YEAR: 2016

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

DATE: 13

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Sumter County

LOCATION DETAILS: We were parked at the back of Escapees Sumter Oaks RV Park next to the bath house. It is just swamp past where we were parked. Also, the park was very empty since the snowbirds had just left.

[Investigator (MM) notes:
Coordinates for where RV was parked:
28.603131382114906, -82.17952436577005

NEAREST TOWN: Bushnell

NEAREST ROAD: County Road 673 and I75

OBSERVED: I grew up in the country and we stay in mostly rural areas as we travel the country. This means I am accustomed to most sounds made by animals.

My husband had gone to bed at midnight but I stayed up to watch TV. At around 4:30 am I heard a loud, deep, nasal “ah” grunt outside the RV. This sound woke our 4 cats and 3 of them ran to the buffet window to look out.

This window faces the direction the sound was heard. Thirty seconds later, there were 2 more “ah” grunts, followed by 3 more approx. 20 seconds later then 5 grunts 15 seconds after that.

The cats did not look frightened but were very interested in the sounds or something out the window. It sounded as if it was about 100 feet away. (I was in the living room at the back of our 43” 5th wheel so am using that as a comparison.)

The only light on in the RV was the TV. I decided I did not want to look out so I turned off the TV and went up to bed. The cats stayed in the window. Approximately 5 minutes after climbing in bed, I heard 2 distinct knocks on the front passenger side of the RV.

I know this sound because my husband will knock on the RV when we are unhooking to let me know the tanks are drained. I did not wake up my husband and I decided to ignore all of this and go to sleep.

Two nights later I went to bed before my husband. I was lying there reading on my iPad in the dark, when I heard the same “ah” grunt twice but it sound much farther away and in the swamp area this time. It was around midnight. I called my husband into the bedroom but we did not hear it again.

Right after he came into the bedroom, I lifted the blind on my side of the bed and looked into the swamp. I thought I saw eye shine about 5 feet off the ground and in the area that is full of water. The light source was the weak light from the bath house which was next to our RV on the driver’s side. I looked at my husband and by the time I looked back, the eye shine was gone.

We left 2 days later and no further incidents happened in that time. I researched native Florida animals and listened to a variety of calls/sounds including donkeys. None of the sounds came even close to what I heard nor have I heard a sound like this before.

OTHER WITNESSES: My husband was sleeping and did not hear the noises.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Night, very dark, not raining

ENVIRONMENT: Swamp past the park.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

The knocks she describes are what separates this report from a potential misidentification of the vocal sounds. Those two things combined make it a solid Class B incident (only creatures with arms can make loud knocks).

The activity at this RV park also intersects with what we have suspected about this part of Florida for many years.

There is a history of reports (including encounters with members of the BFRO) along portions of the Withlacoochee River in the Green Swamp, a few miles to the south of Bushnell. We suspected that bigfoots follow that river and use the Withlacoochee Trail to do it.

In other parts of Florida we suspect bigfoot ("skunkapes") use the green belts of Florida National Trail, due to the number of reports within a few miles of that trail.

This RV park is two miles off Interstate 75, at the first off-ramp after the Withlacoochee River. It is off by itself in an area of forests and fields and small swamps, right beside the greenway we have long thought the Green Swamp bigfoots use to move north.

The location is within three (3) miles of where the Florida National Scenic Trail INTERSECTS with the Withlacoochee Trail. That junction of trails makes this a high probability area.

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email ContactUS@BFRO.net