We've all heard the Bigfoot encounters that include the presence of a horrible smell often described as a mixture of BO, feces, and skunk. But I've seen other encounters that don't mention this odor. I had a friend of mine tell me about his encounter decades ago in which he verified a visual sighting and the accompanying strong odor. Another friend had rock throwing incidents and howls, but no odor. My own encounter was rock throwing, but no odor or visual confirmation.
I just heard of a possible encounter tonight that occurred last Saturday and was wondering how probable it was.
My folks went on a horseback camping trip in the St. Joe National Forest area last week. The main camp was at the Big Creek campground where about 10 other folks were camped with their horses.
My mom's best friend and her husband were tent camping while my folks stayed in their RV. At about 4am, the best friend's husband wakes up due to issues with the air mattress. He's fiddling around with it when he hears the horses making noise. He goes outside of the tent with a flashlight and can see the horses throwing a fit. They're stomping their feet, winnying, and generally distressed. He said he smelled something awful, like the BO, skunk, and feces. He shines the light around and heard something move off into the woods near the camp. The smell goes away, the horses settle down, and he goes back to bed.
He tells the tale to my folks the next day and my dad replies that it must have been a bear. My mom says it must have been a Bigfoot, lol.
I don't recall ever smelling anything when encountering bears. I did an internet search and it revealed that bears generally don't stink and that it's mostly a myth.
So, did my folks have a Bigfoot come near the camp and upset the horses? Horses generally don't react that way to a skunk, but will to a bear or other large predator.