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For centuries, Florida's Seminoles called them the Esti Capcaki (Tall Man). Today, they are known as

The Skunk Ape – Florida’s Bigfoot For centuries, Florida’s Seminoles called them the Esti Capcaki (Tall Man). Today, they are known as the Skunk Ape and Palm Beach County has had its fair share of sightings. Understandably, most people are skeptical that such a creature ever existed. Sightings peaked in the 1970s as residential construction began encroaching on their habitat, driving them further into the Everglades. Regardless, some of these sightings were very credible. The average Skunk Ape has shaggy reddish to dark brown hair, stands approximately seven-feet-tall and weighs in the vicinity of 400-500 pounds. Then, there is the smell — described as a revolting mixture of wet dog, skunk and rotting eggs. The Skunk Ape is reported to be a carnivore and Seminole legend says the Esti Capcaki (pronounced Estee Jap Jaki) was cannibalistic. The earliest published report of a Skunk Ape (the term was coined in the 1960s) was from Suwannee County, east of Tallahassee, in 1942 when a man said that one of the creatures hitched a ride on the running board of his car for nearly a half a mile before jumping off and racing into the woods. In 1957, three hunters said that one of the creatures invaded their camp in the Big Cypress National Preserve east of Naples in the southwestern corner of the state. The distance between Suwannee County and Cypress National Preserve is nearly four hundred miles. There have been multiple Skunk Ape sightings in Palm Beach, Hernando, Pasco, Monroe and Collier Counties. In 1973, American cryptozoologist Loren Coleman suggested the Skunk Ape be added to the extinct genus, Dryopithecus. <img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-8186 aligncenter" src="https://westpalmbeach.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Big-Cypress-National-Preserve.jpg" alt="Big Cypress National Preserve" width="871" height="706" /> Dave Shealy first saw a Skunk Ape in 1973 when he was nine-years-old, a few years after his father discovered a set of huge footprints. He was deer hunting with his brother, Jack, in the Big Cypress National Preserve. “It was walking across the swamp and my brother spotted it first,” Shealy recalled, “But I couldn’t see it over the grass. I wasn’t tall enough. My brother picked me up, and I saw it, about a hundred yards away. It looked like a man, but completely covered with hair.” Today, Shealy owns and operates the Skunk Ape Research Center in Ochopee, a small town adjacent to the Big Cypress National Preserve. He believes there are seven to nine of the creatures inhabiting the Everglades. Just after midnight on January 9, 1974, Richard Lee Smith slammed his car into something near the intersection of U.S. Route 27 and Hollywood Boulevard on the eastern edge of the Everglades in Pembroke Pines. Smith told the Florida Highway Patrol that he initially thought he’d hit a tall man in dark clothing, but was stunned when a seven or eight-foot-tall hairy creature lifted itself off the road, roared at him and charged his car. Smith gunned his engine and took off. Over the next few hours, drivers in the area reported seeing a limping giant walking along U.S. 27. Officers were dispatched and at 2:12 a.m. a Hialeah Gardens patrolman reported a huge, hairy creature limping along the road a few miles from the accident scene before it disappeared into the brush. At dawn, police searched the swamp with two helicopters, but failed to find anything. <img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-8188 aligncenter" src="https://westpalmbeach.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Key-Largo-Mangrove.jpg" alt="Key Largo Mangrove" width="891" height="668" /> Vietnam War veteran and former police officer Charles Stoeckman, his wife Leslie and three children lived on the ocean side near mile marker 94.5 on Key Largo. On July 14, 1977, Stoeckman and his thirteen-year-old son Charlie were collecting bottles in the thick red mangroves behind their home when they caught sight of an enormous eight or nine-foot-tall Skunk Ape. “It had a huge head and shoulders,” Stoeckman said. “Long fur all over and it stank like a dirty wet dog. The noise he made was a high-pitched wailing.” Stoeckman cleared thirty feet of brush from around his home to discourage a return visit, but the overpowering stench of the Skunk Ape persisted over several nights. Then local law enforcement received a call about a massive creature crouched beneath the cover of a shed on the Stoeckman property. Monroe County Sheriff Deputy Bill Haase, Florida Marine Patrol Captain Jack Gillen and Sgt. Randall Chinn from the Plantation Key Substation investigated. “There is definitely a problem there,” Officer Chinn reported. “These people are truly scared to death.” Mrs. Stoeckman fled to Homestead with their three children after catching a glimpse of the creature thirty feet outside her bedroom window. Although no trace of the Skunk Ape was found, Charles Stoeckman slept alone with his shotgun for almost a month before rejoining his family in Dade County. At 2 p.m. on Wednesday July...

The Skunk Ape – Florida’s Bigfoot - WestPalmBeach.com