BFRO #726: A hitchhiker reports seeing a bigfoot in a forested area off U.S. 441
π Location
US-441 near Belleview, Marion County, Florida, Belleview, FL
Specific Location: US-441, roughly 0.5 miles south of Belleview, Marion County, Florida
Coordinates: 28.95500, -82.07800
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28.9550Β°, -82.0780Β°
π Description
Newspaper article: Sentinel Star (Orlando, Florida), October 5, 1977 LURKING BIGFOOT TRICK OR THREAT? Halloween is still three weeks away but strange creatures are already being seen around Central Florida this week. A 22-year-old hitchhiker reported sighting the legendary Bigfoot, saying the beast was tall, dark and stinky. It lurked in the darkness in a lightly forested area off U.S. 441 half a mile south of Belleview, he said. "I've got some information about Bigfoot," the tremulous voice on the telephone said. "I think I just saw it." Monday morning a security guard for an Apopka nursery told police a 10-foot-tall hairy animal with a chestful of reddish- gray fur and small ears attacked him, ripping off the terrified guard's shirt. Donnie Hall, 27, said he fired several gunshots at the creature in vain. The Bigfoot sighter - a Belleview welder who didn't want his name known - said the beast was brown and black. "I'm six feet tall and it was bigger than me. It smelled horrible, like garbage." Neither of the two creature sightings was substantiated. A Florida Game and Fresh Water Commission agent who examined tracks at John's Nursery in Apopka said they all appeared to be man-made. Marion County Sheriff Don Moreland chuckled about the Bigfoot report. "I've been in law enforcement for 20 years here and I don't remember any reports of monsters. Flying saucers, yes, but I don't recall any monsters." Follow-up investigation report: From the files of Ron Schaffner (Ron@bfro.net) Explanation of the report classification system Submit a report for the sightings database Please send any comments or inquiries to ContactUs@BFRO.net Copyright Β© 2025 BFRO.net runLogo();
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Case Information
- Case ID
- cmiydh8qq00wr8fysb21xgilx
- Primary Source
- BFRO
- Added to Map
- December 9, 2025
- Last Updated
- December 10, 2025