HUNTERS TOLD OF SWAMP CREATURE'S ATTACK
The Okefenokee Swamp was wild and dangerous in the early 1800s, a place avoided by all but the bravest and most reckless adventurers.
Quicksand was an ever-present danger, as were panthers, bears, alligators and poisonous snakes. Bugs that swarmed in thick clouds were said to be enough to drive men mad.
The most terrifying presence in the swamp was the so-called "Man Mountain," a giant creature said to be half man and half ape that inhabited an enchanted island in the middle of the swamp.
Indians avoided the island, but legends contain references to bloody encounters with "mortals of superhuman dimensions and incomparable ferocity."
Early white settlers discounted the old Indian tales until 1829, when two Ware County hunters found footprints more than 18 inches long and 9 inches wide.
Later that night, their sleep was interrupted by "fearful screams that could only have been made by dreadful monsters." They broke camp and beat a hasty retreat from the swamp.
Their strange story quickly made the rounds, and a hunting party of Floridians and Georgians was formed to go after the monster.
On June 6, 1829, the nine-man party, armed with rifles, swords and pistols, set off. They encountered numerous bears, panthers and alligators, but no sign of the monster.
One afternoon two weeks later, they came upon more giant tracks. They set up camp and made plans to go after the creature at first light.
That night, according to the Milledgeville (Ga.) Statesman, the hunters were attacked by a "horrible monster covered with hair." The hunters quickly opened fire, but the creature seemed unstoppable.
"The huge being, nothing daunted, bounded upon his victims, and in the same instant received the contents of seven rifles," the newspaper said. Still the creature charged, shrieking and roaring, ripping the heads off several hunters.
"He did not fall," the account continued, "until he had glutted his wrath with the death of five of them, which he effected by wringing off the head from the body."
Terrified survivors shot the beast until it finally fell. "Writhing and exhausted, at length he lay upon the ground, with his hapless prey beneath his grasp," the article noted.
The snarling creature continued to lash out at the hunters, "wallowing and roaring," until it died.
The dazed hunters approached the monster carefully. When they saw it was truly dead, they measured the beast and found it be 13 feet in length "and its breadth and volume of just proportions."
Fearful that all the commotion might attract other monsters, the surviving hunters gathered up their headless comrades' rifles and fled from the swamp.
The grisly encounter was reported in several newspapers in Georgia and Florida.
Some folklorists say the creature that attacked the hunters was a giant bear. Others say it might have been a "skunk ape," a legendary creature similar to Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman that many believe once inhabited the remote swamplands of Florida and Georgia.
In recent years, as new roadways and developments have opened up once remote portions of swamp, there have been numerous reports about strange, foul-smelling creatures described as "apelike." Believers say it's only a matter of time until a "skunk ape" is captured or killed.