NARRATOR: What you're about to see
may be dangerous, illegal, unethical,
petty, misguided, immoral, and most definitely stupid.
But it's also all true.
Hmm. Sort of.
(BIRD CALL ECHOING)
♪ (INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: This was my first time going to the Everglades.
I'd heard tales about this mystical creature
that lives out there.
I didn't really believe it, but then...
-(DISTANT KNOCKING) -(CREATURE SNARLING)
TRAVIS: ...I heard it.
-♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ -(CREATURE SNARLING)
TRAVIS: I tried running...
-(CREATURE SNARLING) -(HEAVY FOOTSTEPS)
TRAVIS: ...but it found me.
I'm right there face-to-face with the creature.
(SCREAMS)
I realize I don't have any tools to dispatch the beast
but a little gas station knife. (CHUCKLES)
♪ (THEME MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
♪ (THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-♪ (COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ -(FLIES BUZZING)
TRAVIS: I'm Travis. I live in Sarasota, Florida.
Really just kind of a blue-collar guy.
I do what I can to get by.
I'm originally from Atlanta, Georgia.
I moved down to Florida in about 2017.
I felt like I was drawn to this place,
like I'm Sicilian,
I don't know if it's like the color of the water,
but I don't know, I felt like I was always,
like, genetically destined to be here.
♪ (MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: Florida can definitely be hard to meet people.
About 80 percent of the population is 60-plus.
It can be hard meeting people your age.
The only place I was able really to meet people
and socialize was at the bars.
You drink to socialize, and you socialize to drink.
Hi! (HESITATES) Hi.
Cheers!
TRAVIS: You kind of find yourself in a cycle,
and there's so many people you see
that are kind of trapped.
You don't want to end up like them.
(GROANS)
-(SIGHS) -(BODY THUDS)
TRAVIS: Like I said, there's not a lot to do here in Florida,
really, if you're not drinking.
So, I thought I'd try this sober bar
called Manna Tea.
♪ (COUNTRY BLUES MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: 'Cause it kind of offered
like a dive bar atmosphere.
You could still meet people
and not have to be getting drunk all day.
And that's actually how I found Roman.
♪ (ROCK MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: He's kind of like a rockabilly kind of guy.
He's quiet. He's kind of a mystery.
Hi, I'm Roman.
I don't know if that's just because he's an Aquarius...
I'm an Aquarius.
TRAVIS: ...or that's just who he is.
Kombucha?
TRAVIS: When I first met him, I was like,
"I think that we're definitely gonna be friends."
-(CHUCKLES) I think-- -That we are definitely gonna be friends.
You took the words right--
Out of your mouth.
-Yeah. -I do that.
And then kind of bonded.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
Favorite incense?
-Nag champa. -...champa.
Favorite moon phase?
-Waxing gibbous. -Waxing gibbous.
Holy shit.
TRAVIS: From there,
the conversation just kept flowing.
What's your go-to chakra?
-Heart. -Same!
Do you think that plants can talk?
Bro, I don't think.
(WHISPERING) I can hear them.
Stop playing with me.
I think we both bonded over our love of plants...
-What's your stance on ficus? -Underrated.
-...and herbs. -Favorite tea?
Reishi-chaga.
Mixed with a little bit
-of local honey! -Local honey! Oh!
-Mushrooms. -Check this out.
♪ (DOWNBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
Dude.
Roman had set up these trips a couple times a year
to go down to Big Cypress and look for the Skunk Ape.
♪ (WHIMSICAL INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
Skunk Ape?
It's real.
TRAVIS: Skunk Ape, it's like a swamp gorilla,
sort of like a Sasquatch of the Everglades.
It lives in the swamp and smells like a skunk.
TRAVIS: Like a stinky Bigfoot...
(CHUCKLES) ...as the locals say.
Well, it's supposed to be big, and hairy, and scary.
It's the Everglades' Skunk Ape.
NEWS ANCHOR: A search for the old legend
of a South Florida swamp monster is getting new life.
So, is it real or is it a hoax?
♪ (COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
CONNOR FLYNN: I really think that the Skunk Ape is the bridge
to the unknown, to God,
to our true instincts,
to our primitive purpose on this planet.
I'm Connor Flynn and I'm a Bigfoot researcher.
I came down to Florida
to specifically hunt the Skunk Ape.
DAVE SHEALY: If you're gonna be down here
looking for Skunk Apes,
this is what you wanna look for, right here.
-Wow. -DAVE: It's the distinct four toes.
They're not as big as the Bigfoot.
Instead of 800 pounds,
they're more like three or 400 pounds.
I'm Dave Shealy. I'm the lead researcher here
at Skunk Ape Research Headquarters.
My family moved to the Everglades
approximately 1890.
When I was young, people talked about the Skunk Ape.
When I was ten years old,
I was out hunting with my brother Jack,
and we saw one.
About 100 yards away,
it was walking across an open field.
It looked like a man, covered with hair.
And people ask me all the time, "Well, why didn't you shoot it?"
We had a gun, we were hunting, we could have.
But we were always taught,
"If you're gonna shoot something, ya eat it,"
and we weren't gonna eat that. (CHUCKLES)
♪ (INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-DAVE: It's crazy, isn't it? -Yeah.
Even today, I've seen it so many times,
and every time I watch it, I'm like, "Oh, my God."
It's amazing. Wow.
I have a lot of disbelief in a lot of things,
but also, I believe in a lot of the magic at the same time.
You know, it's an old forest.
Who knows what's hiding out there?
♪ ("BRAND NEW VOODOO DOLL" BY TOM THUMB PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: So when he first said,
"Let's go find ourselves a Skunk Ape,"
I was all for it.
♪ I got a brand new ♪
♪ Got a brand new... ♪
Hop in.
TRAVIS: I had never been to Big Cypress.
I'd never really been to the Everglades.
I figured, "What's the worst that could happen?"
(TIRES SCREECH)
There have been several people
come up missing here in the Everglades.
(IN SLOW MOTION) Whoo!
DAVE: People just disappear around here.
I was here to see what Florida had to offer.
You know, you don't know if you're gonna get bit by a snake,
or grabbed by an alligator, or maybe a shark will get you,
but honestly, that's what I was in it for.
Its beauty and its danger.
I'm telling you right now,
if you're gonna go in the Everglades,
you better be careful.
♪ (QUIRKY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: Roman has a lot of camping experience.
I did kind of feel out of my element.
-You all right? -(TENT RUSTLING)
Yeah, just about got it.
(PANTING) The ground's not stable.
I think he just keeps me around for, like,
comic relief.
(GRUNTS)
(GRUNTS, PANTS)
♪ (COUNTRY RAP MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: We're getting ready to go look for the Skunk Ape.
-Hey. -TRAVIS: Roman turns to me
-and says... -Want some mushrooms?
He knew I wanted some mushrooms.
I definitely wanted some mushrooms.
Oh, I definitely want some mushrooms.
♪ (MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(MUNCHING)
(SLOW MUNCHING)
-♪ (MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY) ♪ -(CHOKES, COUGHS)
TRAVIS: We headed out right after the sunset.
It's the best time. It's like when all the reptiles
and stuff are just waking up.
-(INSECTS CHIRPING) -(BIRDS CHIRPING, CAWING)
TRAVIS: Roman goes into it like an eager explorer.
-I'm more nervous. -♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: Roman explained all the signs we were looking for.
Rule number one, follow the stink.
(INHALES) Ugh, smells terrible.
"The foul smell, the tufts of hair,
and that, like-- and the weird knocking noise."
Rule number two...
listen for strange knocking noises.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock!
That's a warning.
Rule number three, speak its language.
CONNOR: The Skunk Ape uses samurai chatter
to confuse and disorient people in the swamp.
(INCOHERENT CHANTING)
TRAVIS: And Roman knew some Skunk Ape call
that was supposed to lure 'em out.
That's the kind of person he is.
Surprises me all the time.
You try it.
♪ (MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(INCOHERENT CHANTING)
(CONTINUES INCOHERENT CHANTING)
(BOTH CHANTING, BABBLING)
(CONTINUES INCOHERENT CHANTING)
CONNOR: Some people say it's like
the voice of God hitting you.
It's a deep, deep tone that just takes you over.
But it also might be a way they communicate.
I'm gonna do some hums and...
see if we can lure something in.
(HUMS, GRUNTS)
-(BOTH HUM, GRUNT) -♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(INCOHERENT CHANTING)
(YELLS INCOHERENTLY)
(INCOHERENT CHANTING ECHOES)
TRAVIS: "The frequencies are just pure chaos."
The frequencies are just pure chaos!
(INCOHERENT CHANTING)
-(CHANT ECHOES) -♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪
-♪ (DRAMATIC STING) ♪ -♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(SHOUTS INCOHERENTLY)
(GRUNTS)
If you piss off a Skunk Ape, they will kill you.
You will not get out of the woods alive.
-(PERSON SCREAMING) -(GROWLING)
TRAVIS: We walked for miles.
We had traveled so far, and we had found nothing.
♪ (INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-ROMAN: Hey, you all right? -(PANTS)
If I die, just drag me somewhere soft.
But tell... tell everybody that I fought really bravely.
Tell them yourself.
God, you're so awesome!
So are you.
You start, you know, hearing things in the woods.
(OWL HOOTING)
TRAVIS: You don't ever feel like you're alone out there too.
You always feel like you got eyes on you.
-(LOW GROWLING) -♪ (MUSIC TURNS TENSE) ♪
-(LEAVES RUSTLING) -(HEAVY FOOTSTEP)
TRAVIS: So, you're seeing a patch of hair
and you start really believing
that you're gonna run into, like, a giant swamp gorilla.
(GAGS, RETCHES)
TRAVIS: It smelled terrible,
like rotten eggs and garbage.
(GROANS)
Even... (BREATHES HEAVILY)
...if we don't run into this swamp gorilla,
I'm just happy we're here together.
-(LOUD DISTANT KNOCKING) -Ah! Shit!
TRAVIS: We heard that weird knocking sound, plain as day.
-It's him. -TRAVIS: I thought,
"There's gotta be a logical explanation for this."
There's gotta be a logical explanation for this.
TRAVIS: Maybe that knock sound
is an alligator snapping its jaws closed.
-(LOUD SNAP) -TRAVIS: Then I heard something else.
(LOW HUM, GRUNT)
(YELPS)
Hearing that made my blood go cold.
-ROMAN: Hey, hey, hey. -(GROANS)
You okay, buddy?
-(PANTS) -TRAVIS: I had taken those mushrooms earlier
but I didn't really think they were doing anything.
But it hit me all at once.
(SOUND DISTORTS)
Hey. Buddy?
TRAVIS: And everything kind of zooms out
and I realize, like, "Oh, no. I really am tripping."
(EERIE DISTORTED SOUNDS PLAY)
Oh, no. I really am tripping.
TRAVIS: That's when Roman shoots me
the biggest grin and says,
"You know it's close."
It's close.
-♪ (HYPNOTIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ -TRAVIS: Everything just like stretching
and I'm getting tunnel vision.
It just... (EXHALES) ...everything just zooms out.
-(DISTORTED) It's close. -♪ (FUNKY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(HORSE NEIGHING) -(SNAKE HISSES)
(INCOHERENT CHANTING)
(LAUGHING MADLY)
Ah-hoo!
I was thinking to myself, "What in the world?"
-What in the world? -♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
CONNOR: If you encounter the Skunk Ape,
you have to remain calm.
Just like other predators, if you run,
it's gonna chase after you just based on instinct.
♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: I didn't know where Roman had gone at this point.
I was tripping pretty hard.
-Roman? -(BRANCH SNAPS)
TRAVIS: And that's when I saw it.
-(LOW GROWLING) -(HEAVY FOOTSTEPS)
TRAVIS: The Skunk Ape.
(LOW SNARLING)
Holy shit.
TRAVIS: He was about ten feet away from me.
CONNOR: Sasquatch is known to have some special abilities.
Some are a little bit more natural, like echolocation,
but they also are said to have telepathy and mind-speak.
TRAVIS: Like you're standing there, looking at it...
and its lips don't move.
But in your head, you hear, "I am the keeper of the woods."
SKUNK APE: I am the keeper of the woods.
Your lips didn't move.
SKUNK APE: Nope, that's mind-speak.
CONNOR: Some campers have experienced
these creatures entering their mind
with special messages, warnings.
SKUNK APE: You should really open a savings account.
You're losing so much money
just using your checking for everything.
-What? -SKUNK APE: You should also
routinely check your moles for discoloration.
You got one on your shoulder that seems iffy.
CONNOR: During mind-speak,
the Skunk Ape's gonna look straight into your soul.
(LAUGHING)
SKUNK APE: Am I funny to you?
Bro, that smell is crazy.
SKUNK APE: Am I a clown?
(LAUGHING)
-(LOUD ROAR) -(SCREAMS)
CONNOR: If a Skunk Ape charged me,
I would hold my ground.
You gotta handle it like a bear. It can destroy you anyway.
You're not gonna outrun it,
so you might as well look it right in its eyes.
-(SCREAMS) -(SKUNK APE GROWLS)
-(GROANS, SCREAMS) -(SKUNK APE GROWLING)
Well, I'm sure my eyes popped out of my head.
And so I'm sitting there realizing I'm face-to-face with,
you know, what I thought I wanted for so long...
except now it's trying to kill me.
SKUNK APE: How dare you
come up in my house smelling all fresh and clean?
(SNARLS)
-(GROANS, SCREAMS) -(URINE TRICKLING)
TRAVIS: I didn't think I was gonna have, like,
a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde moment. (CHUCKLES)
But I kind of went, "Not today." (CHUCKLES)
Not today, bro!
-(GRUNTS) -(SKUNK APE GROANS)
I realize I don't have any tools to dispatch the beast
but a little gas station knife.
♪ (INTENSE ROCK MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(SCREAMS) -(SKUNK APE GROWLING)
-(GRUNTS) -(SKUNK APE GROANING)
TRAVIS: Suddenly, Roman ran up.
-Travis! -(KNIFE STABBING)
Roman! I got the Skunk Ape!
That's when I realized...
-("TRAVIS" LAUGHING) -That is not a Skunk Ape.
That is a Burmese python.
♪ (UNSETTLING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: It wasn't a Skunk Ape.
-It was a Burmese python. -(SCREAMING)
TRAVIS: And I'm thinking, "Uh-oh, this is not good."
This is not good!
TRAVIS: And I was so high,
I had been hallucinating the whole thing.
(SCREAMS)
NEWS ANCHOR: The snakes are an invasive species
that have wreaked havoc on the Everglades ecosystem.
Members of the public are encouraged
to kill them on sight.
PYTHON EXPERT: They have bone-crushing strength.
You get one of these big snakes wrapped around your neck,
it's not that they're choking you,
they're breaking your neck.
Honestly, it felt unreal at that moment
because, like, the snake's, like, rainbow-colored.
And all of these things are happening and I can't tell,
is this the snake or is this real life?
(GRUNTING)
TRAVIS: I was starting to feel like I was in big trouble.
The python tried to bite me a couple times.
They have some mean teeth on them.
-("TRAVIS" CHOKING) -(PYTHON HISSING)
TRAVIS: Roman's looking at it,
and he's like trying to figure out
which end he wants to grab it from.
And he's like, grabs it by the head.
That's when I go with the folding knife.
-(GRUNTING) -♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
I go, like, full Rambo.
-(GRUNTING) -♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪
Definitely turns out a gas station knife
is more dangerous than a python.
-Yeah! (LAUGHS) -TRAVIS: I was so excited.
So I take the snake and I hoist it over my head
like a WWE championship belt.
♪ (SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(PYTHON THUDS)
TRAVIS: I think that's when me and Roman really bonded.
I don't know, I think that we both have something
that we're looking for inside of us.
And I think that we kind of find it
in the deepest part of the woods.
TRAVIS: It wasn't what we set out to find,
but it was quite an adventure.
It was the end of the journey.
♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪
♪ (UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: So we go into Everglades City
and someone pointed me down the road to Dusty Crumb.
DUSTY CRUMB: I'm Dusty Crumb,
and I'm the baddest-ass python hunter in the world, son.
We're at the world-famous Wildman's Pizza, Pasta & Pythons
in Everglades City.
TRAVIS: The Everglades is a crazy place, man.
One of the things they do there is
they'll trade you a python for a pizza.
I'm the first place in the world to accept python as currency.
What we do is skin all the snakes,
turn them into leather,
then we can make any kind of products you want.
Belts, boots, wallets, purses...
python CD covers.
We've made python pizza before, it's pretty good.
It looked just like gator meat.
It tastes like alligator without the fish taste.
It's got a good flavor, but it is chewy.
TRAVIS: I didn't want a pizza,
but I wanted to know how to preserve my snake.
I went to Dusty Crumb and I'm like,
"I did it. I got myself a seven-footer."
He was so nice,
he walked me through everything I needed to do,
how to preserve python skin.
You do gotta cut around the cloaca here,
or, you know, the butthole.
Once you get the head started,
you can just peel him off like a pair of socks.
-(CHURCH BELL RINGING) -♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
I didn't skin it right there in the gift shop,
but I took it home.
♪ (SOFT COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: Honestly, I never stopped believing
that a swamp gorilla was gonna be what we found
behind that next tree or under that next rock.
Society would not be the same
if they knew there was another species of human beings.
They're the true Earthlings.
They are the closest to God we ever get.
People go to church four times a week,
and you can get closer possibly to God out here in the swamp.
-(INSECTS CHIRPING) -(HUMS)
TRAVIS: We went out looking for this mystical creature.
We found something real instead.
I think, to me, that's the magic.
♪ (UPBEAT COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
TRAVIS: I was thinking about how far
we had gone to get there.
It was really about realizing the end of a journey.
You know, standing on top of the mountaintop,
achieving your dreams in a weird way,
even if it's just holding a big snake.
♪ (UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪