Last week, Tim Peeler, a resident of Cleveland County, North Carolina, got more than he bargained for while calling coyotes at his mountain top home near Casar. Expecting coyotes to emerge from the woods, Peeler was shocked when a 10 foot tall creature with yellowish hair and a yellow beard came into view and started to approach. Peeler, yelled at the creature and was able to turn it back before he called the local authorities. In his calls to Cleveland County 911, Peeler sounds disoriented, though it is hard to tell if it is because of the shock of his sighting or from intoxication. Audio from those calls is available here. For comparison, here is an interview of Peeler from a local news report of the encounter:

While I am not sure if alcohol or another substance may have played a role in the sighting, Mr. Peeler stands by his story and asks that everyone keep an open mind. Adding some credibility to the report is the fact that there is no obvious benefit from the sighting to Mr. Peeler (in fact, saying that he was drunk and that he must have imagined the whole incident would probably be the easier course).

Bigfoot sightings are nothing new for Cleveland County, with reports of a Sasquatch-like creature locals dubbed Knobby dating back to the 1970′s, though county authorities say they have not received a report in years. Do you think this new sighting is genuine, or is it just a tall tale fueled by a mind altering substance?

NC man claims to have come face-to-face with Bigfoot
911 calls released from Sasquatch sighting in NC

©2001 David Barkasy & Loren Coleman

Recently, the Valdosta Daily Times published an article about the Skunk Ape, the bigfoot like cryptid said to inhabit the south east. Since then it has received numerous calls from readers who claim to have seen the creature. One of the sightings happened as recently as the 21st of April when a reader, identified only as Joy, was driving down a stretch Highway 37 in Berrien County that is lined with swampy terrain, Georgia when her headlights caught something walking into the woods.

“I saw the back of something,” Joy says. “It was tall. … I thought it was a bear but a bear don’t walk on its back legs. … Honestly, it looked like an ape.”

According to the report, the witness gauged the hight of the creature to be approximately 6 feet tall.

A skunk ape was also sighted earlier this spring in nearby Brooks County when a witness, who asked that the paper withhold his name, spotted the reddish brown creature from the back porch of his house. Watching through binoculars, the witness observed the skunk ape for several minutes and estimates that it was over six feet tall. Originally, the witness thought what he saw may have been a human wearing a ghillie suit, but as he looked on, the creatures movements appeared strange.

“It didn’t walk like a human,” he said. “It’s joints don’t quite move like a human.”

In search of the skunk ape [via Ghost Theory]

First seen in 1818, the skunk ape has been a part of Florida folklore for nearly 200 years. Now, the Sunshine State’s very own bigfoot has been commemorated on a silver coin produced by Florida Skunk Ape, LLC. The one troy ounce silver coin features a rendering of a skunk ape on the front and an inscription reading “Florida Skunk Ape – The Southern Most Bigfoot In The U.S.A.” with the silhouette of Florida on the reverse. The novelty coin is also stamped to indicate that it contains on ounce of .999 fine silver. While the coin may never be worth more than the silver that it contains (about $16 at the time of writing), it is a nice piece of memorabilia for anyone interested in skunk apes or cryptozoology in general. The skunk ape commemorative coin is available from FloridaSkunkApeCoins.com for $29.95 with free shipping.

Florida Skunk Ape Silver Coin [via FloridaSkunkApe.com]