Most states in the US have their own versions of Bigfoot or other mythical creatures whose stories have been passed down from generation to generation.
Florida is no exception, but it has the distinction of having one of the rudest names for its legendary beast.
The ‘Bardin Booger’, as the cryptid is known, has been sighted several times in landlocked Putnam County in northern Florida.
His name, divided into two parts, comes from the small town where he was first seen, called Bardin and ‘Booger’, which is a slang term for ‘boogeyman’.
Like the Skunk Ape, another Florida-specific creature, the Bardin Booger is believed to be a regional variation of the Bigfoot and Yeti myths, according to Click Orlando.
Dave Shealy told DailyMail.com that he has been researching Skunk Ape his entire life after He says he first saw one at the age of 10 in 1974..
A statue of a Skunk monkey found at Dave Shealy’s tourist destination dedicated to the creature of myth in Ochopee, Florida
Shealy holds a plaster cast of what he claims is a Skunk Ape footprint
Shealy’s lifelong efforts to convince the world of the creature’s existence – a quest he has intensified in recent months by touring the country with his evidence – have culminated with the opening of Skunk Ape headquarters in Ochopee, Florida. .
The picturesque museum recently earned the honor of being the country’s second best roadside attraction as ranked by USA today.
Shealy also listed five places where these enigmatic brutes are often seen.
Myakka State Park, Ocala National Forest, the Kissimmee swamps, the Florida Everglades, and Interstate 4 near Interstate 95 are apparently the places to be if you want to see them.
Shealy believes there are between five and seven skunk apes in the Everglades, and over the years he has set up numerous elevated structures in the swamps in hopes of catching a glimpse of them.
He even claims that they create nests in trees, something he says other Skunk Ape researchers have observed.
An alleged sighting of a Skunk Ape in the Florida Everglades on July 8, 2000
Shealy compares his hand to the footprint of a Skunk Ape, which has four distinctive toes, distinguishing it from Bigfoot.
When it comes to the Bardin Booger, which shares similarities with the Skunk Ape but is primarily seen in northern Florida, stories about it began appearing in the late 1940s, according to Florida Times-Union.
As the story goes, a woman was horseback riding through the Bardin Forest in the summer of 1947 when she thought she saw a very tall man in a long raincoat.
However, when he looked closer, he was surprised to learn that the coat was actually fur and that the man was nothing.
Many of Bardin’s 424 residents claim to have seen the creature, with some describing it as a 10-foot-tall furry ape-like creature.
“I see monkeys here in our woods all the time,” said lifelong resident Karen Moore. “But I’ve never seen one that’s 10 feet tall.”
Another story about Moco describes him with dirty, torn clothes and a caveman’s face.
A third tale says that the creature gave off such an unpleasant odor that when a man raised his gun to try to shoot it, he was unable to fire accurately.
Perhaps the most consistent detail in the countless stories is that the Booger is often said to carry a lantern.
A map showing the number of Bigfoot sightings in Florida. Yellow areas indicate fewer sightings, while orange areas indicate more sightings
Marie Dumont, founder of the Mid Florida Bigfoot Research Group, attempted to explain why this might be the case.
“As a Bigfoot researcher, this is a pretty common thing,” she told ClickOrlando. ‘Is this really a creature that walks with a flashlight? Very unlikely. But it could be that people are seeing a Bigfoot or a Skunk Ape, or that they are seeing a light moving through the forest.
Florida is a hotspot for Skunk Ape sightings, according to Dumont. Although reports from north and south Florida differ quite a bit.
He said skunk apes seen in South Florida tend to be smaller: 5 to 7 feet tall. They are thinner, have less hair and only have four fingers, at least according to the footprints that some claim to have found.
The skunk apes found north of Tampa, he said, are 6 to 9 feet tall and have five toes.