The Witch of Buena Vista Slough

A Haunting near Buena Vista Landing

by Dale Cox

A bizarre series of events along Buena Vista Slough (then called Sugar Mill Creek) terrified residents in Florida's Chattahoochee River valley more than 140 years ago.

October 1877 was a time of growing optimism in eastern Jackson County. The violence and strife of Reconstruction were finally over, the local economy was improving, and riverboat traffic was once again booming on the Chattahoochee River. Sugar Mill Creek flowed from a collection of small springs past the remains of the already ruined mill that gave the stream its name to join the river near today's Parramore Landing.

The lands along its low ridges were well-suited for the production of cotton, corn, tobacco, and other crops, and the harvest was good that fall. Most of the farms were small, and the families who settled near the creek in the years after the Civil War included whites, blacks, and Native Americans. All worked the land or cut timber to make their livings.

Things seemed peaceful as everyone worked and waited for the first cold snap of winter and "hog killing" time. No one, however, expected what happened next:

Buena Vista Slough now covers the original Sugar Mill Creek.

A Witch! The people about Sugar Mill creek in east Jackson are all alarmed about a witching at Godwin's spring on Thursday night last. Highsmith, an elderly Negro man, says his family was asleep by the fire when an unseen witch started to pelt his cabin with stones and brickbats. Thinking it was irreverent pranksters or Republicans he took up his shotgun and rushed into the yard only to witness a piece of lime rock rise from the ground and dash itself against his chimney. - Marianna Courier, October 1877. 

Godwin's Spring, where the incident supposedly took place, is now underwater at Godwin Lake, the head of the slough that extends north from Buena Vista Landing on the backwaters of Lake Seminole. The spring and the small creek that it and a few other springs headed was inundated when the Jim Woodruff Dam was completed in 1958.

Buena Vista Landing as seen from the slough.

Stories of witches or other unseen forces that threw rocks, bricks, and other objects against the sides of houses were relatively common in the 19th century. The best-documented case was the Edgefield Ghost in South Carolina, but the best-known was, without doubt, the Bell Witch of Tennessee.

People in that day usually blamed such instances on witches, although today they are often said to be the result of "poltergeist" activity.

More from the Witch! A witch seems quite begrudged with the people above Bellview on Sugar Mill creek. Brickbats, rocks, crockery and tools fly about. Dogs howl without ceasing. Bells sound at midnight. The rattle of dragging chains distinctly heard. Birds that speak. A creature like a dog with the head of a cat! If but half the stories are true then the good citizens of that vicinity had best revisit the methods of Cotton Mather of old Salem! - Marianna Courier, October 1877

The two brief articles are the only known written accounts of the paranormal "outbreak" that shook the Buena Vista area of eastern Jackson County in 1877. Earlier generations had vague memories of the incidents and told of how their parents and grandparents met for weekend-long brush arbor "preachings" and "camp meetings."

Like the Edgefield and Bell Witchings of earlier generations, this one also slowly faded away.

Skunk Ape in Alabama: The Russell County Wild Man

"He has been seen a number of times."

by Dale Cox

Beautiful old Uchee Chapel United Methodist Church has
stood in the Uchee Community of Russell County, Alabama
since before the wild man sightings. It was built in 1859 and
is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The skunk ape, a smaller version of what many people call Bigfoot or Sasquatch, is usually associated with Florida. Many who believe in them, however, say they also live in areas of Alabama and Georgia.

Skunk apes are said to be bipedal creatures or apes. They stand 5-6 feet tall, are covered with hair, and live in the swamps and wetlands where humans rarely go. One of the most famous of these was the Ocheesee Pond Wild Man, a creature captured in 1884 at Ocheesee Pond in Jackson County, Florida. You can learn more about him by watching the short video at the bottom of this page.

Seven years earlier, a similar (or the same?) creature was spotted in the swamps along Uchee Creek in Russell County, Alabama:

Today's Uchee Road follows the approximate trace of the
Old Federal Road through the area of the wild man sightings
in Russell County, Alabama.

The people in the Hichtie [Hitchiti] country on the Uchee tell us of a wild man up there. He is about five feet high, covered all over with gray hairs, and is stark naked. He keeps concealed generally in the Uchee swamp, though he has been seen a number of times passing about and near the swamp. - Russell Register, July 1877.

The area along Uchee Creek was one of those where the Muscogee (Creek) Indians made their last stands in Alabama during the Creek Wars of 1813-1814 and 1836. These lands were coveted by white speculators and settlers because they were prime for growing cotton. The Old Federal Road wound along the ridge overlooking the Uchee swamp and its trace is followed - more or less - by Sandfort and Uchee Roads today.

Uchee Good Hope Cemetery, along the ridge overlooking
Uchee swamp, was already 40 years old when the wild man
made his appearance in the summer of 1877.

The 1877 report continued:

...About two weeks ago Johnnie, a little son of Mr. F.A. Boykin, saw him standing in a horse lot on the creek used for feeding stock when working that part of the plantation. As soon as he saw Johnnie he ran to the fence, jumped it, (ten rails) and made his escape to the swamp. His track upon being examined looked like that of a ten year old boy. - Russell Register, July 1877.

Several other eyewitnesses reported seeing the creature, but he grew with each telling until at least one said that it was over ten feet tall! Efforts were made to capture it throughout the summer of 1877, but each one failed. Whether the creature actually lived in the area or was just passing through was never determined.

Editor's Note: Learn more about the actual capture of another "wild man" in this fun story from Two Egg TV:

Pensacola's Ghost in Yellow

A haunting reminder of Spain's last days in Florida.

by Dale Cox

A living history event at Historic Pensacola Village
in downtown Pensacola, Florida.

The sad story of the "Ghost in Yellow" is about a young woman named Felice who was so devoted to her country that she shed her own blood rather than accept Florida's transfer to the United States.

The story revolved around an old home near Plaza Ferdinand in Pensacola and was written for a newspaper by Ruby G. Powell in 1906. She repeated it as told by her grandmother:

...She was a Spanish girl. Years ago—nearly a hundred years, when this house was not much more than a frame structure, partly log—and there were only a few like it, for we had to have the lumber sawed by hand—my grand mother had a ward—Felice. Her father was a Spanish officer at the garrison at St. Marks; he died there and she was left in my grandmother’s charge. She was a devout Catholic and a loyal Spaniard, high strung and emotional. Felice had a lover at St. Marks, a dashing cavalaier, strikingly handsome in his glittering uniform and clinkering silver spurs. [1]

The garrison or fort at St. Marks referenced in the passage was the Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache. It is preserved at the state park of the same name at St. Marks, Florida.

The young woman Felice loved her country above all else, but she was filled with dread for Florida's role in its future:

Life from the time when Felice roamed the streets of the
Spanish town is recreated at Historic Pensacola Village.

Gov. Callava, the Spanish governor, was very kind to this young orphan girl, who lived at my grandfathers. He had befriended her soldier; had promised him a commission and many acres of land in Florida, if they would make their hole here. But Felice had strange forebodings.

“Florida, it is not for my people; it is for the Americans,” she would say, and often, after returning home from a visit and talk to the governor, her face was troubled, and she was very quiet for hours at a time, crooning over some strange old Spanish songs as she plied her needle between the rows of beautiful drawnwork for which she was so skilled. Her face grew sadder each day, after it was known that Spain had signed the treaty ceding Florida to the United States.

When a transport would come up from St. Marks, bringing soldiers to be taken back to Spain, Felice would kiss her crucifix, murmuring, in broken tones, "Ay de las vencidas," (woe to the vanquished) while her tears would overflow and drop on her work. [2]

The young woman's fatal date with destiny came on July 17, 1821. United States troops marched into Pensacola from their camp just outside town to meet their Spanish counterparts for a ceremony marking the official change of flags. 

The Lavalle House, seen here, stood in Pensacola at the
time of the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States.

Andrew Jackson had twice captured the city at the head of conquering armies. This time he came as military governor to accept possession of West Florida from Spain under the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty. 

Felice watched from her window as he arrived in fulfillment of his duties:

But that her country had given up Florida—their own ‘land of flowers,’ theirs in its kindred warmth of climate, theirs by right of discovery, and glory of conquest—had given it up for a paltry consideration of money and claims, cut her to the heart.

As the Spanish flag touched the ground and our own was raised aloft, the band burst into a new and patriotic air. There was no cheering; the Spanish faces were stolid, stony as ever; they relaxed not a muscle, but Felice made the sign of the cross, and turned from the window with a sob. That night my grandmother sent a servant to call her to supper, and she was found at her mirror, seated in front of the low dressing table. She wore a yellow dress. A single red rose pinned on her left shoulder, gave the needed touch—her national colors. Her long hair hung down as if she were about to comb it out, but buried deep in her heart was a stiletto, her hand still clutched the handle tensely, and the warm blood dyed the front of her gown. She was dead, but her blood could not avail to save Florida for Spain. [3]

The flag of Spain flies from the front of the Lavalle House
at Historic Pensacola Village. The colors of this flag were
reproduced in Felice's death scene.

Felice's feet never set foot on Florida soil after the colony became an American territory. Still, her spirit continued to linger in the old house that stood somewhere in the heart of today's downtown Pensacola. 

Ms. Powell's grandmother, who recited the story, told of seeing her in around 1896:

I, myself, have seen her once. ‘Twas Christmas, ten years ago. She sat over in that corner, combing out her hair. I could see her yellow dress as plainly as I see you, and could even see the stiletto glisten in her breast. [4]

She did not try to speak to the ghost, fearing that she would disappear as soon as she did so. 

Felice gained no love for the United States after her death, and her ghost even associated itself with the Confederate soldiers who occupied Pensacola in 1861-1862. One sighting of her occurred on either November 22, 1861, or January 1, 1862, when the thunder of cannon fire shook Pensacola Bay:

A display at Plaza Ferdinand in Pensacola shows what
archaeologists found beneath the surface. Traces of the city's
old Spanish fortifications run beneath this grassy lawn.

When my father and husband were quartered here, with their company of soldiers during the blockade of the civil war, they were awakened one night by the firing of cannon, and rushing from their beds, to seize their guns, almost stumbled upon a women dressed in yellow, seated in front of the fireplace, combing out her hair. My father knew at once who it was, but Mac started toward her. ‘What the,’ he began, but he had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when she seemed suddenly to disappear through the walls. The story leaked out, in some way, and soon every soldier in Pensacola knew about the ghost in yellow, and some even declared that they saw her moving around the men when the cannonading was heaviest. [5]

The specter made another appearance when Union forces occupied Pensacola on May 10, 1862:

...On the day that the federals got possession of the city, several of them came in the house, intending to burn it. They, too, saw the ghost in yellow, knowing that all the refugees had fled, and that there were no women and children in Pensacola, they were very much started at the apparition. But one, an Irishman, braver than his companions, put out his hand to touch her, when she seemed to crumble, and not a trace of her was left. The soldiers were so frightened that they fled, and not one could be induced to go near the house again. [6]

The fate of the Ghost in Yellow is unknown. Perhaps she survived the eventual demolition of the house to which she was attached and continues to roam the streets and sidewalks of downtown Pensacola. If so, she is no doubt comforted by the efforts of the University of West Florida and other entities to preserve and protect the old city's rich Spanish history.

A great way to learn about Pensacola's history is by visiting Historic Pensacola. The complex features "four museums, tours, & more!" Click here for more information: www.historicpensacola.org.

References

[1] Ruby G. Powell, "The Ghost in Yellow," The Weekly True Democrat, December 28, 1906, reprinted from the Florida Times-Union, December 25, 1906.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

The Alabama Monster of 1877

"A Living Monster or Serpent"

by Dale Cox

The Coosa River in the Alabama mountain country, where the
rash of monster sightings was reported in 1877.

Long before the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland entered the popular consciousness, eyewitnesses claimed that a similar creature roamed the waters of Alabama's Coosa River.

The most significant recorded wave of sightings of the Alabama monster took place in the late spring and summer of 1877. The first eyewitness to come forward - to his own later regret - was Mr. Marens L. Foster of Etowah County. He saw an object in the Coosa River that he first thought was a person:

...As he approached sufficiently near to see it distinctly, to his horror it proved to be a living monster or serpent, with head and neck erect, extending out of the water some three or four feet, its head resembling a horses head, large glaring eyes, and a mouth distended, showing a tongue of fiery red. The monster or serpent exhibited no signs of fear, but glared directly at him as it passed, and unprepared as he was, he thought discretion the better part of valor, and beat a hasty retreat to the opposite bank from which he watched it moving along like a man in a boat, showing now and then portions of its back until it reached a point opposite Thornton’s log yard, where it gave a plunge and disappeared from sight. Mr. Foster is an entirely trustworthy and reliable gentleman, well known in his community, and intelligent, and his statements may be relied upon. That he saw some monster there is no doubt in his own mind, but the improbability of the story has caused him to be very reticent about any statement he made on the subject. [1]

Coosa River at the Ten Islands near Ohatchee, Alabama. One
of the reported monster sightings took place near here.

The Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee Indians, who lived along the Coosa before they were driven west on the Trail of Tears, often told of seeing monstrous serpents and other creatures in the river. The events of 1877 created many new believers in the old stories:

The monster was seen Tuesday of last week by a party of raftsmen about two miles above town [i.e., Gadsden, Alabama]. It approached the raft and was thrown at with sticks, &c., by the persons on the raft, but it didn’t seem to care. The men said it had a white belly and large knots on its back. A young man on the raft became so frightened that it became necessary to hold him to keep him aboard. [2]

Other sightings were reported up and down the river that summer, and eyewitnesses came forward with stories of similar monsters from as far back as the winter of 1817-1818. So many people claimed to see it, that the monster remains one of Alabama's most intriguing mysteries.

Editor's note: Love great monster stories? Here are a couple of others that we think you will enjoy:

The Altamaha-ha: Legend of Georgia's "Loch Ness Monster"

Bigfoot attack in the Okefenokee Swamp?

References

[1] Gadsden Times, June 8, 1877.

[2] Montgomery Advertiser, quoting the Gadsden Times, July 3, 1877.

Film Premiere draws Huge Crowd

by Rachael Conrad

Dale Cox introduces the new documentary "Alcatraz: Escape
to the Wiregrass" on Monday night in Columbia, Alabama.

A crowd that one leader described as "the largest that we've ever had" turned out for the Columbia Historical Society's premiere of the new film, "Alcatraz: Escape to the Wiregrass."

Extra seating was brought into the cafeteria at Houston County High School as the crowd continued to grow. Historian and author Dale Cox who executive produced the new documentary, said that he picked Columbia, Alabama, because of the community's connection to the Anglin brothers. Clarence and John Anglin were two of the three inmates involved in the 1962 "escape from Alcatraz."

"The Anglins were serving ten years in federal prison for robbing the Bank of Columbia when they escaped from Alcatraz," he said. "That bank building still stands, and the Columbia Historical Society is working to preserve it as a museum."

Extra seating was needed to accommodate the crowd.

The documentary runs just under one-hour and explores the connections of the Anglin brothers and the third escapee, Frank Lee Morris, to the Wiregrass area both before and after the Alcatraz escape. It features specific crimes and sightings in Houston and Pike Counties, Alabama, and Jackson County, Florida, that many believe are connected to the escapees.

Featured interviews include eyewitnesses to bank robberies in Alabama and Florida and a family member of the Anglin brothers who describes what it is like to be investigated by federal authorities.

The film drew laughter at times and gasps at others. Audience members raved about it afterward, telling Cox that they were surprised by how much new information it gave them about the escape and its local connections.

Additional screenings are coming. Watch for more information soon on when and where you can see the film.

If your college, school, museum, or organization would like to host a screening, please contact us by clicking here.

Alcatraz documentary premieres tonight in Columbia, Alabama

"Escape to the Wiregrass" to be unveiled!

by Rachael Conrad

The film premieres tonight (Monday, 10/21, 6:30 p.m.) at the
Houston County High School Cafeteria in Columbia, Alabama.

A former dean of Troy University and former Jackson County Sheriff John P. McDaniel are among those who appear in a new documentary set to premiere tonight in Columbia, Alabama!

"Alcatraz: Escape to the Wiregrass" is a feature-length film that explores the links between the Wiregrass area of Southeast Alabama, Southwest Georgia, and Northwest Florida and the 1962 "Escape from Alcatraz." The documentary is funded by Two Egg TV and made possible through the research of historian and author Dale Cox, who produced the film. It unveils new information about the fates of inmates Frank Lee Morris, Clarence Anglin, and John Anglin. The trio paddled their makeshift raft away from Alcatraz prison on June 11, 1962.

Dr. Adair Gilbert, formerly of Chipola College and Troy
University, in a scene from the new documentary.

Among those featured in the program is Dr. Adair Gilbert, Ph.D. As a child, she witnessed the Anglin brothers robbery of the Bank of Columbia, Alabama. Dr. Gilbert later served as Director of Business and Technology at Chipola College and Dean of the School of Business at Troy University. In the documentary, she remembers what she saw from a drugstore across the street where she was enjoying a soda when the infamous robbery took place. 

Columbia historian David Hunter, retired business leaders, and others tell their stories in the documentary - many of them for the first time.

Another recognizable face in the film is that of John P. “Johnny Mac” McDaniel, the retired sheriff of Jackson County, Florida. He unexpectedly became involved in the Alcatraz case many years after the 1962 escape and tells his story on camera for the first time! 

Tourism expert Heather Lopez and historian Dale Cox peer
into the Bank of Columbia building, scene of the 1958
Anglin brothers robbery, during a visit to Columbia, Alabama.

The film breaks new ground in its exploration of possible links between crimes in Marianna, Florida, and Brundidge, Alabama, to the Alcatraz escapees. Both crimes took place AFTER the Alcatraz escape. Jackson County eyewitness Robert Earl Standland remembers a 1963 bank robber in Marianna and historian Dale Cox discusses the Brundidge incident.

Although he now lives near the beloved community of Two Egg, Florida, Cox was born in the same town as the Anglin brothers. He unexpectedly stumbled into a new investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service in the 1980s and shares inside information from the case for the first time. He has researched the Alcatraz escape and what became of the three escapees for thirty years and now tells the whole story of what he has found. Especially compelling are his memories of contacts on several occasions with a man who may have been one of the escapees.

The documentary features locations in Jackson County, Florida; Seminole and Early Counties, Georgia; Houston and Pike Counties, Alabama – not to mention San Francisco, California; Kansas City, Missouri; Brazil, and the Bahamas!

 

“Alcatraz: Escape to the Wiregrass” premiers TONIGHT (Monday, 10/21/2019) at the Houston County High School Cafeteria in Columbia, Alabama. This exclusive, one-time showing takes place at 6:30 p.m. Central/7:30 p.m. Eastern and is appropriate for all ages. Future plans for additional showings will be announced soon.

Two Egg TV is a free, streaming history and travel channel. You can watch on YouTube at www.youtube.com/twoeggtv, online at www.twoeggflorida.com, and on television by adding the Two Egg TV channel to your Roku-enabled smart tv or Roku device. 

Bellamy Bridge named to National Register of Historic Places

Florida's Most Haunted Bridge Receives National Recognition!

by Rachael Conrad

Historical and haunted Bellamy Bridge is now on
the National Register of Historic Places.

Bellamy Bridge, which some say is one of Florida's most haunted sites, is now a site of national distinction.

The National Park Service has listed the historic steel-frame structure on the National Register of Historic Places. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is the park service's initiative to "coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archaeological resources."

The bridge was built in 1914 using funds provided by the Jackson County Board of County Commissioners. It was prefabricated by the Converse Steel and Bridge Company and brought to the construction site on the Chipola River north of Marianna using ox carts. Crews assembled the pieces and completed the span in just over six weeks!

The bridge takes its name from earlier wooden bridges that crossed the Chipola River at the same site. These bridges have all been said to be haunted by the restless spirit of a young woman named Elizabeth Jane Croom Bellamy. Please click here to read more about the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge.

A closer look at the surviving steel-frame structure.

The recognition results in large part from the work of Andrew J. Waber of the Florida Division of Historical Resources. He has been engaged in an ambitious project to identify significant historical resources in rural counties of Northwest Florida. His work also led to the Sneads Log Cabin and Longwood House in Greenwood being added to the National Register in recent years.

Historian and author Dale Cox, who assisted by providing documentation and other information, said he was thrilled by today's announcement. "This has been a goal for a very, very long time," he said. "A group of us first started working to preserve Bellamy Bridge all the way back in the 1980s. There have been ups and downs, but this is a definite up!"

Bellamy Bridge is located off County Road 162 (Jacob Road) just west of the Chipola River. A trail leads from a gravel parking area there down to the bridge. Hurricane Michael did extensive damage to the trail. Cleanup efforts have been underway, and the path is once again open to the public, although more work remains to be done.

Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail as it appears today. Hurricane
Michael did extensive damage to the nature trail, but hard
work has it once again open to the public. More work is ahead.

Cox was a key figure in the effort to build the trail across Northwest Florida Water Management District lands and reopen the bridge to the public but gave higher credit to former Jackson County Parks director and current Florida State Parks assistant director Chuck Hatcher and former Jackson County Tourism director Pam Fuqua.

He also credited many others for their work in preserving Bellamy Bridge, among them current Jackson County Public Works director Rett Daniels, the Board of County Commissioners, the Northwest Florida Water Management District, the volunteers of the Friends of Bellamy Bridge, former tourism employee Whitney Clark, Brig. Gen. James W. Hart (ret.), Tracy and Susan Todd, Emerald Coast Paranormal Concepts, David Melvin Engineering, and current county tourism director Christy Andreasen.

Enjoy this free mini-documentary from Two Egg TV to learn more about the Bellamy Bridge ghost story and hear a great song about the haunting:

Legend of Georgia's "Loch Ness Monster"

The Sea Serpent of the Georgia Coast!

by Dale Cox

The marshes near the mouth of the Altamaha River are the
home of a monster dubbed the Altamaha-ha by locals!

Darien - A mysterious river or sea monster has been a fixture of Georgia's Atlantic coast for more than 200 years!

It is called the "Altamaha-ha" ("Altie" for short) after the Altamaha River and is usually seen around Darien and Butler Island. It also appears to roam as far north as Sapelo Sound and as far south as St. Simons and Jekyll Islands. It is undoubtedly one of the most-sighted monsters in North America.

The community Darien, built on the site of earlier Native American, Spanish, and English settlements, was founded by Scot Highlanders. They were recruited in 1735 at Inverness, Scotland, and came as part of Gov. James Oglethorpe's effort to establish the colony of Georgia. Their American settlement was first called New Inverness, a tribute to their birthplace across the ocean.

The original Inverness borders Loch Ness, a massive lake that is famed for its legendary monster. Perhaps it is appropriate that the New World home of the Scot immigrants soon developed a similar reputation!

Darien is a charming coastal community that was founded by
Scot Highlanders in the 1730s. It is rich in history and legend.

The estuary or delta of the Altamaha River is beautiful and mysterious. Vast marshes, multiple river channels, and abandoned 18th and 19th-century rice fields and canals create a stunning coastal landscape. This is the domain of the Altamaha-ha, a 30-foot long monster with flippers like a seal.

The creature made its splash on the national scene in 1981 when former newspaper publisher Larry Gwin saw it while fishing with a friend named Steven Wilson. They said it had two big humps about five feet apart and made a wake like a speedboat.

Newspapers across the United States ran articles about the sighting, and other witnesses started coming forward. Harvey Blackman of Brunswick reported seeing the monster in the 1970s. He said it had a snake-like head and was 15-20 feet long. Frank Culpepper saw a massive wake in the area of Blackman's sighting. A friend ran for a rifle, but whatever caused the disturbance was gone before he could get off a shot.

Fort King George State Historic Site features a beautifully
restored English fort. Several sightings of the Altamaha-ha
have been made nearby.

The 1981 reports followed a rash of publicity about the Loch Ness Monster, and the skeptical were inclined to believe that locals around Darien were trying to cash in on a few tourist dollars. The late 20th century, however, was not the first time that a sea monster was seen in the vicinity.

The Savannah Georgian newspaper first reported a sighting of the Altamaha-ha by Capt. Delano of the schooner Eagle in an article datelined Darien on April 18, 1830. The captain was sailing off St. Simons Island when he saw the monster:

...He repeated the...particulars precisely, describing the animal he saw as being about 70 feet long, and its circumference about that of a sugar hogshead, moving with its head (shaped like an Alligator's) about 8 feet out of the water. - Savannah Georgian, April 22, 1830.

A hogshead is a large barrel or cask.

The cannon of Fort King George aim out over the marshes
of the Altamaha River estuary.

Five other men on the schooner also saw the creature, and their account was verified by several planters from St. Simons Island who reported seeing something similar. In fact, they said that the beast was viewed from shore using telescopes on many occasions.

Disbelievers were quick to point out that North Atlantic Right Whales are often seen in the waters off St. Simons Island, but Capt. Delano was an experienced sailor who told the newspaper that he knew a whale when he saw one:

...Capt. D. also states, that he is acquainted with all kinds of whale, and that he never saw but once before, (about 4 years since, off Doboy bar,) a monster similar to the one above described.  - Charleston Mercury, March 29, 1830.

Doboy Sound, where Delano saw the monster four years before in 1826, separates Sapelo Island from the Georgia mainland and connects to the Altamaha River.

The channels and marshes around Butler Island are the
home of Georgia's "Loch Ness Monster," the Altamaha-ha.

Curiously, a sloop that sailed from the Darien wharves that same year was named the Sea Serpent! Was it coincidence, or did she reflect a legend that was already well-established by that time? Either way, the 1826 and 1830 sightings confirm that people have seen something strange in the waters around the mouth of the Altamaha for a long, long time.

As is usually the case with such stories, legend claims that Native Americans were the first to tell of the creature. The Tama Indians were living on the Darien River, a tributary of the Altamaha when Spanish missionaries built a mission at the site of today's Fort King George. No documentation survives to corroborate such claims, but the Muscogee (Creek) Indians definitely told stories of giant snakes in Georgia's rivers.

Many people have offered theories about the Altamaha-ha, but no one has conclusively solved the mystery. In fact, eyewitnesses continue to come forward. A troop of Boy Scouts, timber workers, fishermen, hunters, and others all say that they have seen something strange in the water. An amateur photographer even captured video of something odd swimming in the channel off Fort King George Historic Site in 2010:

Interested in learning more or visiting beautiful Darien, Georgia? These links will help you out:

Points of Interest in Darien, Georgia

Butler Island Plantation

Fort King George State Historic Site

Fort Darien Marker

Union Raid on Darien, Georgia

City of Darien Official Website

www.visitdarien.com

GHOSTS, MONSTERS, & MYSTERIES OF THE SOUTH!

Bigfoot Attack in the Okefenokee Swamp!

A 19th century Sasquatch attack in Georgia?

by Dale Cox

The Okefenokee Swamp is a vast wetland that covers more
than 680,000 square miles in Georgia and Florida.

The Okefenokee Swamp has been the focus of stories about giants and other strange creatures for as long as anyone can remember. Is it possible that a Bigfoot or some similar monster actually attacked a party of hunters there in 1829?

Early Muscogee (Creek) Indians regarded the swamp with both reverence and wariness. They told naturalist William Bartrum that in its center was an island of high ground inhabited by a race of incredibly beautiful women called the "daughters of the sun." Their husbands were "fierce men, and cruel to strangers." [1]

Glimpsing this mysterious island from afar, a group of Creek hunters tried to reach it but found that it was protected by strange magic:

...[I]n their endeavors to approach it, they were involved in perpetual labyrinths, and, like enchanted land, still, as they imagined they had gained it, it seemed to fly before them, alternately appearing and disappearing. They resolved, at length to leave the delusive pursuit, and to return; which, after a number of inexpressible difficulties, they effected. When they reported their adventures to their country-men, their young warriors were inflamed with an irresistible desire to invade, and make a conquest of, so charming a country; but all their attempts have hitherto proved abortive, never having been able again to find that enchanting spot, nor any road or pathway to it, yet they say that they frequently meet with certain signs of its being inhabited, as the buildings of canoes, footsteps of men, &c. [2]

A massive old-growth cypress in the
Okefenokee Swamp.

Legends grew that the husbands of the "daughters of the sun" were men of gigantic stature who would kill any outsider who dared to enter the swamp. The Creeks called it Ekana Finaca or "Trembling Earth." 

Frontier settlers cleared farms along the margins of the great swamp by the late 1700s but generally avoided the hundreds of square miles of wetland that made up its interior. The winter of 1828-1829, however, was a time of extraordinary drought, and two men decided to explore as deep into the swamp as possible. 

Taking their flintlock rifles, they headed into the Okefenokee and for two weeks, explored a large area of it. The two men - and one of their young sons - were nearing the center of the swamp when they discovered gigantic footprints:

...The length of the foot was eighteen, and the breadth nine inches. The monster, from every appearance, must have moved forward in an easy or hesitating gait, his stride, from heel to toe, being a trifle over six feet. [3] 

The men decided that they "had seen enough" and started a long retreat from the swamp. Reaching their homes after nearly a four-week absence, they told friends and neighbors what they had seen. A bigger party of hunters from just across the Florida line decided to see for themselves, and one of the men from the first group agreed to guide them. 

...Following, for some days, the direction of their guide, they came at length upon the track first discovered, some vestiges of which were still remaining; pursuing these traces several days longer, they came to a halt on a little eminence, and determined to pitch their camp, and refresh themselves for the day. [4]

Many of the swamp's trees are rooted in peat and will actually
shake or tremble as you walk past them.

The party of nine men started firing off their rifles to clear them of damp powder, planning to reload them for the night. At this point, though, a strange creature suddenly charged their camp:

...[T]he next minute he was full in their view, advancing upon them with a terrible look and ferocious mien. Our little band instinctively gathered close in a body and presented their rifles. The huge being, nothing daunted, bounded upon his victims, and in the same instant received the contents of seven rifles. [5]

The wounded creature reacted by killing five of the explorers, "which he effected by wringing the head from the body." The survivors continued to fight until "writhing and exhausted," the monster collapsed. The last four men gathered around the creature for a closer inspection. They found it to be 13-feet tall from head to toe, with "his breadth and volume of just proportions." [6]

Terrified that the dying monster's howls and cries might attract others of its kind, the hunters fled their camp. They eventually emerged from the Okefenokee to repeat their tale. Their five companions were left where they had fallen, but no one was brave enough to venture back into the swamp to locate and bury them.

The 1829 account is one of the first to describe the creature known today as Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or the Skunk Ape. People in the area continue to report the discoveries of giant footprints, and some even claim to have seen an enormous hair-covered creature deep in the wetlands and prairies of the Okefenokee Swamp.

If you are interested in learning more about the Okefenokee, please visit Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

To see stunning views of the swamp, please click play for a great free video:

We also have more links to help you explore some of its great places to visit:

Stephen C. Foster State Park

Suwanee River Sill Recreation Area

Okefenokee Swamp Park

Visit the Swamp: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

References

[1] William Bartram, Travels of William Bartram, 1790.

[2] Ibid. 

[3] Milledgeville Statesman, January 1829, republished by the Connecticut Sentinel, February 9, 1829.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

Treasure of Choctawhatchee Bay

Do millions in gold and silver await discovery?

Choctawhatchee Bay in Northwest Florida.

by Dale Cox

Editor's Note: This article continues "Monstery and Mystery Month" on Two Egg TV! To read the first article in the series, please see Pirate Ghosts of the Emerald Coast!

Long before real gold rose from the sands of Destin and South Walton, Choctawhatchee Bay was the focal point of a series of searches for buried treasure. In fact, many would-be millionaires still believe that a fortune in Spanish gold and silver remains to be found somewhere in the bay.

The frenzy surrounding the purported treasure reached its height in 1921-1925 after a man named W.S. Teachout claimed to know its precise location:

Mr. Teachout, who is about seventy years of age, said he could go and put his hands on three of the ships--one that was under only a few feet of sand, that he found it several years ago, and was only waiting for someone with enough money to tackle the job. He was told that men and boats were at his disposal, and that dredges, pumps, and divers would be gotten if necessary. [1]

Rocky Bayou as seen from the shoreline at Fred Gannon
Rocky Bayou State Park in Niceville, Florida. The park is
one of the prettiest spots on Choctawhatchee Bay's north shore.

The legend, as told by Teachout, was that a flotilla of pirate ships was cornered in Choctawhatchee Bay by Spanish warships. East Pass was too shallow for the vessels to escape, and the Spanish had blocked the channel leading from the Choctawhatchee through Santa Rosa Sound to Pensacola. Instead of surrendering to face not just the loss of his treasure but his execution on the gallows at Pensacola, the pirate leader scuttled his gold-laden ships and escaped into the woods with his crew.

No documentation that the legend is true has ever been found, and there is a good reason for skepticism. Evidence, however, has never been a barrier to true believers!

Mr. Teachout found ready investors, and they met him at Valparaiso, ready to begin the search. That's when things got very strange:

...Wednesday night there was a dance in Valparaiso and several strangers were present, two of whom attempted to draw Mr. Teachout into conversation about the treasure. Thursday morning when a boat went out with Teachout and others an airplane soon appeared and hovered over the boat. The boat remained out all morning, and so did the plane. It hovered over the treasure seekers’ boat until noon, when the boat returned to Valparaiso, and the plane flew away. [2]

Did a flotilla of treasure-laden pirate ships meet its end
in Northwest Florida's Choctawhatchee Bay?

The 1921 search focused on areas along the north side of the bay between Valparaiso and Freeport. Newspaper writers reported seeing "mysterious figures," including one of a ship carved into large trees along the shore.

To his own chagrin, Teachout was not able to lead the searchers to the treasure, and the hunt came up empty. The effort to find gold and silver in the bay, however, was far from over. Things got hot again in 1925 when a mysterious dredge left Pensacola and made its way through Santa Rosa Sound to Choctawhatchee Bay:

…Movement of the big barge through the narrows of the sound is a costly process but it was accomplished, the first stop of the barge being at the south shore in Hogtown Bayou. In the past days the dredge has been working off Camp Walton [i.e. Fort Walton Beach]. 

     Lands on the north shore of Choctawhatchee bay, where old timers say treasure is really cached, are owned by the Dixie Town and Land company, and its officials have announced that they will permit no trespass of their properties or riparian rights. The barge crew has been warned not to come within 1,000 feet of this shore line or injunctions will be obtained against them. [3]

The north shore of Choctawhatchee Bay is said by some to be
the location of a mysterious buried treasure.

Part of the north shore of the bay - then as now - was the property of the U.S. Government. Military officials were so concerned about the treasure seekers that they launched planes to shadow their movements. This might also explain the mysterious aircraft that followed the 1921 expedition.

The expense and determination expended on the 1925 expedition failed to bring treasure up from the bottom of Choctawhatchee Bay. The search came up empty, and legends of buried treasure continue to this day.

Is there really a buried treasure? And if so, who could have left it there? The only real answer to the first question is that anything is possible. No documentation of Spanish ships cornering a pirate flotilla in Choctawhatchee Bay has ever been found, but it is challenging to prove a negative. As to who could have left it there, legend current in 1925 credited the famed Louisiana pirate Jean Lafitte.

Editor's Note: Watch for another mystery tomorrow right here on our web channel at www.twoeggflorida.com. 

REFERENCES

[1] Wiregrass Farmer quoting the Valparaiso Herald, September 8, 1921.

[2] Ibid.

[3] The Tampa Times, September 12, 1925.

Pirate Ghosts of the Emerald Coast

Headless Pirates haunt Santa Rosa Sound

by Dale Cox

Santa Rosa Sound at Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Editor's Note: October is Monster & Mystery Month on Two Egg TV! Check back daily for new stories of monsters, mysteries, and more from Florida, Alabama, and Georgia.

Santa Rosa Sound is a beautiful natural waterway that extends east from Pensacola Bay past Mary Esther and Fort Walton Beach to Choctawhatchee Bay. It separates the sparkling white sand beaches of Santa Rosa Island and the rising condominiums and hotels of Okaloosa Island from the prehistoric Native American mounds and waterfront of Fort Walton Beach.

This stretch of water is a popular playground today, but is it also the haunt of a band of headless pirates? Legend holds that just such a crew is condemned to perpetually sail its surface on moonlit nights. The following report of an encounter with these seafaring specters appeared in Florida and Alabama newspapers in 1921:

One night Mr. Lee Jernigan’s vessel was sailing up the sound, just drifting along. As they passed Pirates’ Cove a yawl came out of the cove and was rowed alongside. Mr. Jernigan was below. There were three men on deck, and they declared that every man in the yawl was headless that they watched the boat several minutes, when all at once—just like a flash—boat and men disappeared. The three men took oath, kissed the Bible, and swore that they saw this. [1]

Santa Rosa Sound on a "ghost story" perfect winter's day.

Pirates' Cove is a shallow body of water within the limits of today's Gulf Islands National Seashore. It is directly across Santa Rosa Sound from the City of Mary Esther, Florida. Entirely surrounded by the dunes of Santa Rosa Island, it is connected to the sound by a shallow inlet. 

The vicinity achieved note in 1906 after a significant storm exposed a cache of lost treasure:

...Spanish coins have been found in the sands of Santa Rosa Island, and only a few years ago, 1906, after a great storm twenty were found on the island in the sand. This find was on Santa Rosa Island, opposite Mary Esther. They were stuck together, showing that they had been buried for a long time aggregated in value several hundred dollars. Not far away is Pirates’ Cove, a little bay in Santa Rosa Island, so named because a pirate ship was sunk there.[2]

The Face of a Real Pirate
William Augustus Bowles as painted
in London in 1790.

The ghosts of the lost pirate and his crew, of course, are said to be searching for their lost cache of coins. They are presumed to also be protecting other treasures that remain hidden on Santa Rosa Island and along the shores of Choctawhatchee Bay. 

Anyone familiar with food and fun on the Emerald Coast is familiar with Fort Walton Beach's legendary Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival. This fun escapade has been part of the local cultural scene since 1953 and celebrates the "life" and lore of a supposed pirate named Billy Bowlegs. The founders of the festival associated their event with the adventurer and pirate William Augustus Bowles, who prowled the waters of the Gulf of Mexico in 1799-1803. (Note: The real Billy Bowlegs was an important Seminole Indian chief. William Bowles never used the name).

So far as is known, Bowles never sailed from Choctawhatchee Bay, but the best pirate stories are not always the most authentic! The festival is fun and does exactly what its founders intended by bringing tens of thousands of visitors to enjoy a weekend in Fort Walton Beach.

Long before the pirate festival came into being, though, the ghost pirates were a force to be reckoned with for those sailing in Santa Rosa Sound. Strange lights were seen on the island at night in the vicinity of Pirates' Cove, and many fishermen swore to their own encounters with the spirits:

"You may ask any sailor who has passed Pirates’ Cove at night," continued the newspaper accounts, "and he will tell you of the lights and boat and headless men and if he has not seen them his ship mates have."

One man was so frightened by his encounter with the ghosts that local residents swore and began to tremble so badly that "he became bowlegged." 

If you want to see the pirate ghosts for yourself, just enjoy a midnight boat ride west from Fort Walton Beach down Santa Rosa Sound in the direction of the Navarre Bridge. The red pin on the map below points out Pirates' Cove.

Editor's Note: The lands surrounding Pirates' Cove are part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. Treasure digging is strictly prohibited and can lead to a lengthy prison term!