33 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:11.639 and cypress trees, searching for the source, and then just 34 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:17.319 at the edge of your light you see them. Two eyes, large, reflective, 35 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:21.240 burning red in your flashlight's glare. They're at least seven 36 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:24.120 feet off the ground, staring directly at you with an 37 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:27.680 intelligence that makes your blood run cold. That's when you 38 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:32.039 realize those eyes belong to something standing upright, something massive, 39 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:36.840 something that shouldn't exist according to every biology textbook ever written. 40 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:40.680 And that, my friends, is your introduction to the Florida 41 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:44.360 skunk Ape. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 42 00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:47.719 come on, there's no way something like bigfoot could exist 43 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:50.879 in Florida. We're talking about one of the most populated 44 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:54.840 states in America. Someone would have found definitive proof by now. 45 00:02:55.319 --> 00:03:00.639 There'd be bodies, bones, clear photographs, DNA evidence, and you'd 46 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:01.719 be right to be skeptical. 47 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:03.759 I was too. 48 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.560 Florida isn't the dense, endless forests of the Pacific Northwest 49 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:11.919 where sasquatch supposedly roams. We're talking about a state where 50 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:15.599 strip malls and retirement communities have swallowed up wilderness at 51 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:19.479 an alarming rate, Where airboats full of tourists cruised through 52 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:23.240 the Everglades every single day, Where millions of people live 53 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.639 within driving distance of every swamp and forest in the state. 54 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:27.960 But here's the thing. 55 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:32.639 You can't deny the eyewitness accounts, hundreds of them spanning 56 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:38.360 almost two centuries. Hunters, fishermen, law enforcement officers, families, children, tourists, 57 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:42.360 park rangers, people from all walks of life, many of 58 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:44.919 whom had nothing to gain and everything to lose by 59 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:48.360 coming forward with their stories. People who didn't want attention, 60 00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:52.080 who didn't want to be ridiculed or called crazy, And 61 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:55.479 yet they spoke up anyway because they knew what they saw, 62 00:03:56.039 --> 00:03:58.479 they knew what they smelled, and they knew it would 63 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:01.280 haunt them for the rest of their lifeves This is 64 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:04.599 their story. This is the story of the Florida skunk Ape. 65 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:07.280 And I promise you by the time we're done here, 66 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:11.240 you'll be looking at Florida's wilderness in a very different way. 67 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:15.520 Before we dive into the modern encounters, the photographs, the videos, 68 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:19.120 and the investigations, we need to go back, way back, 69 00:04:19.879 --> 00:04:22.600 because the skunk Ape isn't just some modern myth born 70 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:26.759 from fuzzy photographs and campfire stories. This creature has been 71 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:30.439 part of Florida's landscape for centuries, woven into the very 72 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.160 fabric of the land. Long before European settlers ever set 73 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.879 foot on these shores. The Seminole people called it esti caapcaki. 74 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:43.879 Translated roughly, it means tall, hairy man or furry giant, 75 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:47.800 but the translation doesn't capture the weight those words carry 76 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:51.639 in Seminole culture. This wasn't a boogeyman story told to 77 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:56.240 frighten children into behaving. The stikapcaki was real to them. 78 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:58.920 It was part of their world, as real as the 79 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:01.720 alligators in the sw and the panthers in the forests. 80 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:06.560 According to Seminole oral tradition passed down through generations. The 81 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:10.439 st Kapkaki was a powerful, secretive creature that kept to 82 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:13.839 itself deep in the most remote corners of the Everglades. 83 00:05:14.680 --> 00:05:19.240 It was physically imposing, massively strong, but not inherently aggressive. 84 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:23.600 Unless provoked or cornered, it would simply vanish into the wilderness, 85 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:26.800 moving through terrain that would be impassable for any human 86 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:32.879 and critically, the Seminole accounts always mentioned the smell, that unforgettable, 87 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:36.480 nauseating odor that announced the creature's presence long before it 88 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:40.720 was seen. Some elders suggested the smell was a defense mechanism, 89 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:45.519 a way to warn intruders away without confrontation. Others believed 90 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:47.959 it was simply the natural musk of a creature that 91 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.759 spent its entire existence in the humid, rotting vegetation of 92 00:05:51.800 --> 00:05:55.279 the swamps. The Seminoles weren't the only ones who knew 93 00:05:55.319 --> 00:05:59.360 about this creature. The Mikosuki people, who are closely related 94 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:02.720 to the Seminole and have lived in southern Florida for centuries, 95 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:06.240 also have stories of a tall, hairy man creature that 96 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:11.560 stalks the wetlands. These independent accounts from separate indigenous nations 97 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:15.480 all describing the same basic creature should give us pause. 98 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:20.079 When multiple cultures, separated by distance and with no reason 99 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:23.759 to collaborate on a hoax, all report the same phenomenon, 100 00:06:24.199 --> 00:06:27.879 it's worth paying attention. But the indigenous people of Florida 101 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.319 kept their knowledge of the st Kapcaki relatively quiet when 102 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:35.600 Europeans arrived. They had learned through brutal experience that white 103 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:39.879 settlers weren't interested in their stories, their knowledge, or their warnings, 104 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:43.720 So the Seminoles and Mikosuke kept their encounters with the 105 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:47.879 tall hairy man to themselves, shared only within their communities, 106 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:51.560 while the new settlers blundered into the wilderness, ignorant of 107 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:55.040 what might be watching them from the shadows. The year 108 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:59.279 was eighteen eighteen. Florida was still Spanish territory, though that 109 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:03.199 would soon change. The United States was eyeing this wild, 110 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:07.879 untamed peninsula with increasing interest, and small settlements of American 111 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:11.279 settlers were beginning to pop up along the coast. One 112 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:15.120 such settlement was growing around what would eventually become Appalachicola 113 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:19.279 on Florida's Panhandle. The local newspaper, one of the very 114 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:23.319 few publications in what was essentially frontier territory ran a 115 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:26.480 story that would be the first documented written account of 116 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:30.680 what we now call the Skunk Ape. The article described 117 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:34.240 something the settlers called man sized monkeys that were raiding 118 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:38.240 food stores and stalking fishermen along the shore. Now, I 119 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:41.600 want you to understand how significant this is. This was 120 00:07:41.639 --> 00:07:46.839 eighteen eighteen. There were no tabloids sensationalizing stories for clicks. 121 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:51.240 There was no internet spreading rumors. These were frontier people 122 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:54.560 trying to warn their neighbors about a genuine threat. They 123 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:58.199 were losing food, which in a frontier settlement could mean 124 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:02.639 the difference between surviving the wind or not. Fishermen were 125 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:06.360 reporting that something large and upright was following them, watching 126 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:09.839 them from the tree line. The newspaper article didn't treat 127 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:13.160 this as folklore or legend. It was reported as news 128 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:16.600 as fact, as something the community needed to be aware 129 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:20.399 of and prepared for. These man sized monkeys were a 130 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:23.560 real problem and the settlement had to deal with them. 131 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:24.959 But what were they really? 132 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:29.000 Florida has black bears, certainly, but anyone who's lived around 133 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:32.679 black bears knows they're not man sized monkeys. They don't 134 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:35.960 stalk people with the calculated patients described in the article, 135 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:39.440 and they definitely don't raid food stores in the methodical 136 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:44.840 way described. No, the settlers of early Appalachicola saw something else, 137 00:08:45.639 --> 00:08:50.000 something that walked upright consistently, something with enough intelligence to 138 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:55.080 systematically raid food supplies, something that unnerved experienced outdoors men 139 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.159 enough that they felt compelled to warn others in print. 140 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:01.720 That eighteen eighteen article would be the first of many. 141 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:06.000 Over the next century, scattered reports would emerge from various 142 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:10.799 parts of Florida, always describing similar creatures, always noting their 143 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:16.120 bipedal locomotion, their large size, and frequently mentioning that terrible smell. 144 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:20.360 Jump forward now to nineteen twenty nine. The Roaring twenties 145 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:21.279 are in full swing. 146 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:22.279 Even in the. 147 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:27.039 Remote Florida Keys. A wealthy entrepreneur named Richter Clyde Perki 148 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:32.240 had built something remarkable on Sugarloaf Key, about fifteen miles northeast. 149 00:09:31.799 --> 00:09:32.480 Of Key West. 150 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:35.639 He called it the Perky Bat Tower, and it was 151 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.559 designed to be a home for thousands of bats who would, 152 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:41.639 in theory, eat the mosquitoes that plagued the area and 153 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:45.679 made life miserable for residents and tourists alike. The tower 154 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:49.279 was an impressive structure, thirty feet tall, built of pine 155 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:53.960 and cyprus with special compartments designed to house bats. Perky 156 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.840 had imported bats from Texas and released them at the tower, 157 00:09:57.320 --> 00:09:59.919 hoping they'd make it their home. It was an in 158 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:04.840 genius idea echo friendly pest control, decades before that term 159 00:10:04.919 --> 00:10:09.279 even existed. But something went wrong. Shortly after the tower 160 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:12.279 was stocked with bats, Something visited it in the night. 161 00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:15.799 The tower operator, a man whose name has unfortunately been 162 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:18.720 lost to history, was on duty near midnight when the 163 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:22.440 entire structure began to shake violently. Now this wasn't a 164 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.039 small structure. Thirty feet of pine and cyprus doesn't just 165 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:30.799 shake on its own. The operator, understandably terrified, grabbed a 166 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:33.679 lantern and went to investigate what was causing this commotion. 167 00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:37.720 What he saw nearly stopped his heart. Clinging to the 168 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:41.080 base of the tower was a large, hairy creature unlike 169 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:44.799 anything he'd ever seen. In the dim light of his lantern, 170 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:48.120 he could make out an ape like face, a massive 171 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:51.799 body covered in dark hair, and arms of incredible length 172 00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:56.879 and strength. The creature was shaking the tower, seemingly investigating it, 173 00:10:57.159 --> 00:11:00.399 or perhaps trying to get at the bats inside. When 174 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:03.559 the lantern light hit it, the creature's eyes reflected back, 175 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:07.519 glowing in the darkness. Those eyes locked onto the operator 176 00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:11.000 for a moment that probably felt like an eternity. Then, 177 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:14.480 with shocking speed and agility, the creature dropped from the 178 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:18.480 tower and fled into the dense mangrove forest, disappearing into 179 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:22.440 the night. The bats, terrorized by the encounter, fled the 180 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:26.600 tower as well and never returned. Perky's innovative pest control 181 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:29.799 system was a failure, and the Perky Bat Tower stands 182 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:32.879 to this day as a monument to both architectural ambition 183 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:37.519 and perhaps an unexpected encounter with Florida's most elusive resident. 184 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:42.159 Now skeptics might say, well, maybe it was just a bear. 185 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:46.600 Bears can climb, but bears in the Florida Keys in 186 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.000 nineteen twenty nine. The Florida Keys are a chain of 187 00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:54.320 small islands connected by bridges and causeways. Black bears don't 188 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:57.919 swim from island to island, especially not through marine waters 189 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:01.600 that might contain sharks and other predators, And more importantly, 190 00:12:02.039 --> 00:12:05.159 bears don't have the hand like paws necessary to grip 191 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:07.960 a wooden structure the way this creature was described gripping 192 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:12.240 the tower no, The tower operator saw something else that night, 193 00:12:12.919 --> 00:12:15.919 something that would be seen again and again throughout Florida 194 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:20.039 over the coming decades. Fast forward to nineteen forty two. 195 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:24.039 The world is at war, but even war seems distant 196 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:27.120 in the rural back roads of Sewanee County, Florida, in 197 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:31.240 the eastern part of the state's panhandle. This is farming country, 198 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:34.919 cattle country, where the roads are still mostly unpaved and 199 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:39.159 the wilderness presses in close on all sides. Late one night, 200 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:42.960 a man was driving down an isolated road, probably heading 201 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:46.080 home after a long day of work. The details of 202 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:48.960 his identity have been lost or deliberately withheld to protect 203 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:52.200 his privacy, but his story has been preserved in local 204 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:55.919 newspaper accounts and county records. He was driving at a 205 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:59.679 moderate speed, maybe thirty or forty miles per hour, when 206 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:02.120 something burst from the tree line directly. 207 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:02.840 Ahead of him. 208 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:05.799 In his headlights, he caught a glimpse of something massive 209 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:09.440 and hairy, rushing toward his vehicle. Before he could react, 210 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:12.639 before he could break or swerve, the creature grabbed onto 211 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.360 the running board of his car. Now, for those of 212 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.279 you too young to remember running boards, these were metal 213 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:21.559 steps that ran along the side of old cars used 214 00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:24.200 to help people climb into the high chassis vehicles of 215 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:28.440 that era. They weren't designed to support a passenger, especially 216 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:31.600 not one traveling at speed. But this creature held on, 217 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:33.639 and it wasn't content. 218 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.080 To just hitch a ride. 219 00:13:35.159 --> 00:13:37.919 It began pounding on the door, hammering at the window 220 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:42.480 while the driver's tearor mounted with each passing second. Imagine it, 221 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:46.399 You're alone on a dark road and something impossibly strong 222 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:48.480 is trying to get into your vehicle while you're moving. 223 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:52.039 The sound of those impacts must have been deafening. The 224 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:54.039 whole car must have been rocking with the force of 225 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:56.960 the blows. The driver did the only thing he could do. 226 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:00.279 He accelerated, pushing his car as fast as just as 227 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:03.080 it would go on that rough road, hoping speed would 228 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:07.440 dislodge his unwonted passenger, and it worked after a fashion. 229 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:10.919 After nearly half a mile of this nightmare ride, the 230 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:14.279 creature finally let go, dropping from the running board and 231 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:17.279 disappearing into the woods with a speed that seemed impossible 232 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:20.799 for something so large. When the driver finally got home, 233 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:24.080 he found deep dents in his car, door, scratches in 234 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:27.840 the paint, evidence that this hadn't been a hallucination or 235 00:14:27.879 --> 00:14:32.720 a trick of the light. Something real, something physical, something powerful, 236 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:36.000 had grabbed onto his car and tried to get inside. 237 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:39.519 He reported the incident to local authorities, who investigated but 238 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.360 found nothing. The woods where the creature had vanished were thick, 239 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:48.480 almost impenetrable. Whatever had accosted this driver was long gone, 240 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:52.320 leaving behind only a terrified witness and a damaged vehicle 241 00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:55.360 as proof that something had happened on that dark road. 242 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:58.480 Now we come to one of the more sustained periods 243 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:01.879 of skunk ape activity, taking place in a small community 244 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:06.879 called Barden in Putnam County, Florida. Stay tuned for more 245 00:15:06.919 --> 00:15:07.879 sasquatch ott to see. 246 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:10.000 We'll be right back after these messages. 247 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:17.000 Starting in the nineteen forties and continuing through the next 248 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:21.159 several years, residents of this rural area began reporting encounters 249 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:24.440 with what they came to call the Barden Booger. The 250 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:28.159 name might sound almost comical, but the encounters were anything but. 251 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:32.799 Multiple families reported seeing a large, hairy, ape like creature 252 00:15:32.840 --> 00:15:35.840 moving through the area. It was spotted at the edges 253 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:39.320 of properties, crossing roads, and moving through the forests with 254 00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:43.200 an unsettling familiarity, as if it knew the area well. 255 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:47.279 One particularly unsettling account comes from a woman who was 256 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:51.120 horseback riding through the Barden forest. She noticed what she 257 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:54.360 initially thought was a tall man wearing a long raincoat 258 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:57.879 standing in the tree line ahead. As she got closer, 259 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:01.440 she realized this wasn't a man at all. The raincoat 260 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:05.759 was actually fur long and shaggy covering a massive body. 261 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:09.799 The creature didn't run when it saw her. Instead, it 262 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:13.720 simply stepped back into the deeper forest, maintaining eye contact 263 00:16:13.720 --> 00:16:17.039 with her the whole time, moving with a deliberate, almost 264 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:22.559 casual confidence. Her horse, meanwhile, was going absolutely frantic, trying 265 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:26.720 to bolt its eyes, rolling white with fear. Horses with 266 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:29.960 their prey animal instincts, know when they're in the presence 267 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.759 of a predator, and this horse was convinced it was 268 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:36.080 about to die. The woman managed to control her mount 269 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:39.480 long enough to retreat at a quick trot, not quite running, 270 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:43.360 but definitely not lingering. When she reported the encounter to 271 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:46.679 other locals, she found that she wasn't the only one. 272 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:50.120 Multiple other residents had seen the Barden Booger. Some had 273 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:53.440 seen it crossing roads late at night, others had found 274 00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:57.519 massive footprints in soft earth tracks that didn't match any 275 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:02.279 known animal in Florida. Still, others reported hearing strange vocalizations 276 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:05.279 in the night, howls and screams that didn't sound like 277 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:09.559 any panther, or bear or owl. The Barden Booger sidings 278 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:13.119 continued sporadically through the late nineteen forties and into the 279 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:17.000 nineteen fifties, establishing Putnam County as one of the early 280 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:21.839 hot spots for skunk ape activity. To this day, locals 281 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:23.720 in that area will tell you they don't go into 282 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:27.559 certain parts of the Barden forest alone, especially not at night. 283 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:32.000 Old stories die hard in rural Florida, and the memory 284 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.240 of the Barden Booger keeps people cautious. By the nineteen sixties, 285 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:39.599 skunk ape sidings were becoming more common, or at least 286 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:43.519 more commonly reported. Perhaps people were becoming more willing to 287 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:47.200 share their experiences. Perhaps the creatures were being pushed out 288 00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:51.440 of their usual territories by development. Whatever the reason, the 289 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:55.799 accounts were multiplying, and they were getting more detailed, more frightening. 290 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:58.960 One of the most chilling encounters from this era took 291 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:02.279 place in nineteen six sixty three in a rural area 292 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:06.799 of central Florida, likely in Elicha or Marion County, a 293 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:10.880 family whose names have been protected for privacy, began experiencing 294 00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:14.960 something that would terrorize them for weeks. It started with sounds. 295 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:16.200 Late at night. 296 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:19.839 They would hear heavy footfalls around their property, circling their home. 297 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:22.519 At first, they thought it might be a bear, or 298 00:18:22.519 --> 00:18:26.359 perhaps trespassing neighbors, but bears don't walk with such a 299 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:31.039 consistent bipedal gait, and neighbors don't systematically circle a house 300 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:35.759 for hours at a time. Then came the smell, that terrible, 301 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:39.759 overwhelming stench that seemed to seep into everything. It would 302 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:43.279 arrive with no warning, announced only by the sudden silence 303 00:18:43.319 --> 00:18:46.240 of the night creatures. The family would be sitting in 304 00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:49.240 their living room and suddenly the smell would assault them, 305 00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:50.799 so strong. 306 00:18:50.440 --> 00:18:52.240 They could barely breathe. 307 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:55.359 The father, determined to protect his family and identify the 308 00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:58.880 source of these disturbances, began keeping watch at night with 309 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:01.839 his hunting rifle, and that's when he finally saw it. 310 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:04.720 Standing at the tree line, just at the edge of 311 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:08.160 the light from his porch, was a figure. It stood 312 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:11.559 at least seven feet tall, covered in dark hair, with 313 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:15.240 broad shoulders and long arms. It was watching his house, 314 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:19.319 studying it with an intelligence that was deeply unnerving. The 315 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:22.200 father shouted at it, raising his rifle, and the creature 316 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:26.119 simply melted back into the darkness without hurry, without fear, 317 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:29.160 as if it knew it could vanish faster than any. 318 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:29.960 Bullet could reach it. 319 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.160 But the most terrifying incident came one night when the 320 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:38.000 family was inside, doors and windows locked. One of the children, 321 00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:40.599 a young girl, was in her bedroom when she heard 322 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:44.039 a sound at her window. She looked over and nearly screamed. 323 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.880 There pressed against the glass was a face, not a 324 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:53.279 human face, but something close to it. Large dark eyes 325 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:57.400 stared at her with unsettling focus, a flat nose, a 326 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:02.119 wide mouth, all framed by mad dark hair. The creature 327 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:04.920 was standing upright outside her window, which was on the 328 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:08.039 second floor of the house. Think about that for a moment. 329 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:11.559 To look into a second story window, this thing had 330 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:15.279 to be at least eight feet tall, possibly more, And 331 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:19.480 it wasn't just glancing in. It was studying her, examining 332 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:22.920 the inside of the house, perhaps trying to understand these 333 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:26.799 strange beings that had built structures in its territory. The 334 00:20:26.839 --> 00:20:30.279 girl finally screamed, and the father came running with his rifle. 335 00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:33.680 By the time he reached the window, the creature was gone, 336 00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:37.160 but he could hear something large crashing through the underbrush 337 00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:41.079 at incredible speed. The next morning, they found handprints on 338 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:44.079 the window, pressed into the dust and pollen that had 339 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:48.640 accumulated on the glass. The prints were enormous, with fingers 340 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:52.440 that were too long, too thick to be human. After 341 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:55.480 that night, the father kept watch every evening until well 342 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:59.559 passed midnight. The family considered moving, selling the property, and 343 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:01.920 getting away from whatever was out there in the woods, 344 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.839 but eventually the encounters stopped as suddenly as they had begun. 345 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:10.079 Whether the creature moved on to other territory or simply 346 00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:13.680 lost interest in the family, they never knew, but the 347 00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:16.839 memory of those nights, especially the memory of that face 348 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:21.279 at the window, stayed with them forever. The nineteen seventies were, 349 00:21:21.319 --> 00:21:25.880 without question, the golden age of skunk ape sidings. Something 350 00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:29.079 was happening in Florida during this decade. Maybe it was 351 00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:33.079 increased development pushing the creatures out of their traditional habitats. 352 00:21:33.559 --> 00:21:35.960 Maybe it was simply that more people were venturing into 353 00:21:35.960 --> 00:21:40.440 wilderness areas and therefore having more opportunities for encounters, or 354 00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:44.400 maybe the skunk epe population itself was growing, expanding into 355 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:48.680 new territories. Whatever the cause, the reports flooded in from 356 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:53.400 across the state, particularly in South Florida. Broward County, home 357 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:57.559 to Fort Lauderdale, became a major hotspot. From nineteen seventy 358 00:21:57.599 --> 00:22:01.200 one to nineteen seventy five, dozens of people reported encounters 359 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:05.119 with a creature matching the skunk ape description, standing five 360 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:08.599 to seven feet tall, covered in dark red to black fur, 361 00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:13.279 moving on two legs with unsettling speed and agility. Many 362 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:17.039 of these sightings were nocturnal, with witnesses reporting glowing red 363 00:22:17.079 --> 00:22:20.960 eyes in their flashlight beams. The reflective quality of the 364 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:24.960 eyes suggested a tapatum leucitum, a layer of tissue behind 365 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:28.640 the retina that reflects light and improves night vision. It's 366 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:32.599 common in many nocturnal animals like cats, deer, and alligators, 367 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:37.079 but it's notably absent in great apes and humans. If 368 00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:41.000 the skunk ape has this feature, it suggests something evolutionarily 369 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:45.440 distinct from other primates, something adapted specifically for a life 370 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:49.559 in dark, dense forest and swamp environments. But the most 371 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:52.559 significant events of the nineteen seventies were yet to come, 372 00:22:53.079 --> 00:22:56.480 and they would involve law enforcement putting an official stamp 373 00:22:56.519 --> 00:23:00.160 of credibility on the phenomenon that was impossible to ignore. 374 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:03.799 It was the mid nineteen seventies in Palm Beach County, 375 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:07.559 home to wealthy beach communities but also vast areas of 376 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:13.000 agricultural land and remaining wilderness. Two sheriffs Deputies Marvin Lewis 377 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:15.640 and Ernie Milner, were on patrol one evening when they 378 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.279 received the call that would change their lives and their 379 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:22.160 understanding of what was possible in the Florida wilderness. A 380 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:26.119 farmer had reported something attacking his livestock, and the descriptions 381 00:23:26.119 --> 00:23:28.839 were bizarre enough that the deputies figured they'd be dealing 382 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:33.200 with either wild dogs or a particularly aggressive bear. They 383 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:37.240 certainly weren't prepared for what actually happened. The deputies arrived 384 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:40.599 at the property and began investigating, checking the tree line 385 00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:45.359 with their powerful flashlights. The night was quiet, almost too quiet, 386 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:50.640 and then suddenly it wasn't. Something began following them through 387 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:53.920 a grove of trees, pacing them, staying just at the 388 00:23:54.039 --> 00:23:58.720 edge of their light. Both deputies were experienced outdoorsmen. They'd 389 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.960 been in these situations before, usually with bears or feral hogs, 390 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:07.200 but this was different. Whatever was following them was staying upright, 391 00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:10.839 moving through the vegetation with a calculated stealth that bears 392 00:24:11.079 --> 00:24:15.480 simply don't possess, and the sounds it was making, breathing heavily, 393 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:20.319 occasionally letting out low grunts, didn't match anything in their experience. 394 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:25.640 Deputy Lewis called out, identifying themselves as law enforcement, ordering 395 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:28.960 whatever it was to show itself. The response was a 396 00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:33.039 sound that neither deputy would ever forget, a roar, deep 397 00:24:33.079 --> 00:24:35.920 and powerful that seemed to come from a chest cavity 398 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:39.680 much larger than any humans. It was a sound of challenge, 399 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:41.920 of warning, of raw power. 400 00:24:42.680 --> 00:24:43.559 And then they saw it. 401 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:47.400