This account was presented to me in 2011 describing a possible Skunk Ape encounter/attack in the Myakka State Forest / Sarasota, Florida area. I'm seeking further information.

I received the following account:

"Hello - I live in Florida and although I've traveled a bit I always felt this is home. My family is originally from NYC but we've lived here for quite several years. I was young and was living with somebody in a trailer out in a horse pasture. There was a campground (Myakka State Park near Sarasota) just on the other side of the pasture, and we had made friends with the people who ran it. It was late summer and a bunch of the campers got together because they would be leaving soon to go back home, so a bonfire was being held that evening. There was a trail that led into the campground from where the trailer was, and everyone had gathered at our trailer for a farewell BBQ, then moved down to the campground after for the bonfire.

After I had cleaned up the BBQ mess it was getting dark, so I was pretty much the last one to arrive. The fire was started and we all stood around talking - it was about 9:30 pm. I was standing beside my friend on the outside edge of the fire when I happened to look across at the tree line. There is a fence there with low-lying palm scrub, it divides the other half of the pasture from the campground and back trails. As I looked in that direction I saw two big red eyes staring back at me. The outline of this thing was pretty big by the glow of the firelight. The palm scrub is about 4 feet tall, higher in some spots. Not taking my eyes off this thing I quietly whispered to my friend to look in that direction and don't scream. She did and she whispered to her husband. He said softly to the group not to make any sudden moves. We were talking softly and alerting everyone in the group about the red eyes, and everyone looked and saw what we were seeing.

There were eight of us all totaled, my girlfriend's husband returned with a flashlight and rifle in hand. He handed the flashlight to my friend and told her to shine it at whatever was in the scrub. When she did this thing stood up and made a growling sound. My friend's husband then shot at it and it screamed like nothing I'd ever heard before. It took off into the brush, and everybody (except me) in the group ran to get flashlights and whatever to arm themselves with. My friend and I were told to stay by the fire. About that time we heard the horses screaming in the pasture and they hurried to the field. After a while they all returned, they could not find anything and would resume the search at daylight.

The next day blood was found at the fence area and a horse was dead, its neck was broken and its body was badly ripped apart. Searches were continued for a couple of days and no one spoke about what happened. After several things happened where I was staying we left. This was not the only time I have encountered a large red-eyed being, I believe this was in fact a Skunk Ape/Bigfoot, that after being shot at purposely killed that horse.

I have on another occasion encountered one again, at night which chased me through the woods while walking home from my friend's house. I had not known at the time that a body was found mutilated in that area and that the arms of that poor soul were torn from their body. I was lucky." M

NOTE: Is anybody familiar with a mutilated human believed to have been attacked/killed by a skunk ape in the Myakka State Park area? The witness claims to have had at least another experience. I received this account almost a decade ago, and would still like further information if it is available. Lon

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