Pseudoscience, Myths, and Other Mysteries

    According to lorencoleman.com– The driver of a tractor trailer was having trouble negotiating a 90-degree turn and had stopped  the flatbed rig when the passenger side door was flung open and a large reddish-hued hairy arm reached in and dragged the driver clear of the cab before abandoning him and retreating into the woods.-some folks believe it’s a paranormal beast. Witnesses hear howls at night, find huge footprints in the ground and see the fiery-eyed creature that reeks of death.

    National park service say the skunk ape only exists only as a local myth. There have also been reports of fake foot prints and people in costumes. Other ways people hoaxed these pictures and videos were computer graphic art, other similar organisms and cut out clips of movies.

    IN AUGUST, 2004, Jennifer Ward was driving on a rural road in Southern Florida. She had just been visiting a friend and, as the sun was setting, she was now on her way home with her two daughters asleep in the back seat. Something on the side of the road caught her attention. She suspected it was an animal of some kind, but could not tell what. She slowed the car to a crawl to get a better look. It appeared to be crouched in a ditch on the roadside. It was something large. Something she had never seen before. As she neared it, the creature noticed her and stood to its full height – on two legs. It was the last thing Jennifer expected to see. “When he saw me, he was as surprised as I was,” she told the Sun-Sentinel. "I didn't stop because I was scared. It was almost dark, but I could see it and get a good look.”

    According to sun-sentinel.com recently I was watching crocodiles in the Florida everglades when a rustle in the bushes had me scurrying back to my car. Most likely it was just a chipmunk in quest of food, but I was dreadful of an encounter with the stalking skunk ape, a living legend in these parts. This hominid cryptic-as such unproven species are generally called these days-was allegedly captured on camera chomping apples in someone's backyard. A grainy b-grade movie is available in souvenir shops if you are just hopelessly curious.

Believer:     
    The Florida Skunk Ape exists because of both evidence this theory. I agree that it exists because of the number of eye-witnesses and sightings that were reported in the last couple of months. Another reason that I believe in the Skunk ape is the impossibilities that a human man seven feet tall can fit in a costume, get around easily in a thick swamp in the everglades and survive for more than 30 years. In my opinion, a normal man couldn’t do that with out extreme experience. Information against this theory made me think twice but did not make me change my point of view on the situation. There is no doubt that many people do hoax many of the videos and pictures that are recorded, but that doesn’t mean some are real.  People talk about seeing the ape and others talk about the hoaxes that were reviled. I am still not sure if either it is still out there alive or it’s not and these stories are locally made up myths, but what I do know that there are possibilities.

Nonbeliever:
    My opinion is that the Florida skunk ape is just a myth. I think the skunk ape is just a myth because people make fake foot prints in the mud and say they say a big smelly ape. People also put on costumes and run around having there friends video tape them. I also think the skunk ape is a myth because people that have been know for making fake videos for money have made videos of the skunk ape. The national park services also say that the Florida skunk ape is a myth. I believe that the skunk ape is just a big ape that excepted from the zoo and someone decided to make a big store out of it and make money off a fake story. People also make fake videos and pictures with graphic art, people can also take clips out of movies. I also disagree with this creature because no one gets a picture close to tell if it is a skunk ape of just a big log in the middle of the woods.