QUOTE
Skunk ape goes to the movies
Marco filmmaker's documentary takes hard look at a hairy subject
By TIFFANY ST. MARTIN, Staff Writer - March 30, 2005
Not far from the smallest post office in the United States lives a man who just might have the world's biggest imagination.
Dave Shealy owns the Trail Lakes Campground in Ochopee, and he doubles as the town's acting mayor.
He's also an expert on Florida's mysterious skunk ape.
Shealy says he has investigated the phenomenon since he first saw a skunk ape three decades ago. He was 10 years old, hunting with his brother, Jack, when Jack spotted a Bigfootlike creature in the distance.
Shealy couldn't see over the tall Everglades grass, so his brother lifted him off the ground. That's when he saw what he believes was a skunk ape: a 7-foot, 300-pound animal with 4-inch hair covering its body.
The skunk ape resembles Bigfoot, but it's thinner with longer arms, Shealy says. Its name comes from its distinctive smell, a combination of rotten eggs and cow manure.
Sightings most often occur in the evening in Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, and witnesses sometimes see two or three skunk apes together, Shealy says. In the last 10 years, researching skunk apes has become his full-time job.
Now others are taking interest, including native Marco Islander Nate Martin.
Martin will premiere his hourlong documentary, The Ochoppee (sic) Skunk Ape, at 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, April 13 and 14, at the Bombay Club on Marco Island. Shealy will show the film at sunset Saturday, April 16, at Trail Lakes. The campground is about 30 miles east of Marco Island on U.S. 41 East.
"The movie is gonna be of great interest to anyone living in the state of Florida for sure — and the world," Shealy says.
Shealy was skeptical when Martin first said he wanted to make a skunk ape documentary. But he knew that Martin was his brother's friend, so he trusted him.
Martin, 26, who directed and edited the film, started shooting footage a year and a half ago.
"I knew I wanted to make a movie. I'm fascinated with the unproven, and I knew (the skunk ape) would make for a good one," he says.
Martin says he isn't a skunk ape authority himself, but a "skunk ape researcher researcher." He left the starring role to Shealy, whom he calls the world's foremost expert on the subject.
Martin filmed Shealy for 30 hours over six months. He also interviewed other witnesses, mostly older residents of Ochopee and Chokoloskee.
It took him eight months to edit the feature film, his first. The Ochoppee Skunk Ape isn't all serious, Martin says. The documentary is part comedy, part suspense and part musical.
A studio engineer and musician, Martin also wrote and recorded 20 songs for the movie's soundtrack, which is a mix of folk, rock and hip-hop music. All of the songs are about skunk apes.
"The music, I think, is the strong point of the movie," Martin says.
He never has seen a skunk ape firsthand, but his film includes some of Shealy's footage of the fabled furry creature. Martin says he also has seen signs of a skunk ape, including smells and footprints, and he has met people who said they had just seen a skunk ape.
Only a small number of people track the skunk ape. Most sightings are by chance, Martin says.
Martin said March 24 that he'd received a phone call from a friend, an airboat tour guide, who came across a set of large footprints earlier that day.
Not everyone is a believer, though.
"Most skeptics live in the city, and most believers live out there (in the Everglades)," Martin says.
Take Floyd Lilly. The Marco Island resident, who builds houses with home theaters, has known Shealy for years and agreed to hold a first-run screening of the film in his home a few weeks ago.
Lilly says the film was quality, but he won't comment on whether he believes in the skunk ape.
Shealy says the skunk ape is beastly business — the animal is an omnivore, after all.
He says that about three years ago, two women were photographing bromeliads on Turner River Road off U.S. 41 East when a skunk ape crossed their path.
"It was a serious situation. They got in their car and got out of there," Shealy says.
Another time, he says, a fisherman watched a skunk ape take a handful of bass from the bed of his truck.
Shealy says he has spotted a skunk ape on three separate occasions. He believes there may be as many as nine of them living in Florida.
People may wonder why they don't see skunk apes on a regular basis, but Shealy argues that he never saw panthers when he was growing up. Now they're more prevalent.
"It's a great place to hide here in the Everglades," he says.
Shealy wants to make people aware of the skunk ape. He's appeared on Comedy Central, Inside Edition, Unsolved Mysteries and other TV programs.
But even more than that, he wants to make people aware of the environment, especially the fragile Everglades.
"Attention to the Everglades is a good thing, whether it's the skunk ape or not," Shealy says.
Marco filmmaker's documentary takes hard look at a hairy subject
By TIFFANY ST. MARTIN, Staff Writer - March 30, 2005
Not far from the smallest post office in the United States lives a man who just might have the world's biggest imagination.
Dave Shealy owns the Trail Lakes Campground in Ochopee, and he doubles as the town's acting mayor.
He's also an expert on Florida's mysterious skunk ape.
Shealy says he has investigated the phenomenon since he first saw a skunk ape three decades ago. He was 10 years old, hunting with his brother, Jack, when Jack spotted a Bigfootlike creature in the distance.
Shealy couldn't see over the tall Everglades grass, so his brother lifted him off the ground. That's when he saw what he believes was a skunk ape: a 7-foot, 300-pound animal with 4-inch hair covering its body.
The skunk ape resembles Bigfoot, but it's thinner with longer arms, Shealy says. Its name comes from its distinctive smell, a combination of rotten eggs and cow manure.
Sightings most often occur in the evening in Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, and witnesses sometimes see two or three skunk apes together, Shealy says. In the last 10 years, researching skunk apes has become his full-time job.
Now others are taking interest, including native Marco Islander Nate Martin.
Martin will premiere his hourlong documentary, The Ochoppee (sic) Skunk Ape, at 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, April 13 and 14, at the Bombay Club on Marco Island. Shealy will show the film at sunset Saturday, April 16, at Trail Lakes. The campground is about 30 miles east of Marco Island on U.S. 41 East.
"The movie is gonna be of great interest to anyone living in the state of Florida for sure — and the world," Shealy says.
Shealy was skeptical when Martin first said he wanted to make a skunk ape documentary. But he knew that Martin was his brother's friend, so he trusted him.
Martin, 26, who directed and edited the film, started shooting footage a year and a half ago.
"I knew I wanted to make a movie. I'm fascinated with the unproven, and I knew (the skunk ape) would make for a good one," he says.
Martin says he isn't a skunk ape authority himself, but a "skunk ape researcher researcher." He left the starring role to Shealy, whom he calls the world's foremost expert on the subject.
Martin filmed Shealy for 30 hours over six months. He also interviewed other witnesses, mostly older residents of Ochopee and Chokoloskee.
It took him eight months to edit the feature film, his first. The Ochoppee Skunk Ape isn't all serious, Martin says. The documentary is part comedy, part suspense and part musical.
A studio engineer and musician, Martin also wrote and recorded 20 songs for the movie's soundtrack, which is a mix of folk, rock and hip-hop music. All of the songs are about skunk apes.
"The music, I think, is the strong point of the movie," Martin says.
He never has seen a skunk ape firsthand, but his film includes some of Shealy's footage of the fabled furry creature. Martin says he also has seen signs of a skunk ape, including smells and footprints, and he has met people who said they had just seen a skunk ape.
Only a small number of people track the skunk ape. Most sightings are by chance, Martin says.
Martin said March 24 that he'd received a phone call from a friend, an airboat tour guide, who came across a set of large footprints earlier that day.
Not everyone is a believer, though.
"Most skeptics live in the city, and most believers live out there (in the Everglades)," Martin says.
Take Floyd Lilly. The Marco Island resident, who builds houses with home theaters, has known Shealy for years and agreed to hold a first-run screening of the film in his home a few weeks ago.
Lilly says the film was quality, but he won't comment on whether he believes in the skunk ape.
Shealy says the skunk ape is beastly business — the animal is an omnivore, after all.
He says that about three years ago, two women were photographing bromeliads on Turner River Road off U.S. 41 East when a skunk ape crossed their path.
"It was a serious situation. They got in their car and got out of there," Shealy says.
Another time, he says, a fisherman watched a skunk ape take a handful of bass from the bed of his truck.
Shealy says he has spotted a skunk ape on three separate occasions. He believes there may be as many as nine of them living in Florida.
People may wonder why they don't see skunk apes on a regular basis, but Shealy argues that he never saw panthers when he was growing up. Now they're more prevalent.
"It's a great place to hide here in the Everglades," he says.
Shealy wants to make people aware of the skunk ape. He's appeared on Comedy Central, Inside Edition, Unsolved Mysteries and other TV programs.
But even more than that, he wants to make people aware of the environment, especially the fragile Everglades.
"Attention to the Everglades is a good thing, whether it's the skunk ape or not," Shealy says.
