Seeking Florida’s Skunk Ape
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on December 14th, 2005
Although Scott Marlowe prefers the term swamp ape to skunk ape, the latter is the term usually used when describing Florida’s version of Bigfoot. On Tuesday, the Tampa Tribune ran a front page article detailing Marlowe’s search for the elusive primate.
Ape believer Scott Marlowe holds a casting of a footprint said to have been made by a creature in the Ocala National Forest.
ROBERT BURKE / Tribune
In Florida, tales of swamp apes are about as old as the Suwanee River. Likewise, around the world, stories of Bigfoot, Sasquatch, the Abominable Snowman and similar creatures have been passed down for centuries by indigenous tribes, settlers, hunters and others.
Some believe the stories. Many don’t.
Then there’s Marlowe, 55, of Winter Haven, who not only says he has seen swamp apes but spends his time looking for more.
On his recent outing in the Green Swamp - an expanse of nearly 50,000 acres in Polk, Lake and Sumter counties - Marlowe spent a week in an area northeast of Lakeland. His goal was to photograph or videotape a swamp ape, or at least collect evidence such as hair, footprints or DNA samples.
Scott’s a good guy. Check out his website, the Pangea Institute.
I’d like to post two corrections to the copy in the Tampa Tribune article.
First, the photo of me holding two small track casts is not the same picture as appears in the hard copy of the newspaper. Therefore, the caption attributing the small casts to Ocala National Forest is in error. Those casts are from Texas.
Second, my sighting (from 30 years ago) was in the suburban (then rural) area of Orlando — not Lakeland as the article states.
(I’m getting used to being mis-quoted). Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have or new sighting data at my Pangea Institute e-mail address.
I’d also encourage anyone with new Florida sighting information to post their report in the Pangea Institute Cryptid database so that this data can be included in our research study activities.
Thanks!