Bigfoot Range Map

[Patterson-Gimlin]

On 4/6/2022 at 9:15 AM, NorthWind said:

I for sure would include Florida.

 

I have posted this before, but I had three experiences while I lived in Florida. We lived for a couple of years in Sarasota, maybe ten miles or so from Myakka River State Park, where the "Myakka Skunk Ape" photos were allegedly taken. Here's a copy:

 

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Though I live in Oregon, all three of my "experiences" happened in Florida, less than ten miles from Myakka River State Park about fifteen years ago.

 

I was living at a country club / older folks' community called Heritage Oaks while I was in Florida going to school for a couple of years. Whenever I could, I would get out into nature by hiking up at Myakka River State Park and surrounding areas. Beautiful place, but it can be dangerous. There’s a lot of wildlife and it seems everything out there is looking to hurt or kill you. Lots of gators, poisonous snakes, spiders, boars, panthers, and my wife and I even saw two jaguarundis once at Myakka River State Park.

 

My experiences though, happened at the golf course, strangely enough.

 

The first experience we had, I was with my wife and we were out sitting on our screened in porch on the second floor enjoying a cigar and a cold fermented malt beverage. It was very late at night, I would say maybe 2AM, and we had the lights out so I wouldn’t get busted for smoking a cigar. Just talking and relaxing. This second-floor porch overlooked maybe 20 feet of grass, then a retaining pond (lake), and the golf course itself. We could see none of it though, it was a very dark night.

 

Well this night was very quiet. Suddenly, we heard bipedal footsteps sloshing through the water. Big. Deliberate. Not fast, but not slow. It was covering a lot of ground with those steps. Now it was too dark to see, but I knew at the time there are only two things in the water at night in Florida. Gators, and gator food. If you are not one, you are the other. But even though you could hear the sloshing of the steps, you could almost feel the ground thumping as whatever it was moved. It wouldn’t make sense that a person would be walking through the water at night after midnight with no flashlight (or even with one for that matter). But this was no gator. Whatever it was was walking on two legs.

 

As it passed the “lanai”, we were both afraid to even look to see what it was. Not that we could have anyway. But we didn’t even want to get close to the screen. It passed right by us. I would say no more than 30 feet away, max. It never broke stride. We were both too afraid to even speak. And when we did, we whispered and didn’t pronounce our “s’s” because we didn’t want to be heard by whatever it was. We sat there a long while after this thing was gone, trying to figure out what it was. I joked “skunk ape” with her, but the truth was that I was pretty certain that’s what we heard. I have seen deer out there and tons of birds. But this was no deer. No wild pig. Not a bear. Not a panther. It was bigger than those for certain. I still don’t KNOW what it was But if I had to put money down on something, I would have to go with a skunk ape because nothing else fits.

 

That was the first experience. The second and third ones are tied together. Let me set the stage a little.

 

I had an old dog. He was awesome. Always quiet and mild mannered. Unless there was danger. Then he became 120 pounds of growling snarling canine badassery. Mix of black lab, German shepherd, chow, akita, and coyote. I had to walk him when I got home from school. Usually that was after midnight or so.

 

Outside the gate of the community though, there was swamp land, and general native Florida wilderness. When I say “gate”, I mean there was a drop-down arm to block vehicles, but people could just walk around it. Boy, I miss the sounds of the gators and frogs at night! I would take Tucker out there to do his business next to the road. I always carried my pistol because it was scary out there with just a flashlight. This particular night, I was walking Tucker towards the gate to get out to the road to his happy pooping grounds, when he started walking slower. His head was lowered, and he was growling softly. Now we were still in the golf course community, mind you. But right next to a small pond that was completely blocked off with trees. You couldn’t even see this pond. Not even the landscapers went in there. I know, because I was curious and went in there one day. Very thick native Florida bush. Then swampy pond. Almost perfectly circular. Maybe fifty feet across is all. It’s own little nature preserve in miniature. It was right next to a man-made retaining pond that had gators and fish and frogs and snakes and the like in it.

 

As we were passing this pond which you cannot see, Tucker’s hackles went up and he started growling loud, and baring his teeth. His eyes were fixed on the small trees next to us. These trees were maybe 20 to 25 feet tall. Almost like tall bushes, really. Just as I was really realizing that something was in there, that something growled from the cover of those trees. Loud as hell. I could feel it in my chest, even. I could feel my hair stand up. That had never happened to me before, and it was a really strange sensation. That growl was so low in pitch and loud! It was not a gator, as I have heard those sounds before many times. Then the trees began shaking VIOLENTLY. I thought whatever it was was either going to rip them down or come charging out, so I had my 1911 drawn. We backed away from those trees without turning around. I did not want to turn my back to them. My heart was pounding. I was scared crapless.

 

We finally came home from a different route (we actually walked all the way around the community because I didn’t want to pass those bushes again. My wife asked where I had been and I explained everything. She thought it was funny. Well I was not amused.

 

A few weeks went by, and my mother in law came to visit from Texas. We had an extra room, so it was no big deal. She always loved to go outside and see the nature there. She loved to walk the dog, too. I told her to stay away from the “growly bushes” as they had become to be known as.  She teased me and I tried to explain I was NOT kidding and I was deadly serious.  It piqued her curiousity.

 

Well late one night maybe here or four weeks after the first “growly-bush” experience, we had been tipping a few drinks out on the lanai. It was late, and the dog needed to go out one last time. She volunteered, and asked me to go with her because she wanted to see the “growly-bushes”.  I decided to show her where it happened. So foolishly, we headed down there.

 

Tucker again started growling slow and low, with his head down as we approached the bushes. My mother in law started getting freaked out. Then as we got near them, the thing growled loud at us and shook the trees again, exactly as it had done before. My mother in law was terrified, and so was I. When we got back up to the safety of the condo, she swore that she would never doubt me again.

 

Neither of us know for certain what growled at us. But whatever it was, had to be huge to shake the trees like that. I tried shaking them in the day time some time later, and could get them to move, but nothing like what we experienced. The good thing is that I had a witness this time. And she was able to relay what happened to my wife. Now my wife knows I was not joking about it.

 

There are strange things out there. And now that I am in Oregon and my kids are grown, I want to find out. That’s why I go out to the woods when I can and search for these beings. I know they are out there. And I hope to be able to find enough proof to satisfy my own curiosity, which I think will never be satisfied.

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Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. 

Being from Florida it greatly interests me.

 

Have you considered displaced zoo ,wildlife sanctuaries etc. creatures?

I spend a lot of time in the great outdoors. Not once have I encountered man apes in my great state. 

 

I would think that you would have had better action in the PNW which I also frequent on occasion. 

 

If the creatures are in fact real, I would be more open to them being in the PNW not all over the country. 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Patterson-Gimlin

[NorthWind]

6 hours ago, Patterson-Gimlin said:

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. 

Being from Florida it greatly interests me.

 

Have you considered displaced zoo ,wildlife sanctuaries etc. creatures?

I spend a lot of time in the great outdoors. Not once have I encountered man apes in my great state. 

 

I would think that you would have had better action in the PNW which I also frequent on occasion. 

 

If the creatures are in fact real, I would be more open to them being in the PNW not all over the country. 

 

 

An escaped something that can shake a 20' plus clump of trees as violently as that? I can only think of a gorilla. And certainly a missing gorilla would be noticed. But I suppose it I's plausible. 

[Bearfoot]

I have always believed they range from Northern California up through Oregon, Washington, and then up through British Columbia and maybe a little further North. That is where all the most credible reports have came from and the earliest sightings have to be by far the best. It seems nothing compares with those as with the most recent ones. Maybe I will be proven wrong some day but I could live with that! lol! As time goes on something has to happen eventually!

[guyzonthropus]

While staying within the F&B interpretation one must still take into account a higher intelligence "smarter than your average bear" and in doing so, realize that opens up territories that might be otherwise deemed as incapable of supporting such creatures, in a sense similar to early humans foraging in marginal habitats but still making it through. And then there's the potentials granted by living in closer proximity to us and our resource availibility, be it refuse or industrial farming. For all we know, the government has subsidized these farms in order to feed populations otherwise cut off from their traditional food sources(somewhere there's a group of well rounded corn fed sasquatches) and keep them from going public! 

Also, that map is neglecting much of the California coast, and the mountain ranges of southern California which have a pretty substantial record of reports.