Bigfoot Society - Skunk Ape Terror in Florida! | Archives

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

What happens when a Florida researcher spends every weekend in the swamps chasing legends — and ends up face-to-face with the Skunk Ape?In this gripping episode, we sit down with Marie Dumont, founder of the Mid Florida Bigfoot Research Group, who shares her most chilling encounters from across the Sunshine State. From the Green Swamp to the Ocala National Forest and even Jennings State Forest near Jacksonville, Marie has documented structures, footprints, and one unforgettable night when something heavy walked around her campsite — and even bumped her car.You’ll hear about the Skunk Ape’s strange behavior: unzipping backpacks to steal grapefruits, raiding coolers for raw hamburger patties, and turning teddy bears face-first against trees in bizarre “games.” Plus, we dive into the mystery of Florida’s four-toed tracks, why the Everglades may produce a more aggressive Skunk Ape, and how infrasound left one researcher doubled over and sick.More than just a Florida cryptid story, this episode uncovers how legends of the Skunk Ape connect to survival, adaptation, and the hidden wilderness of the South.🗣️ Share Your StoryHad a Bigfoot encounter or strange experience?Send it to [e-mail] – your story might be featured on the show!🎥 Watch & Subscribe on YouTube🔴 Subscribe here → Bigfoot Society YouTube💬 Leave a comment & let us know your thoughts!📞 Leave a voicemail with your story → Speakpipe (Use multiple voicemails if needed)👥 Share this episode → Watch & Share🎧 More episodes → Podcast Playlist🌲 Recommended: New Jersey Bigfoot Encounters💥 Support the Show & Get Perks✅ Join the community on Patreon – Become a Member✅ Listen ad-free & early on YouTube – Join Here📱 Let’s ConnectInstagram: @bigfootsocietyTwitter: @bigfoot_societyTikTok: @bigfoot.society🧰 Tools & Partners I Use (Affiliate Links)These help support the show at no extra cost to you:Beam (Better Sleep): Try BeamWildgrain (Better Bread): Join HereSeed (Probiotics): Get SeedMedi-Share (Healthcare): Learn MoreLMNT (Electrolytes) Free Sample Pack with your first purchase! : Get LMNTOrganic and non-GMO groceries delivered for lesshttp://thrv.me/uarEhS🎙️ Podcasting Tools:Repurpose.io: Try ItDescript: Sign UpStreamyard: Start RecordingRiverside.fm: Try Riverside🎧 My Audio Interface: View on Amazon☕ Buy Me a Coffee – Support Here🛍️ Grab Some Merch – Shop on Etsy📬 Mailing Address:Bigfoot Society125 E 1st St. #233Earlham, IA 50072📧 Business Inquiries:[e-mail]

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See Lose.com for details. Visit your nearby Lowe's on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. You're listening to Bigfoot Society, and I'm Jeremiah Byron. In this show, we go beyond the campfire stories to bring you first-hand encounters from people who say they've seen something impossible. From backwoods trails and remote mountain haulers to quiet farms and crowded highways, the stories come from everywhere, and each one leaves us with more questions than answers. These are the voices of the people who've lived it. So settle in because today you'll hear another account that just might change the way you see the woods forever. So stay with us.

Bigfoot Society. We've got the privilege of talking to Marie Dumont from down there in Florida, Mid-Florida Bigfoot Research Group. How's it going tonight, Marie? Very good. How are you, Jeremiah? I'm doing great. I'm excited to chat with you. I don't get to talk to a lot of people from Florida on the podcast. But can you tell us a little bit about the Mid-Florida Bigfoot Research Group, Marie? Oh, boy. Okay. So I, well, first of all, you can find the Mid-Florida Bigfoot Research Group on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. And I also have a website.

It's mid-Florida-Bigfoot.com. And there you can see, you know, research gallery photos, you know, press and media, there's facts about Florida, there's bios for our team members. So you can get to learn a little bit more about us, if you like. But anyway, I started the group five years ago. I've always been into the paranormal. I've been a paranormal investigator for over 30 years, and it started out with ghost hunting, UFOs.

And then I had some friends who were very interested in Bigfoot. So I wasn't really too interested at the time, but I was like, hey, let me, you know, let me check this out. So it's because of that that I started to go out with them. And we would go to the Ocala National Forest and look around. And what really did it for me was I was on a camp out with my friends and a bunch of probably about 15 other people. We were in the O'Callown National Forest and just a primitive, just a spot we just picked. And at about 1.30 in the morning, we heard this huge vocalization, just one long, lengthy.

It would be classified probably like the classic Ohio bigfoot call. It was unbelievable. And all this happened on the coldest night of the year when we were camping, like I said, at 1.30 in the morning. And that's what solidified it for me. That's when I was like, I've got to look into this. I want to be the one to prove that they do exist in Florida, Bigfoot's and skunk games. So that's how the journey began. Then I started going on Facebook, trying to find a group, a Florida group that specialized in just Florida research.

And at the time, I couldn't find anything. So that was when I decided to start my own group. And, you know, like I said, I've had it for five years. I have over 7,000 members now. and it's just wonderful. It's a place where Florida researchers and individuals can go there, not be ridiculed. They can share their stories. They can share their evidence, share their knowledge because that's what this is about.

This is what is supposed to be about, sharing knowledge with each other because we all have something to learn from one another. So that's why I do it. And it's been wonderful. And I have my own research team. And there's four of us. It's me and Mike Aguilar, Ruby Joe Brew, and Chris Hensley. And we are very dedicated, very serious Bigfoot and Skunkabe researchers. We are out in the field in the swamps and woods every single weekend.

And we have been for the past five years. every single weekend, sometimes more than one day of the weekend. So it's just been an incredible journey, and I'm just so grateful. That's amazing. So every, pretty much, you said every weekend of the weekend. Wow. And is this primarily in Ocala National Forest, or do you guys kind of go around to different areas? We go to different areas.

We're mostly in central Florida, which I'm in, Tampa, you know, Mike is in an area called Wesley Chapelmore, North Tampa. So the places we go to are, I've been to the Ocala National Forest, like I said. But typically we go to areas north of Tampa and Pascoe County. We go to the green swamp, which is over by Lakeland. We go outside of Tampa, which would be around Hillsborough State Park, Morrisbury. Ridge Road, Highway 301. And so we just kind of rotate. You know, we have places that we have found be interesting. And some of the places are very interesting. They never disappoint. Every time we go out there, we will find something very weird.

And so we just kind of like rotate. We rotate around to these areas. but we do have one particular active research area that we've had now for over two years. And you talk about crazy activity. It's been unbelievable. And so, you know, probably maybe about 10 places total in our area. And then we'll go down to the Everglades because David Shealy, is an honorary team member.

He's a Skunkake expert, so he found the Everglades. So we'll go down there and do research with him, or he'll come up to Tampa and go researching with us. So we work closely together with him as well. And so, but we've also been to other places in South Florida, depending on, you know, if we're going to go on a camp out investigation or around Jacksonville, which is, you where we had incredible stuff happening there at Jennings State Forest in February. Dave Shealy is one of the individuals.

I've always wanted to meet him. I'm actually looking forward to meeting him in Oak Ridge. I'm going to be out in Oak Ridge. Ah, yes, yes. So that should be a fun time. There's a lot of really cool individuals that are going to be there. And he is a person I have yet to meet. Oh, yes.

So that'll be a good time. Yeah, it is. You'll like him. He's very down the earth. Um, nice guy. And, uh, we're going, we're also going with him. Um, Mike and I have been asked to speak at the Medelline Falls Bigfoot Festival, which is, um, in Washington. And that's on Father's Day weekend, June 15th.

So that's for a month from now. So we'll be going there and we'll be doing a presentation. about Bigfoot's and skunk apes in Florida. So if anybody is in that area going to that festival, please, you know, attend our presentation. Or if you see us walk around, stop by, say hi, introduce yourself. And, you know, it's going to be great. I wish I was going to the Oregon one too.

Medellene is one of those that always comes up as a one that's really worth it to make the trip out to. So that's pretty cool that you're able to, uh, to get out there to speak for that. There's, there's something I've noticed that you've said a few times and I want to, I want to hone in on it just for a little bit.

Uh, because it's kind of something that's always been in the back of my mind too about Florida. You've mentioned a few times, the terms, uh, Bigfoot and Skunk Cape in the same sentence, but like they are two different things.

So I'm really curious about what you're, your thoughts are as to is skunk a bigfoot or is this two different creatures that we are seeing there in Florida? Well, our team tends to believe that there are two separate species of, you know, we have, the reason why we believe that is the reports in different areas of Florida. are different. So say, for instance, Central Florida to North Florida, the reports are the typical bigfoots, a little smaller. They're usually six to nine feet tall, right? And they are, you know, more muscular. They're beefy. They're, you know, reddish brown hair, five toes and all that stuff. But once you listen, when you hear reports and eyewitness sightings of what's down in South Florida, what they've encountered, they're different. They're very different.

And it seems to be a smaller creature, which is five to seven feet tall and very thin. And it has four toes, not five toes. Four toes. That's interesting. that that comes up in different places as well yes have you found that the two uh one seems to be more aggressive is a skunk ape a more aggressive creature or the big foot in the north of florida more aggressive have you found anything like that in reports um not that much except that i would what i don't know how to say this um skunk apes you know there's

the majority of them seem to be in the Everglades area. The Everglades area is about 3 million acres. Okay. And so that's where it seems to be the biggest population is. So everything in the Everglades is out to kill you. Okay? So you've got Florida Panthers. You've got Hermes Pythons.

You've got other dangerous killer snakes. You have, you know, you have coyotes. You've got all these things. Alligators, crocodiles. You know, it's very hard to, you know, step into the swamps and the Everglades and not encounter something that's out to get you. So that's why the skunk apes seem to be a little more aggressive, probably because they have to be, right?

They have to be in order to survive when you're dealing with all of those creatures, especially alligators and crocodiles and panthers and python snakes. So, you know, but we do believe that the skunk ape could be a subspecies of big foots. Now, there is a, what's it called it? there's a rule called Birdman's Rules. If you've ever heard of that before, that states that the closer you get to the equator, the smaller animals will be. So, for instance, deer.

Deer in North Florida are big. But you go down to like the keys or whatever. We've got a key deer, which are tiny. They're like the size of a dog. very small. But they have to be in order to survive because of the heat and humidity that is down there. You know, something big and bulky and huge cannot survive with all the muscle and the hair and stuff.

It's hot. It's very humid. You know, the feel like temperatures can be over 110 degrees down there. So it's miserable. It's miserable here. It's more miserable down the end. Everglades. So that's that's why there seems to be a difference. Four toes versus five toes. Don't know. Maybe there's been some inner breeding along the way, some kind of defect, genetic defect.

Or if you think about skunk apes, an ape, they probably need longer toes than order to climb the trees, like in the Everglades, to get out of the water, which is always a population. possibility as well. So maybe that's why they got these long four toes. But I'll show you, right here, I have a, it's a copy of a cast that one of my part-time team members found down south. Okay. Here, I'll show it to you here if you can see it. Can you see it? Oh, yeah, wow. See the four toes? Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So it's pretty cool. But that's the kind of thing. And this is a very narrow print as well. So maybe they are that way because they have to climb trees.

And they need toes to be able to climb up a tree, you know, a cypress tree or whatever. In the Everglades, when I was out there with my team a few years ago, we were walking down this dry path where there's water on both sides, right? It's the Everglades. and I looked over the left. I look up in the tree and it looks like a giant hammock, about 10 feet long, maybe 8 feet wide, made with thousands of vines,

like they were all just like clumped together. It would be the perfect place for something to get up there and sleep, to get up there and get out of the water. It was in the water, but it wasn't too far off the dry path. It's the perfect spot. It looked like a hammock. Not saying that's what it is, but it could be used, whether it's a skunk ape or maybe a panther. A panther could jump up there and sleep to get out of the water, you know, the watery conditions.

So, you know, I think when most people think of the skunk ape, they probably think of the Mayaka photo. Yes. And, you know, that kind of has an orangutan. Yes. Yes. Yes. Look to it.

Have you found that in your reports that there are sometimes characteristics reported that are close to what orangutan would look like? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. The majority of the skunk ape sightings are a. a reddish-brown creature. And if you look at that picture of the, you know, the Miaka picture, it is reddish, you know,

in color, but it has some white on its face and stuff like that. But some people have said it kind of looks like an orangutang, but orangutans, you know, don't get to be five, seven feet tall. So we don't know what it is, but. It's pretty fascinating. You mentioned the green swamp earlier, and that's a location that is starting to come up in different bits of media. I've noticed different videos on YouTube, documentaries, etc. Have you experienced any things in that area?

Yeah. And what's really interesting, we've had some, like, paranormal stuff happen out there. really. While big footing. That's where the majority of the stuff has been. So, you know, we found structures. We have found prints out there. Part-time team member of Dr. Bill Hewitt and Bigfoot Dave Miller,

they were camping out there one night. And Dave was in a tent. And his head, something with large hands, put their hands underneath his head and lifted his head up in the tent to where he was at a upright sitting position. And then it gently put him back down. That's not normal. That's not, you know, Bear's not going to do that. No.

I mean, how do you explain giant hands lifting his head through the tent? You know? that's a whole new level of take you out if I wanted to. Absolutely. But. Absolutely. But earlier in the day, they were hiking. And they found a grapefruit tree, a wild grapefruit tree.

And so they were like, oh, cool. You know, they picked a couple of the grapefruits and they stuck it in the backpack. And then, you know, when they were done, they went to the camp. And that night is when this. creature came to their campsite, did what it did with Dave. And then it also opened up the coolers. It took out a stack of hamburgers, raw hamburgers. And so, you know, there's paper between the hamburger patties.

There was a trail of white square papers leading out of the campground. So it was eating hamburgers, throwing the paper down, ate the next burger while it's walking. It was just throwing down the paper. I was eating the hamburgers. Oh, wow. But they checked the backpack. It had taken the grapefruits. It then zipped the backpack, took out the grapefruits,

zip the backpack closed again. So it saw them picking the grapefruits. It's probably his favorite tree, its favorite fruit or whatever food item, and he wanted it back. So he found them and got the grapefruit back and got hamburgers in the process. Right. So extra, extra bonus for him. Were there any tracks found around the campsite? No.

No. Okay. Wow, that's really weird. No, it's just hard. You know, it's just hard and leaves and pine needles and stuff like that. Very compacted. It wasn't a loose, you know, wasn't loose substrate or anything. Hmm.

Has there been a time when you've been out researching in the field and just things got very intense. And you're like, if I could get out of here, I could, I'd get out of here right. I have. I have not. I have not, but team member Mike, he's been hit with Infrasound about two or three times. So he has had that, we got to get out of here. We got to get out of here. Or he'll feel very physically ill.

He'll have to sit down. He'll throw up. And so he's experienced Infrasound about three times total while we've been out. I don't experience the fear. I don't know if it's because of my paranormal background. I've seen all kinds of strange things. So I don't know. I'm just not that fearful.

But I'm sure if something walked, if a big foot walked out in front of me, I'd probably be a little scared. But also fascinated. Yeah. But also very fascinated. Absolutely. What do you think the closest that you've been to? a Bigfoot or a skunkape would be.

Okay. The closest would have been in February when we went camping at Jenning State Forest, and that's by Jacksonville. We went on a weekend camp out there. We were meeting up with Mike Familat from the shadow of Big Red Eye. He's a good friend of ours, and he always comes down the floor and in the wintertime, and we always go out with him. So he picked Jennings because there's been reports there.

And I really didn't know that much about the reports. But we went there on a Friday. And when we got there, it had rained just lightly, not too much. And we became friends with a couple of volunteers who were doing, like, security. They were driving around the campground and stuff like that. If data management is slowing down your business. You need the Intuit ERP. If one entity is here and one here, and one here, and one here, you need the Intuit ERP.

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So everybody was kind of like standing around. talking. And there was a like a forest road, it was all sand. It had been tilled. So it was really clumpy and stuff like that. It was probably tilt, you know, two weeks prior or something like that.

And I had my flashlight. So one of the roads was really dark and creepy looking. And of course, that's going to appeal to me. So I was like, screw it. I'm just going to go take a walk down this path and just see what I can find. You know, it's sand, right?

So I'm looking and I see what looks like a footprint. And I'm like, hmm. And then I'm looking for another one. I find another one. And I'm like, okay, this is in sugar sand. So it's not well defined, but it's enough that you can see the toes. You could see toes. And so I called the rest of the, you know, Mike and Chris over.

Ruby was with me. And I said, take a look at this. I said, this looks like, these look like prints. And this looks like a trackway. And they're like, yeah, it does. And so we quickly did a measurement. The prints were 16 inches long. And the stride between the prints was 54 inches.

So that was like, this is amazing. But it's pitch black. It's like almost midnight. So we stuck a couple sticks on the ground so we could come back the next morning and take a closer look at them, right? So fine, we put the sticks out and then we leave and we go back to our campground. Now, Ruby and I were at one campground. Mike and Chris were at another campground. campground next to us. And then Mike Famolot was at the last campground. Where Ruby and I were at,

her and I were car camping. We were parked probably 15, 18 feet away from each other. So we gave each other plenty of privacy and room, but we were sleeping in our cars. And one thing about me is that whenever I go somewhere, I can never sleep on the first night ever. So here I'm, I'm in my car. But prior to that, for some reason, I asked Ruby, what time you get up in the morning? I don't know why I asked her that, but I did. And she says, I'm around 4.30 or 5. And I'm like, what?

That's crazy. So anyway, so I'm in my car. Of course, I'm trying to sleep and I'm just like, I can't. And it's pitch black. I have shades on my windows and everything. And then probably around four or five in the morning. morning, I hear something loud walking by Peeley on the driver's side of my car. It's just boom, boom, boom, boom. And I'm like, is Ruby up? Why is she walking so loud? That doesn't make

sense why she would be walking so loud. I just hear boom, boom, boom. And I'm like, It's just really weird. And then something bumped my car. I went, whoa, like that. And I'm like, oh, I'm like, I'm still not believing it's anything weird. I'm still thinking it's Ruby, right? And I'm like, why is Ruby bumping into my car? Why is she getting that close to my car?

It's like four or five of the morning. It's pitch black outside. And I was like, wow, that's really. weird. I'm like, huh, this is, I'm not sure about this. So in the morning, when the light, when everything got light, I got out of my car, looked around, didn't see Ruby anywhere. I thought, okay, well, maybe she got up early and went for a hike. In the meantime, I walked down to where Mike and Chris were at their campsite. I wanted to eat breakfast. And so Mike comes out of his tent and he starts telling me about how he couldn't sleep at all that night either, and something bipedal and

heavy walked around their tents and their campsite. And I was like, I had the same thing happen. The exact same thing happened. I said, but it pushed my car. It bumped my car. So it was then that we're like, oh goodness, we have a big foot that's walking around, bumped by car. walk around Mike and Chris's tents. Chris didn't hear it because he was asleep. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. So I go back to my campsite.

Ruby gets out of her car. And I'm like, oh, what are you doing? I said, did you just get up? She said, yeah, I just got up. And I'm like, oh, so you didn't get up at four or five in the morning, like you said. She's like, no, I'm just getting up now. And I'm like, it was definitely a big fit. So after breakfast, we got the trucks.

We went to where the trackway was. And so we could get a better look at it. We brought casting material. We tried to cast two of the best ones we could find. But our mixture, I think, was too thick. I wish it was a little more watery, where it would possibly pick up the toes better. But Mike has an iPhone, and there is. There is an app there called Scaniverse, and you could do a 3D scan of the prints.

And so he did. And it turned out amazing. You could definitely see the toes. It's cool because it's interactive. You can move it around. You can look at it from different angles. You can see how deep it was. And it was a deep.

The prints were deep. They were probably about three inches deep. And like I said, the stride was 54 inches, 16 inches. Prince, and they went for about a quarter of a mile and ended at a creek. So, what an amazing weekend. Amazing 24 hours, right? That is wild. And that was talked about in the Bigfoot Times.

Yes. Yes. Yes. And that's on my wall back there. I can see it right there. Yes. That's awesome. Yes.

Bigfoot Times, March, 24 edition. We made the cover. And because Daniel Perez reached out to me and he's like, who found the prince? And I said, I did. And he was like, I want to talk to you. And so he interviewed me and I sent him pictures and he put us on the cover of the march issue, which was a huge achievement for us. And it was quite an honor to be recognized in that way.

and it's an unbelievable story. So much happened that one night, you know. Definitely if listeners haven't heard of the Bigfoot Times and you like to nerd out about Bigfoot, you need to look that up and get a subscription to it. It's a print newsletter that comes to you in the mail every month and talks about all the Bigfoot stuff that you won't hear anywhere else. So it's very cool.

Yeah, the latest of the greatest news in the Bigfoot community. Yeah, he does a great job with it. He does a great job. So, yes. So that was, that was the closest that I've really ever been to a Bigfoot, him outside my car and bumping his car. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's pretty close.

Like, you can, your car is actually, sounds like it was jostled back and forth. Yeah. Yeah. He was bumped from the back. It was bumped from the back. Okay. Have you been back to that? area since?

No. That time? No. Not yet. Probably next winter, just because it's getting too hot now. And it's about for us, three and a half hour drive to get there. But this time of year, it's not good for camping. It's just too buggy.

It's too hot and miserable. But next winter, we probably will. Okay. Have you heard of similar? situations or sightings in that same area. Is that something you've looked into? Well, I heard a story or read about a story like a couple weeks ago of somebody who went to, they knew about the area.

And they said, what's common? The common reports there are a creature that jumps over the roads. and hangs around the campgrounds. Chumps over the roads. That's a new one for them. Yeah, jumps over the roads and goes in the campgrounds. And I didn't know any of this beforehand. I found this out afterwards.

So when I heard they go in the campgrounds, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's exactly what happened to us. So we were very lucky. Right place. the right time. Have you ever been able to talk to, I mean, guess in Iowa we call them DNR, any forestry workers or any officials, state park employees about Bigfoot activities. Has that ever come up? Or is it a thing where it's?

In that area or just in Florida? Just I guess in any of your areas that you. Yes, yes, yes. We befriended a park ranger. And he's totally into Bigfoot, which is awesome, because you never think about park rangers being into that, you know. And so it was funny because Ruby and I were out doing an investigation over around, where were we at?

Morse Bridge Road outside of Tampa. and I come back to my, oh, it was Chris, it came back to the car, and there was a teeny tiny little Bigfoot figurine that was left by my door handle on my window. And I'm like, what is this? And then a truck pulls up, he's like, hey, I saw your Bigfoot stickers,

and I thought I'd leave you a present. So he was a park ranger. So then we started talking. We talked to him for like an hour and a half. sharing stories, things he's heard, things we've heard, just compared notes, amazing stuff. Absolutely amazing. And so we're good friends with them now, which is awesome. And some of the, there's been reports around outside of Tampa in his area.

And he's heard of three reports of a whitish, grayish bigfoot. It's been seen. And so one of the reports is a lady in my group. And then another guy in my group came forward with a similar story. So I told the park ranger that. So now he knows there's four reports of a whitish, grayish bigfoot that's been seen outside of Tampa in the swamps. And it's been, most of the reports have been in a ditch off the same. side of the road, a very busy road. But it's been very early morning hours that they've been seen.

So it's fun to be friends with the park ranger guy who can get that information. I asked him, I said, what do you guys do with the information? If somebody tells you a Bigfoot story or report, what do you do with it? Do you report it to your superiors or whatever? And he's like, yeah, we tell them, but nothing's ever done with, you know, anything that said. But he himself, you know, keeps it stored up here because he's totally into all that. And then, you know, he'll tell me stuff that as it's reported or as it happens or whatever. So it's a good connection to have. Yeah, that's the kind of guy we all need to have.

Absolutely. It reminds me of like John Hickenbottom from. Salt Fork State Park. He's a naturalist up there, but he's also totally into Bigfoot. He's a great guy. I know he listens. Have you ever heard a report or an account from someone where if it happened to you, you would probably not be going back out into the field?

Oh, yeah. I've heard all those kind of stories before. You know, I'm sure it's possible. You know, I mean, but I'm also not that fearful. So even though I've had other creepy weird things happen when I was a paranormal investigator, you know, maybe I'm a little more immune to weird stuff. But again, I've never had one walk up to me. I'm hoping someday I'll see one walk in front of me at least. But there's a lot of people who are very fearful.

Just the thought of Bigfoot is scary to them. And then if they see anything, you know, they're just going to freak out. I'm not that way. I'm not that kind of person. Yeah, I think that's a good discussion to have because I know that I see that come up in other places. And do you think it's something that we need to be afraid of? whatever this creature is or maybe it's something else we should have, maybe a healthy respect? Well, I think we need to have a healthy respect, but we also have to protect ourselves.

You know, we have to stay on alert because they're wild creatures, right? We don't know what they're doing, what they're thinking, what they're thinking about us. You know, I'm sure they're scared of humans, right? you know, they know we kill animals. They know we tear down trees. You know, we're not a very pleasant species. And we're destroying their habitat. You know, and here in Florida, there's development going up all over the place.

And there's places that, you know, they've become landlocked. They'll be a swamp. and then there'll be housing communities all around the swamp, right? So then the creatures in the swamp, you know, they just, they live there. They can't go anywhere without being seen because of development, houses everywhere. So we've really messed up their habitat, their food supplies have been affected. And it's just not good. So, you know, these are big creatures.

It's just like, you know, you see an alligator. You're not, you shouldn't go up to an alligator to try and pet it. No. Because most likely that thing is going to attack you because it's going to, it's thinking that you're attacking him. So you just need to have a healthy respect for these animals, these creatures, be on alert and protect yourself. Carry protection if you feel you need that, you know. Absolutely. It's just the best way.

to go about that. Have there been any reports of Bigfoot or Skunkake being seen in areas where it's developments because the developments were made just on the edge of a, you know, swamp area or habitat? Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. Well, our active research area is in one of those areas. Oh. That's very land, you know, it's totally surrounded by development.

So you have this big swamp and that's where we have a lot of activity going on. And when I say activity, you know, we, you know, we have some stuff that we, you know, we leave gifts. We leave toys. We leave experiments out there. If data management is slowing down your business. You need the Intuit ERP. If one entity is here and one here and one here and one here, you need the Intuit ERP. If scaling your business feels like start starting over, you need the Intuit ERP.

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We've had all kinds of crazy stuff happen. You know, one of the things is we brought a teddy bear. And the teddy bear had, you know, normal stuffed animals have a white tag hanging off them, right? and it's impossible to tear it off. You normally have to use scissors to do it. And so when we put that out for the first time, a couple years ago, we put it out. We'll go back to the area like once a month.

Every four to six weeks, we just see what's new, what's going on. The teddy bear's been moved. It's laying on the ground face first. The tag was ripped off. off the teddy bear and then ripped in half. Oh, wow. So it did two things. Ripped it off and then ripped a tag in half.

You know how hard it is to rip one of those tags? Off a stuffed animal and then try to rip it in half. It's very, very, very difficult, but that's what happened. So every single time we go out there, we'll still put the teddy bear. we put the teddy bear facing out. We'll put it up against a big cypress tree. We'll just kind of like wedge it down there. And every single time we go out there, check on it.

Four weeks later, it's always turned around. It's always moved and turned around. So its face is up against the tree. Kind of like it doesn't like it. It's like a little game that we play. We fix it and it changes it every single time. Now people are like, well, did you put trail cams out there? I was just going to ask that.

Which we all know if you're a Bigfoot researcher, we know that trail cams do not work. And sure enough, the moment I put out trail cams, all activity stopped. Everything absolutely stopped. And then we're like, this is ridiculous. We can't do this. So we've removed the trail cams. Now everything's back to normal.

We get activity all the time. We have found prints out there. We've had a chicken egg shell left on top of a cypress knee. Crazy stuff. Sticks shoved in the ground at 30-degree angles. Three sticks laid parallel next to each other on the ground across the stick. We've had big sticks that have been bent

around trees and secure it. That's not normal tree fall. Branches don't do that when they fall straight down. They don't bend themselves and wedge themselves very tightly around other trees. Just insane stuff.

Absolutely insane stuff. that's some really weird stuff happening in that area and I'm familiar with the you know when you talk about gifting you know I've talked to a lot of researchers about that but you mentioned doing like experiments and that's kind of a new a new thought to have for me is that is that like what you do with a teddy bear or does that involve other things you were doing when you talk about experiments Yeah, Teddy Bear is one of them. Another thing is I brought a bunch of rocks and I put them in a circle and I had a blue rock in the center of it. I wanted to see if they would stack them because stacking rocks seems to be a northern thing.

Like some researchers in Minnesota, even maybe in the Pacific Northwest, we'll find these stacks of rocks and these streams and stuff like. that. Yeah, we're thinking of the same guy in Minnesota. Yeah, right? Yeah. That sounds like Randy. So I put the rocks. Now, this is going to sound really weird, but we don't have that many rocks in Florida. Okay. All right? It's shells. It's, you know, just stuff. We don't have these nice river rocks that you'll find in a stream up north or in the Pacific North last or even in the Carolina. So, but I had some and I'm like, what the heck? I put them out. I want to see if they stack them. They've never done anything with the rocks.

I also put out an experiment. Somebody had recommended this as I painted, I took these paint sticks, painted them like three of them, red. I painted three of them yellow and three of them green. So I laid out three of the yellows and I put a food item on top of that. And then I just piled up the sticks next to it. I want to see if it's going to copy what I did. And that's a new thing that I've done.

I've tried. So far, nothing has happened. Sticks have been moved a little bit, but not substantial, not enough to say, oh, yeah, this is really interesting. but we're just trying these different little experiments just to see what they do if they'll do anything. You know, we don't know. It's worth trying, right? So it's all fascinating.

But the teddy bear is the biggest experiment, and it's the most fascinating one. It's fun. It's like a game, like I said. It's like we turn it, we correct it, it turns it around. We correct it, it turns it around. That's really interesting. Are you, do you keep your Facebook group up to date with the things that happen from your experiments? Oh, well, I did with the teddy bear.

I posted that on, I think, Monday. I did even like a side-by-site comparison just to show you that this is what it looked like three weeks ago when we put it out. This is what it looked like when we went out there. And we also have done like some videos on YouTube about it. And I'm going to keep track of it more. We have a app that Chris created for us that allows us to track, to capture, document everything that we find. and the location where we found it so that, you know, we could put it on a map. We can see what areas are more active certain times of the year.

Okay. So we have our own, like, database, right? Where we're, you know, documenting if we find a print, if we find a structure, if we hear a sound, a knock, whatever. So we have our own little database where we're just keeping track of all this stuff for future reference. like I said, so we could identify what places are hot certain times of the year. That's great that you are doing it. It sounds like you probably have data from a lot of different parts of Florida since you guys are going to multiple different places.

But have you ever thought or what is your thought as to what Bigfoot? it actually is. I know there's many different viewpoints in the community about what we are dealing with. Obviously, you know, a primate creature. I truly flesh and blood, but I really think that they have special abilities that we would consider to be paranormal. Does that make sense? Okay. So let's say the ability to cloak for humans, that would be supernatural, the ability to disappear, right?

So there's orbs associated with Bigfoot sightings. You know, we've had EVPs happen while we've been, you know, out bigfooting. But I, so maybe it's possible, you know, just think of, camillians. You know, if you would have told somebody 200 years ago, yeah, there's a chameleon that if it stands on a blue piece of paper, it'll turn blue, they would think you're crazy, right? But look at chameleons. They have their masters of camouflage. Whatever they stand on, their skin will change the color to match it. So Bigfoot's could very well have something like that. It's interesting to think about it. I think

there's also some octopus that are able to do that as well. Absolutely. Yes. They'll change their skin color to match the rocks, the coral that they're on. I mean, to imagine a creature the size of a big foot, having the ability to maybe kind of be like a chameleon in a sort of way, that's even more frightening to me. I mean, a massive animal that could just blend into any.

anything. Yeah. It's pretty wild to think about, but I don't, that's not out of the question. I don't think anything's out of the question. Anything's possible. Maybe they can turn a certain way in their hair can make it look like they disappear, you know, like a gilly suit or something. I don't, I don't know, but I do believe they do have special abilities that, like I said, we would consider paranormal. Absolutely. Have you done any research outside of Florida or are you just sticking inside the state so far? I'll research wherever I go. So I did some research in Utah when I went to Phenomicon, the Phenomicon conference over in Vernal, Utah. And I met up with a Bigfoot researcher there. And he took us out. into the forest outside of Vernal.

And yeah, sure enough, I found the teepee structure. Amazing. Wow. Amazing. And it was so crazy that we were driving down the road. And I saw, I was looking at some bushes. And I was looking through the bushes. And I saw some sticks and clusters.

And I said, stop the car. Stop the car. And they were like, what? I said, I need to go over here and take a look. I get out of the car. go take the look behind the bushes, sure enough, there's a teepee structure. And it was just incredible. So I found a teepee structure and one area that had a lot of arches.

Didn't see any prints, but the teepee structure was the coolest thing that I found over there in Utah. and I'm hoping to go again and go back in the woods over there and take a look around a little bit more. But yeah, if I'm in Tennessee, I'll go, you know, I'll take whatever time I can get to go exploring. I'll go out on my own. I'll drive around or let's get out of the car and just start walking. Is Vernal out by, is that by the Uenta Basin at all?

Yes. That's where Skidwarker Ranch is. Okay. I had, I was like, I have a feeling it's close. Wow, that's really interesting. I know those guys are all involved with Phnomicon. At least they have been in the last year or two. But were you able to go out in that area at all? What?

Skimwalk a ranch or? To go to the ranch, right? No, I wish. You can't just walk. You can't just walk on to the ranch, right? Yeah, who wouldn't want to go skinwalk a ranch, right? I don't know. I would.

I've been to the gate. I've been to the gate. Okay. I've been to the gate. It's cool. Yeah. So I don't know. That freaks me out with the whole Thomas Winterton, the stuff he went through with his.

Yes. He had some serious cranial things going on. Absolutely. Yeah. I had. When I walked up, the reason why I got to go to the gate was I was on. I paid for a tour. Okay.

Perimeter tour of Skimwalker Ranch where you drive around on the bus with some of the cast members from the show. So I had Dragon on my bus at one point. And then I had Thomas. Yeah. And Dragon is hilarious. On the show, he's all tough and looks mean and stuff. But he's the funniest guy on all the team. And he's a hoot.

He's hilarious. And Thomas is wonderful, too. So they switched off. So we got to hang around and go around with both. But part of the thing is they park, they allow you to walk up to the gate. That's as far as you can get. And then Dr. Travis Taylor met us at the gate on the other side. He pulled up in his red jeep.

And so he was talking to us through the gate. And, yeah, which was. which was a lot of fun. So, yeah, I love it there. I love Vernal. But the forest is wonderful. Lots of Sasquatch reports there. Absolutely.

In the woods, the forests outside of Burnell, 100%. Lots of Sasquatch reports. How far away are those forests and woods from the ranch area? I don't know. I would probably get about maybe 20 miles. Yeah. probably i just i just love uh and this is where it's the end of the show where we're we're kind of rabbit trailing and it's all right because it's skim walker ranch but i love the old story about

how they see the portal open up and the bigfoot type creature comes out of the portal on skinwalker ranch says i that's one of my favorite anecdotal stories yes and uh i mean you can only imagine and hope that there would be more bigfoot stories at some point on that property I mean, I don't know. But hey, if anyone listening knows, let me know. I think they actually, one of the guys, he's one of the Ute deputies, the Forest Guys. I think he even captured a vocalization out there of the Bigfoot. So a Sasquatch.

So it's. fascinating. And when we go to Medellene Falls, we're going to be spending a week there. So we're going to be going out in the woods every single day. We have some researchers who want to meet up with us and take us out, which is awesome. That's great. Because we know nothing about the area. I was going to say, hopefully you got some local researchers. It's going to be a little bit different than Florida for sure. Yes, absolutely. It's going to kill us because we're used to flat land. not mountains, but it's going to be a wonderful time. And we're hoping we already have plans to meet up with a few researchers who want to take us out or they want to meet us for lunch or dinner. So it'll be great.

It'll be really awesome. That's very cool. Maria, I want to say thank you for hanging out and talking about Bigfoot and Skunkapes down in Florida. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Bigfoot Society podcast. Every encounter we share reminds us that the world is bigger and stranger than we think and that the truth is often hiding just beyond the tree line. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to the channel on YouTube, hit the bell so you don't miss the next episode,

and share this with a friend who's into mysteries, monsters, or the unexplained. And if you're listening to us on Spotify or Apple Podcast, please follow the show there and leave us a five-star positive review because all that helps more people discover the show. And remember, if you or someone you know has had a Bigfoot siting, please I'd love to hear from you. So email me at Bigfoot Society at gmail.com and let's start the conversation. If you haven't gotten a chance yet, check out our membership community over at www. www.bigfootsocietypodcast.com.

And that's where you can hear tomorrow's episode today, early and ad-free, and members-only episodes every week. Also, it's a place to connect with other people that are into the Bigfoot subject as much as are. Thanks again for following along with the Bigfoot Society. Until next time, keep your eyes open, trust your gut, and never stop asking what else might be out there and see you in the woods. If data management is slowing down your business, you need the Intuit ERP. If one entity is here and one here and one here, you need the Intuit ERP. If scaling your business feels like start starting a starting over, you need the Intuit ERP.

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