AI imagines the Florida Skunk Ape for Halloween

If you’ve lived in Florida for a while, particularly in South Florida, you know all about the state’s mythical Skunk Ape — a human-like figure covered in hair and very, very stinky.

Think Bigfoot’s hygiene-challenged cousin from the swamp.

Vivint, a smart home security provider, gathered urban legends from all 50 states and then used the artificial intelligence tool Midjourney to create images of what those spooky legends might look like.

Florida’s Skunk Ape was created to look like a crazed ape, grayish in color with arms too big and a beard that hangs to its midsection.

The company, through its research, discovered that in the past month, Google searches for the mythical creature have spiked by 87%.

Much like Bigfoot, the Skunk Ape has been chased for generations by hopeful adventurers hoping to catch a glimpse of the foul, hairy creature. There are plenty of disputed photos, videos and footprints to go around.

Dave Shealy is perhaps the most notable Skunk Ape chaser, with a dedicated website chronicling sightings and a research facility located on his own property.

A Smithsonian Magazine feature from 2014 explains Shealy’s first encounter with the Skunk Ape while hunting deer in the Everglades when he was just 10 years old. Since then, Shealy has written a field guide, talked about the creature on television, and continually investigated reported sightings.

Folklore about the Skunk Ape began as early as 1818, with local newspapers reporting on an alleged sighting in what is now Apalachicola of a “man-sized monkey.”

Other interesting creatures given the AI treatment for Halloween include a lizard man in South Carolina, the Mothman in West Virginia, shape-shifting otter men in Alaska, Skinwalkers in Arizona and a Chupacabra in New Mexico, among others. Each AI depiction includes a spooky home in the background, awash in the dark of night and the eerie illumination of a full moon.