BFRO #15694: Possible daytime sighting by motorist on FL Turnpike outside Orlando (near Ocoee exit)

📍 Location

📝 Description

I moved to a small, rurual area outside of Orlando, FL (from Missouri)just a few months ago and I'm still learning my way around the area. Subsequently, my wife and I often drive around on the weekends to get better familiar with our new home town.Today, (Saturday Sept 2, 2006) we struck off to go to a shopping mall called Waterford Lakes and it was en route to the mall that I saw something peculiar. My wife was driving today, so I was relaxing looking out the passenger side window at the various swampy patches that are so common in central Florida and I must confess that I'm always looking for wildlife. My wife teases me because she knows that I'm primarily looking for aligators and thinks that it is such a "tourist thing" to be doing. However, on a couple of occassions I've actually spotted aligators sunning themselves, as well as numerous deer and turkey, so I feel justifed enough to keep looking.Well, we were traveling south on the Florida Turnpike and just saw a sign for the Ocoee exit when off to my right I saw a man walking in a very swampy & rugged section of meadow about a hundred yards to the right of the turnpike.As he was going in the same direction as we were heading, I was able to watch him for about 5 to 10 seconds and really didn't think too much about him other than he was pretty gutsy to walk in that area all by himself, considering that he seemed to walk with an odd gait. Another strange thing was that he seemed to be dressed in all brown from the head down to his knees (the tall grass covered his lower legs, so I can't say if this guy was wearing shoes or socks).Please note, this took place at about noon, on a very clear Florida day and I believe that the temp was about 93 degrees, so seeing a guy walking around such an area without a hat, or short sleeved shirt is unusual.Well, by this time we passed the fellow and I kept looking off to the right to see where he might ultimately be headed, but for the next few miles all I saw was more swamp and grass.As I stated, my wife was driving and didn't see the man, but I was talking with her about it as it happened and she asked me a few questions (she thought he was probably homeless).When I started describing the man to her, I started to question whether or not the "fellow" I saw was necessarily human. For example, either his hair was very, very bushy, or this guy didn't have much of a neck. Actually, his head looked a little pointed. He must have been fairly big, because I could clearly see him even at 100 yards distance, yet try as I might, I couldn't identify a single article of clothing on him.Finally, I couldn't even confirm his skin color, because I literally only saw dark brown over his entire body, including his hands. I must confess, I'd be thrilled to think I might have seen a bigfoot, but I just don't know because my first thought was that this is just some poor idiot who was going to pass out from the heat in the wilderness. But on reflection, I think could be wrong. One thing I can say for sure is that he didn't seem frightening or monsterous in anyway. I would imagine a bigfoot encounter to be much more exciting than this. However, I was at a very safe distance and in a moving auto, so I might feel differently if I met him on foot. Any thoughts?

🔍 Circumstances

No, my wife was driving and didn't see a thing.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

Noon, on a very warm and clear day

ℹ️ Additional Details

Noon, on a very warm and clear day

🔗 Sources (1)

👥 Community Contributions

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