YEAR: 1975

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: June

DATE: 20

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Dade County

LOCATION DETAILS: Highway 27 (Krome Ave) south of Tamiami Trail, but before Homestead.

NEAREST TOWN: Redland

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 27, South of Tamiami Trail

OBSERVED: As told to the Investigator by the witness:

"I was driving south on Hwy 27 in Dade county. It was after 10:00pm, but before midnight. I saw a "hairy man" crawl from the water, stand up and walk across the road. He looked very human, in a distorted way, and was very large."

OTHER WITNESSES: I was driving and was the only one who saw it. I had three kids sleeping in the back seat.

OTHER STORIES: Only years later.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Late night. There were no street lights or other cars. Warm June night. Two lane road in the Everglades.

ENVIRONMENT: Highway 27 is on the end of the Everglades. At that time there was no development, only swamps and farm land.

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

For several years, my high school friend has been telling me about the sighting her aunt had in 1975 while she was in the car with her. I’m pleased and honored that I was finally able to speak with her aunt and document this extremely close encounter.

On a Friday night in 1975, “Aunt” was driving her niece, nephew and son from Ft. Lauderdale to Homestead AFB on Highway 27. This was a route she drove every Friday night, returning to Fort Lauderdale every Sunday as her husband lived in Homestead and weekends were spent at the AFB.

At that time, HWY 27 was the edge of the Everglades, a two lane road which was without streetlights. There were no stores, or buildings. You were literally driving through swamp land. The road had a canal on either side, however, on the west side past the canal was the Everglades dike that runs along the road. There was little traffic day or night. It was a road mostly used by truckers.

Aunt remembers it was the last school day in June. They had played a softball game before heading south, she thought it was between 10:00 PM and 12:00 AM. The children were sleeping in the back of the Ford Pinto station wagon as she headed south on HWY 27.

With her high beams on she was south of Tamiami Trail on the part of HWY 27 that is called Krome Avenue in Dade County when she noticed something to the right of the road crawling up the embankment from the canal. She slowed down in order to not hit it in case it darted out. When she was about 25 feet away from what she thought was a four legged animal, it stood up on two legs and crossed the road in front of her car. Her first thought was, “What is a man doing out here?” Then she realized it wasn’t a “regular man.” The man appeared to be very large with hair all over its body instead of clothing. It also had a human-like but distorted face.

It appeared to be about 8 feet tall with a “husky” build. She describes him “as larger than a football player with all the gear on.” It was obviously wet, with 4 ½ inch hair covering its body. The color of the hair was a mossy brown "like the color of a dead palm frond." It had a thick neck and a purposeful arm-swinging gait as it walked.

Her car slowly passed it once it crossed to the other lane. It was about 5 – 6 feet from her window, on the far edge of the other lane. As the car rolled by, it turned to the right swinging its arm as if it needed to in order to turn its body toward her. By this time, her car was almost at a stop and they stared at each other. She said "he" (she referred to it as a he) looked down at her with dark eyes that seemed to have a curious, surprised look. It seemed as startled to see her and she it. Aunt says she will never forget the way "he" looked at her.

It then looked down to the ground, turned and walked into the canal. As she drove the car away she reached behind the seat, smacking the kids awake, yelling to them she had just seen, “A big hairy man!” (My school friend confirms this.)

When pressed further about its face, she said every feature that she could see appeared very large and distorted, not like a normal human. The nose was large and wide, as was the mouth. It did not have hair on its face. His head was large and the neck was very thick. She does not remember seeing ears.

Aunt is of Native American heritage and grew up on Ontario Island. She had never heard of a skunk ape, sasquatch or bigfoot before seeing this creature. For many years she thought of the creature as just a “Hairy Man” and still refers to him in that way. It wasn’t until years later someone told her that what she had seen is regionally called a skunk ape.

Report #1719 takes place on the same highway, and almost the exact spot, just a few years prior.

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.