Geographical Index > United States > Florida > Lee County > Report # 20333
(Class B)
Submitted by witness on Wednesday, July 18, 2007.
Possible Nighttime Encounter by Girls on Horseback north of Ft. Myers
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YEAR: 1983
SEASON: Summer MONTH: July DATE: 07/01/1983 STATE: Florida COUNTY: Lee County LOCATION DETAILS: North on Highway 31 to what used to be Cook and Brown Road. NEAREST TOWN: N. Ft. Myers/Riverdale NEAREST ROAD: Highway 31 OBSERVED: I have just happened upon your web site and I am amazed at all the encounters in Florida. I just finished reading one from the Lee County area that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I grew up in Lee County and had two unexplainable (until now) experiences that I have never forgotten.
The first, that after reading one of your articles, I now feel very strongly that I was being followed by a "Bigfoot." I lived on about 100 acres that butted up to Cecil Webb (a Game Reserve of apprx. 15,000 acres, in Charlotte County, FL.) A friend and I were taking a nighttime horseback ride down the dirt road that I lived off of. There where large ditches on both sides of the road, with woods and cattle pastures, all up and down this road, which was probably about 10 miles long. She and I were talking about what 15 year old girls talk about, when our horses started acting spooked and getting very nervous. Shortly thereafter, I noticed that something was walking along side of us in the woods on the other side of the ditch. I could only hear it because there was not quite half a moon and it was a cloudy night. I knew that there was a cattle pasture there and at first dismissed it as maybe being a cow, which would have odd seeings that cattle usually run in the other direction when seeing a person on horseback, but it was possible. But the pattern in which it moved didn't sound like a cow, the area was pretty thick with trees, palmettos and such and whatever it was had no problem staying right with us and we were on open land. We weren't really scared yet, but we picked up our horse's pace a little and began to gallop, I knew there was a cross section coming up in the fence and figured whatever it was would be stopped there. My girlfriend and I had our horses in a pretty good gallop at this point, but we were extermely shaken after passing the cross-section of fence and it was still there. It seemed as though it never missed a stride. At this point we both let out screams and were now at a full run, crossing several more fence lines, only to have it stay right with us. It only stopped when we reached the edge of my property and it was no longer wooded. By the time my parents calmed down two screaming, crying, freaked out teenage girls, we went out in the truck and saw where something had been, but never saw what it was. Needless to say, that was the last time I've ever been nighttime horseback riding.
ALSO NOTICED: I vaguely remember a different odor, but my horses smelled it long before I heard it.
OTHER WITNESSES: Just my friend, and unfortunately we kinda lost touch after high school. OTHER STORIES: I read an article on your web site about a girl walking a trail in the woods and hearing something walking parallel to her about 10 to 15 yards away in very thick conditions and it not seeming to have any trouble keeping up.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was somewhere between 11:30 and 12:30. It was less than a half moon and cloudy, kinda hot and humid. ENVIRONMENT: A mixture of thick woods, flag ponds and open cattle pastures.
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Caroline Curtis:
After speaking to the witness I'm convinced she and her friend were paralleled by an unseen creature, just outside the Babcock-Webb Wildlife Area.
About BFRO Investigator Caroline Curtis:
- Worked as an Assistant to a Circuit Court Judge in Florida for thirteen years
- An avid outdoorswoman, growing up in the UP of Michigan on a family-owned fishing and hunting resort
- Certified Visual Tracker, Level 1
- Attended and assisted with numerous public and private BFRO expeditions
- She and the Florida BFRO organized South Florida Expedition 2008, North Florida Expedition 2008 and Central Florida Expedition in 2009.
- She and the Michigan BFRO organized the Lower-Michigan Expedition in 2011, Michigan UP Expeditions in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018 and Wisconsin 2018
- BFRO Secretary for almost 20 years
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