HHN28 was a momentous year for many reasons, one of which was the house Slaughter Sinema which featured a number of original movie ideas and many became instant cult HHN fan favorites. One of which seemed to have piqued the HHN fans’ interest the most was the Attack of the Swamp Yeti.
The plot of this “movie” was just in one large scene and revolved around four friends who go camping in the woods at night. One of the guys tells the story of the Swamp Yeti living in the woods. The Swamp Yeti then proceeds to start killing the friends one by one. It was a legendary section of an awesome house!
So it got us thinking, what is the origin of this idea and are there any an actual Swamp Yetis out there!?
The story of the Yeti or Bigfoot is as old as time with humans reporting the sightings of larger humanoid type creatures as far back as early civilisation. From the Green Men in the U.K. to the Bigfoot of Washington State to the Abominable Snowman of the mountains of Tibet, these crytoids have been reported in every corner of the planet! And let’s not forget Disney dedicate a whole E-Ticket ride to this beast at their Animal Kingdom park.
But we don’t need to concern ourselves with these other creatures, we need to look closer to home and look at the Yetis that supposedly haunt the swamps of the southern US!
The local swamp based yetis are known by different names in the respective different states, and include: the skunk ape, also known as the swamp cabbage man, the swamp ape, stink ape, Florida Bigfoot, Louisiana Bigfoot, myakka ape, swampsquatch, and myakka skunk ape and for some, the Swamp Yeti.
Reports of this swamp dwelling Yeti were particularly common in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1974, sightings of a large, foul-smelling, hairy, ape-like creature, which ran upright on two legs were reported in suburban neighborhoods of Dade County, Florida, though some say it was a diseased bear with mange. Other sightings have even led to whole towns creating further legend and speculation which have created enough notoriety to create mini tourist industries for these towns. Yet despite the sightings, footprint casts and hair recoveries, the United States National Park Service considers this beast to be just a giant hoax (or possible mistaken bear sightings).
Whatever the true reason behind the sightings, the legend is here to stay and has even spawned a number of films, TV shows, comics and books. The most famous of these being the the Swamp Thing franchise, which fun fact the accompanying TV Show was shot entirely at Universal Studios Orlando. Most of the outdoor sets were located where the HHN Sprung Tents now reside! And incidentally, the franchise is about to be rebooted by DC and Warner Bros with a new feature coming to theaters very soon.
The most famous sighting of this strange creature was in the autumn of 2000, when the police of Sarasota County, Florida (a neighboring County to Tampa!) received a letter from an anonymous woman.
With the letter were two attached photographs of what the woman described as an escaped orangutan who had been stealing fruit from her back porch for the last three nights.
These photos were later found to be taken near the Myakka River which is only 140 miles from Orlando. After the images were released to the public, cryptoid enthusiasts dubbed the creature in the photograph the “Myakka Skunk Ape.” And since then the legend has inspired countless investigations and research from serious bonafide investigators to YouTube sleuths. The below is a fav!
Whatever the truth is behind this strange legend, we are hopeful that the scary Swamp dwelling crytoid will one day make a triumphant return to HHN!
Christopher Ripley factoid add:
When I interviewed a former HHN Show-runner (who shall remain nameless) he informed me that his number one phobia was coming face-to-face with a Bigfoot/Yeti in the wild and as such never pitched the idea for a house as he would be too frightened to design it, let alone walk it when it was built!
So there you have it, a fun history of the Swamp Yeti. Would you like him to come back to HHN? Let us know in the comments!
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