YEAR: 2004

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 6

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Marion County

NEAREST TOWN: OCKLAWAHA

NEAREST ROAD: 441

OBSERVED: This morning we were awaken up by the sound of tapping on what seemed like the window of our bedroom. We have three pit bull dogs and they are very agressive when they hear unusual noises but they were terrified by something outside. My son **** went out to see what the noise was and I followed him. I noticed an awful smell, like something dead or nasty garbage. Then this huge man-like creature ran right in front of us and headed to the woods. I was scared and so was ****. We were both frightened. We just stood there frozen. We have alot of trees on our property and this thing was as tall as our orange tree (about 8 feet). We woke everyone up in the else and kept watching to see it was coming back. We live on 3.6 acres of heavy wooded property on the edge of the Ocala National Forest. I have never seen anything so scary in my life. This creature was dark and hairy and was walking on two feet.
We have just had the storms from Hurricane Frances pass over this Sunday night and the weather has been terrible. We have alot of trees down and power has been out since Sunday. We are hoping this thing does not come back as we are living in total darkness out here and will not have our power restored any time soon. My son's girlfriend is sending this email to you as we need to let someone know what we have seen. There may have been other neighbors in our area that has seen this but we haven't be able to talk to them as of yet.

OTHER WITNESSES: 5 We were sleeping and my husband had just left for work

OTHER STORIES: NO

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 6:15 A.M. IT WAS JUST TURNING DAYLIGHT

Follow-up investigation report:

The tapping sound was noted as being fairly consistent with small intervals between.
There were in total five witnesses to this event and two animals spotted; The first was guessed at being near 8 feet in height with an approximate weight near 400 Lbs. The second smaller one was approximated at 6-7 feet in height with no guess on the weight given.
The first animal was seen at a distance of 40 yards and the second's estimated distance was 60 yards. Both were brownish in color, and the duration of the sighting was about 10-15 seconds.Both animals then ran into the wooded area at what was described as a loping gait.
After they had gone, one of the witnesses attempted to look for tracks but could find none.The winesses dog would not approach during the duration of the sighting.
I found the witnesses to be credible in the retelling of their encounter.