Two-Toed Tom - The Alligator Monster of the Florida Panhandle?

Florida Alligator

In the stateline counties of Holmes, Walton, Washington and Jackson in the Florida Panhandle, residents tell stories of a pseudo-mythical beast. They call him Two-Toed Tom and he is said to be the red-eyed, demon-possessed alligator monster of the Florida Panhandle.

The story of Two-Toed Tom actually originated near the stateline community of Florala, Alabama, and was first recorded by folklorist Carl Carmer in the 1930s.  On a visit to the area, he was told of a "red-eyed hell demon" in alligator form that had been eating cows and mules and even assaulting local women. An encounter with a steel trap had left him with only two toes on one foot, hence his unusual name. Dynamite failed to killed him and before finally leaving the area on his own, he was blamed not only for killing livestock, but for murdering humans as well.

16th Century Indians battle a Gator

The monster gator was last seen crossing the stateline into the Panhandle of Florida and it was not long before stories of him began to surface from the swamps around Sand Hammock Lake, a shallow body of water between the Holmes County towns of Esto and Noma. Residents of the area reported encounters with him and estimated him to be as long as 24-feet. One eyewitness even noted how she had seen him standing, dinosaur-like, on his hind legs.

From Esto and Noma the monster seems to have drifted down nearby Holmes Creek to the Choctawhatchee River, where giant alligator prints were found in the 1980s. The tracks, discovered on Boynton Island on the border between Washington and Walton Counties, were unique in that one of the feet had only two toes.

Residents of the region continue to report sightings of the monster and he is popular fare for Panhandle story tellers. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/alligator2.

Apalachicola Arsenal - Chattahoochee, Florida

Officer's Quarters of the Apalachicola Arsenal

One of Florida's more unexpected military landmarks can be found not in a park or battlefield, but on the grounds of the state's mental hospital.

Built in 1834-1839, the Apalachicola Arsenal is today neither in Apalachicola nor is it an arsenal. The surviving buildings of the complex now form part of the Florida State Hospital in the charming Gadsden County town of Chattahoochee. The grounds are open to the public daily, but photography is not allowed.

Built at a time when Florida was not yet a state but still a new U.S. territory, the arsenal was designed to provide a place for storing and manufacturing military supplies. Built of bricks manufactured on the site, with roofing slate brought in by boat, the original complex consisted of a series of substantial buildings arranged around a parade ground that covered four square acres. These were connected by a solid brick wall that was 9 feet high and 30 inches thick. Gates entered the compound near the center of its east and west walls.

Officer's Quarters (left) & Guard Room

In addition, there were two external magazines (one of which survives). Built of brick with vaulted chambers for storing gunpowder, these were located outside the main compound for safety reasons.

The arsenal was completed just six years before the outbreak of the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) and served an important role in that conflict. Not only did the facility serve as a storehouse for arms and factory for repairing weapons, building artillery carriages and manufacturing bullets, its walls also provided protection to local citizens several times when war parties attacked homes and farms just south of Chattahoochee.

The Arsenal in the 1840s

The arsenal was the scene of the first military action of the Civil War in Florida. On January 6, 1861, acting under orders from Governor Madison Perry, the Quincy Young Guards seized the facility from its caretaker force without firing a shot. The arsenal then served the state and the Confederacy for the next four years. The 6th Florida Infantry was organized there and late in the war a company from the 1st Florida Reserves and a section of field artillery were housed at the facility.

The U.S. Army reoccupied the facility after the war and used it temporarily as a prison for Southern citizens accused of opposing Reconstruction efforts. It was eventually turned over to the State of Florida for use as a prison. It proved unsuited for this purpose, however, and after only a few years was converted into an "asylum for the insane." It provided the core for today's Florida State Hospital and the old officer's quarters are used today as the Administration Building for the facility.

To learn more about the Apalachicola Arsenal, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/arsenal1.