YEAR: 2005

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Charlotte County

LOCATION DETAILS: Very primitive..swampy area with a fresh water river, only accessable by boat...We can take you to the place where it happened.

NEAREST TOWN: Arcadia, FL

NEAREST ROAD: US 17

OBSERVED: My husband and I have lived in Charlotte County FL our entire lives. We have camped with our families for over 40 years up the peace river (only accessable by boat) into Desoto county...After Hurrician Charley, We had gone early to set camp and meet friends. Later that evening, we heard an undescribable screem/yell/growl from somethin very big. Because of the number of alligators there, I at first thought an animal was getting bitten and dragged into the water as we heard water splashing and the yell continued and went from sounding hurt and suprised to angry and mad (I had heard for a long time that there was a big foot in that area, but have never heard, smelled, or seen anything...well into our 40's we never thought we would.) The yell lasted approx 5 seconds, going from something sounding like it was hurt fighting and then angry. It made our hair stand strait up. My husband immediately retrieved his gun, and we were very uncomfortable all evening. We have never heard anything like this before...until...we watched a special on bigfoot and the gentleman from florida stated he had audio. When we heard the audio, we both jumped to our feet in shock, as it was the same type of yell we had heard up river...It is a sound you would never forget.

ALSO NOTICED: This sound definately came from a very LARGE animal.

OTHER WITNESSES: Yes..My husband

OTHER STORIES: Have only heard on the special we watched on tv with audio as stated in the letter.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: after dark in the evening....probably around 10:00 pm

ENVIRONMENT: Swamp

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:

I spoke to Mr. and Mrs. B about their experience while camping on the Peace River in 2005. They were excited to tell me of their encounter. It occurred a few months after Hurricane Charley, a class 4 hurricane that had passed over the area. They were not sure of the exact date, but that it was still warm outside.

After canoeing to a secluded spot on the river, inaccessible to anything but boat traffic, Mr. and Mrs. B set up camp Thursday evening on a river bed near a split in the river with plans to stay overnight. They had erected several torches near their tents in order to keep the alligators from approaching.

Around 10pm at night while sitting up they both began to hear splashing noises that seemed to be coming from quite a distance away from the swamp behind them. (They admitted that because of the severity of the hurricane, and all of the downed trees as a result of the hurricane, it was hard to judge the exact distance.) Right after hearing the splashing noises they heard as what Mrs. B described as a ‘Blood Curdling, Chill-Up-Your-Spine’ scream.

They both described the scream as starting at a high pitch, then ending at a lower ‘angry-mad’ pitched sound that lasted between 15-30 seconds. Both of them agreed that it was one continuous sound, not broken into two or three shorter sounds. They both stated that it was like no animal sound they had ever heard before. They are both adamant that no human could have made a vocalization as long, and with such an enormous lung-volume timbre as this sound was. The best way they could describe the screamer was that it was ‘big, very big'. And that it sounded like it was being 'attacked' by something. Shortly after hearing the scream, they both heard a lot of splashing noises again leading back into the swamp.

Both Mr. and Mrs. B have lived in Florida their whole lives, are experienced outdoors enthusiasts and neither have ever heard anything like this before or since. They have both heard alligators making grunting and growling noises and immediately ruled this out, as well as wild pigs, cows and cougars. The vocalization was so terrifying to Mrs. B that she wanted to immediately pack up camp and leave. Her husband was also rattled enough to retrieve his gun, but convinced her to stay, which they did without any further incidences. Needless to say, neither of them slept very soundly until morning arrived.

It was several years later, when they viewed a program on TV about Skunk-Apes in the Everglades, and they heard the purported scream of a Skunk-Ape on that program, that they both stood up with excitement. ‘This was exactly the type of scream we heard’, said Mrs. B. If anyone can suggest what program they were watching at the time we would appreciate it if you would contact us.

This area is on the banks of the Peace River within a half mile from a small subdivision. But the vast majority of this area is comprised of wildlife preserves, watershed conservation areas and rural communities. The area that they made camp on the sandbar next to the river, is comprised mainly of river-bottom swamplands interspersed by occasional hardwood highlands.

Investigator's note-
Since the interview I had suggested that both Mr. and Mrs. B review the BFRO.net data base audio recordings. To date, they cannot find a recording that compares to what they heard. They are both adamant that they heard a similar 'vocalization' on a TV show about the Everglades Skunk Apes, but as yet, this vocalization cannot be found for comparison.

It is highly plausable that the torches they set out around the camp might have attracted the attention of a wandering bigfoot. This is not that unusual, as evidenced in this 2004 WV Report #23437
of a bigfoot that was observed spying on a distant group of people sitting around a campfire.

Here is a photo taken at Peace River to give you an idea of the terrain.

About BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:

Cathy has been a nurse for over 27 years and currently works in a busy ICU. An amateur naturalist, Cathy has been intrigued by the bigfoot phenomenon from an early age.
Attended the following expeditions:
- The 2006 Florida Expedition
- The 2007 North Carolina Expedition
- The 2008 South Florida Expedition
- The 2008 North Florida Expedition
- The 2009 Central Florida Expedition
- The 2009 Utah Expedition
- The 2010 TN Survey Expedition
- The 2011 East Texas Expedition
-The 2012 North FL Expedition
-The 2013 Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition
For more information, please see the Florida BFRO

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