"If there's a bustle in the hedgerow, don't be alarmed now"

Does anyone know anything about this strange story from Charlie Carlson's Weird Florida?

More unnerving than a giant penguin was the strange half-human monster Emily L. Bell encountered in the Fort Pierce area in the late 1800s. In her memoirs, she tells of going ashore at the Jupiter Inlet and trekking along the coast for eight miles. Hearing a rustle in the bushes, she called her husband over to investigate. Together, they watched as a green-black-yellowish creature, 30 feet long, reared up and, turning a human-like face toward them, slipped into the surf. Locals later told them the creature appeared in the area a couple of times a year.