PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – Florida has plenty of mythological beasts, from the state’s signature Skunk Ape, to a giant bulletproof alligator, and even a 35-foot-long sea monster in the St. Johns River.
But this one takes the cake — if only by name alone.
The “Bardin Booger,” as it’s called, is a legendary creature that’s been reported several times out of Putnam County. Like the Skunk Ape, it’s considered a Florida spin on the ever-popular Bigfoot and Yeti myths.
Despite how it might first appear, the creature’s name isn’t actually based around mucus.
Instead, its moniker stems from two parts: “Bardin” — the small, rural town of a measly few hundred where the creature was initially reported — and “Booger,” which is a slang term for a bogeyman.
News stories about the creature have popped up regularly from out of Bardin, each discussing residents’ experiences with the fabled beast.
Some attribute it to illusions caused by swamp gas or a mistaken hermit, though the legends have circulated for decades.
According to the Florida Times-Union, tales about the elusive Booger date back to the 1940s, when a woman riding her horse throug
h the woods spotted what appeared to be a tall man in a raincoat. But she soon realized that the raincoat was actually fur and the man was no man at all.
Of course, there are plenty of tall tales surrounding the Booger.
“As another story is told, the Booger has the face of a caveman, and he wears torn and dirty clothes,” the Florida Times-Union reports. “Yet a third tale recounts a rotten smell that seemed to emanate from the hairy creature. The smell was so powerful that when a man tried to raise his rifle to shoot the Booger, he was unable to maintain enough focus to fire off a shot.”
While there are plenty of legends about the Booger, one feature tends to be largely consistent: it’s often reported carrying a lantern.
“As a Bigfoot researcher, that is a pretty common thing…” said Marie Dumont, the founder of the Mid Florida Bigfoot Research Group. “Whether it’s truly a creature that walks around with a lantern? Highly unlikely. But it could be that people are seeing a Bigfoot or Skunk Ape, or they’re seeing a light moving through the woods.”
According to Dumont, that area of Florida is a hotspot for supposed Skunk Ape sightings. However, she added that there are differences between Skunk Ape sightings in South Florida compared to those up in North Florida.
“The reports are a little different. (Skunk Apes) are creatures that are smaller in size. They’re like, 5-7 feet tall. They’re thinner with not a lot of hair; they’re not super hairy, like what you hear about in the Pacific Northwest. And they also have four toes – not five toes… The prints and stuff that people have found in those areas are four-toed prints.
Now, north of Tampa – like, say, the Green Swamp up through the rest of Florida – typically, the reports are the typical 6-9 feet, bigger creatures with five toes, not four toes. So we do think there’s two different types of creatures in Florida. Can’t prove it at all, but we have noticed that there are different reports in different areas of Florida.”
Marie Dumont, Founder of Mid Florida Bigfoot Research Group
As for the lantern that the Booger is so often seen with? Dumont theorized it could be some unexplained power.
“I personally think it’s not a creature that’s carrying a lantern, but it could be something else,” she said. “Bigfoots or Skunk Apes, I tend to think that they could have special abilities that we would consider to be supernatural. So maybe they can turn into balls of light and wander around in the woods. I mean, there’s no way that I can prove that. That’s just a theory.”
So is a Skunk Ape or Bardin Booger haunting Florida’s swamplands?
Earlier this year, Skunk Ape researcher Dave Shealy told News 6 about some of the hotspots in Florida for sightings of these sorts of creatures, including:
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Myakka State Park
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Ocala National Forest
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Kissimmee marshlands
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Florida Everglades
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Interstate 4 near Interstate 95
According to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, the mythical beast has also been reported in the following areas:
Regardless of the truth, it’s certainly an interesting myth that helped put a small Florida town on the map.
Of course, there are also plenty of other strange legends across Florida that are worth reading up on. To explore those stories, head to News 6′s “Florida Fables” page by clicking here.
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