(Monster Monday) Two-Toed Tom, Alligator Monster of FL & AL

Florida Indians Battle Monster Alligators
Two-Toed Tom is said to rival the size of these gators.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the monster story I posted here last Monday, so I thought we might make Monster Monday a regular feature for awhile.
Today we focus on Two-Toed Tom, the legendary red-eyed, demon-possessed alligator Monster of Northest Florida and South Alabama. The story has echoed through the swamps along the border for more than 100 years and is still well-known today.

The monster first came to prominence in South Alabama where he terrorized farm communities just north of the Florida line. Described as red-eyed and demon-possessed, he gained his unusual name after an attempt to capture him left him with only two toes on one foot.

Alligator in North Florida

Tom was shot, dynamited and otherwise attacked but could not be killed. He eventually tired of the constant battles in Alabama and moved across the line to Florida. He soon appeared in Sand Hammock Lake in the little town of Esto in Holmes County, Florida. After driving out the other bull alligators in the area, he turned his focus on people.

I had the unique opportunity in 1989 to interview one of the survivors of an authentic Two-Toed Tom attack. She then lived in a retirement home in Pensacola and had been attacked by the monster when she was a little girl some 70 years before.

Reptilian mile

She described how she had been walking with her mother along a sandy path near Sand Hammock Lake. When she skipped ahead in the playful manner of most kids, she suddenly heard her mother scream. Turning around to see what was wrong, she was stunned to see that the feared alligator monster had come out into the path between them. It stood up on its hind legs and roared at both of them.

Their screams soon attracted the men of the community, including one who showed up with a "war rifle" to shoot the monster. Blasted with the high-powered rifle, the monster fell still but as the men gathered around to inspect it, the beast suddenly reanimated and swept them all down with the fierce lashing of its tail and escaped back into the swamp.

This is just one of the stories that have grown up around Two-Toed Tom, who is said to still inhabit the swamps of Washington, Holmes and Walton Counties in Northwest Florida. If you would like to read more about him, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/alligator2.

Moss Hill Methodist Church - Washington County, Florida

One of the most beautiful old structures in the South can be found in the rolling hills of the Florida Panhandle. Built in 1857, Moss Hill Methodist church is one of the oldest standing rural churches in the Sunshine State.

The church originated in the earliest days of the American settlement of Florida. It began as a mission of the South Carolina Methodist Conference and is known to have been active as early as 1823, just two years after the cession of Florida from Spain to the United States.

The early years of the church were turbulent as is demonstrated by the fact that the congregation met in a fort or blockhouse that stood just a few hundred yards from the structure that stands today. This log fort slowly deteriorated and the members of the church voted to build a new frame sanctuary that was completed in 1857.

Local tradition holds that the church was only the second structure in Washington County, which then included an empty expanse where today's popular resort of Panama City Beach now stands, to have glass windows.

Moss Hill Church played a key role in the War Between the States and stones in the nearby cemetery preserve the memory of a number of its members who were taken prisoner while serving with the local home guard. Carried away to Northern prison camps, they died there far away from home and never returned.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/mosshill1.

The Battle of Cane Hill, Arkansas

One of the least known major events of the Civil War in the West, the Battle of Cane Hill was fought on November 28, 1862, in Washington County, Arkansas.

The engagement involved more than 7,000 men and nearly forty pieces of artillery. Although it is often relegated to the status of a preliminary episode of the Battle of Prairie Grove, the Battle of Cane Hill was a significant encounter in its own right.

Although there is no battlefield park at Cane Hill, many areas associated with the battle can be seen. If you are interested in learning more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ARCaneHill.

Moss Hill Methodist Church - Florida

This beautiful old structure is Moss Hill United Methodist Church.

Located near the town of Vernon in Northwest Florida and the center of an area known as Holmes Valley, the old church was built during the 1850s and is one of the oldest standing church structures in Florida. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

We have just launched a new page on Moss Hill at ExploreSouthernHistory.com as part of the site we are donating to the Washington County Historical Society. You can take a look by going to www.exploresouthernhistory.com/washingtoncounty and looking for the Moss Hill heading.

The Possum Monument - Wausau, Florida

This nicely carved stone beside State Highway 77 in Wausau, Florida is undoubtedly the Sunshine State's most unusual monument.

It is dedicated to the possum (or opossum, for our Northern friends), that creature often seen in the woods and swamps (and paved highways) of the South.

Erected in 1982, the monument pays tribute to the marsupial for its role in providing food to area residents in good times and bad. Wausau, in fact, calls itself the Possum Capital of the World and hosts a famed Fun Day and Possum Festival on the first Saturday of August each year.

To learn more about the possum monument, please visit our new Washington County, Florida pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/washingtoncounty and just look for the heading!