SO EP:673 The Florida Skunk Ape

In this episode, we’re heading deep into the muggy heart of Florida — into the swamps, forests, and backroads most people only see from the safety of an airboat. Out here, under the cover of night and cypress moss, something moves through the shadows. Something big. Something that hundreds of people claim to have seen over the last two centuries — but science still refuses to acknowledge.

We’re talking about the Florida Skunk Ape — the Sunshine State’s answer to Bigfoot, and one of the most unsettling mysteries still hiding in America’s wilderness.You might think Florida’s too developed for anything unknown to stay hidden. But across generations, the reports haven’t stopped. Law enforcement officers, hunters, families, and veterans have all described seeing the same thing: a massive, hair-covered figure with glowing red eyes and a smell so strong it made their stomachs turn.

These aren’t campfire tales — they’re official reports, eyewitness accounts, and in some cases, physical evidence collected by people who had everything to lose and nothing to gain by speaking up.

We’ll explore nearly 200 years of sightings and encounters, from frontier settlers in the early 1800s who described “man-sized monkeys” raiding fishing camps, to the terrifying 1929 incident at the Perky Bat Tower, where something powerful enough to shake a thirty-foot structure drove out every bat inside. We’ll look at the case of two Palm Beach County deputies in the 1970s — both seasoned outdoorsmen — who came face to face with a seven-foot creature while investigating livestock attacks.

They even recovered hair samples caught on a barbed wire fence. You’ll also hear about the Vietnam veteran who, in 1977, watched an eight-foot creature emerge from the mangroves behind his home and was so shaken that he cleared thirty feet of brush from around his property just to sleep at night. And then there are the photographs. In 2000, an elderly woman in Sarasota County sent two chilling images to the sheriff’s office, showing what appeared to be a reddish-brown, ape-like creature crouched behind her backyard.

The so-called Myakka Photos are still being analyzed and debated over two decades later.We’ll talk about Dave Shealy, the man who’s dedicated his life to proving the Skunk Ape exists — running his Skunk Ape Research Headquarters in the heart of the Everglades. His 2000 video footage of a creature running through the swamp is still one of the most-watched cryptid videos online. But this episode goes deeper than the sightings.

We’re asking why so many people — trained law enforcement officers, hunters, and locals — believe they’ve seen something that modern science says shouldn’t exist. We’ll dive into the psychology, the skepticism, the cultural roots of the legend, and even the Seminole people’s stories of Esti Capcaki, the “tall hairy man” that predates European settlement by centuries.

By the end of this episode, you’ll feel the humid air, hear the buzz of the swamp at night, and maybe understand why so many Floridians won’t step foot into certain parts of the wilderness after dark. This isn’t just another campfire tale. This is a journey through real encounters, credible witnesses, and the enduring mystery of something hiding out there in the heart of Florida’s wild places.

Whether you’re a believer, a skeptic, or somewhere in between, this episode might just make you slow down a little the next time you’re driving through the backroads of the Everglades after sunset — especially if you see a pair of glowing eyes staring back at you from the tree line.This is the episode the swamp doesn’t want you to hear.

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