The Skunk Ape: Florida’s Bigfoot Has Its Own Research Headquarters

In 1974, a ten-year-old boy named Dave Shealy stood in the Everglades while his brother hoisted him above the sawgrass. About a hundred yards out, something tall and dark walked upright through the swamp. Shealy has spent the rest of his life trying to prove what he saw that day.

Florida’s Own Bigfoot (But Smellier)

The Skunk Ape is a bipedal, ape-like creature reported across South Florida for more than two centuries. The Seminole and Miccosukee peoples called it “Esti Capcaki,” roughly translated as “Furry Tall Man.” Unlike its Pacific Northwest cousin, Florida’s cryptid comes with a signature detail: an overpowering stench compared to rotten eggs, methane, and decaying meat. Witnesses say the smell arrives before the creature does. Reported adults stand six to seven feet tall, weigh up to 450 pounds, and leave four-toed footprints in the mud. Sightings became so frequent in the 1970s that a Florida state legislator introduced House Bill 1664 in 1977, which would have made it illegal to harm or capture any “anthropoid or humanoid animals.” The bill never passed.

The Man Who Never Stopped Looking

Dave Shealy’s family has been in the Everglades since 1891. After that first childhood sighting, he dedicated his life to tracking the creature, eventually opening the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters on his family’s Trail Lakes Campground in Ochopee. The place is equal parts museum, gift shop, and petting zoo, with a life-size Skunk Ape statue out front. Inside, newspaper clippings, plaster footprint casts, and Shealy’s own photographs line the walls. He claims three personal sightings, including a July 2000 encounter that produced a viral video of a dark figure striding through the tall grass. USA Today readers voted it the No. 1 roadside attraction in Florida.

What to Know Before You Visit

The Skunk Ape Research Headquarters sits at 40904 Tamiami Trail East in Ochopee, right along the road between Miami and Naples. Stop in to browse the museum, pick up a copy of Shealy’s Everglades Skunk Ape Research Field Guide (which includes tips on baiting with lima beans and deer liver), and meet the animals at the campground’s small zoo. The big events are the Everglades Skunk Ape Festival each June, complete with a Miss Skunk Ape pageant, and Skunktoberfest in October. Overnight camping is available on-site. Whether or not you believe in the creature, the headquarters is a pure shot of Old Florida roadside weirdness, and well worth the detour.