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The Elusive Swamp Ape
TAMPA TRIBUNE
By STEVE OTTO
sotto@tampatrib.com
Dec 16, 2005
There are a lot of questions here. I think I have the answers.
This week, we featured two apes on the front page of Mother Trib - and neither story had anything to do with politics.
The first ape was a picture, referring to a BayLife story, of the new King Kong, who is appearing in yet another version of the timeless story of a misunderstood guy blinded by love.
But it was the other story that caught my attention.
It seems a creature, now going by the name Swamp Ape, has been seen lurking (which is what these creatures do) somewhere in the 50,000 acres of the Green Swamp just north of here.
The story quoted a true believer named Scott Marlowe and had a picture of him holding a casting of a footprint believed to have been made by the creature in Ocala National Forest.
Marlowe said in the story that he preferred the name Swamp Ape over such creatures' more definitive name, . I suppose Swamp Ape is more politically correct than Skunk Ape, as the creatures obviously have feelings.
Marlowe claims to have seen one. He said he was unloading groceries from his car outside his Lakeland apartment one night when he saw a hairy, roughly 7-foot-tall "man ape" standing under a nearby light.
I don't know. I've meandered into the kitchen after midnight a few times in recent years and seen the same thing lurking at the fridge. Whether it was a Swamp Ape or just one of my boys, I'm not sure. The smell was more like Old Spice.
Abominable Snowbird?
Anyhow, Marlowe suggested that Swamp Apes might be migrating this time of year from the more northern regions of Florida down to the Big Cypress swamp or the Everglades.
I think they're moving because we have been paving over most of Central Florida and they've had to get out just to avoid the traffic.
By the way, I want you to know right off that this is not just some quickie column put together so I can finish my Christmas shopping, which I haven't started. I happen to have some real expertise in the area of creatures lurking in the dark.
I was part of a three-man team dispatched in the '70s by the late Tampa Times to the Everglades to report on the first sightings of the Skunk Ape.
The creature was said to resemble Bigfoot and the Yeti, with the notable exception that it gave off a strong odor. Since it lived in the swamps, that wasn't all that surprising.
We meandered around a few fish camps and even took a boat down a canal after midnight, which is not a smart thing to do during mosquito season.
The results of our expedition were, to tell the truth, inconclusive. We did meet the owner of a fish camp in the Everglades who claimed he had invented a perpetual motion machine, and we did see some exotic creatures at a Holiday Inn lounge in Fort Lauderdale, but that was as close as we got.
Lizard Man
A few years later, I was sent to Bishopville, S.C., to investigate the appearance of Lizard Man, sort of a scaly version of Skunk Ape. The local sheriff had a cast of Lizard Man's footprints, but other than providing a healthy trade in Lizard Man shirts and caps, the creature never appeared in public.
I suppose someday Skunk Ape will show himself, having grown tired of living in the swamps, and announce he is ready for a small house in the 'burbs, with cable TV and maybe a microwave. On that day, Florida will be a less interesting place.
WaterLizard 8)
PS I have never been to Bishopville, S.C.
The Elusive Swamp Ape
TAMPA TRIBUNE
By STEVE OTTO
sotto@tampatrib.com
Dec 16, 2005
There are a lot of questions here. I think I have the answers.
This week, we featured two apes on the front page of Mother Trib - and neither story had anything to do with politics.
The first ape was a picture, referring to a BayLife story, of the new King Kong, who is appearing in yet another version of the timeless story of a misunderstood guy blinded by love.
But it was the other story that caught my attention.
It seems a creature, now going by the name Swamp Ape, has been seen lurking (which is what these creatures do) somewhere in the 50,000 acres of the Green Swamp just north of here.
The story quoted a true believer named Scott Marlowe and had a picture of him holding a casting of a footprint believed to have been made by the creature in Ocala National Forest.
Marlowe said in the story that he preferred the name Swamp Ape over such creatures' more definitive name, . I suppose Swamp Ape is more politically correct than Skunk Ape, as the creatures obviously have feelings.
Marlowe claims to have seen one. He said he was unloading groceries from his car outside his Lakeland apartment one night when he saw a hairy, roughly 7-foot-tall "man ape" standing under a nearby light.
I don't know. I've meandered into the kitchen after midnight a few times in recent years and seen the same thing lurking at the fridge. Whether it was a Swamp Ape or just one of my boys, I'm not sure. The smell was more like Old Spice.
Abominable Snowbird?
Anyhow, Marlowe suggested that Swamp Apes might be migrating this time of year from the more northern regions of Florida down to the Big Cypress swamp or the Everglades.
I think they're moving because we have been paving over most of Central Florida and they've had to get out just to avoid the traffic.
By the way, I want you to know right off that this is not just some quickie column put together so I can finish my Christmas shopping, which I haven't started. I happen to have some real expertise in the area of creatures lurking in the dark.
I was part of a three-man team dispatched in the '70s by the late Tampa Times to the Everglades to report on the first sightings of the Skunk Ape.
The creature was said to resemble Bigfoot and the Yeti, with the notable exception that it gave off a strong odor. Since it lived in the swamps, that wasn't all that surprising.
We meandered around a few fish camps and even took a boat down a canal after midnight, which is not a smart thing to do during mosquito season.
The results of our expedition were, to tell the truth, inconclusive. We did meet the owner of a fish camp in the Everglades who claimed he had invented a perpetual motion machine, and we did see some exotic creatures at a Holiday Inn lounge in Fort Lauderdale, but that was as close as we got.
Lizard Man
A few years later, I was sent to Bishopville, S.C., to investigate the appearance of Lizard Man, sort of a scaly version of Skunk Ape. The local sheriff had a cast of Lizard Man's footprints, but other than providing a healthy trade in Lizard Man shirts and caps, the creature never appeared in public.
I suppose someday Skunk Ape will show himself, having grown tired of living in the swamps, and announce he is ready for a small house in the 'burbs, with cable TV and maybe a microwave. On that day, Florida will be a less interesting place.
WaterLizard 8)
PS I have never been to Bishopville, S.C.
