A questionable image taken by a retired electrician has been attracting attention after appearing online.
66-year-old John Rodriguez claims that he had been fishing on Florida's Hillsborough River near northeast Tampa when he encountered the creature partially submerged in the water.
"I heard a squishing sound, looked over and saw this thing walking through the water and crouch down in the duck weed," he said.
"It did not look like a guy in a suit - it was definitely an animal. I took this picture and got out of there as fast as I could."
The photograph has been met with an unsurprising amount of skepticism with the general consensus being that it shows someone in an ape suit that has been edited in to the picture.
"I've heard of Skunk Ape prints around Green Swamp, but never anything like this," noted Rodriguez. "My whole life, never seen anything like it."
Click for video - Bigfoot in Tampa Bay? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5L4rABXKgc)
Ben Hansen, lead investigator of the Syfy Channel's "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files" series states:
"It's a relief to finally have a clear picture of the creature," Hansen, a former FBI agent, told HuffPost. "Every other photo and video we get is usually too blurry or the Bigfoot too obscured in brush to allow for any useful identification. Thanks to the clear photo, I'm excited to announce that the photographer has captured a real-life... gorilla in a Bigfoot suit!"
"To be more precise, the face of a gorilla that has been digitally added to the photo with editing software. Although I originally suspected the creature suit was actually in the water when the photo was taken, I started to notice shadows in front of the Bigfoot that appeared to be an inconsistent length and shape with the rest of the photo."
"Additionally, there appears to be some heavy digital editing touch-up to the fur around the face and where the body meets the water. I'm now leaning more toward believing the whole creature was pasted into the image and then branches and twigs were added in the foreground. The branches also could have really been in the scene, but they were later edited as separate layers so Bigfoot looks like he's now behind them, sitting in deep contemplation."
NOTE: I have to side with Ben on this one. Just another hoax photo to add to the pile. Lon
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