Most people think Bigfoot is a hoax. But Denise DesChenes is convinced that she has seen the mythical creature — once in person, and other times when it was unknowingly captured in pictures and videos she took during walks in the Goethe State Forest.
DesChenes never believed in Bigfoot before. She said she really never had time to pay attention to what was around her when she used to ride horses in the woods.
But what she has witnessed over the last few years during her walks in the woods has changed her mind.
“I hear them walking with me and I know they're there,” she said, deliberately using the plural. DesChenes said there is more than one creature out there.
DesChenes said she stopped riding her horses in the Goethe State Forest because her bad back made riding too painful. Instead, she started taking long walks with her dog in the forest and other preserves near Dunnellon.
“When I started walking, that's when I started noticing things,” she said.
She started taking still pictures and video and remains convinced that, in the background, she has captured Bigfoot. She has even asked professional photographers their opinions on what the large footprints and dark figures lurking around bushes and trees could be.
“I just had to ask someone else,” she said.
According to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) website, www.bfro.net, there have been several other Bigfoot sightings in the same area over the past several years: two in the Goethe State Forest, which is in Levy County, and another in Rainbow Springs State Park near Dunnellon.