YEAR: 2005

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

DATE: 2nd week

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Collier County

LOCATION DETAILS: I already included in my story.

NEAREST TOWN: down by museum

NEAREST ROAD: alligator alley

OBSERVED: I was camping with family in the big cypress area near alligator alley april week of the 15th. I saw what i thought was a black shadow standing 8ft tall in the woods in front of me. I told my friend and turned my head. A few minutes later looked again and that black thing was gone and i was able to see through the forest. I shook the feeling off then that night is where it began. That night for dinner we cooked chicken legs and turkey meatballs over the fire. My brother left the garbage bag hanging 10 feet away from us and we went to bed. 4am I awoke hearing this strange sound in the far distance sounding 3 miles away. The sound came closer and closer to the point i knew it was heading towards my campsite. I woke up my ex-boyfriend, then my brother in another tent. I said do you hear that sound? they said yes be quiet. The sound was a wailing sound with a heavy breath at the end. I thought it was an alien and my ex thought it was a monster. The sound was horrible, and it got closer and closer to the camp. I heard it go by my tent and head in the direction of my brothers to the side of it, then left and went down a trail path behind our tents. I got up and wanted to look out of the tent window but my ex grabbed me and said are you crazy. The next morning we woke up and talked about it and began to trace the direction where the monster walked. I looked down and found a footprint in the sandy trail it looked like a huge foot both wide and long. Both guys put their foot in the print and it was way bigger than their foot in width and length couldnt be a persons foot. It looked like 4 big toes. This wasn't there the day before. We went up the trail and saw a few more of the prints. When we went home a guy friend of my cousins was interested in this phenomena so i went back with him and showed him where it occured and the footprint but it had slightly been messed up. He took picture but it didn't come out good. I wanted to go back again that year but my ex, brother, and cousin said no way. my cousin said she would have to bring a gun if she ever did go back. This strange happening scared them to death. I did go back with my kids and we were fine, no noises heard that night. I heard on the computer the noises of the skunk ape since the guy told me to listen and i couldn't believe it, it sounded a lot like what we had heard at the campsite. Hope you enjoyed the true story i just told you. I will be visiting it again sometime soon, i would rather not give the direct area since i don't want it to sell out when i need to camp. The location i gave was correct but it is a long radius. Bye Meg

ALSO NOTICED: I asked the worker there after this happened if anything unusual happened here before, he said yes, i said unusual sounds, his eyes got big like he wanted to tell but he wouldn't say what happened.He said weird things have happened.

OTHER WITNESSES: 4 adults heard noise at night when i woke them up. 5 adults and 4 kids saw footprints. 1 of adult slept thru night and didn't hear the noise.

OTHER STORIES: Nope

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 4am dark outside and little chilly.

ENVIRONMENT: near forest, flat land

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Caroline Curtis:

I spoke to the witness and found she was very credible. We will respect her request, not naming the specific campground.

See report #15318 for another incident that took place near this location, including the discovery of a footprint.

Big Cypress National Preserve is 729,000 acres of wetlands, cypress forests, prairies, marshes, hammocks, pinelands and mangroves. The swamps of Big Cypress have an exceptional concentration of endangered and threatened species including the Florida panther. This Preserve borders other state and federally protected country, including Everglades National Park.

The BFRO is organizing an expedition to this area. It has not been posted on the expedition schedule yet, but will happen in January or February of 2008.

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