The Land O' Lakes Gorilla

## History

The Land O' Lakes Gorilla (also known as the Land O' Gorilla) is a cryptid that first appeared in October of 2018. The Gorilla appears every year around Halloween throughout the month of October, increasing in frequency until the night of Halloween. His final appearance typically coincides with the Halloween BBQ, however it's difficult to exactly predict his appearances as he is a supernatural entity. The Gorilla has made appearances in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

## Land O' Lakes Gorilla

An ominous photo of the Land O' Lakes Gorilla off of a now deleted Gorilla Instagram page.

## Appearances

### Debut

October 5th, 2018

A typical gorilla sighting takes place at night, and usually the Gorilla drives by in a vehicle, rolling down the window and gesturing at his victims. The type of car the gorilla drives varies, and he has been reported in everything from sedans to pickup trucks. Occasionally the Gorilla is accompanied by chimps, which are people wearing chimpanzee masks. The Gorilla has also been seen outside of his vehicle, such as several sightings of the Gorilla along a walking trail around Collier and at various playgrounds throughout Land O' Lakes. The Gorilla has also been seen at several dining establishments, and during these sightings the gorilla will emerge from his vehicle and bang on the windows, before running back to his car and being driven away by his chimps.

At several bus stops, parking lots, and parks, polaroids of the Gorilla were found. They were in black and white and framed the Gorilla in a very creepy light. The police came to investigate the Gorilla photos at the field bus stop, however they were unable to dig up any evidence regarding who put them there, or who the Gorilla even was.

As the Gorilla appeared more and more frequently, the lore behind him began to rise. People began seeing the Gorilla in areas outside of Land O' Lakes, and he seemed to take on a life of his own. Some people began making up stories of the Gorilla in order to be a part of the conversation, and word traveled through both Sunlake High School and Land O' Lakes high school about the Gorilla, with many people wondering about his identity. Some people drew parallels to the 2016 Clown Sightings, however the Gorilla seemed to be one person vs. several, unlike the clowns.

## Appearance

The Gorilla appears as a huge man in a gorilla suit. The gorilla suit appears to be a low quality one, however the exact suit tends to vary from sighting to sighting. Researchers believe at least one of the suits used is the Party City gorilla hombre costume, however it's hard to say for sure. The mask varies a lot in the sightings, sometimes even being a chimpanzee mask. The actual man inside the suit is speculated to be huge, as the Gorilla seems to stand well over 6 feet tall and has very broad shoulders.

Another potential costume comes from a local Target, as it also seems to match the general appearance of the Gorilla and would be easily accessible to the residents of Land O' Lakes. As copycats arose many different varieties of gorilla costume would eventually be used to portray the Land O' Legend.

## The McDonald's Sighting

The first canonical sighting of the Land O' Lakes Gorilla was on October 5th, 2018. At around 11:15 PM the gang was eating at McDonald's after watching a horror movie to get in the Halloween spirit. At this time a sedan pulled around the glass window of the restaurant, rolling down its window and revealing the Gorilla. The Gorilla made the "I'm watching you" hand gesture with his fingers to his eyes and then sped away. Everyone in the McDonald's erupted at the Gorilla, with employees saying they saw the ape drive by the drive-thru.

## Monster Movie Night Sighting

During one of Miguel's Monster Movie Nights, Miggy got the idea to prank his friends by stealing Jacob's gorilla mask and buying a bunch of bananas. He faked a phone call from his mom and walked to his house, donning his mask and arming himself with banana peels, and then began pelting Jacob's windows with banana peels to get their attention. Cale arrived to the party late, and saw Miguel. The movie was too loud to hear the banana peels banging on the windows, however Cale came inside and told everyone Miguel was trying to scare them.

Everyone made their way to the front, watching Miguel through the glass door. Miguel laughed at them, thinking he successfully scared them, but as he did so a dark sedan drove up behind him, rolled down its window and revealed the Gorilla. The Gorilla reached out and tapped Miguel's shoulder, causing Miguel to turn around and freak out, falling to the ground. The gang raced out of the house, with Cale and Joseph trying to catch the Gorilla on foot. Eventually everyone got into Joseph's car, and they chased the Gorilla through Land O' Lakes, although the ape man ultimately escaped.

## The Pre-Halloween Party

The Gorilla was sighted at a Halloween Party hosted by football player from a local high school. The Gorilla threw banana peels on their cars and in their yard, and left several polaroids. One teen reported seeing the Gorilla book it between two houses, but by the time the teen and several others ran over there he had completely vanished, and only 1 teen saw the Gorilla for sure. The others had only the polaroids left behind, and the banana peels as evidence the Gorilla had been there. Some accused the first teen of making up the sighting, however the sighting was corroborated by other attendees at the party that they had also seen the Gorilla.

## The Halloween BBQ

The Gorilla also made an appearance at the ARC Halloween BBQ. Members of ARC dressed as the Scooby Doo cast, and they had joked about their monster being the Gorilla. Daniel Bro ended up dressing as the Gorilla to be the gang's monster, and and he walked up to the party from the field. Everyone erupted and chased after the Gorilla, with Drew getting body slammed by him. Miguel jumped onto his back and the Gorilla flung him like a paperweight, and then put Drew in a chokehold. Eventually the Gorilla was subdued, and he was unmasked to reveal Daniel Bro. At first everyone accused Daniel of being the Land O' Gorilla, but he yelled at them because he told everyone he was going as their monster. Everyone realized that they had joked about it, but didn't think Daniel was actually going to come as the Gorilla.

While some people were still convinced Daniel had always been the Gorilla, the classic black sedan drove by and rolled down its window, revealing the real Gorilla, before speeding off.

## Various Sightings

Between each of the aforementioned major sightings, the Gorilla was seen in various locations by a wide variety of people. Students at local high schools reported the Gorilla driving by bus stops, driving by restaurants, and appearing in parks. Employees at Dairy Queen reported seeing the Gorilla swinging on a swing set near the DQ on their way home, at around 11:00 PM. Most of these sightings took place late at night, and many of them involved the Gorilla in a vehicle. Many people reported the chimps as well, with one sighting involving the Gorilla booking it on foot to an escape vehicle manned by at least 3 chimps. There were sightings of the Gorilla at several Homecoming events, especially at the restaurants frequented by teens after the dance. One person claims to have seen the Gorilla at their homecoming game, lurking outside the fence surrounding the football field. Another sighting claims that as they arrived home from Howl-o-Scream, the Gorilla pulled up in their front yard and threw banana peels at them before speeding off.

## The Instagram

Halfway into October many local high school and college students noticed that they were suddenly being followed by a new Instagram account titled only "Muuaji's Revenge." The account had a series of photos of the Land O' Lakes Gorilla in various poses, as well as several videos with ominous subtitles and music. Investigators googled Muuaji and realized that the word translates into "Killer" or "Murderer" in Swahili, so it is believed to reference the Gorilla's African heritage. Students were freaked out by the Instagram, but on November 1st, 2018, the Instagram was deleted. It is unknown if this was intentional or not, however it is believed to mark the end of the Gorilla's shenanigans. In the following years the Gorilla's Instagram would not make a return appearance, which led many to theorize the original Gorilla was no longer active.

## Identity Theories

While the true identity of the Land O' Lakes Gorilla are not known, there are several theories. The most popular theory is that the Gorilla was Daniel, as he is the only person to have ever been caught in costume. This would also match the location of the Gorilla, as Daniel is a Land O' Local and would know where all the local high schoolers hang on. More damning is that the Gorilla was seen at the local university as well, which Daniel attended. The physical stature of the Gorilla also matches Daniel, as Daniel is a large and imposing man. The major flaw in this theory is that Daniel was present during one of the Gorilla's attacks, as he was with the people who were pelted with bananas after Howl-o-Scream. Furthermore, after unmasking Daniel, the Land O' Gorilla made an appearance at the Halloween BBQ, meaning it couldn't have possibly been him. Daniel has worked hard to prove his innocence and unmask the true Gorilla, going as far as making a documentary about it for his film class. His professor then confessed that she had actually seen the Land O' Gorilla herself.

Many people within the Core Friend Group believed that the Gorilla had to be one of its members, since they had 3 Gorilla sightings. The obvious suspects were Drew, Jacob, and Miguel, however all 3 were present at the McDonald's Sighting and the Halloween BBQ Sighting. In fact, at the McDonald's Sighting the entire group was present except for Daniel, however he was at the gym and had photo evidence of him being there. A leading believer of the "Inside Job" theory was Cale, as he was so certain that the Gorilla reeked of a Jacob and Drew plot. There was never any evidence to prove this theory however, and it's biggest flaw was that the Gorilla appeared and attacked all core members of the group. Many people object to this theory as well because of just how many people saw the Gorilla, and while the group initially believed they were being targeted it seemed they were only in the right place at the wrong time.

Another theory with the Gorilla is that he is actually several people who all bear the burden of the Land O' Lakes Gorilla. Proponents of this theory, including Jacob, Drew, and Miguel, place emphasis on the fact that the Gorilla is seen with his chimps, indicating that this a multiple-person operation. They believe that the identity of the Gorilla is tied to some high schoolers who attended Sunlake High School. They point to the fact that the Gorilla appeared at many Halloween parties and Homecoming parties that only somebody in attendance of the high school could know, and the fact that so many high schoolers had seen the Gorilla. They also believed that the costume discrepancy was caused by multiple gorillas, as they all bought their own costumes. They were unable to prove whether or not the gorillas were working together, or if there were just several copycats.

A big theory about the Gorilla is that he only appeared for the 2018 Halloween season. While the Gorilla has been seen in all the years following, the sightings have been in decreased frequency and in different manners. Believers in this theory also point out that the Instagram page was never reactivated in the years prior, indicating that the OG Gorilla was no longer haunting Land O' Lakes. A lot of the spookier aspects of the Gorilla, such as the polaroids and banana peels, also were never repeated in the following years, which makes many people believe that he haunted once, only to never appear again.

## 2019-2021 Sightings

The 2019-2021 sightings were very minor in comparison to the 2018 Gorilla fever, however many more people reported seeing the Gorilla. Many people expected the Gorilla in 2019, but in the years following the hype died down and the sightings reduced in frequency. Most of the sightings in this year take place around Homecoming, with the Gorilla rolling up to restaurants and banging on the windows. The Gorilla hasn't been reported at any more parties since 2018, however he has been reported in parks and even at the beach.

## Copycats

Many people believe that after 2018, other people besides the original Land O' Gorilla began dressing up as gorillas in October and attempting to scare people. This is because sightings continued up until 2021, but vehicle used changed dramatically. The usual black sedan was still occasionally seen, but the Gorilla appeared in a wide variety of vehicles in these years. The nature of the sightings seemed to change as well, with the Gorilla now blasting "Welcome to the Jungle" from his escape vehicle as he rolled up to his targets. Furthermore, various people have stepped forward and claimed to be the Gorilla, however the identity of the original 2018 Gorilla has yet to be confirmed. It seems the Gorilla inspired other people to take up the mantle, much like the 2016 Clown Sightings, meaning that there are multiple ape men on the lose in Land O' Lakes.