I was contacted by a reader who recently was participating in a Reddit thread in response to sightings of an upright cat-like cryptid that was seen in Alachua County, Florida.
I decided to post the entire response thread so the readers could follow the series of sightings and the details.
I recently received an email from 'Chris':
"Hi Lon - I'm a big fan of your site/podcast. Please check out the Reddit link below, (https://www.reddit.com/r/Cryptozoology/comments/11zaipz/cryptids_of_florida/) where a woman reported a sighting by her husband of a bizarre cat-like creature in Gainesville, Florida, which is where I live.
Scroll down and look for the posts. You'll also see my replies where I ask her for further specifics, and her responses." Chris
Previous to this thread of responses, 'Deborah' was responding to a post by 'Mark':
Hello my name is Mark and I'm a 40 year old, I had encounter with a creature 3 years ago, and I was with a friend and his son when the 3 of us had our encounter, I live in Alachua County, Florida and I'm trying to find someone I can talk to about what we encountered that night 3 years ago!! I will never forget the eyes of that creature. If anyone can help point me in the right direction on who I can speak with on what I saw, because what I seen, I thought was something in books, I'd never imagine that it was real and existed until that night! And what I encountered is not native to the United States!
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Hey Mark, my name is Deborah. I just came across this thread because my husband saw a creature here in Alachua country, specifically Gainesville, a few months ago when he was driving. It was late, past 1 am. It just so happens that today he picked up (Uber) the young man that happened to live in the house he saw the creature at. The man confirmed he saw it once too! My husband said he didn’t see the eyes but he did notice it had a head similar to a cat, but the two front limbs were shorter than the back limbs and it would get down on the 4 but then stand up on the hind legs. It looked like it was hairless. The man confirmed the features too! What did you see?
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Hi Deborah, my name is Chris. I live in Gainesville. Can you tell us what part of Gainesville this occurred in? Also, how large was the creature? Did it walk on two legs or just stand up, then drop down to all fours to walk? Also what color was it, and what were its eyes like? Was there eyeshine? Any details would be welcome.
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Hello Chris. So, this happened on 34th St, heading toward 39th Ave (nearing NW 39th Ave). My husband said it was a weird mix between a cat a human. It was hairless. He says it had a baby's skin tone (light-skinned). The skin seemed thin because he noticed muscle definition and hardly any fat. As how it would stand, he said the best thing he can compare it to is a kangaroo. The front limbs were shorter than the hind limbs. He first noticed it because he saw something crossing the street. At first, he thought it was a fox but it was too small. Then he thought it was a wolf, but he figured that would be highly unlikely and it looked too strange to be a wolf. He said he ran the yellow light to get closer to it and as he approached it, it stood on it's hind legs (which my husband describes as a cat's legs) and it stared at him. It stood about 4-5 feet tall. No eye shine. Completely black eyes. As my husband got closer, it got back on its 4 limbs and entered the house's front yard and disappeared in the brush/trees. I want to be clear that my husband doesn't drink or do any drugs. He's been working ride share and delivery here in Gainesville since we moved in 2022. He says this was one of the most disturbing experiences he's ever had. There was also one other experience which weirded him out, back in 2022. He was driving near the cow pasture, off Archer, and it was also late at night when suddenly a large boulder sized rock flew across the street and landed on the other side. It went between the SUV in front of him and my husband's car. The SUV in front of him stopped, to check it out. But my hubby kept driving because he said that whatever can throw a rock that size across the street that way, he doesn't want to meet it. What about you, Chris? What have you seen here? What can you tell us about these experiences or about what exists here?
I forgot to add that the head was cat-like. Cat-shaped.
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That's not too far from me - I'm on SW 8th Lane right off of SW 61st St. I am a recent arrival in Gainesville (May 2023) so I have not seen anything here yet, but I'm always looking, as I'm intensely interested in cryptozoology/ufology etc. The creature your husband described has some resemblance to the Chupacabra sightings that have occurred in Puerto Rico, particularly the short front limbs and kangaroo-like posture. I hope you don't mind, but I have a few more questions:
-Did it walk on two legs, or just stand, then drop down on all fours to walk?
-Did he notice a tail? If so, did it appear like cat's tail (moving fluidly) or was it stiff like a dog's tail?
-Were the eyes round, or almond-shaped? Were they disproportionately large for its face? Did they appear to "wrap around" the sides of the head?
-You say the head was cat-like. By that, do you mean it was it round with no discernible muzzle? Did your husband notice any details about the mouth? Were teeth or fangs visible?
-Were the ears relatively short, pointed, and erect on top of the head, like a cat? Or were they long? Or were no ears evident?
The creature as described does not fit neatly into any of the pre-existing cryptid "boxes" - i.e., sasquatch, Dogman, Chupacabra, gray crawlers (AKA "The Rake"), etc. This makes your husband's sighting extremely intriguing.
Would you mind if I sent a link to this page to Albert Rosales? He is a Florida-based researcher who has written the "Humanoid Encounters" book series, as well as "UFOs over Florida". He might know if similar creatures have been seen.
Re: the boulder incident - that is classic sasquatch behavior - or, as it is known here in Florida, the skunk ape. Where is this cow pasture located? I'm familiar with Archer Road of course, but only the part where all the shopping plazas are.
I apologize for asking so many questions, and I understand if you don't have answers for all of them.
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This is great. I actually have a site and page dedicated to educating and helping people who have paranormal experiences.
So, if you want to reach out to Albert Rosales and let him know, that's cool. It seems he speaks Spanish, which is great cause then my husband can chat with him and tell him everything.
As for the boulder incident, I agree it was definitely characteristic of Sasquatch/Bigfoot/Skunk Ape behavior. It was were the UF Beef Teaching Unit is. If you're heading East on Archer (toward Shands Hospital), before getting to the fork where Archer splits onto SW 16th Ave, you make a right onto SW 23rd Terrace/SW 23rd St. It was along that street. If you reach 16th, you've gone too far.
To answer your questions:
Walk- It was originally on all fours, but stood on the hind legs as my husband's car approached. Then it got back on all 4s to get out of the street and into the brush.
Tail- He didn't notice a tail.
Eyes: Almond shape, large eyes, disproportionate to face.
Head: Yes, rounder with no muzzle, flatter facial features. He didn't notice fangs or teeth protruding. Was more taken back by eyes and shape of head and body.
Ears: Didn't notice ears.
The Chupacabra is a good guess. What makes me think it's not a Chupacabra is how he described the head. From what I know, Chupacabra have a muzzle like feature. But who really knows, I've read about so many different descriptions of Chupacabra that I can't really know for sure.
I appreciate the engagement and interest. Let me know if you reach out to Rosales!
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Hi Deborah,
I sent the link to this page to Albert Rosales' Twitter account. Perhaps he will post here when he sees it.
Thank you for your answers to my questions. The fact that your husband did not see a tail is really interesting, as are the almond-shaped black eyes. We're in the range for bobcats, but they have clearly evident ears, yellowish eyes, and they do exhibit eyeshine. Also, they are not known for standing up. That's very cryptid behavior, i.e, acting almost as if it WANTS to be seen. (Like when a sasquatch waits until the one car on a lonely road late at night is 50 ft away to cross the road.) Most animals in that situation would just scurry off as quickly as possible.
Re: the Chupacabra - Yes, those waters are muddy indeed. Most of the sightings in the continental U.S. seem to be hairless dogs, mangy coyotes, and the like. The true Chupacabra is the one seen in Puerto Rico in the 1990s, with the almond-shaped red eyes, bipedal posture/locomotion, and distinctive spines or quills running from the crown of the head down the back. While your husband's encounter does not fit neatly into the Chupacabra category, that is the best match I can think of out of all the well-known cryptids, and it is certainly more Chupacabra-like than many of the recent canid-type Chupacabra reports. I have the sense that it was something quite different, however. I wish there was a way to find out if there have been any missing/injured/killed pets or other animals in that area recently! I tend to doubt that the police would be forthcoming about such matters.
Can you tell me the date when the sighting occurred, or at least an approximation? I would like to check some databases and attempt to correlate it with other paranormal events that may have occurred in this area.
I'm not on TikTok or IG, but I'm going to check out your website.
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Hey Chris,
I hope Rosales sees this and does comment. Would be cool to hear from someone local about what it could be.
And no need to thank me for engaging. I love talking about all this and meeting like-minded and curious individuals to share this space; that's what it's all about. :)
I also agree that the behavior was very cryptid like. I used to work in a wildlife center as an outreach educator, which means I did a bunch of research about Florida's wildlife/ecosystems to be able to do my presentations accurately regarding our flora and fauna, so I am pretty familiar with what we have around here. At first, I did think bobcat, possibly panther (even though we are a bit out of its normal range), but, like you said, the behavior just didn't fit.
And I agree with you about it not fitting into the Chupacabra description either. As for missing/injured/killed pets or animals--I wonder if maybe Facebook would have a group or page dedicated to missing animals in the area? Maybe a local shelter may have a similar bulletin? This info is more difficult to find, for sure. Not the police, because the police here hides a bunch of things to protect the University's image.
As for when, I can give you an approximation, because this happened months ago. He knows it happened at the end of last year, but can't say exactly when. But it was definitely sometime between November and December.
Hope that helps.
If you do check out my site, thanks! I'll be updating a few things to reflect some changes I am making. Once I get all that done, I'll let you know too so you can check out some of my content.
Let me know if you find anything of interest. And I'll let you know if we find any more info or have any other encounters.
Take care,
Deborah
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Hi Deborah - Sorry it took me so long to get back to you.
On the NUFORC (National UFO Reporting Center) website, I found this report from 1/9/2024 in Gainesville: https://nuforc.org/sighting/?id=179976
That was the closest thing to Nov/Dec last year.
The BFRO database yielded nothing relevant, but you should look at it if you have not already. Just google BFRO, and click on the map of the USA, then select Florida. You can check counties individually from there. Alachua has some interesting sightings but nothing very recent. Levy county has more, however.
I sent a link to this page to Lon Strickler of the phantomsandmonsters.com website and YouTube channel. I think he would find it interesting. If you have never looked at his site and channel, you should check it out.
Chris
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