The Ghost of Ashley's Restaurant

A lot of strange things have been reported at Ashley's, located on US1 in Rockledge. People have reported seeing dishes and other objects fly around, feeling hands pushing them, and even seeing the ghost of a young woman in the ladies' room. While there were several legends told to explain these phenomena, investigators found a true story to back up only one of them. When Ashley's opened in 1933, it was called Jack's Tavern, and it was owned by Jack Allen. A 19-year-old woman named Ethel Allen (possibly related) either frequented or worked at the tavern. In 1934, she was the victim of a grisly murder, and her burned and mutilated body was found in the Indian River. Her murderer was never found. It's believed that Ethel is likely the ghost that haunts the restaurant to this day.

Seminole Creation Story

Hitchiti-Mikasuki Creation Story

(as told by my family elder Jayabutu McClellan)

The ground shakes and the opening to the cave is exposed - the People slowly walk to the opening and look out onto a strange new place - this is the Mother that had been created for them - but the cave represented security - as a child can not resist the calling of birth the People could not resist the calling of the new place. the cave now gave birth to the People - new life stepped onto the breast of Mother - a beautiful new beginning was at hand. 

The People were greeted by their many brothers and sisters that the Great Spirit had sent out ahead of them. Grandfather moved in the sky and kept the cycles in harmony and spoke to the People with his movement. Kiyas also moved and kept the cycles at the time of darkness and spoke to the People with his movement. Beyond Kiyas lay the Okiyas lights that were placed in order - all were in proper place and harmony for the telling of cycles and the times of planting, harvest and movement. It was into this place of creation that the Great Spirit delivered the People at the time of their cave birth. 

The People could speak to and understand all of the words of their four-legged, one-legged, winged, crawler, and swimming brothers and sisters. By instruction, these brothers taught and guided the People in the ways of the Great Spirit. Each of the brothers was told to take a small family group of the People and to teach and guide them. Some of the brothers found great favor with the Great Spirit and the families of the People were to be called by the name of these favored brothers. 

The wind spirit had breathed life into the People and he too was given a family of the People that would be called after his name. After family clan names were given to the People. Each family clan went out and built their village. No one was to take a wife from their own family clan - this was never to happen - nothing good could ever come from that marriage - each young man was to go to another family clan to get a wife - from this marriage good seeds could be planted in fertile place - and the spirit of the child would be a good spirit - the child would be a blessing to both family clans. 

Each clan received the gift of their brother who's name they used. Some were known as healers, some as warriors, some as leaders - each with their special gift. For many, many cycles the People lived in the way of harmony - led by those of great wisdom and following the movements of Grandfather, Kiyas and Okiyas. 

The ways of war, greed and jealousy were not known. The bones of the ancients rested in peace - their ways were the ways of the beginning and that was the way of harmony and understanding the cycles of life. 

Then came a time when the People selected a single leader, and this leader commanded the clans of warriors, and this leader fell in love with the movement and cycles of Grandfather - the leader looked to Grandfather for all answers - the cycles of Kiyas and the placement of Okiyas were used only for the worship of Grandfather - these things were not in harmony with the beginning and slowly pain and suffering came to the People. 

The Ghost Bridge In Pinecraft Amish Village

Some hundred years ago, an Amish family moved from Pennsylvania to Sarasota to establish a celery farm. Every week the eldest son, Amos, would load a train car full of celery and accompany it to it’s destination. On one such trip, he caught the gaze of a beautiful young girl hanging laundry on her family’s farm just north of the Phillippi Creek rail bridge. Her name was Ingrid, and the two soon fell in love with all the fondness of their true hearts and began secretly meeting beneath the bridge, for such a relationship between an Amish boy and an English girl was strictly forbidden. One evening Amos was preparing  to meet Ingrid, when his father became suspicious and forbade him to leave the house. As she waited, the young girl strolled back and forth along the shore of the creek gathering a bouquet of wild irises when she lost her footing and fell into the creek, tearing her dress and injuring her hand. She discarded the wet clothing in the creek and hurried home to mend her wound. When Amos’s father finally fell asleep he was able to sneak out of the house and hasten to the bridge. There, he found Ingrid’s clothes floating in the water and the blood soaked bouquet of irises strewn upon the shore. As he desperately searched the waters, the fiery eyes of an alligator were revealed by his lamplight, leaving him no doubt of his beloved’s terrible fate. Full of sorrow, he made his way onto the bridge, walked down the iron rail, onto a wooden plank and threw himself off it’s edge onto the Southern shore. The next day Ingrid saw Amos’s lifeless body from across the creek. Believing she could never be happy without him, she threw herself off the bridge, ending her life just as he had on the opposing shore. Unfortunately for them, their story did not end with death, as they had hoped. Ever since that fateful night the restless spirits of these forlorn lovers have haunted that bridge, forever searching for one another but unable to leave their places of death, Amos on the South shore and Ingrid on the North, from time to time hastily dragging an innocent passerby off the bridge, mistaking them for one another. 

White Potatoe Clan

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Oyea, Tau Natiaos, GuatiaosHere is story of the White Potato Clan
The question regarding the status of mixed-bloods in the Indian community keeps coming up. Both F.B.I. (Full Blood Indian) and mixed bloods ask this question, both of themselves and the community. The question is not a new one; it has been asked every since the first mixed-blood child was born. I offer no answer to the question, only a Mvskokee (Creek) story:
When the 'others' invaded the land of the People, they settled in and made homes and began to farm the land. This first wave of the invasion force gave the appearance of coming in peace, and so they were met by the People in peace. 
For many years the People and the 'others' lived side by side in peace, and friendships developed, and something as old as time happened, people met and fell in love. Some of the People took 'others' for wives. 
These marriages produced children, and a problem soon developed. In the Mvskokee tradition, clan is passed through the mothers' family, but since the 'others' did not belong to any Mvskokee clan the children were clanless. 
This caused problems for the children and the People. It is a bad thing to be clanless. You can never marry within your own clan, so how would future marriages for the clanless children be handled? The children were well loved by their parents, but were not completely accepted into the community. 
The mothers of the clanless ones were very saddened by what was happening to the children so they went to the Elders and asked for advice. The Elders told them to go out together and pray to the Creator, and if their hearts were pure the Creator would hear their prayers. 
The women then departed from the village and went out to a place of prayer and offered up their supplications to the Creator. For many days they prayed and the Creator hear their prayers and saw the sincerity in their hearts. 
The Creator told the women to go to the place of soft ground and black waters and to stay there and search until they found a plant that would cry out to them from under the ground. 
The Creator told them that if they found this plant and did as the plant instructed them, they would not only find a clan name for their children, but they would also give the People a gift that would feed the People for ever. 
The women left the place of prayer and went back to the village. They said good-bye to their husbands and children and left for the place of soft ground and black waters. The place of soft ground and black waters is a place filled with biting insects, snakes, thorns, mud, spiders, the hungry logs, and strange spirits. This was a place that would test the hearts of the women. 
For many days they searched and listened for the plant that would call out to them from under the ground. Just as the women were about to give up all hope of finding the plant, they prayed again to the Creator, and then they heard the voice of the plant calling out to them. 
It was difficult to find the plant because it was hidden from view, but finally they found it and dug it up. The plant told the women that even though it was from under the ground, the Creator had given it the ability to see in every direction at one time.
This is what the women were instructed to do, they were to take the plant to the village of the People, once there they were to take a knife and cut out the eyes of the plant, the eyes were to be planted on a small mound. If the women followed these instructions the plant promised to grow and it would feed the People for ever. 
The women followed the instructions of the plant, and the clanless children became known as the White Potato Clan, and the plant has continued to feed the People until this very day.

This Lore submitted by DS Adonaset Fort 

Tampa's Stikini Witches

Through the first Seminole War a small group of elderly Seminole women were allowed to remain in their homes on North of Fort Brooke on the Hillsborough River. In 1835 The United States moved forward with plans to relocate all of the Seminole Indians west of the Mississippi. When given this news, these woman were enraged, refused to move and threatened that Fort Brooke would be forever cursed. Soon there after 110 soldiers left Ft Brooke moving Northward. The first morning at camp a young soldier was found dead in his bed, an investigation concluded that the man's heart had been removed. This same scenario happened night after night and as fear of the Seminole womens' curse grew stronger, soldier Joseph Sprague abandoned his post. As he fled through the forest at dusk he saw the group of Seminole Women whom had cursed the soldiers. He watched in horror as they kneeled, chanted and expelled their internal organs from their mouths. One by one they then took the form of owls and took off into the night. They were the stikini witches of Seminole legend coming to exact their revenge. Sprague hurried the news to Fort Brooke but by the time reinforcements arrived all 109 other soldiers lay dead in their beds with their hearts removed. The group of elderly Seminole were never seen again but will always be remembered in this story of the Dade Massacre. 

Men Visit The Sky

Near the beginning of time, five Seminole Indian men wanted to visit the sky to see the Great Spirit. They travelled to the East, walking for about a month. Finally, they arrived at land's end. They tossed their baggage over the end and they, too, disappeared beyond earth's edge.
Down, down, down the Indians dropped for a while, before starting upward again toward the sky. For a long time they travelled westward. At last, they came to a lodge where lived an old, old woman.
"Tell me, for whom are you looking?" she asked feebly.
"We are on our way to see the Great Spirit Above," they replied.
"It is not possible to see him now," she said. "You must stay here for a while first."
That night the five Seminole Indian men strolled a little distance from the old woman's lodge, where they encountered a group of angels robed in white and wearing wings. They were playing a ball game the men recognized as one played by the Seminoles.
Two of the men decided they would like to remain and become angels. The other three preferred to return to earth. Then to their surprise, the Great Spirit appeared and said, "So be it!"
A large cooking pot was placed on the fire. When the water was boiling, the two Seminoles who wished to stay were cooked! When only their bones were left, the Great Spirit removed them from the pot, and put their bones back together again. He then draped them with a white cloth and touched them with his magic wand. The Great Spirit brought the two Seminole men back to life! They wore beautiful white wings and were called men-angels.
"What do you three men wish to do?" asked the Great Spirit.
"If we may, we prefer to return to our Seminole camp on earth," replied the three Seminoles.
"Gather your baggage together and go to sleep at once," directed the Great Spirit.
Later, when the three Seminole men opened their eyes, they found themselves safe at home again in their own Indian camp.
"We are happy to return and stay earthbound. We hope never to venture skyward again in search of other mysteries," they reported to the Chief of the Seminoles.

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.