YEAR: 2014

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: Sept 9

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Sarasota County

LOCATION DETAILS: Just over the bridge

NEAREST TOWN: Arcadia

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 72

OBSERVED: The witness does not have a computer, so I asked the witness to fill out our report form by hand. This following is what she wrote:

I was driving home toward Arcadia on HWY 72 around 8:30 pm. I thought I first saw a deer to my right, but then I realized it wasn't a deer. It was a bigfoot and it was huge! I had to hit the brakes, it was so close to the car. It ran across the street and looked at me! It crossed in two steps. It had long dark brown hair. The hair was not shaggy, but smooth like a dog. It ran so close to my car, at my car, it seemed as if it was trying to purposely cross before me.
Once I passed by it, I stopped the car and got out. I didn't see anything, but smelled a musky smell. I called my kids while I stood there on the road.

ALSO NOTICED: I thought I saw a deer at first. Maybe it was chasing one?

OTHER WITNESSES: one person, returning from a meeting

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 8:30 clear night.

ENVIRONMENT: Myakka State Forest, creek, cow pastures. Two lane road with no street lights or buildings.

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

On September 9, 2014 the BFRO received the following voice mail:

“voicemail#47021"

I returned her phone call, and was able to speak to her for several minutes. Her sighting was very recent and I could hear in her voice the eagerness to tell me what she had witnessed.

On the night of September 9, 2014 she was driving from Sarasota east on Hwy 72 towards Arcadia around 8:30pm. The sun had set that night at 7:21 p.m., so it was still twilight. Hwy 72 in this area is an undivided two-lane road. It has no street lights and passes through Myakka River State Park, woods and swamps. Google Earth image of the area:




View Larger Map

Just after crossing over Horse Creek she caught moment to the right (south) of the road. She started to slow down because she caught a glimpse of a deer. As the car got closer she no longer saw the deer, but a bigfoot. The bigfoot was not “deer colored” which was what she initially noticed when she first slowed down, but black, bipedal and much larger. She is not sure where the deer ran to, but the bigfoot took her attention and proceeded to cross the road in front of her. The bigfoot turned and looked at her as it ran less than 15 feet in front of her car and crossed in a 2 step-like “leap”, moving right to left. It seemed to duck into the scrub once it was across. If she had not stepped hard on the brakes, she felt she would have hit it. She said that the bigfoot seemed to run in front of her purposely, as if it were playing “chicken.” She did not see the deer again, stating that it was a completely different color, shape and size than the bigfoot and she had no doubt that she saw that too.

She described the bigfoot as having black shaggy hair. She emphasized, “shaggy, not fluffy. It was like a dog.” She told me it was “huge!” And a comment she made several times was, “I can’t figure out how they stay hidden when they are so huge!”

I asked her how tall she thought it was and she admitted not being good at guessing but her father is 6’5” and it was much taller than him. She described the shoulders as being, “as wide as my mama’s dodge!” She described the face as very human looking with tan colored, leathery looking skin, a flat wide nose and dark eyes.

She drove 20 yards or so past it and pulled off the road. She got out of her car, she heard nothing but smelled a musky odor. She called several of her children to tell them what she had just witnessed.

Several days later I met her at her home, met her children. Her son commented how she had called them that night telling him what she had seen. I questioned her on getting out of the car. I have never spoken to a witness that had showed such courage. She said she didn't think about it and didn't feel fear immediately; she was just so shocked to have seen something that "wasn't real," she just didn't consider danger until a few moments later when she looked down and noticed a stick that could have been a snake. She admitted to being frightened of snakes and that is what made her realize she should leave. She admitted that after thinking about it, apprehensiveness set in and she had not driven that road since. She was a bit nervous to return with me.

I brought a book with pictures of dog breeds as she couldn't think of the type of dog that had the similar fur. She looked through the book and pointed to a Golden Retriever. “The fur was like this, this length, but black,” she said. See photo:



The witness and I then drove to the location. She repeated her encounter to me. She reiterated that it really seemed to her as if the bigfoot purposely leaped in front of her, when it didn’t have to.

As we drove to the location, she repeatedly stated that it was “huge.” She claimed to know it was a bigfoot the moment she saw it. She admitted not believing they were real creatures prior to seeing it. She admitted to not knowing very much about sasquatch and asked more questions than any witness I have interviewed.

At the location I took these photos:

Looking east on Hwy. 72 -



Looking west on Hwy. 72 -



There are cow pastures and an orange grove in the immediate area.

There have been many sightings around the Myakka area. See Report #39014 and Report #8561.

In March 2013 this "Myakka Skunk Ape" YouTube video was taken inside the park. It shows a dark bipedal figure running in the field.



Thank you to Michigan Investigator Jim Sherman for his assistance, allowing us to share the voice mail in this report.

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.