For years, the infamous criminal Edgar Watson lived in the Everglades, where his employees had a habit of dying or disappearing around payday. When the authorities ignored their request, the villagers took the law into their own hands, and now they are forever haunted by the man they took.
In 1910, the wet air of Chokoloskee witnessed a horrific event—the death of Edgar Watson, a plantation owner with a sinister reputation. Watson, a man known for his sinister deeds, was not only a ruthless serial killer, but also a plantation owner who showed no mercy to his servants, most of whom were black, Native American, or some kind of helpless migrant with nowhere to go. His bloody legacy extended to anyone who dared to trespass on his property.
The Florida Everglades is a 1.5 million acre swampy marshland full of alligators, crocodiles and other deadly creatures, like humans. Like the last frontier, on the edge of a chain of islands and mangroves called the Ten Thousand Islands, sits the petite town of Chokoloskee.
Since 1965, there have been 175 unsolved murders in the area, and those are just the bodies that have been found. Who knows how many missing bodies are waiting to be discovered or have already been taken by alligators and sharks?
Since settlers arrived, it has been known as a haven for criminals, far from the long arms of government. The Everglades has become a place where people disappear, some never to return.
The Story of “Bloody” Edgar Watson
Edgar Watson was born in 1855 in South Carolina and seemed to be violent from a juvenile age, as he perceived from his abusive father. After murdering two people, he fled Florida for Oklahoma, renting an apartment from Belle Starr, another notorious bandit known as the Bandit Queen of the Old West.
According to legend, he shot Belle in the back while she was riding her horse, killing her too. He feared she was going to turn him in to the authorities for the murder he committed in Lake City. And although he was tried for her murder, he was not convicted.
Although he was wanted in Florida, he returned in 1891 and murdered another man in what he claimed was self-defense. At that time, he went to the Florida Everglades as a fugitive, the perfect place to hide and dispose of the bodies that seemed to be piling up around him.
On his land near Chatham Bend, he established a successful sugar cane syrup business and began hiring people. He hired many African Americans and Native Americans, as well as vagrants, migrants, and other runaways, to work for him on the farm. However, when they wanted to be paid, legend has it that he would instead murder them and throw their bodies into the river.
It is said to have lasted for 15 years and rumors began to spread about what really happened there, but there was no definitive proof. Bodies began to wash up on shore near the petite town of Chokoloskee. When a runaway worker told them what was happening, they also found the body of a woman named Hannah Smith, whose foot had been discovered in a swamp after a hurricane passed through the Everglades. The worker claimed there were many more.
Everyone knew about Edgar “Bloody” Watson and knew he carried a gun under his black trench coat and some of his escaped employees had scary stories. The authorities didn't want to get involved because they didn't think it was their jurisdiction. So the people of Chokoloskee were left to their own devices.
In 1910, he was attacked by the townspeople of Smallwood Store, on the outskirts of Florida. It was a trading post, post office, and market that sold everything a man might need in that remote part of the world. They were all armed, and they shot him when he tried to reach for his gun. It is said to have happened on the shallows just below the store. He was shot 30 times, although the first one went right between the eyes.
The Spirit of Chokoloskee
Since then, the Everglades has gained another haunted legend to join all the others, and today Edgar Watson is remembered as an infamous criminal and murderer. The place is still remote, and the town of Chokoloskee is home to about 300 people. Some say there are more ghosts in the town than living people.
Legends say that Edgar Watson still haunts the area. According to local legends, around 50 skeletons have since been found around his elderly estate, although this has not been verified. It is not known for sure how many people were murdered, or if anyone was there at all.
The Smallwood store closed in 1982, but it remains a historical museum. People who pass by the building swear they have seen the killer. Legend has it that there are still blood stains on the walls from the shooting.
The people working at the museum were called in the middle of the night by people claiming to have seen movement inside the building. But after investigating, there was nothing. Could this be the ghost of Edgar Watson? Or one of the other ghosts rumored to roam the island?
Other ghosts haunting the Smallwood store
Another ghost that supposedly haunts the store is the ghost of CG McKinney, who founded the first post office and also the first school on the island. He moved to the area after abandoning his wife and five children and running away with his nanny. They settled on Chokoloskee Island and had five more children, giving them the same names as his previous children.
The last ghost that supposedly haunts the place is a boy who was supposedly once a pirate. He is said to have died when he got trapped in his fishing net at the age of 120. He is said to have come to the market looking for a fresh net in the middle of the night.
So if you see lights on in the remote corners of the Everglades, it may just be the bandit Edgar Watson walking around at night.
Bibliography:
Ted Smallwood Shop – Wikipedia
History – and ghosts – at Smallwood's in Chokoloskee
Edgar J. Watson Island Horror Cemetery – Chokoloskee, Florida
Scary Stories from the Everglades
Chokoloskee, Florida – Wikipedia
The Town Where the Bandit Was Killed | Florida Originals Chokoloskee – Ghost Town
Image Source: Pixabay.com
