Uncle Monday

Sometime in the late 18th century a slaver in West Africa captured a powerful shaman called Uncle Monday. They brought him to South Carolina where he was auctioned off to a plantation owner. It wasn't long before he had escaped and found his way down to Tampa, Florida.

Uncle Monday quickly became acquainted with the Seminole Indians who welcomed escaped slaves into their communities. The two groups were easy allies as the same white settlers who were hunting escaped slaves were also pushing the Seminole Indians further into Florida's interior. 

Together, the Indians and escaped slaves won many battles against their common enemy. This lead to General Andrew Jackson sending in the U.S. military who would relocate the Indian tribes and hand over escaped slaves to an accompanying slave trader.

It was during this push that Uncle Monday's village was attacked. Unwilling to be captured again, he took to his shamanistic magic for an escape. He fled to the shore of nearby lake where he began repeat a chant in his native language. The alligators came to him from every direction, climbing up the muddy slips they use to slide into the water. Together they produced a chorus of bellows, as if to answer his call. 

The slaver, who was waiting behind the military regiment, had seen Uncle Monday escape and followed him to the lake. As he approached, he saw the his head began to lengthen and his arms and legs began to shorten as he slowly transformed into an alligator. As Uncle Monday slid into the water, he proclaimed that the slaver would be cursed to die that day by alligator.

Knowing the power of Uncle Monday's curse, the slaver began shooting all of the alligators in the area so the curse couldn't possibly come true. When all of the alligators were dead he started to make his way back to the US military 

regiment. It was then that the slaver stepped into one of the muddy, alligator slips and lost his footing. He slid down into the water where he sunk to the bottom and drown. 

Uncle Monday escaped, changing back and forth from an alligator. The US military never never was able to catch him and he his still alive today. He ended up going North and living in .....They say some nights you can still hear the alligators answering his call with that same chorus of bellows. 

Six Buried Treasure Legends in Florida

• The members of the Ashley gang were notorious bank robbers who terrorized the citizens of Florida, during the early part of the 20th century. They succeeded in stealing over $100,000 in cash and it is believed buried near their headquarters. This was near Canal Point at the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee. All the members of the gang were shot to death, but their loot has never been found.

• DeLeon Springs is the location of a treasure chest lost by unknown persons. In the 1890’s, a chest was seen on the bottom of Ponce deLeon Springs. It soon fell into one of the submerged caves and could not be recovered. The chest has eluded divers ever since.

• Three silver church bells were buried by Spanish padres in 1586, somewhere in the present city park area of St. Augustine, to keep them from Sir Francis Drake. The padres were killed, and the location of the silver bells lost.

• In 1702-1704, the British, under Governor James Moore of Carolina, raid Spanish settlements including a 52-day siege of St. Augustine. The town is captured, but the fort is not. Many of the people buried their valuables, and were later killed.

• In 1894, a merchant named Richard Crowe died in St. Augustine, leaving a will stating he buried $60,000 in gold coins on his property. Searchers were unable to locate the treasure.

• A Spaniard named Don Felipe, is known to have buried the family silver, along with a large amount of gold coins, on his plantation during the Seminole war before he was killed by Indians. Located 2 miles NW of Ocala.