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ALTOONA, Fla. (UPI)
- Most investigators figure its a hoax, but there is enough doubt in their
minds to order cats made of the size 18 footlike prints found in a remote
area of the Ocala National Forest.
"I think its a hoax," said
Doug Sewell, chief investigator for the Lake County Sheriff's department.
"There was no indication that something big enough to make those
prints went back through the woods."
Less sure, however, is Lake
County Sgt. Dee Kirby, called out to make casts of the half dozen 17-inch-by-6
1/2-inch footprints found near a bulldozer in the vicinity of Camp Ocala,
a federal job training site. He said the prints showed a definite arching
of the instep.five distinct toes and even some wrinkling along the instep.
"(The prints)
had a full four feet of distance between each of one," he said, speculating
that if they were real the creature that made them must be 10-to-12 feet
tall and weigh close to 1,000 pounds.
The prints were discovered by a
private contractor doing roadwork for the U.S. Forestry Service. Forestry
officials also made casts of the prints, but doubted if they would investigate
further.
Informal speculation centered on whether the creature was the
infamous "skunk ape" - Florida's own version of Bigfoot and
the abominable snowman - reportedly last sighted in the Everglades.
Source Credit: Mark A. Hall; via source Ron Schaffner, Creature Chronicles
© Houston,
Texas; Chronicle; July 2, 1980
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