chokoloskee

     swan and i went to chokoloskee one fall to fish for snook with gil drake, our key west friend and tarpon guide.  ed watson's ghost stalked us the whole time we were there.  we had both read peter matthiessen's novel KILLING MISTER WATSON and part of our interest in the fishing had to do with visiting the scene of the killing - which actually took place in front of ted smallwood's store, not far from where gil docked his boat.

edgar, ed, e.j., jack watson - call him what you may - was a formidable character in southwest florida in the early years of the twentieth century.  he came to that part of the country via south carolina and oklahoma - where it is said he had killed belle star.  he farmed - successfully - an old indian mound at chatham bend just south of chokoloskee and, rather than pay them at the close of harvest season, killed several of his farm hands. some number of other murders or disappearances were attributed to him as well.  he so terrified the locals that, at last, they shot him down in a group as he was coming ashore to purchase supplies.  much murkiness surrounds his killing - certainly enough to support his ghostly presence. 

the people of chokoloskee are not particularly friendly - especially to yankee fishermen and i suppose that helped with our feeling of dread.  gil took us by the chatham bend homestead - nothing remained, he said, but the cistern.  i knew from my reading that the government, when it created the park had burned down all man made structures within its boundaries but that did nothing to dispel the willies.  i felt like a kid on his first halloween.

we didn't catch many snook - though we both developed bursitis in our casting shoulders skittering our flies in under the mangroves hour after hour.  we certainly felt mister watson's presence, menacing even today, a hundred years later.