Back in the mid-1970s, just a few years after that famous Bigfoot footage hit the public, something wild started happening down in Florida. The police were suddenly swamped with calls from folks claiming they’d spotted a strange creature lurking in the state’s swampy wilderness. People described it as a towering, ape-like figure—standing about seven feet tall, covered head to toe in light brown hair. It sounded an awful lot like Bigfoot’s southern cousin, but this beast had a twist: it stank to high heaven. Witnesses said it smelled like a gut-churning mix of rotten eggs, manure, and an elephant pen that hadn’t been cleaned in years. One guy put it even more colorfully, saying it was like a skunk that’d been wallowing in a garbage truck. Naturally, folks started calling it the “Skunk Ape.”
For a while, the Skunk Ape was the talk of the town. People came forward with blurry photos, plaster casts of giant footprints, even clumps of weird hair. But just as quickly as it had burst onto the scene, the creature seemed to vanish. Sightings dried up, and the buzz faded. That didn’t stop the rumors, though. Some reckoned the U.S. Army had nabbed the thing and locked it away in Everglades National Park, only for it to bust out by smashing through a concrete wall and hightailing it back to the swamps. Diehard believers swore it had set up camp in Big Cypress National Preserve, but here’s the kicker: none of the 70 rangers patrolling that area ever caught a glimpse of it.
Things stayed quiet for decades—until recently. Out in Ochopee, Florida, the Skunk Ape’s legend got a fresh spark. A group of tourists exploring the Everglades with a guide spotted something big and ape-like prowling around the edge of a swamp. Not long after, it popped up again, this time strolling across a road right near the local fire chief’s house. The guy grabbed his camera and managed to snap a picture as the thing slipped back into the muck. The photo’s real enough—a hulking, hairy brown figure stares back from the frame. But even the fire chief, who saw it with his own eyes, isn’t fully sold. He figures it could just be some joker in a monkey suit. When the guy who took the picture isn’t even sure, you’ve got to wonder: does the Skunk Ape really roam Florida’s swamps, or is it just a tall tale that keeps on growing?