Flying Bigfoot of Florida

Flying Bigfoot of Florida

The Flying Bigfoot of Florida - simply called "Bigfoot" at the time - was a hoax in west central Florida which was most active between the years 1973 and 1975, and was reported periodically in the "St. Petersburg Times" newspaper. In the late 1990s, one of the perpetrators of the hoax came forward, admitting his actions and debunking the entire legend, most of which had already been forgotten by that time.

In the spring of 1973, tracks of large, three-toed footprints began appearing on Clearwater Beach. These were spaced like a seabird would walk, but the prints suggested the creature lacked webbing between the toes. Many people (including the hoaxters themselves) reported fleeting sightings of the creature which the local press quickly dubbed "Bigfoot," based on the size of its feet, and despite the fact that the name "Bigfoot" was already commonly known and associated with the Sasquatch or Skunk Ape, also periodically reported in rural areas of Florida at the time.

The creature was described in the "Clearwater Sun" as being somewhat reptilian, with a long serpentine neck and a large head similar to a pit viper. It was said to have leathery wings like a bat or a Pterodactyl. Other eyewitnesses merely described it as being a very large bird.

No pictures were ever taken, although numerous people claimed to have seen it walking on the beach or taking off. Bigfoot's tracks were only found on Clearwater Beach early in the morning; it evidently never bothered to visit the much larger and less-crowded Sand Key beach just a half mile to the south. Over time, tracks and sightings became scarcer, and disappeared by the middle of the decade.

Perhaps due to the transitory nature of the town's inhabitants, the story quickly faded away and was mostly forgotten until the Sun published a short interview with one of the hoaxters more than twenty years later.

According to the story, two students at Clearwater High School were bored, and decided to play a prank. After watching an episode of the TV show "My Three Sons" in which an elephant's foot umbrella stand is used to make fake elephant tracks and fool people into thinking there was an elephant on the loose, they decided to make a large bird's foot in shop class. They then regularly took the foot to Clearwater Beach late at night to make the tracks. There was never any attempt to fake a full body for the monster, nor to attempt to fake photographs of it. The various descriptions from various sightings were products of the public imagination or outright lies.

ee also

* Cryptid
* List of legendary creatures
* Legendary creature
* Cryptic (zoology) - animals that are difficult to observe due to their behaviour or camouflage


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • List of hoaxes — The following are lists of hoaxes: Proven hoaxes These are some claims that have been revealed to be deliberate public hoaxes. This list does not include hoax articles published on or around April 1, a long list of which can be found in the April …   Wikipedia

  • MonsterQuest — Genre Paranormal Format Live action Narrated by Stan Bernard …   Wikipedia

  • In Search of... (TV series) — infobox television show name=In Search Of... caption=In Search Of UFO Coverups format=documentary runtime=0:25 creator=Alan Landsburg Productions starring=Leonard Nimoy country=USA network=syndicated first aired=September, 1976 last aired=March,… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes — This page is a list of episodes for the American TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000. In total, 198 episodes were broadcast from 1988 to 1999. Contents 1 Season index 2 Explanation of entries 3 KTMA TV …   Wikipedia

  • List of college mascots in the United States — This is an incomplete list of U.S. college mascots, consisting of named incarnations of live, costumed or inflatable mascots. For team names, see List of college sports team nicknames. Contents: Top · 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R… …   Wikipedia

  • Jersey Devil — New Jersey Devil redirects here. For the NHL Hockey Team, see New Jersey Devils. For other uses, see Jersey Devil (disambiguation). New Jersey Devil (Leeds Devil) The Jersey Devi …   Wikipedia

  • List of Destination Truth episodes — This is a list of episodes of the paranormal reality series Destination Truth. Contents 1 Season 1 (2007) 2 Season 2 (2008) …   Wikipedia

  • Die Simpsons (Episoden) — Diese Liste der Simpsons Episoden enthält alle Episoden der US Amerikanischen Zeichentrickserie Die Simpsons, sortiert nach der US amerikanischen Erstausstrahlung. In mehr als 20 Jahren wurden insgesamt über 420 Episoden in 20 Staffeln und 48… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Liste der Simpsons-Folgen — Diese Liste der Simpsons Episoden enthält alle Episoden der US Amerikanischen Zeichentrickserie Die Simpsons, sortiert nach der US amerikanischen Erstausstrahlung. In mehr als 20 Jahren wurden insgesamt über 420 Episoden in 20 Staffeln und 48… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • List of Red vs. Blue characters — This is a list of characters in the Rooster Teeth series Red vs. Blue. Contents 1 Red Team 1.1 Sarge 1.2 Simmons 1.3 Grif 1.4 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”