The Skunk Ape

The Sunshine State has beautiful beaches, thrilling theme parks, and great nightlife; but did you know we are also home to the elusive and mysterious Skunk Ape?

As you head west on U.S. 41 toward Big Cypress National Preserve, you'll pass Clyde Butcher's Art Gallery and the United States' smallest post office, then you'll reach the official Skunk Ape Research Headquarters in Ochopee on Tamiami Trail near Naples.

"A lot of folks coming here, the first thing they ask is, 'What is the Skunk Ape'? explains Jack Shealy. "The Skunk Ape is the southernmost relative of Big Foot, like a Yeti or a Sasquatch. All of the stories over the years add up to sightings of some sort of large mammal in the Glades."

Dave Shealy insists that there are 7-9 Skunk Apes currently living in the Everglades.

"There have been Skunk Ape spotted on the Loop Road which is in the Big Cypress Preserve. Some of the most well covered sightings were in Davie, Florida which Davie is grown up now, but back in the 60s, and 70s there were a lot of Skunk Ape sightings in the Davie area," explains Dave.

"The legend of the Skunk Ape here in the Florida Everglades goes back hundreds of years, all the way back to the indigenous cultures, and my father has spent the better part of 20 years trying to find out if there's any truth to that," says Jack.