Huffington Post Reporter, Lee Speigel, kicked off the New Year with an interesting email from a 66-year-old gentleman named John Rodriguez, a retired electrician. The email contained Rodriguez’s claims that he stumbled upon Bigfoot bathing on Dec. 26, as he was fishing on the Hillsborough River near Tampa, FL. As any reasonable person who came across bigfoot would, Rodriguez then revealed that he had of course captured the creature on film and even included a copy for Speigel to share with the world.
Photo via John Rodriguez/Huffpost
As you’ll see, the photo appears to show the creature enjoying a dip amid the trees in a swampy pool. Here’s a closer look at the creature in all his glory.
Photo via John Rodriguez/Huffpost
The creature, which is known around the world by different names including Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti, is known in the wilds of Florida as the Swamp Ape or Skunk Ape, due to the not so fragrant odor it supposedly exudes. “I’ve heard of Skunk Ape prints around Green Swamp [in Florida], but never anything like this,” Rodriguez told HuffPost in an email. “My whole life, never seen anything like it.”
So what’s a reporter to do when confronted with the possibility of the crispest, clearest photo of Bigfoot of all time? Call in the experts of course. The somewhat amused Speigel says he decided to run the claim across former FBI agent, Ben Hansen, currently the lead investigator of Syfy’s Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files series.
Hansen’s verdict? Though the investigator declared the photo a masterpiece, it was unfortunately one created by Photoshop rather than nature. In short, the miraculous sight captured by Rodriguez appears to be an actual gorilla’s face photoshopped atop that of a guy in a gorilla suit.
Hansen further blew our vague but insistent hopes by explaining that neither the guy nor the gorilla were probably ever even present in the swamp, but were both later edited in. He explains, “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.”
He adds, “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.”
Rodriguez responded to Hansen’s allegations, as well as the fact that the file was blatantly saved in a format unique to Photoshop, with the following statement. “I did not Photoshop this at all. Believe me or not. When I plug in my memory card, it asks to import and opens in Photoshop. I just changed the name and saved. It seems like people get publicly crucified for coming forward with this kind of stuff,” he insisted.
Ah well, as all paranormal enthusiasts know, when it comes to things like Swamp Apes, you win some you lose some.