Mystery of the Florida ‘bogeyman’ – and the five places it’s been ‘spotted’

Most US states have their own versions of Bigfoot or other mythical creatures whose stories have been passed down through many generations.

Florida is no exception, but it does have the distinction of having one of the grossest names for its legendary beast.

The “Bardin Booger,” as the cryptid has become known, has had several sightings in landlocked Putnam County in northern Florida.

The name, split into two parts, comes from the small town where he was first spotted, called Bardin – and ‘Booger’, which is a slang term for ‘ogre’.

Like the Skunk Ape, another Florida-specific creature, the Bardin Booger is believed to be a regional variation on the Bigfoot and Yeti myths. Click on Orlando.

Dave Shealy told DailyMail.com that he has spent his life doing Skunk Ape research he says he first saw one at the age of 10 in 1974.

Shealy holds a plaster cast of what he believes to be a Skunk Ape footprint

Shealy’s lifelong efforts to convince the world of the creature’s existence – an endeavor he has stepped up in recent months by touring the country with his evidence – has resulted in the opening of the Skunk Ape headquarters in Ochopee, Florida.

The quaint museum recently took home the honor of being the country’s second-best roadside attraction, as ranked by USAToday.

Shealy also mentioned five places where these enigmatic brutes are often seen.

Myakka State Park, Ocala National Forest, the Kissimmee wetlands, the Florida Everglades, and Interstate 4 near Interstate 95 are apparently all the places to be if you want to see them.

Shealy believes there are five to seven Skunk Apes living in the Everglades and over the years he has set up numerous raised structures in the swamps, hopefully to catch a glimpse.

He even claims that they create nests in trees, something he says other Skunk Ape researchers have noticed.

An alleged sighting of a skunk monkey in the Florida Everglades on July 8, 2000

Shealy compares its 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 mainly seen in North Florida, stories about it first started to surface in the late 1940s, per The Florida Times Union.

The story goes that in the summer of 1947, a woman was riding her horse through the woods of Bardin when she thought she saw a very tall man wearing a long raincoat.

However, when she looked closer, she was shocked to learn that the coat was actually fur and that the man was anything but.

Many of Bardin’s 424 residents claim to have seen the creature, with some describing it as a 10-foot-tall, hairy, ape-like creature.

“I see monkeys in our forest here all the time,” says longtime resident Karen Moore. “But I’ve never seen one that’s 10 feet high.”

Another story about the Booger describes him wearing torn, dirty clothes and having the face of a caveman.

A third story says that the creature gave off an odor so foul that when a man raised his gun to try to shoot it, he could not fire accurately.

Perhaps the most consistent detail across the numerous stories is that the Booger is often reported to be carrying a lantern.

A map showing the number of Bigfoot sightings in Florida. Yellow colored areas indicate fewer observations, while orange areas indicate more observations

Marie Dumont, the founder of the Mid Florida Bigfoot Research Group, tried to explain why this might be so.

“As a Bigfoot researcher, that’s a pretty common occurrence,” she told ClickOrlando. ‘Is it really a creature walking around with a lantern? Very unlikely. But people might see a Bigfoot or Skunk monkey, or they might see 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.

She said Skunk monkeys seen in southern Florida tend to be smaller: 5 to 8 feet tall. They are thinner, have less hair and only four toes, at least based on the footprints some claim to have found.

Skunk monkeys found north of Tampa, she said, are 6 to 8 feet tall and have five toes.