(Hoax) Green Swamp Skunk Ape, Florida
Some of the many sightings of the Green Swamp Skunk Ape in the mid-1970s may be related to the unfortunate story of Hu Tu Mei, called “The Wild Man of the Green Swamp” by local newspapers and the New York Times.
He was a mariner, Mei had grown homesick after leaving his wife, four sons, and three daughters in Taipei, Taiwan. After he started to become violent, and lost his mind... the crew of the freighter he was working on took him to the hospital. They also wanted to send him back to his native Taiwan because he was “psychotic and illiterate.”
He was then admitted to the security ward at Tampa General Hospital, and he escaped from there shortly afterward. According to the Border Patrol, he disappeared without a trace.
Hu spent eight months in the Green Swamp, subsisting off armadillos, snakes, and corn left out by hunters for wild turkey. By mid-1975, three counties had received reports of a “wild man” or creature committing burglaries, and police had unsuccessfully sent six search expeditions after him. Hu, ofcourse, was deep in the swamp.
With the aid of a search plane, a group of 15-20 deputies found Hu’s camp and after a struggle they finally arrested him. Sumter County Sheriff Don Page described him as “the strongest man I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Hu was reportedly terrified while in custody: (through an interpreter) “They are going to kill me, and I will rather kill myself first.” He spent two days in jail before taking his own life in his cell. His ashes were then sent back to Taiwan as the cremation was ordered by the Republic of China Consulate General in Atlanta.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1991-10-31-9110310934-story.html
