LETTUCE LAKE

"If it's a person, they are either a moron or completely insane. They are walking, swimming and diving in an area where there are hundreds of 12 foot gators and water moccasins everywhere. I was there watching it for a while. Seemed to notice me and walked toward deeper water. It went underwater and vanished. Paddled up there and it was nowhere to be seen."

So said Matthew McKamey after his encounter with a strange creature in Lettuce Lake Park in Florida.  He and a friend had gone out in a canoe and paddled down one of the many swampy inlets off the lake. It was around 1 p.m. when they heard a noise and saw some tree movement. Thinking it was a bear, McKamey grabbed his phone and started to film it. 

"Initially, it was exciting and it was like, 'Oh, is that a bear? That's pretty cool. When we moved up closer, it started to look less and less like a bear. That's the point where I decided to start filming. In that moment, I was looking at it and getting a little freaked out, especially once it started really moving," said McKamey.  "You could tell he was slapping the water and it looked like maybe he was grabbing something. At the time, I was just thinking, 'Holy s***, what the h*** is this?' By the time it walked off, my buddy was just like, 'Let's go! Let's go now!'"

At one point during the video, his friend moved a paddle which caused some noise and seemed to gain the attention of the creature. Explained McKamey, "I don't know if it was coincidence that it started moving because of the noise, but it seemed to know that we were there. Where the video cut off is basically where I stopped taping. We wanted to leave and I couldn't do both video and row."

Watch his video here :

https://youtu.be/xcgHKMbYYNw

McKamey later approached a park ranger and told her about the encounter with the "bear". "I told a park ranger about it and she said that bears don't generally get into the swamp and that there were never many sightings in general." He then showed her the video and she told him she did not know what the creature was in the video.

He then sent the video to the Huffington Post and Bigfoot Evidence, who in turn submitted it to Phil Poling of ParaBreakdown.

Said Poling : "There are many inside the paranormal community who are frankly tired of the senseless hoaxing going on, primarily because hoaxing tends to cause validation for the cynics and skeptics."

What does he have to say about McKamey's video ? : "The mannerisms of the subject appear to be very apelike in its behavior -- [the way] it dips its hand down into the water and brings it up. We don't know if it's drinking or washing. Its movements seem rather fluid. Some people who have seen the video have remarked that it looked like it may have had a tail, and others have mentioned that it could be a snake it was holding. But it's hard to tell, mainly because it's dark, afternoon lighting and we're looking almost directly into the sun with a lot of lens flare or glare going on. As it leaves, it doesn't seem to be upset or angry or anything. It doesn't run away, it just casually walks away, and this is something that many people who have encountered Bigfoot reported seeing -- that the subject would see them and then simply just wander off."

Poling's stabilized version of the video :

https://youtu.be/ClWHeT74XRQ

After his examination of the video, Poling wasn't really convinced that this was a hoax created by McKamey. "I came away from this with a distinct impression that I have no idea what it is. It could be a guy in a costume or it could be the real thing. I do not know. [He] sent the original copy to Bigfoot Evidence, not asking for anything in return. Why would someone take all of this time, effort and danger just to give the video away anonymously?"

McKamey stated that he and his friend would not be going into the swamp to look for the creature. In fact, his friend was so frightened by the experience that he would not discuss the episode. Said McKamey : "Thinking back to what we saw, I think there's a good chance that we actually saw a Skunk Ape or Bigfoot or whatever you want to call it. It was not a bear, I know that. It wasn't human. It's like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. To have been where we were, when we were, the likelihood of it happening again, I'm highly skeptical. I'm fairly thankful that it decided to go the other way."

The local BFRO group was unable to debunk the encounter based on the facts and evidence presented. They were accused at the time of then attacking the McKamey personally. They also released the identity of the witness making the report who had wanted to remain anonymous. They also falsely identified the friend who was with McKamey based only on the fact that they had been friends and in a band together over 3 years before the sighting. This resulted in them being hounded by press and researchers. 
It has been unofficially stated that forest rangers for Lettuce Lake Park have seen this or a similar creature on multiple occasions.

"I never put much faith in the old Skunk Ape legends but when I looked closer I noticed that it had long, swinging arms and moved through very thick swamp with ease. Certainly can't explain it myself." -- Matthew McKamey

Stabilized version of the video from another source :

https://youtu.be/1uFG0MR-q58


For those who want more, a breakdown by Bigfoot Tony :

https://youtu.be/flYR5AN41cE

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."