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Geographical Index > United States > Florida > Brevard County > Report # 29529
 
 Report # 29529  (Class A)
Submitted by witness Dennis on Sunday, June 19, 2011.
Fishing guide with clients approached by a Florida Skunk-Ape in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

YEAR: 2011

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: May

DATE: 4/15/2011

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Brevard County

LOCATION DETAILS: North Mosquito Lagoon
[Investigator (MM) Notes:
The GPS of incident location: 28.933120, -80.843010

NEAREST TOWN: New Smyrna Beach

NEAREST ROAD: A1A

OBSERVED: I'm a fishing guide in Florida for over 25 years and spend apx 200 days on the water a year. On a charter last month I had a Delta pilot and lawyer on my boat. As we poled into a remote area of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, I noticed something bent over and walking up a sand bank, apx 100 yards from us. It was just after good daylight.

I thought bear?,hog? as it walked closer one of my clients noticed it and said,"What the fu** is that?" I was speechless. It had walked to within 40 yards of the boat. It stood straight up and faced us for about 15 sec. It took 3 steps, turned sideways and looked at us over it's shoulder for another 10 sec, then walked into the mangroves. The Delta pilot then said "That was a f***ing sasquatch!"

It was apx. 6/7 ft tall with reddish brown fur. It was built like a side-by-side fridge, very square. Its face looked more cave man than ape. The wind was in our face and we were silent in my flats skiff. I think that is why he didn't know we were there. He seemed to be hunting the sand beach for food.

OTHER WITNESSES: yes 2

TIME AND CONDITIONS: apx 7a.m. clear warm, wind N/ne 5/10

ENVIRONMENT: mangrove swamp with dry palm islands

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator David Wright:

This witness was interviewed for over an hour on July 10, 2011. He was found to be entirely credible and believable. The witness' responses to variable questioning concerning this incident produced no indication that this was a fabrication, but a description of an actual encounter.

On a particular morning of May 2011, the witness was fishing with two clients; a commercial pilot and an attorney, in an area known as Mosquito Lagoon. As he was poling his flats boat quietly near the shore of a mangrove hammock at low tide he observed something up the bank, approaching them at a distance of about 100 yards. Its color was reddish brown.

This went on for about a minute and half. He first thought it might be a feral hog or possibly a bear. It was not standing upright at this time. It was bent at the waist with its long arms hanging down and swinging back and forth with its fingers curled, apparently searching the sand for shell fish and/or crustaceans.

When it reached within 40 yards of the boat a client blurted out the expletive reaction mentioned in his story. After that outburst the creature turned and faced them and stood fully erect. The guide was struck by its wide build. He said to himself "That thing is as wide as my side-by-side refrigerator/freezer!" Its torso was broad, square, and thick. "Very stocky and muscular".

He says its face looked like a guy with "a ZZ Top beard". It had no hair on its forehead. This frozen stare lasted around 15 seconds before the creature turned and continued several steps, then turned back to look over its shoulder and might have made a subdued snort as walked silently into the mangroves.

The witness stated that he had seen large footprints on the sandy banks in this area before and wondered at the time, "Why would somebody come back in here to fish from the shore?" He commented that on these previous occasions he surmised that the large size of the prints had to do with the soft sand, or tidal wash of the prints.

The specifics and physical characteristics of the encounter and the creature were as follows;

- The total duration of the sighting was about 2 minutes.
- Winds were N, at 5-10 knots and they were downwind of the creature.
- The creature walked bipedally, bent forward at the waist, swinging its arms back and forth over the surface of the sand of the intertidal zone at low tide, as though it were searching for shellfish or crustaceans in the sand.
- The size of the creature was estimated at 6-7' tall. Over 300 pounds. Very stocky and muscular. Noticeably thick in the torso but not fat. Its shoulder width was about 4 1/2'. Its chest was over 2' thick, front-to-back.
- Hair was dark reddish brown, approximately 10" long. The hair hung down "like the hair of a collie dog." It had long hair coming off its head, no hair on its forehead, and a distinguishable, mustache and beard.
- It's skin was brownish black.
- Its nose was flatter that that of a human, but not really ape-like; "more like a cave man" nose.
- It had a slight brow ridge, but not protruding.
- No ape-like muzzle
- Its head was oval, taller than wide but no distinct conical crown was noticed.
- Ears were not noticeable through the fur.
- No neck was noticeable from the front, however it was noticed when the creature turned and looked at them over its shoulder upon its departure.
- The creature's arms were proportionally longer than a human, with the inward facing palms approaching knee length at fully erect posture.
- It had observable hair on the back of the hands and fingers. Its fingers were slightly curled inward when standing erect. They were curled up more as the animal walked bent over, apparently looking for morsels of food in the sand.
- Its stride was short when bent over looking for food, but with longer steps in retreat.
- Upon its retreat, the creature turned back at them as it strode away, giving an airy grunt or exhalation in their direction.
- It left them by entering very quietly into the mangroves and was no longer visible.

I strongly believe this witness and his clients encountered a Sasquatch, or what is locally called Skunk-Ape.

The habitat of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge provides a wide variety of habitats, including coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks, with dynamic salinity changes with varying rainfall and tidal flow. These are among the most biologically productive ecosystems in North America.

This refuge supports 330 species of birds, 117 of fishes, 65 of amphibians and reptiles, 31 of mammals, and 1,045 species of plants. The bio-abundance of Florida’s Atlantic estuarine ecosystem supported tribes of hunter-gatherer humans for centuries. This productive environment could easily support a small number of large wild primates today.

About BFRO Investigator David Wright: