YEAR: 1974

SEASON: Summer

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Palm Beach County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was around where the turnpike meets PGA Blvd

NEAREST TOWN: Palm Beach Gardens

NEAREST ROAD: PGA Blvd. by the Turnpike

OBSERVED: We were gonna go camping in the woods. It was a wooded area with a canal along one side that had a dirt pile next to it from digging out the canal. The dirt was high and very steep, almost straight upward. We were setting up the tents and I looked out into the open field that was about 100 yards away and saw a very tall, I'm not sure what to call it, thing running across the field. It stopped for about 30 secs and looked toward us and then ran straight up the dirt pile very fast to the top, stopped and looked again and ran away. This thing had no problem at all running up it. It was very tall, had long arms about to its knees. Had long brown hair all over it. It actually was very man-like but definitely not human I don't believe.

OTHER WITNESSES: There was about 6 of us setting up a campsite. We did not stay after seeing this.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: About 4 pm

ENVIRONMENT: It was wooded with a man made canal and a large open area.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

I spoke to the witness by phone. Although this was many years ago, she remembers certain details because it was so bizarre.

It was the summer of 1974 - the year South Florida was having many Skunk Ape reports. See Report #44837.

A time when South Florida was still very undeveloped, the Everglades were experiencing a record drought, and wild fires.

The exact date cannot be recalled. The witness and her friends were going to camp in an area off PGA Blvd, west of the Turnpike. At that time, there was no development in that area. The Army Corp of Engineers was digging canals from the Everglades to the coast, trying to control water flow. Dirt piles from the dredging were dumped alongside the man-made canals sometimes for months before they were hauled away. The place they chose to camp was close to one of these dirt pile canals. See Google Earth image:



It was late afternoon and they were setting up camp when someone called attention to a figure running away from them. It was less than a football field away but was clearly bipedal and too large to be human, and the arms were extremely long. It was uniformly dark brown in color. It seemed to come out of the brush, and ran up the large dirt pile along the canal. It turned to look at them before disappearing over the side. They were standing to the north; it came out of the east running west, then turned and headed south. The witness’ father was 6’8 and the figure she saw was much taller and wider than him. The witness and I together estimated that the dirt pile must have been about as tall as a three story building.

Resembling a human, they knew it was not, and although it resembled a gorilla, it looked more human. She decided not to camp that night.

Her story correlates with similar stories in the area at the time. See Report #414, Media Article #697, and Media Article #692.

About BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

Re Monteith has had a life-long interest in Bigfoot and has an extensive background in outdoor land and ocean survival as well as mountaineering. She has tran-sailed the Atlantic, backpacked in remote places throughout the world and has climbed three of the seven summits. She studied International Relations at Florida International University, and is a Financial and Real Estate Consultant. She has participated in many private expeditions as well as the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 BFRO North Florida Expeditions and the 2013 BFRO UP Michigan & Alabama Expedition. She also organized Florida's 2017 Town Hall Meeting. She was an Executive Producer of the documentary film, "Skunk Ape Lives" and featured as a Crypto Expert on The Science Channel's television show, Strange Evidence for seasons 2 - 5.