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.