Searching for Sasquatch 19: Tracking Skunk Ape in Alligator-infested waters with Frank Costantino.

[00:00:00]Attention all viewers. The program you're about to watch, Searching for Sasquatch, is for entertainment purposes. Accounts described by guests are claimed to be true and accurate.

[00:00:10]Some names have been changed to protect individual privacy. Jason Kenzie is an expert animal adventurer with 25 years of field experience. Caution and companionship is advised for all who venture into the deep forest or back country.

[00:00:29]In my last documentary, I journeyed to the heart of Florida to team up with Tim T, a retired military explosive expert and elite tracker. Together, we plunged deep into the unforgiving swamps in search of the legendary skunk ape, a towering bipeedal monkey human hybrid whispered in the local lore. Along the way, we uncovered massive footprints pressed into the mud. undeniable signs that we are not alone. Now, we're headed to Tim's secret location, a place known for intense and unexplained activity.

[00:01:08]This is where the real hunt begins.

[00:01:16]Take a look at this.

[00:01:24]That is an alligator slide right there.

[00:01:28]>> All right. Right here's the spot where I have my game camera. This is it right here, Jason.

[00:01:33]>> So, I have my game camera sitting right here about right here where my hand is.

[00:01:38]So, it's facing this tree right here.

[00:01:40]No.

[00:01:40]>> So, it came up from behind.

[00:01:42]>> No, it it came from that way. It looks to looked to it looked like it came from back that way keeping the trees as cover so it couldn't be seen. Yeah.

[00:01:58]So if you stay there, you should be able to see what if you put this tree to your back.

[00:02:14]Put this big tree right here to your back.

[00:02:18]>> Yeah. Right there.

[00:02:19]>> Just >> And then it was the camera was pointing at this tree here.

[00:02:23]And then this this tree to it left.

[00:02:26]>> Okay.

[00:02:26]>> Yeah. And then to Jason, that tree where Jason is, >> all three trees kind of combined to hide it.

[00:02:45]>> It turns out that if the tree that was broken in the video, >> okay, >> is You'd have like two of us, >> maybe three of us. It would take that much power >> to bring it down.

[00:02:58]>> To bring it down. So, you know, I'm going to show you.

[00:03:01]>> Okay.

[00:03:01]>> Come, come.

[00:03:07]>> I'm still not saying this was pulled down by skunk cape. Maybe it just fell because of its age. The thing is, it's still alive. It's not rotted out.

[00:03:23]So, it was hiding behind that tree.

[00:03:25]>> Yeah.

[00:03:26]>> Then it pulled it down >> and it's like it knew >> Yeah.

[00:03:30]>> It knew that it couldn't be seen by the camera.

[00:03:32]>> Yeah. Chris's other cameras. He had three cameras over there. They were pointing off in different directions.

[00:03:39]>> Now, why isn't there footprints though?

[00:03:42]So, >> well, it's rained since then.

[00:03:45]Oh, >> it rain Monday.

[00:03:48]>> So, it would have walked out anywhere.

[00:03:50]>> So, it would have came from that way.

[00:03:52]>> Yeah.

[00:03:52]>> So, this is actually pretty incredible.

[00:03:54]The This is why it's important to come to the exact area uh where the encounter happened. That way, you can look you can look and see the situation.

[00:04:06]I I can't believe how big this is cuz in the the video it doesn't look that big.

[00:04:13]It looks much smaller. This was way up here in the video.

[00:04:17]>> Yeah, it was. Yeah.

[00:04:18]>> This is awesome.

[00:04:19]>> That's at the end of the video, too.

[00:04:21]>> Yeah.

[00:04:21]>> Yeah.

[00:04:22]>> That's the one I Yeah.

[00:04:23]>> And deer will not pull this down.

[00:04:25]>> That's pretty.

[00:04:27]>> It looks freshly snapped, too.

[00:04:29]>> Yeah.

[00:04:30]>> So, we're actually going to do a reenactment now. Tim T is going to put up the tree cam and then we're going to have Tim T stand in that bot and even lift up the branch. It'd be awesome to get that comparison. I still can't say it's made by, you know, a skunk ape, but when you see the video, it's very interesting how when it gets pulled down, think about you grabbing a a tree or like a small like a branch or whatnot and trying to break it and you have that nice smooth all the way down. Then you get to a point where it's really tough and then snap. This only happened 3 weeks ago.

[00:05:10]That's in the ground really good.

[00:05:15]>> So this is the one that broke. So this was up high, >> right?

[00:05:26]>> The best thing about watching this video in real time is seeing the size difference. Even a 9 ft creature can still hide behind these trees.

[00:05:36]>> Jeez.

[00:05:39]I don't maybe four of us could do it, >> right?

[00:05:43]>> But the fact that >> and it grabbed it grabbed it right here.

[00:05:48]>> Oh, did it hit it?

[00:05:49]>> No, it came off the other one when I was over.

[00:05:52]>> So, it grabbed it right here. That's where it grabbed it and it grabbed it and it pulled it down.

[00:05:56]>> It pulled it down >> at the same time. It held itself directly with this. And after after it did this, it stayed there.

[00:06:08]Unless, and I know this is going to sound strange, unless it was truly cloaked, you know, not that I'm on board with cloaking, but you know.

[00:06:19]>> Yeah.

[00:06:19]>> How else do you think it was able to get there?

[00:06:22]>> Yeah.

[00:06:23]>> And be able to pull. And we're talking about a creature. It's supposed to be at least realistically 8 ft tall and probably about 700 lb.

[00:06:32]>> Yeah.

[00:06:32]>> Mhm.

[00:06:34]>> Like the width of the shoulders. I don't know how it would be able to hide itself, right?

[00:06:41]>> Yeah. Cuz there's actually three trees right there that in line it would have it would have had to use to hold to to conceal itself. Well, even then, I mean, >> but then even with with me moving around, I think you're going to see me move around some.

[00:06:55]>> Exactly.

[00:06:55]>> Side to side. Yeah.

[00:06:57]>> I mean, I could have done it because I'm 100 lb wet.

[00:07:00]>> The video when the video triggers is for one minute >> and there was no other noise once this broke. So, I wonder if it stood there >> and waited for the camera to go off and then it left.

[00:07:11]>> It was like It was like cutie human in my territory. Crack.

[00:07:21]And it looked like it was um like broke from up high here.

[00:07:25]>> Yeah.

[00:07:26]>> When it broke, it looked like it was from up here.

[00:07:28]>> Grabbed it.

[00:07:29]>> Uhhuh.

[00:07:29]>> And it pulled it.

[00:07:30]>> Pulled it.

[00:07:31]>> And it was smooth.

[00:07:32]>> Yeah.

[00:07:33]>> Because it was still kind of alive.

[00:07:36]>> And then you hear the crack.

[00:07:38]>> Okay. So, we're ending it for the day.

[00:07:40]We're going to head back to the vehicles. Well, on the way back, it didn't take long for us to find another one of these strange tree structures.

[00:07:50]It baffles me. What are making these tree structures? And why are they making these tree structures?

[00:07:58]>> What's it being held down by?

[00:08:00]>> We have a little held down by pine tree.

[00:08:18]I wonder what that means. Like I really do.

[00:08:21]I mean, this ironically is 100%, you know, put here with something with with thumbs, right?

[00:08:29]>> Yeah, it is. Yeah.

[00:08:32]>> Human.

[00:08:32]>> Yeah, possibly.

[00:08:34]>> That pocket naturally fell. Maybe someone is hoaxing us. Well, just hoaxing Bigfoot researchers.

[00:08:39]>> Mhm.

[00:08:40]>> Right. Because it's all around. It's on TV. They see it. They're like, "Well, let's go hiking. Hey, let's uh let's do a tree structure." And you know, we know, you know, someone's going to come around eventually.

[00:08:52]>> Mhm. So, see, Florida just had a hurricane not too long ago, and there's a lot of tree damage, but I can almost guarantee there's no way a hurricane did that with that tree with the loop.

[00:09:17]Okay, I think we're going to head back to the vehicles.

[00:09:22]We're going to wait till nightfall.

[00:09:25]I am so glad there's no spiders here.

[00:09:31]This is going to be exciting. Tim and I are going to go for a walk in the forest. It is I want to say maybe 8:00 in the evening and we are going into snake infested.

[00:09:45]Not really spider infested. I didn't see too many spiders.

[00:09:50]There's a lot of wild hogs out here.

[00:09:53]They can be extremely dangerous and I can barely see anything with this damn monitor light in my face. So, what are you hoping to find? Right up in here where we're going in. I have found footprints up in here like 11 in around 11in footprints and I've also found a 18in footprint. The day I found the two 18inch footprints in here, um, I got on down the trail just a little bit more that same day and I got hit with them for sound and my wife was standing right beside me and it didn't affect her any >> really just me.

[00:10:35]>> Okay, take a look. There's a >> There's a wild pig.

[00:10:41]>> Does affect pig? Yeah.

[00:10:43]>> Yeah.

[00:10:48]So remember everyone, what we're doing, you need to leave it to the professionals. I'm going to call them right now.

[00:10:57]>> Just in case you missed my introduction to Tim in my last documentary. Here is a quick recap.

[00:11:03]>> So tell me a bit about yourself.

[00:11:05]>> Well, I'm Tim T. I'm Tim Turner. I go by Tim T or Tim in Florida. So I've spent a couple years in the military in the United States Army. I have seen two different ones running on separate occasions. One was at night, one was in daytime. It was as big as I am, maybe a little bit bigger, and it was almost like a blur. It was running so fast.

[00:11:26]>> And the one at night?

[00:11:27]>> The one at night was red. And u it was it was uh on the left side of a trail.

[00:11:34]>> As you're here talking to me, you truly believe that out there there are creatures known as skunkape.

[00:11:42]>> Yep. Yep. I know they're true. I know they're real.

[00:11:48]>> It didn't take long before we started finding oddities that tell us that these creatures might just be close.

[00:11:55]>> I could have put that there too as close to camp as we >> it is. But look at that one up there.

[00:12:00]>> That one's been placed and it's been Look, it's been twisted.

[00:12:06]>> It's been twisted.

[00:12:09]>> Yeah, that's been twisted.

[00:12:13]and then put into an axe.

[00:12:17]>> Yeah.

[00:12:17]>> Right.

[00:12:18]>> Wrong. Yeah. An axe. Yeah.

[00:12:20]>> And this one >> I thought was a vine at first and really it There you go.

[00:12:28]>> I just destroyed it and now the big butts are going to kill me.

[00:12:33]>> Oh, what was that?

[00:12:38]song.

[00:12:38]>> As soon as I tore down this branch, something beside me ran into the forest.

[00:12:44]>> And now, hello.

[00:12:53]Hello.

[00:12:55]I am sorry for pulling that down, but hello I heard something.

[00:13:13]>> Yeah.

[00:13:13]>> Something like moved.

[00:13:15]>> Like something moved. Yeah.

[00:13:18]>> As soon as I did that.

[00:13:19]>> Mhm.

[00:13:22]Oh, look how hollow it is back here.

[00:13:31]Hello.

[00:13:33]Hello.

[00:13:39]We are friendly. Well, except you know I destroyed your ax, so maybe I'm not that friendly. I found an animal trail right here. And it looks like Is that Oh, yeah. Look at this.

[00:13:52]It's an animal trail.

[00:13:54]I'm not going to lie. As I moved through the darkness, I was terrified. What could be lurking behind the next set of bushes?

[00:14:04]Yeah, there's marsh here. So, uh we're friendly. Um if you want to eat anyone, uh Tim probably tastes delicious.

[00:14:18]Well, this would explain why there could be something back here because it's so open.

[00:14:23]>> It is. Yeah, >> it is so dense here.

[00:14:26]>> Yeah, it is.

[00:14:45]Then out of the shadows came a blood curdling howl.

[00:14:54]Wow, they're close.

[00:14:58]I am having the best time out here in the Florida green swamps with Tim T searching for evidence of the mysterious skunk ape. We have just hiked into an area where Tim has found large tracks he believes are made by the crypted themselves. We find a tree and as soon as I tear it down, things start moving in the forest. Howls come screaming out of the forest.

[00:15:26]Coyote. Yeah, >> we got coyotes.

[00:15:33]>> Before I move forward, I'd like to discuss something. I know these howls were made by a family of coyotes, but the very first howl sounded deeper. Both Tim and I could feel the vibration through our chest.

[00:15:49]And besides, there was no yapping or barking before the howl. I've heard stories of Bigfoot mimicking coyote howls to blend in. Well, either way, this was a very cool experience. I've never been so close to a family of coyotes.

[00:16:16]Wow, they're close.

[00:16:19]Woo!

[00:16:22]Woo!

[00:16:36]That's so cool.

[00:16:38]>> There's babies, too.

[00:16:42]>> They're close, though.

[00:16:43]>> Yeah, they're all >> They're like just maybe 100 100 yards.

[00:16:47]>> Yeah.

[00:16:50]>> Woo. Woo!

[00:16:58]Well, that was awesome.

[00:17:00]Did I say something wrong?

[00:17:15]>> That was That's odd. They just stopped, >> you know.

[00:17:19]>> Yeah.

[00:17:21]So, I'm feeling as if something's going to roar at us.

[00:17:24]>> Yeah, I got a sign for them.

[00:17:25]>> For the next 45 minutes, we never came across any more signs of waddling. So, we decided to turn in for the night.

[00:17:34]Tomorrow was going to be an adventurous day packed with hundreds of alligators.

[00:18:00]As I'm sitting here pondering, what the heck am I doing here in the swamps of Florida surrounded by alligators? I must be crazy. Heck, yes, I am. I'm also remembering all the eyewitnesses I've interviewed over the years about their skunk ape encounters.

[00:18:18]>> I'm Pamela Esper. I'm with Bigfoot World Crypts of the Paranormal of Central Florida. Um, this is probably one of my favorite areas. Uh, it's a Native American burial ground. Uh, I'm an anthropologist, so to me, I love anything Native American. Um, so this is probably a great area. We did have a sighting here. I did not see it. Two of the researchers did. I was with them.

[00:18:44]Um, it came out in front of us, crossed the path.

[00:18:48]>> I'm James Whitfield. And at uh, at the time I was a student in high school.

[00:18:53]>> Was it during that time that you had your encounter?

[00:18:55]>> Yes, it was.

[00:18:57]>> Tell me about it.

[00:18:58]>> So, I had these two guys go out with me one night down behind Juniper Springs, and I had a little spot there that I like to camp at. It was a little spring with a big log by it. and I've been out there several times. So, we was out there that night and uh you know doing our thing, having cookout and everything, sitting around talking and I happened to look up and I seen this guy standing out just outside of fire light.

[00:19:24]I kept watching and and he was circling our camp just staying outside a fire light and you couldn't really see him too good, but it was like a dark shadow moving around out there and he went around us a couple of times and then he stopped off by this one big tree and he just stood there and these other two guys were just freaking out. They were they were they couldn't handle it no more. One of them even pissed all over himself.

[00:19:52]>> Really?

[00:19:52]>> Oh yeah. He he did a dumber and he was about to panic and everybody else. And >> so was he was he thinking that it was a Sasquatch?

[00:20:01]>> We didn't know what it was.

[00:20:02]>> We thought it was somebody getting ready to come in and try to take our stuff.

[00:20:06]And then you don't never know what somebody would do out in the middle of nowhere, you know.

[00:20:10]>> And at the time I told them to make sure that they brought their brought a gun.

[00:20:15]And I had me a gun. I had a a single shot 12 gauge with a 3-in slug inside magnum load. And I hollered at the guy and told him, I said, "You need to get out of here and leave us alone." Well, he just stood there. I said, "I got a gun now. I'm will shoot if you try to come in here." Cuz we were panicking. I mean, I I was scared, too. Pretty scared.

[00:20:41]And the guy started making walks toward us. So, I shot him right in the stomach with that slug.

[00:20:49]>> Hi, my name is Kathy Westerman, Bigfoot World Crypted in the Paranormal Researchers of Central Florida. I research in the Ocala National Forest as well. We do have a lot of weird stuff that goes on in our forest and I one time I casted this handprint here in August the 22nd of 2020 and I still research in this area and it's a very active area. We have a lot of experiences paranormal wise and Bigfoot wise and creature-wise. So, there's a lot of, you know, stuff going on in our woods.

[00:21:18]>> Hi, I'm Kim. I'm from Ocala, Florida. It was a Sunday afternoon and there was a few of us riding around in the woods and there was a certain spot we would like to go to where the bears would rub on the covert. So, we would always turn the trucks off to kind of sneak up on them and maybe get a whiff of the bears. I used to love that smell. And there was also some dog boxes up there. So you'd always go check on your dogs. So we'd turn the truck off and we'd coast down.

[00:21:49]And we were the first truck.

[00:21:51]>> Was this daytime?

[00:21:52]>> This was daytime about 1:00 in the afternoon. It was a bright, sunny afternoon. It had been raining that morning though.

[00:22:00]>> So um we coasted up to the dog boxes.

[00:22:04]And as we got up there, I kind of looked around and I glanced this way and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, y'all look." I seen him run up the road. It was a clay road.

[00:22:13]So, I seen him running up there. He did a couple four or five steps up the road and um just sprinted right off into the woods. So, we started the truck up and darted up that road. When we got up there, we stopped the truck and we seen the footprints. It was uh big footprints. He had a big six-foot stride.

[00:22:38]>> My name is Todd Brown. I'm a licensed builder. Years ago, I used to break and train horses for a living. Many weekends during the winter months, I'd trailer my horses out and we would stay at Hopkins Prairie in Yokala National Forest. And this time, I just had the one horse with me. He rest his soul. His name is Buck.

[00:22:53]He was a wild mustang. and I was taking him from Hopkins Prairie to Hidden Pond to teach my desert dwelling mustang how to swim. So, we were north of Pats Island on the Florida Trail. We walked out into this prairie north of of Pats Island and there was these pelmet bushes sticking away from us about 50 yards away from us and a skunk ape was standing in front of the pelmetto bushes. First my horse saw him then I saw him and um I used to train karate so I know sizes. So he was about six and a half foot tall, about two and a half to about 285 lbs to 300 lb, skinny waist, broad shoulders, his fingertips past his knees, and as soon as he turned and looked at us, he did a back dive into the palmetto bushes, and we heard him go, "Thunk." So just then, my Mustang's instincts taken off. So he goes hauling butt, and I'm pulling him back. So, I heard thunk again, which now tells me the guy who landed on his back, the skunk ape who landed on his back is now perched down in the palmetto bushes watching us.

[00:23:57]There's nothing like camping out on an island with hundreds and hundreds of alligators all around me. This is exciting.

[00:24:10]Now, is a, you know, a 900 lb monstrous crypted somewhere around here?

[00:24:20]Possibly.

[00:24:24]Am I going to experience it tonight?

[00:24:28]100% maybe. But this is what I live for. I live for adventure, you know, right? I live for the mystery of trying to solve, you know, this mystery. I know I said it twice. I don't care. I'm still going to put it into the documentary. I mean, this is incredible.

[00:24:50]I know I've said it so much today, but it really is. Nothing scares me.

[00:24:57]What was that? What was that?

[00:25:02]Before I continue with why I was on an island surrounded by alligators, let's go back 24 hours. I was excited to meet Frank Constantino. He is the owner of Swamp Addiction, a company where he takes people out on his airboat and teaches them about the conservation of the Florida wildlife. In his heart, this is very important. He has also had his own encounter with the legendary skunk ape. Get ready. This is going to be an epic ride.

[00:25:39]This area of vast wilderness is so beautiful to venture through with all kinds of different species of birds to fall in love with. But it really blows my mind to see how many alligators are in this vicinity. And the best part is Frank is taking me to where he had a terrifying encounter with the ultimate swamp monster. Wait till you hear his story.

[00:26:26]The water was up to about here. It was standing right there.

[00:26:30]>> And you were physically in your boat when you saw it.

[00:26:33]>> And that's why, you know, as we were going by, it actually took off that way.

[00:26:38]>> So, so let's walk up and have a look at that area.

[00:26:43]So, we're going up to the spot where he saw this skunk creature. And you say that it looks different than some of the other skunk uh creatures that people have seen.

[00:26:55]>> Yeah, it looked pretty ominous. A lot of it's probably because it was at night as well.

[00:27:01]And um one of my friends uh that came here with me uh part of the seminal tribe, he said there's a lot of medicine up on top of this hill. And then there's several uh citrus trees like you see one right over there. There's several of the citrus trees here. There's another one behind you.

[00:27:22]>> Okay. Well, let's go have some orange juice.

[00:27:24]>> Yeah. Right. Um they they're empty right now. Looks like something's already grabbed them. So, where did it run up to? Which direction?

[00:27:32]>> It it went that way. It was literally where we're standing where it was at right here. Stood up and went that direction. And the way it pushed us cuz it was kind of squatted down. It was facing me the whole time, looking at me the whole time. Stood directly up and then turned and took off. This is like a little airboat trail where people come up and park up here. So, you know, it's a pretty common hangout to be honest with you to have something like that happen. And you know, that's why when some of my friends question my sighting, I know this whole river. I could take you to places that are extremely remote that you could say nobody's walked here in years because everybody doesn't go trumping through all the areas. Um, this place right here is our hangout.

[00:28:29]So, it was really odd and unexpected to say the least.

[00:28:35]>> And it's it's vast out here.

[00:28:38]>> Nobody goes in there.

[00:28:39]>> Yeah. It's protected and some of the area is so harsh you can't traverse it anyhow. I mean, you couldn't by foot. By airboat, we can go through some of it and all.

[00:28:53]Um, if you look at that tree line back there, that's actually an indentation where the water goes in, but this literally goes all the way to Highway 95. And then on the other side of 95, it's all protected. So, you truly believe that night you saw a skunk ape?

[00:29:12]>> Oh, I can't unsee it. There's period.

[00:29:15]And I had another passenger with me. I mean, it actually helped me mentally being able to talk to somebody because when we sat there and talked about it because I'm not familiar with them.

[00:29:29]Yeah.

[00:29:29]>> It wasn't something I'm not a researcher. The only thing I know about Bigfoot's Jack Lynx commercials. I I have no knowledge. So, I didn't know what it was.

[00:29:39]>> So, the guy that's with you, who is he?

[00:29:42]>> Uh Chris. He's my son-in-law, and he had rode with me that night.

[00:29:46]>> Does he still talk about it to this day?

[00:29:48]>> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. But like I said, it wasn't something that we thought, "Hey, look, there's a creature. Let's go look at it." I thought it was an alligator. I mean, you see how many alligators are out here? They're everywhere.

[00:29:58]>> So, I the the thing that made it odd for me is, like I said, it was up here on the hill. As Frank was taking me to where we're going to spend the night, yes, the night surrounded by alligators, I could see in Frank's eyes that he was so excited to show me what makes him the happiest. I can tell that he loves it out here. Well, I can't wait to get to where we're going to be camping. I'm hoping that we can find some evidence of these giant monstrous cryptids that people have been seeing for years.

[00:30:54]We're here.

[00:31:04]After arriving, Frank and I worked as a team putting up the tents.

[00:31:27]building a fire and chilling listening to the nighttime critters. It is so nice to relax and get to know the man who spends 75% of his time protecting these swamps. Well, this didn't last too long because I mentioned I didn't drink coffee, only tea. So, Frank made a decision to run to the corner store to get me some of that beautiful golden nectar.

[00:31:55]Heat.

[00:32:04]Heat.

[00:32:26]Okay, so uh Frank is now gone and I am all by myself.

[00:32:39]Damn, that thing is so loud.

[00:32:51]It's going to get quiet in a second.

[00:32:55]Too quiet.

[00:32:58]And the fire went out.

[00:33:23]Haha. Forest. Look, it's dark forest behind me.

[00:33:44]So, if there's any creatures out here, they're going to get me before they get him.

[00:33:58]Over there in the forest, there was a big snap.

[00:34:04]And I'm hoping that that was my stomach that growled.

[00:34:10]Oh, I see a spider on the ground. It's spot the ice eye ice shine. But yeah, definitely there was something in the forest right here. Big crack.

[00:34:28]I'm not really that worried, but I could have sworn I heard a growl.

[00:34:38]And I don't even have a knife. Like, he gave me a knife, but the thing is about this big. So, I don't know if you see it's about that big.

[00:34:48]So, hopefully it's it's nothing. I I burnt myself, too, actually. Damn it.

[00:35:01]I thought I saw something move.

[00:35:11]Yes, I am.

[00:35:16]If a monster comes by, what am I supposed to do?

[00:35:21]I wish I could sing, but I can't.

[00:35:25]At least I'll film myself get ripped apart by a big hairy creature. May it be a skunk ape or maybe a panther.

[00:35:36]Do they have chipmunks here?

[00:35:43]So, how are you guys doing? Mhm. Oh, you don't say. Uh-huh. You doing okay? Just sitting there on the couch, you know?

[00:35:56]Safe.

[00:35:59]I like that. Safe is good.

[00:36:03]Maybe this is Frank that's coming now.

[00:36:10]That might be Frank out.

[00:36:17]Fire is still burning, which is nice.

[00:36:25]And we're going to go and see if we can find any evidence of these skunk apes.

[00:36:29]And we're going to go and uh count alligator eyes and maybe try and catch some frogs.

[00:36:38]There's nothing like having the wind blowing through the little hair that I have left on my head.

[00:36:49]My eyes are scanning the shore for any kind of eyes shine that is 9 ft off the ground.

[00:37:02]I have a feeling this is going to be a great night.

[00:37:20]I'm very excited to go back to the location where Frank had his encounter.

[00:37:29]This time it's going to be nighttime, so who knows what we're going to find.

[00:38:06]So This is the place, right? This is a place that he had his sighting. And we're back here at night. Hang on. Damn, that is dark.

[00:38:19]So, we're going to take a look around here.

[00:38:25]Now, this is where you'd want to go ahead and do your how.

[00:38:29]>> Yeah.

[00:38:31]>> Yeah.

[00:38:31]>> That was not an easy traverse. You see what I mean about this place?

[00:38:35]>> Totally. Could you imagine if we were like where I took you earlier in the daytime, even halfway there?

[00:38:43]>> Yeah.

[00:38:44]>> Trying to get home and dealing with not being able to see more than 10 ft in front of you.

[00:38:50]>> That's that's what makes this river so intriguing, you know. And um the night that we had seen the skunk ape, we were hog hunting.

[00:39:04]had a little more moon than this and we're running till about two o'clock in the morning. You know, this is what we do. And uh you see it.

[00:39:16]This place is off the chain. You know, it's it's a blessing to be able to to live this kind of lifestyle.

[00:39:24]>> As I'm standing here looking out in the darkness, I'm just imagining maybe there's a creature out there watching us. We just can't see him. And then I remember what Todd Brown had said about his skunk ape encounter.

[00:39:41]>> Now tells me the guy who landed on his back, the skunk ape who landed on his back is now perched down in the palmetto bushes watching us. So I pulled off my backpack, got out my camera. I said, "Come on, Buck. We're going to flush this guy. I want some photographs." And one thing on an instinct of wild mustang, if they don't know what you are, their instinct won't let them approach. And so there was a strong wind blowing that day about 25 knots south to north. And so I came right full front on the winds from where he was to us. And the skunky smell was so horrible it made me cry. And it made my horse stomp on the ground and he was backing up going.

[00:40:20]And so I came around the side of the pelmet bushes trying to flush him out.

[00:40:24]Buck wouldn't do it. Came back around this side. Buck wouldn't do it. jump back on the trail and tried knifing through the pelmet bushes and Buck wouldn't do it. And I know my horse well enough so if I were to stop and walk on over and say, "Hey, dude." Click click, Buck would have been gone for miles. And so I did see a skunk gate about 25 years ago, 6 1/2 ft tall, male. And uh roughly uh uh 300 lbish. And when we came back 3 hours later, I saw where he landed. And I have three of his hairs.

[00:40:58]>> Really? Dip.

[00:41:00]>> Wow.

[00:41:00]>> That's my skunk cave story.

[00:41:02]>> Before we get back to my time on this island, I want to introduce you to Marty. She has an interesting story, amazing experience with something in the Florida swamps that she believes could be a Bigfoot or a skunk.

[00:41:17]>> I'm going to meet this lady. Her name is Marty. She's had a couple Bigfoot encounters.

[00:41:22]>> Hi. How are you?

[00:41:23]>> Good. How are you?

[00:41:25]>> Yes. So, tell me about your Bigfoot encounter.

[00:41:28]>> Okay. Well, I've had two. Um, I had a daytime encounter and uh I saw kind of like from here up. Uh, but I had a nighttime encounter that was kind of scary. It was a little scary. Uh, we were in uh on a levey out in the Everglades and only one vehicle can be on the levey at a time. It's one lane.

[00:41:53]and we were out there looking for snakes that would climb up onto the onto the road. So, we had the headlights on but driving super slow and from this it it kind of crawled. It it was on all fours at first when it came up to the top and then it just did this very fluid motion where it just kind of like it went from all fours took one step right in the middle of the road and then turned and looked at directly looked at us. Its eyes were like glowing red. They weren't it wasn't eye shine.

[00:42:31]They were glowing.

[00:42:32]>> Really?

[00:42:32]>> Mhm.

[00:42:34]>> And Yeah. and and it just kind of like looked at us like, "Oh, you're there."

[00:42:39]And then >> So, did the eye glow Did it illuminate things around it?

[00:42:44]>> No.

[00:42:45]>> Like a flashlight.

[00:42:46]>> But it was so high above the the lights.

[00:42:48]So, it wasn't eyes shine, but it was red.

[00:42:51]>> They were just red and um it just kind of looked at us, you know, like, "Oh, you're there."

[00:42:57]>> And then one step and it was down the other side.

[00:43:01]>> So, I bet you were glad you were in a vehicle. I was really glad we were in a vehicle and I'm like cuz usually on the leveies you have to go all the way down and turn around and come back and I just said, "Oh no, you're putting it in reverse. We're going backwards. We're not going down." Like I was terrified.

[00:43:18]It was really scary because it was very big.

[00:43:21]>> Did you believe in Bigfoot before that?

[00:43:25]>> No. No.

[00:43:27]>> And so did you see hair?

[00:43:30]>> It was very patty looking. was very big and black, all black and very very bulky. I mean, it had to be eight, eight and a half feet. Um, and wide. It was very wide. But it was I think the part that scared me the most was watching it go from all fours to literally in one motion with one foot in the center and then the other just, you know, when it went I that was that was really scary.

[00:43:59]That was scary. So, do you ever go into the into the swamps?

[00:44:03]>> Yeah.

[00:44:04]>> Since then, >> always, >> have you you haven't had that same kind of encounter? It's mostly audio.

[00:44:11]>> Um, yeah, a lot of audio. Uh, we found a lot of prints. We actually have gotten hair. Um, we've had rocks thrown at us.

[00:44:20]Um, but never, I mean, other than my daytime encounter, which was very different. And it was a very different type looking um >> same area.

[00:44:31]>> Uh no totally different area further south down towards like Emoli and it was a very different encounter. It was actually very peaceful. It was very calm. Um we're walking down a trail and we saw this really huge depression to the right of the trail. Huge. I mean I have a photo of my son kind of standing like this. I mean, it had to have been about 15 ft in diameter.

[00:45:10]Got the cows.

[00:45:16]Do that again.

[00:45:20]Woo.

[00:45:32]I hear the gators grow.

[00:45:33]>> You know, if you've ever heard an alligator bellow, it's a sound you will never forget. It feels like it's coming from another time, right? It's this deep vibrating rumble that you feel in your chest just as much as you hear it. So, let's dive into what this incredible sound is all about. There's just something so primordial about that sound. It's like our brains are hardwired to hear it and just go, "Wo, danger." It's the kind of noise that makes you stop dead in your tracks and pay attention immediately. But get this, the sound is only half the story. The really wild part happens before you even hear anything. The alligator produces these incredibly low frequency vibrations. We're talking infrasound. So low we can't even hear it. And the sheer power makes the water on its back literally dance. You see these little droplets just jumping and sprinkling around. It's this absolutely stunning visual that happens before the roar even starts. So, what is all this about? I mean, this whole dramatic display, the water dance, that bone rattling roar.

[00:46:34]What is the alligator actually trying to communicate here? Well, turns out it's not just random noise. Not at all. It is a very specific, very important message.

[00:46:43]And for any other gators listening, the stakes couldn't be higher. Okay, so this bellow is a clear message to other gators. You'll hear them do it all year, but it really ramps up during mating season. And what they're doing is communicating super important information to rivals and potential mates. All so they can avoid having to get into a nasty physical fight. And it all boils down to one simple thing, size. In the alligator world, bigger is always better. It works for two main reasons. First, love. Females will only accept mates who are bigger than they are. and second war. When it comes to fights over territory, the bigger gator is pretty much guaranteed to win. So yeah, size is everything. And that's why this whole bellowing thing is so brilliant, right? Because actually fighting, well, fights between these armored giants are incredibly dangerous.

[00:47:33]We're talking serious, sometimes lethal injuries. So if an alligator can just tell everyone how big it is with the sound, it can sort out who gets the mate and who gets the territory without anyone getting hurt. It's an amazing way to avoid conflict.

[00:47:59]>> You say that they have red eyes.

[00:48:01]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:48:05]>> There's a video from uh Bear Lake.

[00:48:08]>> Yeah.

[00:48:09]>> Where you're looking at the red eyes head on in a game camera.

[00:48:13]and then it stands up and it was so much like what I seen. It made my skin crawl.

[00:48:21]Without finding much activity, we decided to head back to home base to sleep tight. I know that my time here is getting closer to the end and I'm running out of time. Will I get that once in a-lifetime sighting of that thing that is occupying these swamps? Or is it just an alligator that people are seeing?

[00:49:02]Heat. Heat.

[00:49:29]Oh yeah.

[00:49:35]Oh.

[00:49:52]Heat. Heat.

[00:50:19]Well, it's the end of the night. It's 2:00 a.m.

[00:50:24]I had a blast with Frank and uh I'm just too tired to talk. Um this has been amazing. I know I keep saying it, but it really has. And uh I'm going to say good night. All right, bye guys.

[00:50:42]The next morning was beautiful out and the sounds of the birds made my heart smile. I have been eyeing a clump of forest not too far from us and I'm wondering if I was a beast of lore where could I hide and not be seen?

[00:51:04]So with this in mind, I grabbed Frank and headed over there to look for evidence.

[00:51:17]Frank and I are heading over to this area with all these palms and we are just going to look around in here and I want to see if we can find any footprints or maybe some weird tree structures or just look around.

[00:51:40]Have you ever gone back into here?

[00:51:44]How big is this entire area?

[00:51:49]Where are you def defining it as area?

[00:51:52]>> Well, I mean I guess this is an island, right? Yeah, this will go underwater more more so than that, but I would say you know between the head and here you got couple of acres crawling.

[00:52:08]How important is the environment here?

[00:52:11]>> The environment I mean it is important.

[00:52:14]It's important to keep it clean. It's important to maintain um what we have. There's a lot of people that frequent this area.

[00:52:25]Um I don't think it's necessarily a police action. I believe people need to take responsibility for what they do and their own actions, which seems to be a problem sometimes.

[00:52:37]And if you bring it in, take it back with you. It's just that simple. um trash and garbage and glass and things like that do affect the wildlife here and you know plus you know who wants to look at it you know this is where I come for my sanity so to me it's very disturbing and you know um not finding much we headed back to camp our next set of plans to search the water's edges hoping to catch a skunk off guard this place is stunning with so much beauty all around us. I guess my next decision I made, well, let's just say I must have had sunstroke on my brain.

[00:53:24]Bye.

[00:53:25]So, he dropped me off in gator and infested waters all around me.

[00:53:33]This is amazing. I can't say enough about how amazing this is. I have to watch my surroundings because like I said, there are gators all over this place.

[00:54:13]Hey, hey, hey.

[00:54:44]Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat.

[00:54:59]Heat.

[00:55:02]Heat.

[00:55:24]Heat. Heat.

[00:55:32]Heat. Heat. N.

[00:56:12]Where?

[00:56:33]Heat. Heat.

[00:56:49]how these skunkape creatures can survive in these alligatorinfested locations blows my mind.

[00:57:06]I will never forget the kind heart of Frank and his love for nature. Swamp addiction is truly him.

[00:57:40]Hi, Tim.

[00:57:40]>> Hi.

[00:57:41]>> Thank you so much for everything.

[00:57:43]>> Yeah, >> I hate to see you really.

[00:57:45]>> I know.

[00:57:46]>> I don't want to leave either, >> you know, but you've been, you know, such a good host and >> I had a lot of fun. We did a lot of things this week.

[00:57:53]>> I have to go. But you know what? Uh I have another uh investigation to go to.

[00:57:58]Yeah.

[00:57:58]>> So, I will talk to you later.

[00:58:00]>> All right.

[00:58:01]>> See you.

[00:58:02]>> Bye, Tim.

[00:58:02]>> I'm just going to walkously into the forest.

[00:58:06]>> Even though I came with him, >> Tim was so much fun to watch track and I learned a lot from him. I was honored to have both Tim and Troy by my side. I may have not had a face-to-face encounter with the Stinky Ape creature himself, but this will not be my last time here exploring. For now, I am off to West Virginia to meet Ron House and Linda Sigma in the search for the flying terror Moth Man. Let the adventures begin.

[00:58:55]What are you holding?

[00:58:58]This is a stick that luckily enough I left in the back of Tim T's vehicle by accident and he went ahead and resurfaced it.

[00:59:11]Added some paracord to it. Gave me some instructions north, south, east, and west because I need all the help I can get. So now I have this beautiful walking stick. If anybody gets in my way, I'm going to whack them.

[00:59:27]That was the last we ever heard from this guy. He's he's a nice guy, but he got too confident over his stick.

[00:59:37]And uh he's never seen again. I love that. He's right beside me still. Son of a