YEAR: 1973-74?

SEASON: Summer

DATE: 8/23/73

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Lee County

LOCATION DETAILS: The name of the trailer court was Twin Lakes Estates. It was just off US Hwy. 41 and there was a place called "The Shell Factory" a tourist attraction nearby.

NEAREST TOWN: Fort Myers, Florida

NEAREST ROAD: US Hwy. 41

OBSERVED: I was a child in Fort Myers Fla., approximately 1973 or 74. We lived in a trailer court, Twin Lakes Estates. All around the perimeter of the trailer court was a canal and beyond the canal was wooded areas. In one area, we had a play ground. The play ground was separated from the woods by a dry canal. We would wonder through the woods and play war around the scrub palms. One evening it was just getting dusk, we had finished playing in the woods and were hanging around the playground. When one of the other kids said he saw something moving in the woods. We all climbed the ladder to the slide, to see further into the woods. I could just make out a shape, it was large, grey or brown covered in hair. It was moving slowly through the scrub palms we had been playing in, moving away from us. We, being just kids, freaked out and ran home to tell our parents. Only to be shushed and told it was our imaginations.

ALSO NOTICED: We had always heard there were "Hippies" living in the woods. But had never seen anyone while playing out there. We had never heard any large animal sounds.

OTHER WITNESSES: There were 4 or 5 of us kids in the playground area at the time.

OTHER STORIES: We always heard stories about "the hairy man" who lived in the woods around our trailer park.
We just knew he was there, of course our parents said "oh it;s just hippies". But we saw it, it was not a man.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was dusk, not quite dark.

ENVIRONMENT: Pine forest with scrub palms (cabbage palms?) There was a small pond in the woods the beast? was heading twoard the pond.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Linda Jacobson:

When asked if the witness thought the animal was watching them she replied;

"Yes, it was looking right at us. Then it turned, that was when we knew it was
not a man, it had hair all over its back. We all saw it, and were very scared. So I'd say we saw it
maybe a couple of minutes and then we started running away".

"The animal was very large, we actually thought it was a
"hippie man" because it looked like it had a beard and long hair"


I asked about the gait of the animal;

"It walked upright just as a man does, but it didn't run away, it just
walked casually away".


When I asked about the relation of the arms to the rest of the body she says;

"it's arms were down at it's sides as it walked away"

About BFRO Investigator Linda Jacobson:

Linda Jacobson,
Astronomy educator.