Legend of a Demon Alligator
Legend says that a vicious alligator once roamed the swamps & farmland along the Gulf Coast of Florida and Alabama. The creature was over fourteen feet in length, had glowing red eyes and an undeniably monstrous strength. Locals called him Two-Toed Tom for his unique footprint. The demon gator had lost all but two of the toes on his left foot after being caught in a steel trap.
For over two decades Tom preyed upon livestock, with all attempts to be stopped thwarted by his undeniable strength.
CARL CARMER’S TALE OF PAP HAINES
The legend of Two-Toed Tom was first published in 1934. Author Carl Carmer recounted the tale in his acclaimed work Stars Fell on Alabama which outlined folklore from all across the state. Carmer tells the story of Pap Haines who purchased 40 acres of land from the lumber company in South Alabama. Locals warned Pap that he shouldn’t keep any livestock on his new property or else he might attract the attention of a local alligator who was like no other he’d ever encountered, but Pap ignored the warnings. The result was an epic battle between man and beast.
MYSTERY OF THE DEMON GATOR
Pap wasn’t the only man to attempt to hunt the demon gator. After decades of Tom’s destruction, a group of Alabamians were finally able to chase him out, all the way across the border into Northwest Florida. Some say he made a home in a pond near Esto in Holmes County where locals claim he’d let out a deep monstrous bellow every time the nearby lumber company’s whistle would go off.
Eventually sightings of Two-Toed Tom began to waver and speculation of his demise began. Then, a half century after Carmer published the story of Pap Haines, the tracks of an enormous alligator were found on a sandbar at Boynton Island on the Choctawahtchee. These monstrous footprints had two toes.
Whether these tracks were in fact Two-Toed is still a mystery to this day.
