Dear Bacon

Dear Bacon,

After reading your column last week about a cat that does yoga, I thought what the heck. My master has a room for meditation so I tried it.

This position is called my sitting dog pose. I really does work on calming your nerves. Thanks little pig. Signed Peaceful Pal

Dear Peaceful Pal,
I’m glad it worked out for you. You do look really grounded in that picture. Keep up the great work!

---

Dear Bacon – hiccup,

My humans tell me that – slurred – I’m spending too much time with my close friend Jose. Hiccup. They don’t complain about me catting around on the streets anymore. They just don’t like my choice of friends. Hiccup. What should I do. Can they pick my friends? Signed Frisky Fiesta

Dear Frisky Fiesta,
You do understand that your friend Jose is not really ‘real’, right? Instead of having a problem with your choice of ‘friends’, you’re humans might want to look into some classes for you… With TAA (Tomcats Alcohol Anonymous). Perhaps you should lose the hat, get a new friend and start listening to the humans. Take care my friend.

---

Dear Bacon,

Are baths really necessary? They freak me out. Signed Wet Purrbie

Dear Wet Purrbie,
I love baths. They’re very relaxing. Especially when mom puts bubbles in the water. Instead of fighting it, embrace it. My purr things here love the water. We all do. After a bath, we all get our hair done – that is heaven. Find your happy place during bath time and learn to enjoy it.

---

Dear Bacon,

Just wanted to let you know man that we enjoy your posts. Happy Friday. Signed Don’t Worry Be Happy

Dear Don’t Worry Be Happy,
Thanks so much. It takes support and encouragement from fans like you to keep it going. I appreciate that. Happy Friday back to you.

 

Mosquito Problems

 

31 Days of Spook – Headless Ghost, Spirit and Swamp Sightings

Welcome back my fellow spooky friends.  Today, hold someone tight – these are true stories from not too far from the Hotel Thompson.

  A HEADLESS GHOST

An Okefenokee area ghost tradition, this one dating to the 1930s, owes its existence to the railroad. A man fishing along the tracks at Henson Creek, near Manor, fell asleep one night with the rails as his pillow. A train appeared, sounding its whistle frantically, but there was no response. Steel wheels kept on rolling, and the fisher person was high landered.

Now for a twist. The legend is that the body can be seen walking the rails at night swinging a phantom lantern in search of its head. Kevin Dial claims that his grandfather went in search of the “shade” one night. Sure enough, it approached, solid white and six feet tall, walking directly toward Gramps, who fired a futile shot before fleeing.

GHOST SPIRIT SIGHTINGS

A log cabin on Okefenokee’s East Side by an area called Camp Cornelia on Trail Ridge is where this haunting took place in the early 1990′s. A former Refuge volunteer, who resided in the cabin, reported strange visitations of Spirits. The Spirits were Native American Indians in full regalia. These spirits were not aware of the walls and boundaries of the cabin, but seemed attached to the land the cabin was on. They seemingly went about their daily tribal existence without concern.

SPECTRES OF THE SWAMP SIGHTING

This one was reported in January 1998 on Trail Ridge, the ancient geological feature which makes up the eastern boundary of the swamp. A traveler on vacation and hiking near the boardwalk area was surprised by the sound of drums in the distant piney woods. Native American spectres carrying objects and walking swiftly in a single file line were sighted off in the distance heading south on the ridge. The vacationer did not linger long to watch the procession. He reported no sense of hostility, but felt uneasy as if he was seeing something he should not be observing.

 

 

.

Shout out to our friends from Okefenokee – special hello’s to Steve, Jo and their black cat Tequila.  They gave me special permission to use their stories and pictures from the Okefenokee Pastimes Inc.

 

31 Days of Spook – Okefenokee Swamp Thing, Big Foot and Pig Man

Today, I want to bring you tales of a creature that goes by many names such as Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Skunk Ape, Yeti and such.  Tales of this huge creature have been seen all over the world in remote places.  In the southeast corner of Georgia, Okefenokee has it’s own creature.  Here are some true reports from the Okefenokee X-Files.  Are you brave enough to read them?

A SWAMP THING

The Okefenokee Swamp was truly a land of mystery in June 1829, when the Milledgeville Statesman published a bizarre story about it. The tale was related by a John Ostean, “residing on the borders of this swamp in Ware County,” and others who lived on the opposite side in Florida. Locals had long heard from Creek Indians of an enchanted island inhabited by “mortals of super-human dimensions and incomparable beauty.” The story goes that two men and a boy had taken advantage of a long dry spell and pushed deep into the swamp for two weeks to seek this island. However, “their progress suddenly arrested at the appearance of the print of a foot-step so unearthly in its dimensions, so ominous of power, and terrible in form,” that they paused. The print was eighteen inches long and nine inches across, the stride of this giant over six feet. The party hastily returned and spread the tale of the “Man Mountain.”

Hearing the story, nine Florida hunters ventured into the swamp. After several days’ journey, they found a similar print and others. The men followed the tracks for several days and had camped on a ridge when two of their members “simultaneously discharged at an advancing and ferocious wild beast” whose screams made the swamp “reverberate with a deafening roar.” The creature came “full in their view advancing upon them with a terrible look… Our little band instinctively gathered close in a body, and presented their rifles. The huge being, nothing daunted, bounded upon his victims, and in the same instant received the contents of seven rifles. But he did not die alone; nor until he had glutted his wrath with the death of five of them, which he effected by wringing off the head from the body.” The four surviving men examined the prostrate giant as it died, “wallowing and roaring. His length was thirteen feet, and his breadth and volume of just proportions.” Fearing the struggle might have alerted similar beings; the men gathered their comrades’ guns and fled for home.

A BOY AND HIS BIG FOOT

This report was forwarded to the Georgia Swamp Ape Research Center, GSARC and detailed an encounter in the Okefenokee Swamp. While a fourteen-year-old boy and his family were camping on the West side at Stephen Foster State Park in 1972, the boy was walking along a waterway when he heard footsteps behind him, drawing closer. He assumed it was his siblings. “I figured they were going to scare me, and I decided to let them sneak up and I would jump out and scare them.” Moments later “a thing that looked like a cross between a chimpanzee and a little man” approached along the path. “It saw me and let out a sound like from hell,” then crouched down and nimbly sprung on the boy. “It knocked me down and tried to get its teeth in (to) my neck. I screamed. I thought I was dead.”

Fortunately, the youngster’s parents heard the scream and shouted back. “It raised up real slow and sniffed the air for a few seconds,” he continued. “Then it just got up and walked into the canal and swam across to the other side,” disappearing into the woods.

THE PIG MAN A.K.A. SASQUATCH SIGHTINGS

It has been many years since a sighting, but old swampers would call him the South Georgia Pig Man. Over the years reported sightings have persisted in and around the South Georgia swamp areas, especially deep in the remote recesses of the Okefenokee swamp.

Reports describe the creature as a large ape like being, that walks upright, has abundant hair and a nose similar to a pig. Observers have commented on a skunk like odor that has accompanied the sightings. There have been no reports of hostility or aggression, in fact the creature was referred to as timid and shy with sad expressive eyes.

These Okefenokee area sightings have many details in common with creature sightings documented in the Everglades. A very similar missing link referred to as the Florida Skunk Ape. Could it be possible these beings are related genetically?

Before development transformed Florida, these man like creatures might have migrated. One of their routes could have been by way of the Kissimmee River Valley up along the Lake Wales Ridge to the extensive game rich swamps associated with the St. John’s River Basin.

The migration would have passed right by what is today the city of Jacksonville onward to the Okefenokee and beyond.

Who knows?  Maybe I’m related somehow in some fashion or form to this Pig Man?  It could happen… we could have matching snouts.

I want to send huge hogs and snout kisses to my friends Steve, Jo and their black cat Tequila at Okefenokee.   They gave me special permission to use their stories and pictures from the Okefenokee Pastimes Inc

 

31 Days of Spook – Okefenokee Continued

So you decided to come back and read the finish of the my special Okefenokee scare?  Remember to go and visit my new friends, Steve, Jo and their black cat Tequila at Okefenokee – tell them that Bacon sent you for a hello.  They gave me special permission to use their stories and pictures from the Okefenokee Pastimes Inc. – just in time for my 31 days of Spook.  Be prepared to be spooked, frightened and perhaps even sleep with a nightlight on again tonight.  Remember these are true stories from deep in the swamps.  You never what might go bump in the night or splash in the swamp.

Today, I want to bring you tales of a creature that goes by many names such as Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Skunk Ape, Yeti and such.  Tales of this huge creature have been seen all over the world in remote places.  In the southeast corner of Georgia, Okefenokee has it’s own creature.  Here are some true reports from the Okefenokee X-Files.  Are you brave enough to read them?

A SWAMP THING

The Okefenokee Swamp was truly a land of mystery in June 1829, when the Milledgeville Statesman published a bizarre story about it. The tale was related by a John Ostean, “residing on the borders of this swamp in Ware County,” and others who lived on the opposite side in Florida. Locals had long heard from Creek Indians of an enchanted island inhabited by “mortals of super-human dimensions and incomparable beauty.” The story goes that two men and a boy had taken advantage of a long dry spell and pushed deep into the swamp for two weeks to seek this island. However, “their progress suddenly arrested at the appearance of the print of a foot-step so unearthly in its dimensions, so ominous of power, and terrible in form,” that they paused. The print was eighteen inches long and nine inches across, the stride of this giant over six feet. The party hastily returned and spread the tale of the “Man Mountain.”

Hearing the story, nine Florida hunters ventured into the swamp. After several days’ journey, they found a similar print and others. The men followed the tracks for several days and had camped on a ridge when two of their members “simultaneously discharged at an advancing and ferocious wild beast” whose screams made the swamp “reverberate with a deafening roar.” The creature came “full in their view advancing upon them with a terrible look… Our little band instinctively gathered close in a body, and presented their rifles. The huge being, nothing daunted, bounded upon his victims, and in the same instant received the contents of seven rifles. But he did not die alone; nor until he had glutted his wrath with the death of five of them, which he effected by wringing off the head from the body.” The four surviving men examined the prostrate giant as it died, “wallowing and roaring. His length was thirteen feet, and his breadth and volume of just proportions.” Fearing the struggle might have alerted similar beings; the men gathered their comrades’ guns and fled for home.

A BOY AND HIS BIG FOOT

This report was forwarded to the Georgia Swamp Ape Research Center, GSARC and detailed an encounter in the Okefenokee Swamp. While a fourteen-year-old boy and his family were camping on the West side at Stephen Foster State Park in 1972, the boy was walking along a waterway when he heard footsteps behind him, drawing closer. He assumed it was his siblings. “I figured they were going to scare me, and I decided to let them sneak up and I would jump out and scare them.” Moments later “a thing that looked like a cross between a chimpanzee and a little man” approached along the path. “It saw me and let out a sound like from hell,” then crouched down and nimbly sprung on the boy. “It knocked me down and tried to get its teeth in (to) my neck. I screamed. I thought I was dead.”

Fortunately, the youngster’s parents heard the scream and shouted back. “It raised up real slow and sniffed the air for a few seconds,” he continued. “Then it just got up and walked into the canal and swam across to the other side,” disappearing into the woods.

.

THE PIG MAN A.K.A. SASQUATCH SIGHTINGS

It has been many years since a sighting, but old swampers would call him the South Georgia Pig Man. Over the years reported sightings have persisted in and around the South Georgia swamp areas, especially deep in the remote recesses of the Okefenokee swamp.

Reports describe the creature as a large ape like being, that walks upright, has abundant hair and a nose similar to a pig. Observers have commented on a skunk like odor that has accompanied the sightings. There have been no reports of hostility or aggression, in fact the creature was referred to as timid and shy with sad expressive eyes.

These Okefenokee area sightings have many details in common with creature sightings documented in the Everglades. A very similar missing link referred to as the Florida Skunk Ape. Could it be possible these beings are related genetically?

Before development transformed Florida, these man like creatures might have migrated. One of their routes could have been by way of the Kissimmee River Valley up along the Lake Wales Ridge to the extensive game rich swamps associated with the St. John’s River Basin.  The migration would have passed right by what is today the city of Jacksonville onward to the Okefenokee and beyond.  Who knows?  Maybe I’m related somehow in some fashion or form to this Pig Man?  It could happen… we could have matching snouts.

 

31 Days of Spook – Okefenokee Horror

Hello my blogville friends.  Today I have a special treat just for you.  I met new some friends at Okefenokee – special hello’s to Steve, Jo and their black cat Tequila.  They gave me special permission to use their stories and pictures from the Okefenokee Pastimes Inc. – just in time for my 31 days of Spook.  Be prepared to be spooked, frightened and perhaps even sleep with a nightlight on tonight.  I know I have mine plugged in already 🙂  And Steve, Jo and Tequila – thank you so much from the bottom of this little pigs heart.  Friends, hold someone tight – these are true stories from not too far from the Hotel Thompson.

  A HEADLESS GHOST

An Okefenokee area ghost tradition, this one dating to the 1930s, owes its existence to the railroad. A man fishing along the tracks at Henson Creek, near Manor, fell asleep one night with the rails as his pillow. A train appeared, sounding its whistle frantically, but there was no response. Steel wheels kept on rolling, and the fisher person was high landered.

Now for a twist. The legend is that the body can be seen walking the rails at night swinging a phantom lantern in search of its head. Kevin Dial claims that his grandfather went in search of the “shade” one night. Sure enough, it approached, solid white and six feet tall, walking directly toward Gramps, who fired a futile shot before fleeing.

GHOST SPIRIT SIGHTINGS

A log cabin on Okefenokee’s East Side by an area called Camp Cornelia on Trail Ridge is where this haunting took place in the early 1990′s. A former Refuge volunteer, who resided in the cabin, reported strange visitations of Spirits. The Spirits were Native American Indians in full regalia. These spirits were not aware of the walls and boundaries of the cabin, but seemed attached to the land the cabin was on. They seemingly went about their daily tribal existence without concern.

.

SPECTRES OF THE SWAMP SIGHTING

This one was reported in January 1998 on Trail Ridge, the ancient geological feature which makes up the eastern boundary of the swamp. A traveler on vacation and hiking near the boardwalk area was surprised by the sound of drums in the distant piney woods. Native American spectres carrying objects and walking swiftly in a single file line were sighted off in the distance heading south on the ridge. The vacationer did not linger long to watch the procession. He reported no sense of hostility, but felt uneasy as if he was seeing something he should not be observing.

 

Dear Bacon

Dear Bacon – Don’t let the humans fool you.  There comes a day that they cut off the nibbles.  They finally told me that I needed to work for my treats.  The nerve!  So I did what I could.  I applied and got a job at the local Home Depot.  The pay sucks.  It’s hot in here and can you believe they trust me with tools?  Shakes kitty head.  Ask for me the next time you are in the store.  Signed What Project Can I Help You With?

Dear What Project Can I Help You With – Well I have to say you look very professional.  And don’t forget about your resume for future jobs.  I would definitely come to you for assistance for sure.  I would be surprised if you don’t start with a big following at your store location.  You just have that “I’m here for you” look.  Really you do.

.

---

Dear Bacon – Where is it written that only dogs can be used for protection?  I’m just saying that there are other anipals out here that will serve and protect what is rightfully theirs.  You see me in the picture, right?  Look to the left midways.  That is my kingdom.  My backyard.  I will chase unwanted guests out of my kingdom… you know like the meter reader guy, squirrels, kitties and those pesky pooches.  I let them get in the yard fully and then it’s on like Donkey Kong.  My humans had to put this sign on the gate because some peeps complained.  Can you believe that?  Signed Killer

Dear Killer – Shakes and Shivers.  You scare me my friend.  I believe you when you say what is yours well is YOURS.  That’s the way I feel about my magical backyard  It has *my* smells – it doesn’t need anything else.  I say you continue to do what you do.  No one needs to be in your domain at all.

.

---

Dear Bacon – My human laughs at me.  But I gotta tell you, this position is my favorite kitty hanging down yoga position.  It helps the blood flow all the way through your body – even your tail.  I highly recommend it.  Signed Kitty Hanging Down

Dear Kitty Hanging Down – WOWZER!  I’ll have to take your word about this favorite position of yours my friend.  I’m not sure if it would really work for this oinker.  You see I have what they call a pot belly and trust me I’ve worked hard on that pot belly.  I don’t think it would let me ‘hang’ like you do.  But you enjoy my friend!

.

---

Dear Bacon – Do you think people realize when they knock on our door that we enforce a strict no solicitation rule here at our crib?  We mean business.  Unless you are delivering pizza – oh YES – then go to the house next door please.  They have a cute little poodle who lets everyone in.  Signed Four Amigos

Dear Four Amigos – I get it.  I really do.  Oh my pigs – you have the ‘look’ down pact with don’t mess with us and we are the first means of getting through this door.  I bet you don’t get a lot of door to door sales people.  I commend you on that.  When I visit, I will definitely bring pizza.

Stay strong my friends!

.

---

Dear Bacon – It might have been the beer.  It might have been the tequila.  It might just have been the fact I stayed up all night and partied.  Shakes head slowly because the world is still moving in this position.  I’m never drinking again.  Signed Wobbly

Dear Wobbly – Oh my friend.  When you drink and fall down, you need help.  Perhaps I can give you the number to your local K9 AA meeting in your area.  Admission is the first step so you are half way there.

 

---

REMEMBER friends.  Dear Bacon can’t happen without YOU.  Please continue to send me your pictures and questions via email.

 

 

31 Days of Spook – Okefenokee

Hello my fellow horror friends and welcome back to my 31 Days of Spook. I’m so glad you decided to come back and read the finish of the my special Okefenokee scare?  Remember to go and visit my new friends, Steve, Jo and their black cat Tequila at Okefenokee. Tell them that Bacon sent you for a hello.  They gave me special permission to use their stories and pictures from the Okefenokee Pastimes Inc. – just in time for my 31 days of Spook.  Be prepared to be spooked, frightened and perhaps even sleep with a nightlight on again tonight.  Remember these are true stories from deep in the swamps.  You never what might go bump in the night or splash in the swamp.

Today, I want to bring you tales of a creature that goes by many names such as Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Skunk Ape, Yeti and such.  Tales of this huge creature have been seen all over the world in remote places.  In the southeast corner of Georgia, Okefenokee has it’s own creature.  Here are some true reports from the Okefenokee X-Files.  Are you brave enough to read them?

A SWAMP THING

The Okefenokee Swamp was truly a land of mystery in June 1829, when the Milledgeville Statesman published a bizarre story about it. The tale was related by a John Ostean, “residing on the borders of this swamp in Ware County,” and others who lived on the opposite side in Florida. Locals had long heard from Creek Indians of an enchanted island inhabited by “mortals of super-human dimensions and incomparable beauty.” The story goes that two men and a boy had taken advantage of a long dry spell and pushed deep into the swamp for two weeks to seek this island. However, “their progress suddenly arrested at the appearance of the print of a foot-step so unearthly in its dimensions, so ominous of power, and terrible in form,” that they paused. The print was eighteen inches long and nine inches across, the stride of this giant over six feet. The party hastily returned and spread the tale of the “Man Mountain.”

Hearing the story, nine Florida hunters ventured into the swamp. After several days’ journey, they found a similar print and others. The men followed the tracks for several days and had camped on a ridge when two of their members “simultaneously discharged at an advancing and ferocious wild beast” whose screams made the swamp “reverberate with a deafening roar.” The creature came “full in their view advancing upon them with a terrible look… Our little band instinctively gathered close in a body, and presented their rifles. The huge being, nothing daunted, bounded upon his victims, and in the same instant received the contents of seven rifles. But he did not die alone; nor until he had glutted his wrath with the death of five of them, which he effected by wringing off the head from the body.” The four surviving men examined the prostrate giant as it died, “wallowing and roaring. His length was thirteen feet, and his breadth and volume of just proportions.” Fearing the struggle might have alerted similar beings; the men gathered their comrades’ guns and fled for home.

A BOY AND HIS BIG FOOT

This report was forwarded to the Georgia Swamp Ape Research Center, GSARC and detailed an encounter in the Okefenokee Swamp. While a fourteen-year-old boy and his family were camping on the West side at Stephen Foster State Park in 1972, the boy was walking along a waterway when he heard footsteps behind him, drawing closer. He assumed it was his siblings. “I figured they were going to scare me, and I decided to let them sneak up and I would jump out and scare them.” Moments later “a thing that looked like a cross between a chimpanzee and a little man” approached along the path. “It saw me and let out a sound like from hell,” then crouched down and nimbly sprung on the boy. “It knocked me down and tried to get its teeth in (to) my neck. I screamed. I thought I was dead.”

Fortunately, the youngster’s parents heard the scream and shouted back. “It raised up real slow and sniffed the air for a few seconds,” he continued. “Then it just got up and walked into the canal and swam across to the other side,” disappearing into the woods.

THE PIG MAN A.K.A. SASQUATCH SIGHTINGS

It has been many years since a sighting, but old swampers would call him the South Georgia Pig Man. Over the years reported sightings have persisted in and around the South Georgia swamp areas, especially deep in the remote recesses of the Okefenokee swamp.

Reports describe the creature as a large ape like being, that walks upright, has abundant hair and a nose similar to a pig. Observers have commented on a skunk like odor that has accompanied the sightings. There have been no reports of hostility or aggression, in fact the creature was referred to as timid and shy with sad expressive eyes.

These Okefenokee area sightings have many details in common with creature sightings documented in the Everglades. A very similar missing link referred to as the Florida Skunk Ape. Could it be possible these beings are related genetically?

Before development transformed Florida, these man like creatures might have migrated. One of their routes could have been by way of the Kissimmee River Valley up along the Lake Wales Ridge to the extensive game rich swamps associated with the St. John’s River Basin.

The migration would have passed right by what is today the city of Jacksonville onward to the Okefenokee and beyond.

Who knows?  Maybe I’m related somehow in some fashion or form to this Pig Man?  It could happen… we could have matching snouts.

I want to send huge hogs and snout kisses to my friends Steve, Jo and their black cat Tequila at Okefenokee

 

31 Days of Spook – Okefenokee

Hello my blogville friends – welcome back to my 31 Days of Spook.  Today and tomorrow I have a special treat just for you.  I met new some friends from Okefenokee – special hello’s to Steve, Jo and their black cat Tequila.  They gave me special permission to use their stories and pictures from the Okefenokee Pastimes Inc. – just in time for my 31 days of Spook.  Be prepared to be spooked, frightened and perhaps even sleep with a nightlight on tonight.  I know I have mine plugged in already 🙂

And Steve, Jo and Tequila – thank you so much from the bottom of this little pigs heart.

Friends, hold someone tight – these are true stories from not too far from the Hotel Thompson.

  A HEADLESS GHOST

An Okefenokee area ghost tradition, this one dating to the 1930s, owes its existence to the railroad. A man fishing along the tracks at Henson Creek, near Manor, fell asleep one night with the rails as his pillow. A train appeared, sounding its whistle frantically, but there was no response. Steel wheels kept on rolling, and the fisher person was high landered.

Now for a twist. The legend is that the body can be seen walking the rails at night swinging a phantom lantern in search of its head. Kevin Dial claims that his grandfather went in search of the “shade” one night. Sure enough, it approached, solid white and six feet tall, walking directly toward Gramps, who fired a futile shot before fleeing.

GHOST SPIRIT SIGHTINGS

A log cabin on Okefenokee’s East Side by an area called Camp Cornelia on Trail Ridge is where this haunting took place in the early 1990′s. A former Refuge volunteer, who resided in the cabin, reported strange visitations of Spirits. The Spirits were Native American Indians in full regalia. These spirits were not aware of the walls and boundaries of the cabin, but seemed attached to the land the cabin was on. They seemingly went about their daily tribal existence without concern.

SPECTRES OF THE SWAMP SIGHTING

This one was reported in January 1998 on Trail Ridge, the ancient geological feature which makes up the eastern boundary of the swamp. A traveler on vacation and hiking near the boardwalk area was surprised by the sound of drums in the distant piney woods. Native American spectres carrying objects and walking swiftly in a single file line were sighted off in the distance heading south on the ridge. The vacationer did not linger long to watch the procession. He reported no sense of hostility, but felt uneasy as if he was seeing something he should not be observing.

 

31 Days of Spook – Day 8

Hello my fellow horror friends.  Count Baconula here.  So you decided to come back and read the finish of the my special Okefenokee scare?  Remember to go and visit my new friends, Steve, Jo and their black cat Tequila, at http://www.okefenokee.com/okefenokee_x-files/ – tell them that Bacon sent you for a hello.  They gave me special permission to use their stories and pictures from the Okefenokee Pastimes Inc. – just in time for my 31 days of Spook.  Be prepared to be spooked, frightened and perhaps even sleep with a nightlight on again tonight.  Remember these are true stories from deep in the swamps.  You never what might go bump in the night or splash in the swamp.

Today, I want to bring you tales of a creature that goes by many names such as Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Skunk Ape, Yeti and such.  Tales of this huge creature have been seen all over the world in remote places.  In the southeast corner of Georgia, Okefenokee has it’s own creature.  Here are some true reports from the Okefenokee X-Files.  Are you brave enough to read them?

A SWAMP THING

The Okefenokee Swamp was truly a land of mystery in June 1829, when the Milledgeville Statesman published a bizarre story about it. The tale was related by a John Ostean, “residing on the borders of this swamp in Ware County,” and others who lived on the opposite side in Florida. Locals had long heard from Creek Indians of an enchanted island inhabited by “mortals of super-human dimensions and incomparable beauty.” The story goes that two men and a boy had taken advantage of a long dry spell and pushed deep into the swamp for two weeks to seek this island. However, “their progress suddenly arrested at the appearance of the print of a foot-step so unearthly in its dimensions, so ominous of power, and terrible in form,” that they paused. The print was eighteen inches long and nine inches across, the stride of this giant over six feet. The party hastily returned and spread the tale of the “Man Mountain.”

Hearing the story, nine Florida hunters ventured into the swamp. After several days’ journey, they found a similar print and others. The men followed the tracks for several days and had camped on a ridge when two of their members “simultaneously discharged at an advancing and ferocious wild beast” whose screams made the swamp “reverberate with a deafening roar.” The creature came “full in their view advancing upon them with a terrible look… Our little band instinctively gathered close in a body, and presented their rifles. The huge being, nothing daunted, bounded upon his victims, and in the same instant received the contents of seven rifles. But he did not die alone; nor until he had glutted his wrath with the death of five of them, which he effected by wringing off the head from the body.” The four surviving men examined the prostrate giant as it died, “wallowing and roaring. His length was thirteen feet, and his breadth and volume of just proportions.” Fearing the struggle might have alerted similar beings; the men gathered their comrades’ guns and fled for home.

A BOY AND HIS BIG FOOT

This report was forwarded to the Georgia Swamp Ape Research Center, GSARC and detailed an encounter in the Okefenokee Swamp. While a fourteen-year-old boy and his family were camping on the West side at Stephen Foster State Park in 1972, the boy was walking along a waterway when he heard footsteps behind him, drawing closer. He assumed it was his siblings. “I figured they were going to scare me, and I decided to let them sneak up and I would jump out and scare them.” Moments later “a thing that looked like a cross between a chimpanzee and a little man” approached along the path. “It saw me and let out a sound like from hell,” then crouched down and nimbly sprung on the boy. “It knocked me down and tried to get its teeth in (to) my neck. I screamed. I thought I was dead.”

Fortunately, the youngster’s parents heard the scream and shouted back. “It raised up real slow and sniffed the air for a few seconds,” he continued. “Then it just got up and walked into the canal and swam across to the other side,” disappearing into the woods.

THE PIG MAN A.K.A. SASQUATCH SIGHTINGS

It has been many years since a sighting, but old swampers would call him the South Georgia Pig Man. Over the years reported sightings have persisted in and around the South Georgia swamp areas, especially deep in the remote recesses of the Okefenokee swamp.

Reports describe the creature as a large ape like being, that walks upright, has abundant hair and a nose similar to a pig. Observers have commented on a skunk like odor that has accompanied the sightings. There have been no reports of hostility or aggression, in fact the creature was referred to as timid and shy with sad expressive eyes.

These Okefenokee area sightings have many details in common with creature sightings documented in the Everglades. A very similar missing link referred to as the Florida Skunk Ape. Could it be possible these beings are related genetically?

Before development transformed Florida, these man like creatures might have migrated. One of their routes could have been by way of the Kissimmee River Valley up along the Lake Wales Ridge to the extensive game rich swamps associated with the St. John’s River Basin.

The migration would have passed right by what is today the city of Jacksonville onward to the Okefenokee and beyond.

Who knows?  Maybe I’m related somehow in some fashion or form to this Pig Man?  It could happen… we could have matching snouts. 

I want to send huge hogs and snout kisses to my friends Steve, Jo and their black cat Tequila at http://www.okefenokee.com/okefenokee_x-files/

You’ve made these past two days really scary and had me on my hooves.  Next time mom/dad are down your way, I’ll have them call you for a proper thank you.  Friends, if you are near – tell them Bacon sent you 🙂  Happy horror day!