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Media Article # 673
Monday, July 23, 2012 The Wild Man Of Ocheesee PondExploreSouthernhistory.com
Jackson County is blessed with an abundance of alleged sightings of the monster that some call Bigfoot...Reports of these creatures have come from virtually all parts of the county. In the swamps and remote woods around Parramore and Two Egg in eastern Jackson County, for example, many stories are told of the Two Egg “Stump Jumper,” a sort of mini-bigfoot that is often seen in the headlights of cars at night or lurking in the darkness around rural homes. Similar sightings have been reported in the swamps along the Chipola River, particularly in the Forks of the Creek area between Malone and Campbellton. Other reports have come from the swamps along the Apalachicola River and the vast cypress forests of Ocheesee Pond.
It was in this last locality in 1884 that a party of searchers pulled off one of the few documented captures of a Bigfoot-like creature that in the parlance of those days was called the “Wild Man of the Woods.”
Sightings of the Wild Man were nothing new in the 19th century South. Indians told early settlers of a strange man-like creature that roamed remote swamps and woods. Covered with hair and much taller than normal humans, the monster was considered dangerous and most who encountered him would not approach him.
...Located below Grand Ridge and Sneads in the southeast corner of Jackson County, Ocheesee Pond was a focal point for early settlers. More than three miles long and nearly that distance wide, the clear water pond fills a vast shallow basin. While there are some sections of open water, primarily along its southernmost reaches, most of Ocheesee Pond is covered with a dense growth of cypress and other swamp trees. It is a strikingly beautiful place, but the swamp can easily feel a bit foreboding as well.
The Wild Man traditionally favored such dense and swampy locations, but in 1883 local residents nevertheless were surprised when their neighbors began reporting encounters and sightings of one of the creatures. He seemed to live on berries and other edibles that grew wild in and around the pond and was often seen swimming or wading as he moved from island to island. He tried his best to stay away from humans, but his cries often shattered the nighttime stillness of the farms and homes nestled along the shores of the pond.
As the number of sightings increased, so too did concerns about the safety of local families. Residents of the pond area gathered and discussed the situation and finally decided that an effort should be launched to capture or drive off the monster. Men assembled with guns, boats and horses and a plan was devised by which they would converge on the creature’s last reported location from various directions at once.
Many of these men had served only twenty years before in the Confederate Army. They knew the pond well and had seen far scarier things in their lifetimes than a man covered in hair...It did not take them long to find their prey and on August 18, 1884, startling news went out from Columbus, Georgia:
News brought by the steamer Amos Hays from Lower River is to the effect that the wild man captured in Ocheecee Swamp, near Chattahoochee, and carried to Tallahassee, did not belong to a Florida asylum, and that all inquiry proved unavailing to identify him. He had been swimming in Ocheecee Lake, from island to island, and when taken was entirely destitute of clothing, emaciated, and covered with a phenomenal growth of hair. He could give no account of himself, and the theory is that he escaped from an asylum of some other state, and spent his time in the woods, living on berries, &c.
Other reports followed, but the details were consistent. The captured Wild Man acted insane, was covered with a thick growth of hair and had lived deep in the swamps.
The newspapers of the time, however, were silent on the eventual fate of the Ocheesee Pond Wild Man. Despite the fact that his body was covered in thick hair, he was human enough in appearance that his captors believed that he probably had escaped from an asylum. No asylum reported such an odd escapee, however, and his captors became even more baffled by the Wild Man.
Bibliographical Information:A 19th Century Bigfoot Capture
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