Skunk Ape

The Skunk Ape or Stink Ape or Swamp Monkey is a hominid cryptid said to inhabit the Southeastern United States, from places such as Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Arkansas, although reports from the Florida Everglades are particularly common. It is named for its appearance and for the unpleasant odor that is said to accompany it. According to the United States National Park Service, the skunk ape exists only as a local myth. Reports of the Skunk ape were particularly common in the 1960s and 1970s.

Myakka photographs

In 2000, two photographs of an alleged ape, said to be the Skunk Ape, were taken anonymously and mailed to the Sarasota Sheriff's Department in Florida. They were accompanied by a letter from a woman claiming to have photographed it on the edge of her backyard. The photographer claimed that on three different nights the ape had entered her yard to take apples from a bushel basket on her porch. She was convinced it was an escaped orangutan. The police were dispatched to the house numerous times but when they arrived the 'Ape' was gone. The pictures have become known to Bigfoot enthusiasts as the "skunk ape photos".

Loren Coleman is the primary researcher on the Myakka photographs, having helped track down the two photographs to an "Eckerd photo lab at the intersection of Fruitville and Tuttle Roads" in Sarasota County, Florida.

Further reading

Newton, Michael (2005). "Skunk Ape". Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide. McFarland & Company, Inc.. ISBN 0-7864-2036-7.
Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America (NY: Para view Pocket-Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0-7434-6975-5), which contains primary historical material on Apes, Skunk Apes, and the Myakka photographs.
The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide, Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe, Illust. Harry Trumbore, ISBN 0-380-80263-5

References

1. Lennon, Vince (2003-10-22). "Is a Skunk Ape Loose in Campbell County?". WATE 6 News (WorldNow). http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=1492976. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.

2. "The abominable swampman". BBC News. 1998-03-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/62786.stm. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.

3. Coleman, Loren. "Myakka Skunk Ape "Letter"". http://www.lorencoleman.com/letter.html.

4. Newton, Michael (2005). "Skunk Ape". Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide. McFarland & Company, Inc.. pp. 430-431. ISBN 0-7864-2036-7.

5. Coleman, Loren. "The Myakka "Skunk Ape" photographs". http://lorencoleman.com/myakka.html.

External links

Smelly Bigfoot: The Skunk Ape at About.com