Skunk Ape

Bigfoot’s funkier cousin may not be what you expect to find in paradise, but deep in the mangroves and swamps of South Florida—and even the lower Keys—eyewitnesses swear something hairy, huge, and foul-smelling is out there. Locals call it the Skunk Ape.

Reports in the Keys aren’t as frequent as those in the Everglades, but sightings have trickled in over the years. Campers and boaters have described tall, bipedal creatures with glowing red eyes, massive footprints, and the unmistakable odor of wet dog and rotten eggs. One story from Big Pine Key tells of a late-night encounter where a pair of glowing eyes followed a hiker through the woods—too high off the ground to belong to any known animal.

Skeptics blame misidentified wildlife or overactive imaginations, but believers insist there’s something primal lurking in the subtropical thickets. Some even think the Skunk Ape is a guardian of the wild, surfacing only when its territory is disturbed.

Whether myth, cryptid, or misunderstood creature, the Skunk Ape adds one more mystery to the haunted lore of the Florida Keys.