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Since 2002, Geoff Fox has written about the offbeat and dynamic personalities that make Pasco County unique. He is now revisiting them, meeting new characters and sharing more stories. Email
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I Want To Believe
Posted Aug 28, 2008 by Geoff Fox
Updated Aug 28, 2008 at 01:57 PM
I admit it. I want Bigfoot to be real, even if he’s found loping through a conservation area in Meadow Pointe.
When I saw the wire story some weeks ago about a possible deceased Bigfoot from north Georgia being kept in a freezer, I wanted the photographs to show something that looked like a big, dead animal with a sloped forehead, hair thicker than Geraldo Rivera’s moustache and shoulders as wide as these United States.
What I saw, of course, looked like an empty gorilla suit on ice with some guts thrown on top, which is, of course, what it was.
Sigh.
I so want the allegedly smelly creatures to exist that I even spent a night looking for one – or more – in the Green Swamp in Polk County a couple of years ago. In Florida, of course, the bastions of cryptozoology – the study of mythic creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster – are called skunk apes or swamp apes – apparently, the more politically correct term.
The expedition was led by Scott Marlowe of the Pangea Institute, which you can learn about at http://www.pangeainstitute.us or http://www.pangeainstitute.us. Scott says he had his own encounter with a swamp ape more than 30 years ago east of Orlando. He has spent much of his life looking for more, sometimes, he says, with success.
I asked Scott what repercussions the recent hoax might have on the public’s perception of the limited field of Bigfoot study.
“This type of thing always leaves a bad taste in the public’s mouth, because they want to believe, by and large,” he said. “People want instant gratification, [but] things don’t appear on cue. In terms of genuine research [the hoax] does nothing because the scientists doing the work know better.”
While the latest exposed hoax was disappointing, my interest in Bigfoot was reignited.
I looked on the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization Web site – http://www.bfro.net – to once again peruse its data base of alleged Bigfoot sightings by region. The site lists three alleged sightings in Pasco County, the most recent of which was about two miles from Pine View Middle School in Land O’ Lakes.
The 2006 sighting was made by motorists on Parkway Boulevard, near Ehren Cutoff, where the landscape is dotted with small lakes and lots of trees.
You can read the report here: http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=15361.
Anyway, I tried e-mailing the BFRO researcher who investigated the claim but haven’t heard back. In the report, the investigator said she spoke with other people in the area who had similar sightings.
If you, or anyone you know, think you have seen a swamp ape, skunk ape or Bigfoot in Pasco County, please e-mail me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
At the same address, feel free to send me your thoughts on Bigfoot. Do you think the big guy’s out there somewhere? Do you think everyone who has claimed to have seen one is on LSD, simply mistaken or lacking common sense? Do you think a body ever will be found?
And, finally, if you were armed and saw what you thought was a Bigfoot in the woods, would you shoot it?
In the small but remarkably combative community of people who discuss such matters, debates on whether or not to shoot a Bigfoot rage endlessly. To read such discussions, check out http://www.cryptozoology.com, and read some of the forums—if only for the entertainment value.
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Reader Comments
Por (Olive Walker) on August 28, 2008 (Suggest removal)
I think there is a possibility that Bigfoot exists, but it does seem odd that no hard evidence has been discovered. I think that if it does exist, we’ll eventually find definitive proof.
People who claim to have seen one are either lying, mistaken, mentally ill, or have actually seen one.
And I would not shoot one. I think that if they do exist, they would definitely qualify for the endangered list.
Suggest removalPor (William Miller) on August 31, 2008 (Suggest removal)
Remind me to make sure I shave my back before I go shirtless in the N. GA mountains.
K
Suggest removal